The Final Sail: Our Last Tournament of Our First Season

The Final Sail: Our Last Tournament of Our First Season

Wow! The Spring 2024 sailfish tournament season flew by! After fishing the Sailfish Challenge and the Jimmy Johnson, it was time to prepare for our last tournament, The Final Sail. At this point in the season, our team felt like a well-oiled machine, and we were all hungrier than ever for a win. The day before the competition rolled around fast, and it was time to head out and scout the waters for signs of life and, most importantly, our targeted species...the sailfish.

We had a very successful (and rough) pre-fishing day using our Penn Fishing rods and reels. We learned where the sails were, where they weren’t, and even caught a few tunas for dinner! Now it was time for an early night as we would all need fresh brains and bodies for the next two competition days. Not only were we competing against the anglers in the Final Sail, but we were also competing against any of the boats (all 157 of them) that fished the entire Sailfish Series.

The morning of The Final Sail arrived, and our team gathered at the dock, gear meticulously prepared, and spirits high. Our team included Captain Trey Claus at the helm, and Ryan Kocourek and Dylan Wheeler as mates. For anglers, we had Matt Arnholt, Tyler Claus, Wayne Russell, David Mills, and Bill Sharp and of course the two of us as acting owners. On day one, we headed offshore in Invincible Boats’ 43’ demo boat with a very strong game plan to head straight south off of Miami and fish between 120 and 180 feet of water. It didn’t take long before Emily hooked up to our first sail of the competition. Overall, we had a very consistent bite and totaled six sails. At the end of the day, Emily was sitting in first place for Top Lady Angler, our team was sitting in fourth place for Catch and Release, and fourth place for the Sailfish Series!

As a team, we were happy with where we were sitting but also very aware that the competition was strong and we would have to have another very successful day to keep our position in the tournament. We headed back to the dock and gave the boat a quick clean with our GTechniq Marine soaps as we were all eager to get to bed and finish the competition strong.

Day two started off rough. We had a double hookup in the first ten minutes of lines in, but unfortunately, we had an issue with our kite, and the braid from the kite line burned the mono on our sail lines, leading to us losing both fish. As a team, we were devastated, but we did our best to keep morale high. It wasn’t until 12:50 pm that Emily finally released her first sail of the day. At this point, the spot for Top Lady Angler was anyone’s game, and placing between 2nd and 5th place as a team would come down to one fish.

As the day went on, we saw plenty of sails surfing down the swells in the deep blue water of 180 feet, but these fish did not want to eat. It was clear they were only interested in traveling. We pushed inshore to dirtier and greener water, where we found some hungry fish and worked hard to stay in the game. Towards the end of the day, we lost cell service and weren’t able to keep track of the score, so we were fishing blind. After lines out, we all looked at each other and had no idea where we stood…

After a few minutes of waiting for cell service to come back, we got the news…the team took fourth place in Catch and Release, fourth place out of 157 boats in the Sailfish Series, AND Emily won Top Lady Angler! After a long season, we had our first 1st Place finish and couldn’t be more proud!

The end of the tournament season is always bittersweet. It's a time to reflect on what we did right, what we did wrong, and take a close look at where our team could improve. The off-season would be a time to regroup, refine our strategies, and come back stronger next year.

We are incredibly thankful to our tournament sponsors who supported us in our first season as a competitive fishing team! Thank you to GTechniq Marine for keeping our boat clean, Penn Fishing for providing us with the necessary gear, and Invincible boats for the speedy vessel. Until next season, tight lines and fair winds!

From left to right: Wayne Russell (Angler), Tyler Claus (Angler), Amanda (Owner/Angler), Trey Claus (Captain), Emily (Owner/Angler), Drew (Angler) , Dylan Wheeler (Mate), David Mills (Angler).