Jack Dimaggio, Gary Ciuffo and Joseph Palmeri released a Black and a Blue Marlin during their short stay. Fernando Carbajal and Anibal Urteaga released 2 Black and 1 Blue Marlin. Mike and Judy Lembke released 2 Black, 2 Blue Marlin and 4 Sails, including both having Grand Slam Days! They're the proud owners of Wallaston Lake Lodge, in Canada. Joe Blade and Todd James released 2 Black and 2 Blue Marlin. These guys came to celebrate their friend, Brad Ashlin's bachelor party. Certificates were given out to 28 anglers for their first, Black, Blue Marlin or Sailfish.

Mid-April is typically the beginning of the rainy season. The rain brings nutrients to the sea, sardines multiply and boil, and "voila," we have Sailfish in numbers. We found Sails in small groups producing double and triple-headers as the main migration of Sails normally coincide with the rain. We released 170 Sailfish with most boats only fishing three days. Miss Canada released 39 Sails followed by Miss Darien and Miss England with 38 and 24 Sails released in 3 days. The inshore fishing was great with 50 lb plus Cubera Snapper and Roosterfish. Anglers Rob Swartzenberg and John Canavari released 6 Sails on fly along with 11 Tuna. Len Belcaro and Dick Bublitz from Big Game Fishing Journal enjoyed light-tackle fishing for Sailfish with Raleigh Werking. First time billfishing angler Dr. Bill Richards released a 500 lb plus Blue Marlin.

MAY:       

The Sails were late this year. The ones that moved thru early were much further offshore. June ended up being our hottest Sailfish month this season. The first week in May, we hosted the Tropic Star Challenge Invitational. The Sailfish were very sporadic, which made for fast and furious action with triple and quadruple headers almost every time they ran into a pod. Sailfish were caught anywhere from 35 miles north to 20 miles south. By the end of the week some were released just two miles out in front of the lodge.

Rick Green's group Ð Bob Hansan, Scott Mitchell, Joe Ritzo, Wayne Morrill and Joe Coronati enjoyed their four days of fishing releasing 57 Sails. Hans Wagner released his first Marlin, his friends made sure he took a swim off the dock! Nikola Birjukow caught a 25 lb Snook while trolling near the shore. Emil Mayer caught a 50 lb Dorado and 34 lb Yellowfin Tuna with grandson Barry.

Many anglers opted to fish inshore and were not disappointed with Cubera Snapper and Roosterfish. We welcomed back the Behring and Beinke families. Unfortunately, they departed just before the Sails really moved in. Charlotte Butterfield, their travel coordinator won an award for the most fish and Scott Behring won for most Sailfish released in their interfamily Blackhawk Tournament. Our North Carolina boys, Mark Fortier, Mike Anderson, Arthur McPherson, and Andy Elliott were the lucky ones staying the whole week and released 18 Sailfish on Friday. They raised 30 Sails that last day and had 4 or 5 up at one time! They also released a Blue Marlin and raised 2 Black Marlin.

JUNE:

The Sailfish bite we had been waiting for arrived very late in May. But, when they decided to show, boy, did they! Better still, the Marlin stayed around too! We released 486 Sailfish, 6 Marlin, 98 Tuna, 19 Dolphin, 1 Snapper, 4 Roosterfish (Karl Hartman's was over 70 lbs!) and a 225 lb Yellowfin the first week! The happy anglers were Nelson Perez's Tampa Invitational Tournament participants.