2009 Eastcape Billfish Tournament
The 2009 Eastcape Billfish Tournament kicked off on Monday, June 22. Twenty-two anglers made the trip down to Hotel Palmas de Cortez for the 22d annual event. The Hotel, the weather, and the boats were looking good and ready for action. There were plenty of billfish around. That was the good news. However, they were feeding on prodigious quantities of squid and that makes ‘em: 1) mean, and 2) finicky.
The Tournament began with the Anglers meeting and cocktail party in the Convention Center. Those of us who have been fishing the Tournament for several years will recall that the new Convention Center stands on the site of the old dining room and kitchen. Ah, the fond memories of breakfast, indoors at 119 degrees at 6:00 AM and ….but I digress.
We welcomed one new angler to the Eastcape this year, Jerry Zavalney from Anacortes, WA. Jerry was introduced to TAA by Darrell Ticehurst, and, as you will soon see, fared rather well in his first TAA tournament outing.
Our sponsors really came through for us in the face of some challenging economic conditions. Penn, our primary sponsor provided a significant discount for our rod and reel prizes. Gray’s Taxidermy once again provided our great trophies and award plaques. They also provided tee-shirts and caps for the captains and deck hands. Costa del Mar came though with their classic sun glasses and great angler’s backpacks. Black Bart Lures provided a terrific bag of rigged Marlin lures and MoldCraft and Zukers gave us a great discount on lures and teasers. Mr. T-Shirt produced our angler shirts and Stone & Youngberg, noted hotbed of fishing and Municipal bond information, provided the angler and boat crew tote bags. Rounding out the awards table were gift certificates from Offshore Angler.
Day one began with the boats, all deluxe cruisers, leaving the dock by 7:45, racing off into the rising sun. First off the dock and first with lines in was Mi Pistola with Keith Leimbach and Gary Morgan aboard. Keith tipped a striper at 7:11 for the first fish of the Tournament. By the end of the first day, Keith had two marlin, as did our (supposed) rookie, Jerry Zavalney. (See Jerry? I can spell your name correctly!) Darrell Ticehurst and Ray Jones each scored one striper, as did Will Evans, the notable Prize Table roadie.
The dorado bite was hot and the fish were big, providing lots of exciting 10-point tie-breaker opportunities. The tally on Day One was seven striped marlin and twelve dorado. Jerry Z got his second marlin before Keith, so he was our first day high point winner. Top boat on the first day was Marlintini. Mi Pistola was second and Margarita finished third.
Day Two began with an obnoxious swell and freshening wind from the south. Hurricane Andres had formed off Central America and by June 21st was headed north past Zihuatenejo and Manzanillo toward Baja. Although Andres turned west and rapidly diminished in strength, it made for one very tough fishing day. Day Two yielded but one striper to Dave Ogle at 9:05 AM and one sailfish to Jerry Yahiro at 11:03 AM…….but oh, those dorado kept on coming. All in all, 24 of the 10-pointers were landed on Day Two.
High point honors went to Dave Ogle for his sole striper. The boat finishers on Day Two were Billfighter in first, Maria II in second and Jack Daniels and El Loco in a tie for third.
Day Three began with an overcast sky, but calmer sea. Most of the boats headed north again to work the area south of Cerralvo Island. The fishing was about the same as on Day One. Neal McNamara caught two stripers and a dorado for 510 points and high daily honors. Jim Severson, last years outstanding Eastcape chairman, caught one striper, as did Dean Hafeman, Jim Gill, and yours truly. The dorado were hot again, providing eleven more 10-pointers on the final day.
The last fish of the Eastcape was tipped at 1:05 by your humble chronicler aboard Billfighter. The last day’s order of finish for the boats was Maria II, Mahitini and Billfighter.
We gathered for the captain and crew awards with German running the show in his typical entertaining style. We passed out the cash and thanked everyone for working hard under some challenging weather and sea conditions.
The Awards Party convened in the Convention Center with cocktails and hors d’ouervres from the hotel and another special offering of sashimi and poki from our own Jerry Yahiro. Thank you, Jerry, from all of us for another delicious contribution to the festivities!
We had a special guest at the party. Pat Snyder joined us for the awards ceremony. Pat and her husband Tom were founding members of the Tournament Anglers Association. Pat, who still holds a couple of IGFA roosterfish world records, was up from Punta Colorada to help celebrate the Van Wormer’s anniversary and Cha-Cha’s birthday. Everyone really enjoyed seeing Pat and reminiscing about Palmas and Punta adventures.
Someone once told me that in a tournament, you’re supposed to catch something every day. I guess I forgot that. One person who did not forget it, though, was Neal McNamara. With two marlin and four dorado over the three days, Neal won the Eastcape for the third time, joining John Jackson and Curtis Fitzgerald as three-time winners. Jerry Zavalney was second (by virtue of our “first-to-the-points” rule) with 510 points. Keith Leimbach, a former Eastcape champion and next year’s tournament chairman, was third with 510 points as well. Dave Ogle was fourth with 280, followed by Jim Severson, Dean Hafeman, and Jim Gill with 270.
Our 2010 IGFA Offshore Championship Eastcape team of McNamara, Zavalney, Leimbach and Ogle will represent our tournament and TAA with experience and enthusiasm. We wish them success. They will be formidable competition!
We want to thank the Hotel, their staff and all the boat crews for all their efforts in providing TAA with another great time! Special thanks to Chuy (now promoted to events planning) for help with our booking; Pedro (food & beverage manager) for our parties; and of course German for the most critical component of any successful tournament, the boats! While the 2009 release count was not what we have come to expect from the Sea of Cortez, the tournament certainly can be counted as a success! I think it was Bill Hoey who first told me “that’s why they call it FISHING and not CATCHING”!
I also want to thank this year’s co-chairman, Keith Leimbach, for his enthusiastic support and significant contribution to the tournament. I am looking forward to the 2010 Eastcape with Keith as our Chairman. I also want to thank Will Evans for his help with the Tournament both in the preparation and the execution. Despite the considerable technological skills possessed by your author, I doubt that anyone would have gotten anything other that a Xerox copy of Severson’s stuff with handwritten edits and mark-outs, were it not for Willie-boy.
So with that, we close the books on another Tournament Anglers Association Eastcape Billfish Tournament. I am looking forward to next year with great anticipation. Til then…
Tight lines and smooth seas….
Bill Evans
