We live in a world of mandatory circle hooks and wily billfish, especially when it comes to hooking up the white marlin.

Say you're trolling along with your teasers out and here comes your 90-pound white. You beat him to the rod and get ready to feed hime your circle-hooked bait. But how long do you feed him for?

Growing up I heard everything from a ten count to five MIssisppi and so on. So how long should your dropback be?

I'd like to give you a hard and fast answer, but our experience is that each fish is different. One thing we try to do is tease the fish as close to the boat as possible before feeding him. This allows us a better view when Mr. marlin takes the bait.

After that, it's more art than science. You have to feel the fish. Once we see the spool speed up, generally indicating the fish has the bait and has changed direction, we lift the lever to strike and if all goes well, the fish is there.

If you have a dropback that works for you, feel free to share it in our forums. 

*Do you have a tournament angler tip? Just write it up in an e-mail and send it to patrick@tournamentangler.org. If we use it on the homepage, you'll earn yourself a Tournament Angler long-sleeve T-shirt. So start sharing, and you'll start wearing.

 Gotchya!

 Tournament Angler contributor Pat Ford captured this awesome Keys shark-fishing moment. A great ctach on the fly and a great release. But....we're  not too sure about tailing toothy critters.

 A Seahorse and the Sailfish

No, the above is not the title of some nursery rhyme, but during this winter's sailfish season, this team onboard Seahorse found the South Florida sailfish when those northerly kicked up. Of course, when theose winds do kick that tower is a long place to spend the day. Way to go Cap'n.

 28th-Annual Bartender's Open 

Thirty-five Bartenders fishing on 13 boats joined in the fun recently for the 28^th Annual Bartenders Sailfish Open. The first sailfish release, at 8:59 by Renee Jensen, aboard the T & A put Ocean View in the lead. It was not soon after that Capt. Nick Stanczyk of the B & M (Bud N' Mary's) called in a triple header of sails. B & M’s mate Dan Flynn got the release on all three fish and the B & M never looked back.

With another triple at 12:20 and three single fish released through out the day, the B & M would solidly take home first place.  Anglers Skyler Mc Garry and Ryan Crocket will proudly display the 1^st place trophy at Dillon’s for the next year. Dillon’s also scored the Most Outstanding Catch award with a 32.9-pound Wahoo caught by Ryan Crocket.

Overall a total of 33 fish were released out of 43 called in hookups. High-point bartender honors went to Skyler McGarry aboard the B & M with a total of 6 releases.  

New Costa Del Mar Shades

Costa Del Mar’s New Corbina and Fisch Sunglasses Expertly Meld Form and Function.

Aggressive technology meets comfortable “forget-they’re-on” fit with Costa Del Mar’s two newest sunglasses to debut this year: Corbina and Fisch.  Both feature the no-slip Hydrolite™ lining along the entire interior of the frame, giving the wearer the most comfortable sunglass fit ever.

Fisch has Costa’s signature three-hole venting system on the frame front to eliminate lens fogging.  The sunglasses earned the name “Fisch” from Chris Fischer, the legendary angler from TV’s Offshore Adventures who last year commandeered a 125-foot decommissioned crabbing vessel to sail around the world for epic fishing adventure and research.

Corbina is named after the hard fighting Pacific West Coast species of fish, and features sharper angles and wide temples for an updated stylish look. 

Both Corbina and Fisch are available in either tortoise, black or silver frames, and can be customized with the full array of the “Costa clear” lenses, including the high definition 580 gray, copper, blue, green or silver mirrors.  The sunglasses are built to fit medium to large face shapes and have integral hinges for a flexible, comfortable fit. They retail from between $149 to $249.

Corbina and Fisch are available in retail outlets now, and also at www.costadelmar.com.

 Mad Dog Mandich is Coming!

Mark Your Calendars for the 2nd Annual Mad Dog Mandich Fishing Classic May 1st & 2nd, 2009 at the Miami Beach Marina Over $42,000 in Prize Money.

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Key West, Fla, (April 2009)  Team Get Lit dominated the 2009 World Sailfish Championship, the richest tournament of its kind in the world, with a tournament-record 22 releases in winning its third title in the million-dollar event’s seven-year history. Their first place finish earned the team over $340,000 in winnings.

Owner Kitt Toomey added to his championships in 2003 and 2007 - and a fifth place finish in 2004 - by leading the event for all three days.
 

When asked how it felt to win a third time, Toomey responded “This is the biggest tournament we look forward to the most and it feels like our hard work has paid off.  This time feels like the best.” 

Under Captain Quinton Dieterle for the first time, with crew Peter Miller, Kelly Mayo, Jon Cooper, Cap Hinkley and Claudio Martinez, they won by three releases over Team Excavator, captained by Brandon Mullar.

Weez in the Keys, captained by Dave Morris, also released 19 sailfish, but was third on time.The top three teams in the 77-boat fleet all achieved more than 14 releases. An overall tournament record of 564 releases was set.

“Another record year,” said Chris King, tournament chairman. “Incredibly, this year we had a record number of releases even with 20 percent fewer boats due to economic conditions.
“Congratulations to Team Get Lit. To win this tournament three times is an unbelievable feat. They’re the only team to win more than once.”

For the first two days of fishing, conditions were perfect for kite fishing with 368 sails released. By the end of day two, Team Get Lit was in front with 16 releases; followed by Weez in the Keys with 14.

On the final day, fishing was idyllic with winds of 10 to 12 knots out of the east. The current fell off which kept the bite from being perfect–although 196 sailfish were still released. While the lead changed several times on the final day, Team Get Lit managed to pull ahead for good.

Final payout was over $1,000,000, and in addition to that more than $100,000 was given to charity. 

Lines out Thursday marked the end of the regular of the inaugural Sailfish Pro Series, a season-long NASCAR style point race culminating in a post-season playoff. The post season finale will be held in Miami, Florida from May 1-3 with the top five point-leaders and one wild card team competing for the title. Team Rock Star came out on top followed by Advanced Roofing, Jichi, Weez in the Keys, Hostile and wild-card winner Team Cracker.

Over the course of seven months, 17 teams have been competing in five world class sailfish tournaments – which comprise the Sailfish Pro Series–for the $100,000 prize and the title of Best of the Best.