| Past Tournaments |
| Tournament Results |
| Pictures |
With the assistance of Steve and Doreen Sears, this foursome put a new twist on an already great tournament.
Hardly a moment passes that something inovative was presented, leading one to think there were at a whole different tournament.
Maybe the fish were scarace, but the good times weren't.
Thank you
Angler Rick Bothmer wins his first championship
2nd place going to Kelly Schultzke,
3rd place going to John Jacobi
4th place Greg Wallace.
The Tournament Anglers Association recently held the 20th Annual Sailfish Tournament in Ixtapa, Mexico. From the warm greetings of the Dorado Pacifico Hotel to the warm Mexico sun, 36 Anglers and 17 guests enjoyed a week of fishing, fun and good entertainment. It was an interesting week, as many guests arrived before the start date to get settled and do a little pre-tournament fishing. This proved to be quite and experience for members fishing on Friday who found themselves caught in a rather large and strong storm about mid-day.
Aboard the Don William was Tournament Chairman, Ed Lynch, and long time friend, Gary Morgan. After working 5 sailfish in fairly calm seas during the morning hours to a little drizzle, the seas and sky opened up around 11:30 am and quickly pushed the wind to 25+ knots and 6-8 foot seas. Not a problem for a bigger boat, but the 28 foot Panga and all aboard were taking a beating. It took well over 3 hours to safely travel the 13 miles back to the Zihuatanejo Pier, where the life vests were quickly removed and the two headed back to Dorado Pacifico for hot showers and warming fluids. As Gary Morgan later commented, “I danced with the devil today”. Similar stories were reported from other anglers, but all made it back unscathed.
This year, the Dorado Pacifico wanted to do something special for the 20th annual celebration and decided to make this year’s event all outdoors. What a treat! The opening banquet was held in the Sunset Bar at poolside, which provided the perfect back drop for a beautiful sunset over the Pacific Ocean. The Tournament sponsors: Gloomis, Shimano, Hook & Tackle Clothing, L&S Bait, Grays Taxidermy, Old Harbor Outfitters, and Costa Del Mar were all represented with beautiful banners proudly displayed around the inside of the restaurant. As the sun was setting, Chairman, Ed Lynch, his wife Shana, and Co-Chairman, Steve Sears, and his wife Dorinda, greeted the guests and TAA members with a reception cocktail, followed by an authentic and delicious Mexican buffet. As we opened the 2010 Tournament, we paused to remember the many past TAA members that were no longer with us, including Bill Gillissie who died in late 2009. The 2010 Tournament was dedicated to Bill, while Bill’s wife, Karen, would join the tournament later in the week. Once the official business and event particulars were out of the way, a walk was taken down memory lane as stories were heard from Rocky Francich, John Jackson, Dick Wallace and others, about the early days of the TAA and Ixtapa Sailfish Tournaments. The stories really brought home one of the true reasons for the annual trip to Ixtapa, it’s about more than fishing. Thank God, because fishing would prove to be the only challenge for 2010.
This strong storm was significant to the Tournament in that the water temperature became very inconsistent, there were huge bands of 75 degree water and the small pockets of water over 80 degrees were hard to find. Good blue water was 3 miles out and turning green at 14-15 miles. Fish became very scarce.
Day one (Monday) started off with the anglers having brunch in the front of the Hotel starting at 5:30 am. The excitement to get fishing was in the air and everyone wanted to get to the pier and board the boats. Right out of the gate there were a few hook ups and by the 10am report 4 sails had be caught and released. Unfortunately the noon report did not show much improvement, and by 2 pm only a couple of additional sails had become available to the 36 anglers in 18 boats. By the time the last boat reported in, there were a total of 6 sails, 1 small Blue Marlin (caught by Kelly Schulzke) and 2 Dorado. First fish of the tournament went to John Jacobi and last fish was caught by Ken Ponichtera with 35 minutes left in the day. High point for day one went to Kelly Schulzke with 250 points.
Day two proved to be a very frustrating day on the water with a total of two sails caught.
The first fish, 3 hours into day two was caught by Rick Bothmer and the last fish caught by Allen Molle at 1:30 in the afternoon. A few Dorado appeared and put a couple of members on the board with 10 points.
Day three was an off fishing day and many anglers took their frustrations to the golf course, which for some, provided a source of humility and for others, great laughter.
It appears that there is a different set of mechanics involved in swinging a golf club compared to the fine art of hooking a sailfish with circle hooks. Regardless, it was a fun day for all that finished off with a sunset cocktail party in the VIP suite, where once again the fun and laughter of the day’s outings provided a nice break from the frustrations of the elusive Istiophorus platypterus (sailfish). I hate it when fish are smarter than us.
Day four was much cooler than normal with rougher seas and high cloud cover most of the day. Life on the Panga was filled with stories and observations about where all the fish had gone and what had happened to the plentiful fishing grounds that have come to be appreciated. Two minutes into the fishing day, Gary Morgan hooked the first fish an battled the beast to the side of the boat in a vicious fight, claiming a 150 points and putting himself on the board as a contender for the top prize. Angler Greg Wallace took top points on day four with one sailfish and one Dorado, scoring 160 points.
Day five started with the Tournament wide open. Low fish count and low scoring throughout the week left an opportunity for any of the 36 anglers to sweep the Tournament. At 10 minutes into the day, Neal McNamara scored his first sailfish and jumped on the scoreboard. Next fish, caught by Rick Bothmer, would put Rick in the winner circle with 450 points (3 sailfish). At the end of the day the final count would be posted with a total of 16 Sailfish, 1-Blue Marlin and 9 Dorado. The low scoring fish count did not deter the group from celebrating 20 years of fishing the Ixtapa waters with Captains and friends at the Mirador Bar, where prizes were presented to the Captains. A special presentation of a memorial emblem of remembrance was presented to all the Captains, celebrating our long time fellow angler Bill Gillissie’s life.
Our top Captain for the 2010 TAA Ixtapa Tournament was Jaime Varga on his boat, Albatros.
The 2010 Ixtapa Tournament closed to a wonderful beach party and dinner fronting the Dorado Pacifico. The Dorado Pacifico Fire Dancers entertained the group with historic Mexican dances. Daniel, the wonderful Chef at the hotel, prepared a spectacular buffet dinner beachside and we all stopped to give a warm “Thank You” to our friends Luis, Ricardo, Daniel, Jesus and the entire staff of the Dorado Pacifico. After presentation of the awards to the top anglers, fireworks popped and banged and lit up the skies revealing some very dark rain clouds heading our direction. As we closed the tournament, in honor of Bill Gillissie, rain drops started to dance across the stage soon turning to showers. The entire group retreated to the piano bar, where member Gary Lucas sang “Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head” , followed by his heart-felt rendition of “One Ton Tomato”.
One had to be there to appreciate the TAA dance party in the piano bar. As I said in 2009, “2010 would be a year to remember”. See you all in 2011 in Cabo San Lucas.
Ed Lynch
2010 Ixtapa Chairman