Zihuatanejo, Mexico

January 21-28

The 15th annual Ixtapa Sailfish Tournament started out with 46 anglers racing from the starting pier to all points off of Zihuatanejo in hopes of hooking up for a dance with a Sailfish, or better yet a Marlin.

Bill Evans started things off with landing our first sail of the tournament with Kelly Schulzke landing the last one 4 days later.

Fishing started out slow the first day with 21 anglers coming back with goose eggs.

Rocky Franich was high point for days 1 and 2. Judy Franich was right behind Rocky, keeping it in the family. Rocky came close to setting a record for the smallest Marlin caught at just around 6 lbs. On the other end of the spectrum was John Jacobi who not only was the high point winner of day 3; he also landed an approx. 220 pound Marlin on the 20# Momoi IGFA line. He landed it in around 40 minutes, launching John into the running for the title. Day 4 pulled Dale Miles off the Panga bench with 4 sails that put him in the money.

Fishing in general was fair. We landed 108 sails, 5 Marlin and 10 Dorado. This number represents a reduction of 61% in sails landed from the previous year. There were several fish that hit the bait like a freight train going through Texas, leaving anglers staring at circle hooks with a head. An opportunity that was missed, but you really didn’t stand a chance.

At the end of day 4, it was anybody’s game. The anglers trickled in on their way to the captain’s awards party at the dock, everyone sitting on needles waiting for all the results.

With a few fish here and there, about the only thing heard was the sound of Corona bottles clinking. The balance of things was thrown off kilter when Miles walked up with a score sheet that was pretty healthy. Schulzke had a banner day that would have been even better had she had another 30 minutes. Ken Ponichtera had been playing well all week and was a definite threat.

All the Vegas bookies were busy trying to put together the results, but the scorekeeping team headed up by Linda Veninga kept her cards pretty close to her chest.

With rods being given out by Gloomis and reels by Shimano, there was a lot of interest in winning this tournament.

The awards banquet served up our 4th place team of Paul Parlee and Judy Franich, Jerry Yahiro and Ken Ponichtera in 3rd, Kelly Schulzke and Don Veninga in 2nd and Dale Miles and John Jacobi in 1st.

Our Rolex qualifying team had a really tight race. Both Smokey Molle and Kelly Schulzke had the same amount of points, but Smoky won on time for 4th place. Ken Ponichtera slid into 3rd edging out Smokey by 10 points. Dale Miles, who had a great day four catapulted himself into the 2nd spot and Rocky Franich, who started out with a bang, held on to take the championship.

The Dorado Pacifico Hotel in Ixtapa handled our banquet and rooming needs with perfection. What a great place to stay in Ixtapa.

Next years tournament will be January 13-20, 2007