Given the lack of current and clean water, Cliff Maddock knew he had to run far away from Hillsboro Inlet if Vitamin Sea was going to catch any fish in Saturday’s Ladies Fish-Off.
As it turned out, his team caught the most fish: 117.2 pounds of tuna and kingfish fishing off Miami to top the 159-angler, 49-boat fleet in the 31st annual tournament for female anglers in which men can serve as captains and mates.
Double Down was second at 109.8 fishing south of Boynton Beach Inlet and off Lake Worth Pier. Wet Hooker was third at 70.6, followed by Advanced Roofing at 66.4 and Liquid at 66.
“It’s just been disgusting, the water around here,” said Maddock, of Lighthouse Point, whose 39 SeaVee was packed with a dozen family members and friends. “We knew to get away from that. We decided let’s take a chance and go down there.
“The water was pretty nice down there. We had a little bit of current. We fished the same area the whole day.”
Vitamin Sea, which won a total of $5,552.50 and the Tom Tucker Family Award, caught the three tunas and four kings that it brought to the scales at Alsdorf Boat Ramp Park in Pompano Beach on kite lines and flat lines in 110-170 feet.
Shelby Garrett of Double Down was the top angler with 69.4 pounds to win $2,000 fishing in her first tournament and despite feeling a little seasick. Trista Evans of Wet Hooker was second at 49.8, followed by Dannielle Maddock of Vitamin Sea at 41.8.
“I worked hard for that,” said Garrett, who weighed two tunas and two kings, including the tournament’s heaviest tuna at 25.6. “The most exciting part of it all was when all three of us had tunas on. It was hectic. Two of us got tunas in the boat.
“It was a good experience. I never caught a tuna or kingfish before.”
Stephanie Schmidt of Pop A Top had the biggest wahoo at 12.6. Lisa Dreyer of Reel Women had the heaviest kingfish at 25.2 and the heaviest bonito at 17.2.
Natalie Feller of Advanced Roofing had the largest fish, a 29.4 bull dolphin, which was worth $6,419 and helped the boat to a total payout of $8,172.
Capt. Jeff Scott ran to Hobe Sound to find fish, but after some half-hearted kingfish bites on the reef, he ran 15 miles offshore in search of dolphin when a flying fish went airborne.
“It was pretty desolate, then I saw a flyer get up 200 yards away,” Scott said. “I just knew something was up, so I ran south of where the flyer was and sure enough I saw [the dolphin] swimming on top.
“I was motoring after him and yelled to the guys, ‘Slammer, slammer!’ The guys got the bait ready and cast, Natalie got bit and it was on from there. It was a pretty amazing way to save the day.”
Fish of the week
Dean Belits and Justin Falzetti caught 24.7 pounds of bass Sunday using 16-inch snakes to win the King of the Glades Open Team Trail Classic out of Everglades Holiday Park. It was the second Classic win for Belits and the first for Falzetti.
Defending Kings of the Glades Rodd Sayler and Steven Forssell were second at 21.94 and Forssell had the big bass of 7.21. Tim Celesti and Jason Goon were third in the 23-team field at 19.79, followed by Doug Harris and Carl Bousquet at 19.49 and Matt Wieteha and Albert Winter at 16.96.
Frigate caught a 25-pound dolphin Saturday to win the sixth annual Joe & Joe’s PI Dolphin Tango out of Pembroke Pines. Ballz Deep was second with a 22.8-pounder and won the three-fish aggregate with 51 pounds. Sea Rad was third with a 13-pounder.
Commercial fisherman Phil Bardales was fishing out of Key West last week when he caught a 31-inch yellowtail snapper that measured just over 10 pounds. The IGFA all-tackle world-record yellowtail snapper was an 11-pounder caught in Bermuda in 2004.
Brock Butler of Plantation caught 5.65 pounds, including the big bass of 3.5, fishing from the shoreline at Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek to win the small fry division of Saturday’s Bass Fishing Kids tournament. Alejandro Hidalgoy of Miami was second at 1.94 followed by Darian Turay of Miami at .47. Ethan Rogge of Weston won the junior division with 3.62, followed by Jake Stark of Davie at 3.53 and Brett George of Miami Lakes at 2.78.
Capt. Alan Zaremba reported that sight-casting for peacock bass has produced lots of fish 4-6.5 pounds using jigs around banks, docks and ledges in urban canals. Jerkbaits twitched on the surface in the moving water in Everglades canals were catching largemouth bass.
Bruce Ritchey of Hollywood and his grandson Tanner, 16, caught 12 peacocks up to 3 pounds on a morning trip in the G-15 Canal along Interstate 595. John Alder of Miami caught 12 largemouths up to 3 pounds, four oscars and a few Mayan cichlids on a morning trip on the west side of U.S. Highway 27.
Nevada Bedwell of Cape Coral caught 16 peacocks up to 4 pounds in the C-8 in Miami Lakes. Denis and Karen Wyssbrod of Port Charlotte and their grandson Cole, 18, caught a total of 61 peacocks up to 6 pounds in two days of fishing in the Lake Ida chain of lakes and the C-100 in Kendall.
Bass tournament: The Everglades Bassmasters of South Florida has the One Largemouth Bass Tourney, Father’s Day Edition, June 19 at Everglades Holiday Park. Fishing is 7 a.m. to noon. Sign-up starts at 6 a.m. at the ramp. Entry fee is $20 per person for as many anglers as your boat is Coast Guard-certified for. There is no charge for one angler under the age of 12 per boat. Contact Tony Crowder at 954-254-9072 or tcrowder42@yahoo.com.
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