The Fifth Annual Stu Apte Fly Fishing Sailfish Tournament gets underway tomorrow.

The Tournament Committee would like to thank the following sponsors in advance for their generosity:

Hear hear.

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http://www.rutlandwaterflyfishers.co.uk/

Pre-fishing days - 19 & 20 January:

* The Pelagian (37 ft Rybovich) with Capt. Chico Alvarenga and the Eshelman brothers (Tim & Pete – Roanoke, IN) on board. Chico and the Eshelman's won last year and are hoping to repeat. Out of the frozen Indiana prairies (Joseph Decuis Restaurant) come the two brothers on their jet right to the local airport in Pto. San Jose armed to the teeth to win again this year! Two days of pre-fishing yielded fair results 29-14-5 releases.

* The Intensity (37 ft Gamefisherman) with Capt. Mike Sheeder and the Team of Stu Apte & Dale DePriest (Aleknagnik Mission Lodge) hoping to win one, spent the two days working out the kinks with 25 raised, 12 bites and 3 releases. You guys have to do better than that.

Pre-fishing day, 20 January:

* The A-Fin-Ity (38 ft Billy Knowles Express )with Capt. Gilfredo Lopez and the team of Tim Wade (North Fork Anglers, Cody) and Kenny Gaskell (HD Supply, Gillette) on board in 1m seas. Out of the frozen Wyoming plains into the sunshine, high humidity and 10 kt breezes my intrepid friends ventured. Gilfredo says they got a real Guatemalan workout with 16 raised, 7 bites and 4 released sails!

* The Release (37 ft Merritt) with Capt. Nico Melendrez and the team of Drs. Jon Dee (Hollywood FL vet) and Steve Updegraff (St. Pete Lasix specialist) did better than the other boats with 18-10-7. I expect good numbers from them.

* The Allure (39 ft Bertram) with Capt. Chris “Kiwi” Van Leeuwen and the team of Drs. Scott Smith (Painless Dentist from MI) and Eugene Kolassa (Econ prof – MS) had a lot of free time on their hands as they couldn’t get the routine down pat. Plus the jitters when they had a blue free jumping! But that’s why they have pre-fishing days. Raised 7, released 2 sails

* The Finest Kind (40 ft Whiticar) with Capt. Ron Hamlin and the team of Wynn Cowan (Supply Chain Mgmt) and Dr. Jay Howington (Savannah Neuro) had 4 bites and released 2 sails.

---------- Post added at 08:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:59 AM ----------

First Day Stu Apte Tournament Report


Today Casa Vieja Lodge kicked off the Fifth Annual Stu Apte Fly Fishing Sailfish Tournament. Seven teams from across the country competing for the coveted Golden Sailfish Award. The morning bite was on fire!!! Doubles, triples and quads of sailfish were covering up every game boat. The radio was ablaze with the captains chatter of what promised to be a typical Guatemalan fishing day. Unfortunately, releases were hard to come by as the pressure of the sailfish coming into the spread mounted. By mid morning the releases started coming in to tournament headquarters. Rum Line, Pelagían, Release and Finest Kind were all in a head to head battle for first place. When the spray finally settled it was the Release as the official days victor.

Official Tournament Standings – Day 1:

Release 440 – Drs. Updegraff & Dee each had two releases
Finest Kind 330 – Cowan with two releases and Howington with one release
Pelagian 220 - Tim Eshelman with one release, brother Pete scoreless
Rum Line 220 – Drs. Smith & Kolassa one release each
Intensity 110 – Stu Apte one release and partner DePriest scoreless
Afinity 110 - Gaskell one release and partner Wade scoreless
Circle Hook 0 - The Swisstacks scoreless

More fish were seen yesterday than in the previous tournaments held in Costa Rica!

2nd day tournament report:

The morning bite was strong with all the tournament gameboats reporting sails in the doubles and triples menacing all the fly anglers. The sails were eager to bite the teasers, but getting them take a fly proved more difficult. It required a slow and patient retrieve. The baitfish schools had arrived overnight and the sails were gorged. Seas were calm, not a cloud in sight, and the air temp was well in the high 80’s. The afternoon bite stayed pretty consistent throughout the day with plenty of doubles being sighted. All the tournament gameboats raised over 20 sails today!!!

The highlights of the day were the A-Fin-Ity team of Wade and Gaskell with 5 releases (by noon) in 2nd place with 650 points. And the Release team with Dee & Updegraff with a last minute double header which ended with 6 releases and 1150 points and the leader.

Tied with A-Fin-Ity team in third place with 650 points is the Rum Line team of Smith & Kolassa

Fourth place is the Intensity team of Apte & DePriest with 550 points;
Fifth place is the Finest Kind team of Cowan & Howington with 450 points;
Sixth place is the Pelagian team of the Eshelman brothers with 220 points;
Last place is the Circle Hook team of the Swisstacks with 110 points - yay they scored one today - no longer virgins!

Defintely Guatemala is a fly fishers paradise.

Stay tuned for the final day report and the award winners. Lots of great prizes and trophies!

WOW!!! What an exciting tournament. When last I reported - Release was in the lead and guess what - they won!

Release lead the fleet and cruised to an easy victory. The team of Drs. Dee and Updegraff, who previously had not participated in this event added three more releases and won with 1430 points and received top team prize of: 2 14kt Gold Sailfish Pendants, 2 Sage 1390 - 4 Xi3 Fly Rods, 2 Shilton SL 7 reels and 2 King Release Plaques. Captain Nico Melendrez won a 60lb Boga Grip and a King Release Plaque.

The Rum Line team of Drs. Kolassa and Smith (also bluewater virgins) who previously had been in a tie for third added six more releases to end up in second place with 1310 points with Capt. Jason Brice. The anglers won: 2 Sage 1390 - 4 Xi3 Fly Rods, 2 Shilton SL 7 reels and 2 King Release Plaques.

Third Place team of Stu Apte & Dale DePriest (previously in fourth place) on the Intensity added five more fish to end in third place with 1100 points with Capt. Mike Sheeder won: 2 Shilton SL 7 reels and 2 King Release Plaques.

Top Lady Angler: Nancy Swisstack won a King Release Plaque

First Place Individual Angler: Dr. Smith with 880 points won a BT&T fly reel
Second Place Individual Angler: Dr. Updegraff with 770 points won a BT&T fly reel
Third Place Individual Angler: Dr. Dee with 660 points won an Avet reel

First Fish of Tournament: Dr. Updegraff - a 30lb Boga Grip
Last Fish of Tournament: Dr. Smith - a 30lb Boga Grip

Rounding out the remaining boats:

Fourth Place team of Wade and Gaskell on the A-Fin-Ity with Capt. Gilfredo Lopez
Added three more releases for a total of 980 points

Fifth Place team of Cowan & Howington on the Finest Kind with Capt. Ron Hamlin added three more releases for a total of 770 points;

Sixth Place team of the Eshelman brothers (who won the last two years) on the Pelagian with Capt. Chico Alvarenga added four more releases to tie with Finest Kind with 770 points;

Last Place team of the Swisstacks on the Circle Hook with Capt. Eddy Bairez added one more release for 220 point total.

More data to follow - like how many fish raised, etc.

Filming the event were John Doolan and Martin Cortez from Careco TV. The programs will broadcast on Versus and Fox Sports. Our thanks to Charles Goodloe, Karen Felix and Shelley Giesecke at Careco TV.