38th Annual Gold Cup Invitational Team Tournament

Sailfish Club of Florida

 

January 16, 2010

 

The Sailfish Club of Florida hosted the 38th Annual Gold Cup Invitational Team fishing tournament January 13-16, 2010. The tournament was founded by John Rybovich in 1972 to test the skills of teams of anglers catching and releasing sailfish off the east coast of Florida. The Gold Cup is a perpetual trophy maintained by the Sailfish Club and is one of the most coveted prizes in competitive sport fishing.

 

This year’s tournament was won by a team from Maryland representing the Eastern Shore Marlin Club and fishing aboard Contango with Capt. Keith Greenberg.   Team Captain Thomas Murray made it a family affair by winning with his wife Nancy, son John, and daughter-in-law Debbie. The Murray team won the tournament for the first time in 19 years of competing in the event.   The competition included some of the best sport fishing anglers and crews in the country. The Murray team was able to prevail by posting very strong numbers released in the first two days with nine releases each day, and hanging on with two releases on their final day for a total of 20 sailfish released.

 

Second place was captured by a team from the Sailfish Club led by team Captain Andres Fanjul of Palm Beach and anglers Carlos Arruza, James MacGregor, and Richard Ganter. Fishing aboard the Alican with Capt. Doug Heaton, they released 20 sailfish during the tournament to tie the Eastern Shore team, but placed second due to the time of release for their last fish. The Fanjul team fishing aboard Alican has won the event three separate times, the most recent being on 2009.

 

Third place went to Brielle Yacht Club and Team Captain Robert Bocchino of Jupiter with anglers Craig Bocchino, Geoff Mayfield, and Kevin Hawkin fishing aboard the Mehl Ticket with Capt. Mike Croke.   This team has been a strong competitor in the event and they took second place in 2009.

 

Fourth place went to another team representing Team Neptune from The Sailfish Club led by Team Captain Chis Lazzara. They fished aboard Innovator with anglers Kendall Cheatham, James Schwarz and Jim Foley with Capt. Greg Leahy.

 

Fishing in very tough conditions on Saturday, their last day, the Lazzara team released nine fish to surge into fourth place for the event.   With his strong performance the last day, Chris Lazzara personally tallied nine releases for the entire tournament, giving him the John Rybovich Memorial Award for most sailfish releases on dead bait.

 

 

This year’s event included 19 teams fishing in a four day event with all teams fishing three of the four days.

 

With sail fishing off the east coast having been very good for most of this season, all teams entered this year’s event with high expectations and they were not disappointed.   Fishing was particularly good early and a total of 202 sailfish were released in the event, with more than half coming in the first two days.

 

The 39th Gold Cup competition will be held January 11th – 15th, 2011.