__________________________________________________________________________________________________PRES. JIM GILL TAKES HOME THE HONORS

Just before sunrise on Monday, January 10, 2005, 26 pangas with 52 anglers started fishing and the 2005 TAA Ixtapa Sailfish Tournament began. Soon after, the first Pacific sailfish was tipped and released by Steve Lynch.

The 2005 Ixtapa Sailfish Tournament was the largest tournament ever hosted by TAA. The 52 anglers, along with their guests, enjoyed the hospitality of the Hotel Pacifico Dorado and the sunny Mexican weather.

Dale Miles chaired the Tournament, along with co- chairman Dave Holland. Both are to be commended on a “Job Well Done”! Every aspect of the Tournament was well planned and superbly executed. The Welcome and Awards Party/ Buffet were gala affairs, highlighted with a slide show presentation featuring the anglers and guests themselves. Go to our website, www.fishtaa.com to see the slide show.

The Winners: (left to right) Arlen Steiner, 3^rd place, Ed Day, 4^th place,

A somber moment was the remembrance for one of TAA’s founders, avid fisherman and

Friend, Bill Hoey. Bill passed away in 2004.

At the end of the four (4) day Tournament, 176 sailfish were caught and released. Two striped marlin (released) and 15 dorado / mahi mahi were also caught.

TAA President Jim Gill took top honors and first place with 1,490 points. Jim’s feat was all the more notable, since he was suffering from an illness that struck many other anglers and their guests this year.

Ed Lynch captured second place, with 1,060 points. Third place winner was Arlen Steiner, with 1,050 points. Ed Day, with 1,050 points took fourth place. Arlen took third place because he had caught his sailfish earlier in the day.

These top four (4) anglers qualify for the 2006 Rolex/IGFA Offshore Championship.

Other winners were:

Daily High Point:

Day 1, Andy Jacobi, 870 points

Day 2, Arlen Steiner, 450 points

Day 3, Arlen Steiner, 600 points

Day 4, Jim Gill, 800 points

Team Results:

1^st Place, Arlen Steiner and Kathy Holeman, 1,900 points

2^nd Place, Ed Lynch and Don Veninga, 1,820 points

3^rd Place, Jim Gill and Richard Kersten, 1,640 points

4^th Place, Andy Jacobi and Bob Fox, 1,620 points.

The last sailfish caught and released on Friday, January 14^th, was by Dave Plut.

ROLEX/IGFA OFSHORE CHAMPIONSHIP

The 2005 ROLEX/IGFA Offshore Championship will be held May 15 to 20, in Cabo San Lucas. At last count, 67 national and international teams are entered in this years’ Tournament. The 67 teams make up the largest IGFA sanctioned tournament ever held.

Two TAA teams are entered.

The Ixtapa Team (winners of the 2004 Tournament) will consist of Team Captain – Jim Gill and Rick Bothmer, Rocky Franich and Andy Jacobi.

The Eastcape Team is comprised of Team Captain Steve Lynch, and Bill Evans, Smokey Molle and Jim Ramsey.

Other TAA members who will fish this Tournament, on other teams, are Joan Vernon and Bill Easum.

To learn more about the ROLEX/IGFA Offshore Championship and updates, click/go to the following website www.igfa.org/tour.asp

Good luck to both our Teams and other TAA members who will be fishing in this year’s Tournament.

Future Tournaments

Eastcape Billfish Tournament, Eastcape, June 10-12, 2005

Contact: Chairman, Bill Evans

Tel.: 415-445-2334

E-mail: wevans@sylic.com.

Ixtapa Sailfish Tournament, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo,

Jan. 21-26, 2006

Contact: Chairman, Dave Holland, Tel. 925-944-1310,

E-mail: daveholland@mac.com

PEACOCK BASS ON THE XERIUINI RIVER

By Darrell Ticehurst

I saw the video of the tremendous strike of a peacock bass and I couldn’t resist. So there I was in January 2005, winging my way to Manaus, Brazil.

Transferring to a bush plane for an additional two-hour flight to the Xeriuini River we flew over some very trackless and impenetrable jungle. We landed at a little village called Terra Preta, a small trading post. The Xeriuini flows into the Rio Branco, which flows into the Rio Negro, the largest tributary of the Amazon.

After landing, we were met by some native guides in 16-foot aluminum boats and were taken to our camp another 30 miles upriver. Interestingly, I had my portable GPS and when I fired it up, the camp latitude was “zero, zero”. We were right on the equator!

Accommodations were primitive, but adequate. The camp held eight people and had clean sleeping rooms and a nice dining room with decent food. Meals included tapir and paca, a giant rodent, for dinner!

Boats were the aforementioned 16-foot boats, with two anglers per boat. Fishing was just like fishing for largemouth bass; floating along the rivers, casting toward shore, retrieving top water plugs or swimming lures.

The peacock is a tremendous game fish with a strike that is awesome. The ferocity with which they hit a top water lure has all of the excitement of any big game fish. There’s a tremendous splash, a noise like an alligator just jumped on your lure, followed by a jolting charge as you feel the weight and the line starts running out.

If you miss, just keep cranking and they will keep on hitting, twice, three, and even four times. Each of the strikes will be just like the first one, a display of primitive abandon, as the spray flies in every direction.

This was one of my great fishing experiences! We caught a lot of fish (probably 15 to 20, each per day) in the five to nine lb. Class. A few “teeners” and one 21.5 lb. Monster were caught. Much fun!

As good as the fishing was, the adventure of being in the Amazonian rainforest was even better! We saw lots of caimans, parrots, macaws, herons, eagles, toucans, and many other bits of wildlife, even a poisonous fer-de-lance.

There are no mosquitoes on the Xeriuini, due to the amount of tannin in the water. A few other biting critters abounded, so we sprayed ourselves every day, and didn’t have much of a problem. Altogether, it was a great adventure, with some great fishing thrown in!

Email me at:

d.ticehurst@comcast.net if you want to know more about the experience.