Miami, Florida - Offshore

The Captain Bob Lewis Boat Center Yamaha Billfish Challenge was held last weekend and Boat Center’s own Gary Lawson, and his team of anglers, ran away with the event. The Boat Center team consisted of Gary Lawson, owner-manager of Boat Center of Miami, Jock Horner, Dr. Jeffery Bennett, Spencer Bennett, and Captain Marty Locke. They were fishing on their new 36 foot Contender called the Boat Center Fishing Team....and what a team they were. Gary Lawson has been working at Boat Center of Miami for 25 years and is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the boat business. I have fished with Gary since we were teenagers and he still manages to outfish me. After the tournament I spoke with Gary to find out what his tactics were and what he thought gave him the winning edge. He explained that he began preparing for the tournament weeks in advance. Tackle and gear was placed in perfect working order. Next comes the bait. As everyone knows, Goggle Eye are the preferred baits to use during a Sailfish tournament. Their team began fishing for them at night a week before the tournament. They penned them up in a large holding pen, and let them recuperate from the stress from being caught. They fed them during the week ( I gave them the roe from the bellies of the Dolphin I caught during the week for fish food) and by tournament time these baits were healthy and frisky and ready for tournament action. Everyone on the boat had a job. Up front on the bow it was Spencer Bennett’s job to work the sea anchor. He also kept two live baits, free lined from both sides of the boat, under control. Captain Marty Locke was in charge of driving the boat. At times their were multiple hook-ups and Captain Locke performed the awesome task of running down the fish for a quick release without running over the lines. In the rear of the boat was Dr. Bennett on the two port kite baits and Lawson and Horner on the two starboard kite baits. On Friday night Lawson received a hot tip from the captains off Ocean Reef Yacht Club in North Key Largo. They had seen a good Sailfish “bite” in the morning and they thought it might be a good idea for Lawson’s team to make the run from Government Cut to Key Largo in the morning. Lawson knew that there had been a large amount of fish off Miami the previous week and he had an idea that maybe this herd of fish had pushed on south to Key Largo. At the Bimini start Saturday morning, the Boat Center Fishing Team, secretly made their way down to Key Largo. Only a handful of other boats had received the same tip. It only took a matter of minutes and the bite began. Every boat that had headed south did well that day, but by the end of the day the Boat Center team had ten releases and total command of the lead. The next day the word was out and everyone else had made the run south. Everyone caught fish, but the Boat Center team was too far ahead to catch up. They won the tournament with fifteen releases. Lawson’s team used 120 baits each day, changing them constantly. They used a combination of Threadfin Herring and Goggle Eye. He said the key to winning is being totally prepared all the time. They never take their eyes off their baits. If someone wants to get a sandwich, then somebody else will take over for them and watch the baits. He said “you have to hook and catch every Sailfish that comes up and eats your bait. Missed opportunities will make you the loser.” They caught fifteen out of seventeen hook-ups! He explained that luck has lots to do with winning also. If you are not at the right spot at the right time you won’t even get the opportunities. If you don’t get any opportunities, then you’ll never even have a chance at hooking a fish. The same team fished the Reef Cup Sailfish Tournament a few weeks earlier, and they only caught one fish out of three days of fishing. He added that the smaller outboard boats had an advantage over the big sportfishing type boats. There was a fleet of fast Contender boats that could make the run to Key Largo in less than an hour. They ran up the inside of the bay and then headed offshore once they were far enough south. The seas were very rough and it took the larger boats quite some time to get in on the “bite” once they found out where it was. By that time the bite was almost over. Congratulations to Gary and the rest of his team. They worked hard for their win, and the work paid off. A little luck didn’t hurt them either.