Our good friend and mentor, Capt Bill Bittman Sr. got some bad news from the doctors and has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Shortly after finding out, he was stricken with paralysis, due to tumors on his spinal cord. We wanted to help out with medical expenses so we, Capt Slick and Matt Dean (of Get Right Fishing Team) decided to throw a last minute wahoo tournament to raise a little cash to help his wife handle some of the unexpected expenses.
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So… yes. That’s right. We threw a last minute, short notice, all cash wahoo tournament and we did so on no other than 4/20. I mean after all, it is “smoker wahoo” season, right?
Late winter/ Early spring time is another time of year where the big girls are migrating through. The only downside to this time of year is, of course, weather. This past Saturday was no exception.
All week long, we had a good looking forecast. At the last minute we decided to go ahead and put the feelers out to see if we would have any interest and as it turned out, we did. We had around 15 or so boats reserve their spots but when Friday’s forecast for the next day came out, that all changed. The forecast called for sustained 17kt winds with gusts up to 29-34kts! Sheesh!
Above: actual shot of the FishWeather forecast ~5 miles south of Big Rock
That forecast stopped all but 7 of us boats. We watched our SatFish shots and decided to go to an area of water that was in 30-32 fathoms and holding 72 degree water on the edge of some cooler water. It was just south of Big Rock and was holding steady so we tried it.
Below: Actual shot of the SST’s around Big Rock area
After finding the piece of water we were looking for, we all turned circles around each other, talking trash on the radio and having a ball. There were plenty of king Mackerel caught, some blackfin and quite a few dolphin. We had 6 wahoo weighed in overall and saw a nice 48lb Dolphin brought in by Matt “Sūpa Mate” Dean and the “Bootlegger” crew.
Above: Matt “Sūpa Mate” Dean (left) and cockpit crew of the Bootlegger (60’ Guthrie)
Here is what Capt Slick had to say on the social media post regarding the tourney:
“We want to give a huge thanks to those of you who fished and/or supported our 4/20 Smoke ‘Em Wahoo tournament yesterday, on such short notice. We had 7 boats total and a few wahoo were weighed in. Chasin Tails was gracious enough to let us weigh in and even helped run the weigh in. Thanks Matt & Ross! Full Moon Oyster bar donated gift cards for our top 2 winners and will be a major sponsor/partner in the upcoming series. Thank you Randy! Jason Gore played a huge part as well. His lure company, Gore’s Offshore, sent a huge package of custom wahoo lures, stickers and more to give away to our winners and participants. Jason will also be a major sponsor/partner in the upcoming series. Stay tuned for info release of the tournament series… 👀”
I then followed that up with this info
:
The tournament results are as follows:
1st place: Bedrock - 69.09lbs
$1,400
$200 Gift Card to Full Moon Oyster Bar
Gore’s Offshore Custom Lure Package
2nd place: Reel Developers - 48.74lbs
$700
$100 gift card to Full Moon Oyster Bar
Gore’s Offshore Custom Lure Package
3rd Place: Kathy Kay - 41.07
$400
Gore’s Offshore Custom Lure Package
Smoker Big Fish TWT - Kathy Kay - 41.07
$700
Gore’s Offshore Custom Lure
We raised $600 for Capt Bill and his family to use towards his medical expenses. I will be giving it to his son today when I go to spend time with my buddy. Thank you again, this was just a fun little tourney to most but it was for a great cause.
Tight lines,
~Slick & Matt Dean”
We hope to have our next tournament in the fall to get the ball rolling for the series and go full throttle with it. We have a lot of stuff in the works and are super excited about it. It’s going to be an awesome collection of events with huge payouts and incredible celebrations. Thank you so much for taking the time to check us out and hopefully, we will see you on the water!