Gov's Cup billfishing tourney - pic

[CapnK]

I shot a bunch of long-exposure pics the other night, thought I'd put one up so y'all can see what we have here this weekend. This is an annual tourney, prize money (awards + calcutta) in the $100's of K dollars. But heck, it costs IIRC $8,900 just to be listed in all the possible award categories - and that cost does not include fuel, oil, ice, and provisioning costs. Serious big money. The pics are looking down/along "Millionaire Alley", the central dock. Most of the crowd was gone by then, the fishermen in bed already due to the fact that they get up between 3:30 and 4:30 to leave for the Gulf Stream. There are 53 boats in the tournament this year, up 5 from last year.

Catches: Nearly everyone fished yesterday (they can fish 2 of the 3 possible days). Only 7 boats out today. Yesterday, 7-8 billfish (sails, blues, whites) were caught & released. They have to be over 110 inches long to become a 'killfish' and get brought back to the dock.

As far as meatfish, the 'big fish' were 1 yellowfin (only the 4th this year), a 27 lb dolphin, and a 67 lb wahoo. I would have *loved* to have been the angler on the rod for that wahoo. They run and fight like nobodies business. :)

Busy here these few days. :)