Cap Cana, Dominican Republic: It was the team fishing aboard the Florida based 60’ Bayliss, Uno Mas that ran away with an impressive victory at this year’s International Cap Cana Billfish Shootout. Not only was Uno Mas the tournament’s Top Boat earning them the elegant Release Marine step box trophy but boat owner Brooks Smith finished first in the Shootout’s Top Individual Angler standings. “All in all it was a resounding victory” commented Brooks as he received the Top Angler Mustad Silver Hook trophy.
At the end of day one, Team Uno Mas occupied fourth place in the leader board behind Black Gold in the lead, defending champs Shark Byte in second and Free Spool in third. However, it was on day two when Uno Mas lit up the scoreboard releasing six white marlin plus two blue marlin, the latter earning them extra points, winning them the daily and catapulting them into first place. After that they never looked back! “We approach every tournament the same. Stay focused and catch what you see. Brooks on the flats and Sean Gallagher and Eric Rojas on the riggers is a deadly combination, so I knew if I could get the bites we would do very well” said Uno Mas’ Captain Tom Lynskey with a big smile.
On the third and final day they continued to accumulate points finishing the tournament with a very comfortable lead of 1,250 points. “We were 17 for 23, so you can see that our percentage was very good. Anytime you can fish at 70% or higher you will be in the money” concluded Lynskey.
Meanwhile, a battle for second and third place had ensued between Puerto Rico’s Doña Lucy and Florida’s Black Gold. When the dust finally settled both teams ended up with identical scores but Black Gold edged out Doña Lucy by a mere seven minutes under the tiebreaker rule that states that the team who reaches the high score first wins.
In the Chivas Regal Division Individual Angler standings it was Puerto Rico’s Manuel Batlle fishing aboard Bandolera in second place and Dominican Republic’s Elias Cruz finishing third aboard Doña Lucy.
As for the Brugal Rum Division, the winning boats were all boats from Puerto Rico with Vacana on top, followed by Bluebird and Barbie respectively. The Individual Angler standings in the division were Alberto Sanchez from Venezuela as the Top Angler fishing aboard Vacana, Puerto Rico’s Federico Lopez, Jr. in second also aboard Vacana and in third it was Harold Vicente from Puerto Rico aboard Bluebird.
The final release count came to a total of one hundred and thirty two billfish released. Broken down by species there were 2 sailfish, fourteen blue marlin and one hundred and sixteen white marlin released during this year’s Cap Cana Shootout. An impressive average of seven and one third billfish releases per boat. All participating boats had multiple releases during the event.
Next year will be the International Billfish Shootout’s 20th Anniversary and plans are already underway. For starters, the Shootout will move to a four days of fishing format. Fish three days, lay day on the fourth day and finish up on day five. The traditional already elegant and fun filled shoreside activities will be improved even further thanks to our sponsors and the fishing will no doubt continue to improve as more and more crews become better acquainted with this fabulous fishery. The 2014 dates are tentatively set for June 5th to June 11th, so mark your calendars and join us for an exciting 20th Anniversary celebration. For details contact us at 305 213-5521 or info@intlbillfishtourns.com. To see the video of our 2012 event click on this link http://youtu.be/O71E3Eruq68 or visit our website www.intlbillfishtourns.com.
Marina Casa de Campo 