2011 Islamorada Sailfish Tournament

For the 48th year in a row the Islamorada Sailfish Tournament took place over a 3 day span. The first day of fishing was Friday the 2nd and ended on Sunday the 4th. There was 23 different teams fishing the event. It was an exciting tournament with a great bite of sailfish. The first day there was 3 different boats all with 7 sailfish, including the KALEX in first (on time) and the BODACIOUS in third. The second day was an even better bite of sailfish and it was back and forth all day long with fish being released. On Saturday the CATCH 22 released 12 sailfish, giving him 17 total, and the BODACIOUS also released 12 more sailfish giving them 19 total. Capt. Nick Stanczyk was fishing as an angler aboard his friends Henry and Shay Danzig's private boat BODACIOUS with his life long friend Taylor Walsh at the wheel. Allen Wood was also an angler and Topher Wightman was the designated mate. We knew they were coming for us with Nick's Uncle Capt. Scott Stanczyk running the CATCH 22, and the other boats at the marina weren't far out of the lead either. On the final day both the BODACIOUS and CATCH 22 released a sailfish early, but then hit a dry spell. The KALEX put a quick 4 on the board to get to 18 fish, but then two other boats jumped them, the Contagious caught 5 giving them 20 sailfish with 30 minutes to go and the Wound Up was on fire releasing 9 sailfish, giving them 19 total. The CATCH 22 caught another sailfish giving them 19 releases, with 20 minutes to go. A double header for either boat would have put them in 1st place, or a single for Contagious. The clock was ticking but finally BODACIOUS hooked up and caught a double header with 3 minutes to go! It gave us a little breathing room and finally lines were called out. BODACIOUS finished in 1st place with 22 releases, CONTAGIOUS in 2nd with 20 releases, WOUND UP with 19 releases in 3rd, CATCH 22 with 19 releases in 4th, and KALEX with 18 releases in 5th. There will be over a dozen sailfish tournaments the next 3 months so if you ever want to get involved come on down to Islamorada.