June 2007
Newsletter
Published
by comefishLa.com, Inc.
The 3rd annual Cajun Canyons Billfish Classic, presented by
Gulf Coast Hatteras and
Hatteras Yachts is now in the record
books. Inclement weather at the start of the week left us with 39 boats, fishing
for a total available purse of $471,723.53; not bad for 39 boats!
Tuesday, May 29, we started the festivities with our Dock Party, hosted by
the good people at Venice Marina at
their new Crawgators Bar and Grill. Loads of good food, along with Tommy Bahama
Rum, Mango Rum Punch, Woodford Reserve Bourbon were all a big hit. We also
welcomed new Diamond Level Sponsors Pacific
Fins Resort from Guatemala and new Gold Level Sponsor
Night Vision Technologies displaying
their wares on Ambient NAV monitors.
Thanks go to Peter Meagher of Ambient NAV for turning the entire marina wireless
and that great cell phone signal booster.
Wednesday, with the winds whipping from the East, our registration continued,
followed by our Captains Meeting. Our Kick-Off Party, co-sponsored by our
friends at LeBeouf Brothers Towing and
Southern-Scrap Recycling was a big hit with Boiled Shrimp, Creole Jambalaya,
and the best Bread Pudding in the world; all from our new Gold Level Sponsor,
Acme Oyster House. Thanks go to
Brown-Forman,
William Grant and Sons, along with
Republic National Distributing , for
sponsoring our Open Bars—no drink tickets here!
Thursday, May 31, with the winds laying down somewhat,
Gulf Coast Hatteras and
Hatteras Yachts sponsored the
Hatteras Hangover Clinic featuring TABASCO
Bloody Marys and strong New Orleans style coffee. We continued a fine south
Louisiana tradition with Father Jerry from Port Sulphur coming down and Blessing
our Fleet for safe fishing.
With fishing starting at 12:01 am, Friday morning, the phones and radios
started ringing with Swordfish releases by both the 45’ Cabo, Bushwhacker
and the 50’ Viking, Pass-It-On . As daylight broke on June 1, the day
after the Full Moon, the Blue Marlin were biting with multiple hook-ups and
releases being called in. Then, at 11:30am, the Bushwhacker continued
their good luck, boating a 104 inch Blue Marlin, with Darryl Elias as the lucky
angler. The 104 inch Blue weighed in at 401.8 pounds and would hold up for first
place, paying the crew of the Bushwhacker $68,823.53 from the Base Entry
payouts. Friday continued to see some remarkable fish, with the 61’ Weaver,
Tar Baby weighing in a whopper of a Wahoo at 90.8 pounds, followed shortly
by a 169.4 pound Yellowfin Tuna caught by Vincent Pisciotta fishing onboard the
59’ Bertram, Miss Mary IV. Also weighing in on Friday was Matt Jackson
with a 132.0 pound Yellowfin Tuna fishing on the 56’ Viking Done Deal,
with Owner/Captain/Sponsor Jon Gonsoulin at the helm.
Saturday, June 2 the fish continued to bite with more hook-ups, spit-hooks,
and releases, along with numerous nice meat fish. The 30’ Albemarle,
Balancing Act, local boys from Venice Marina weighing in both a 48.8 pound
Dolphin, caught by Bill Delabar, taking 1st Place in our Dolphin division. 2nd
Place Dolphin went to Dr. David Coy at 45.8 pounds, fishing on the 55’ Hatteras,
Surprise, Captained by Frank Frelich, with third place going to Stephen
Brierre, fishing onboard the 52’ Hatteras, Murphys Law, Owned and
Captained by Murphy Foster, with a 40.6 pound Dolphin.
1st Place in our Tuna division stayed with the crew of the Miss Mary IV
at 169.4 pounds, with 2nd Place going to Jeryet Bourg, fishing on the 60’
Hatteras, First Choice, weighing in at 158.2 pounds, with Matt Jackson
from the Done Deal hanging on to 3rd Place with his 132.0 pound Yellowfin.
Our Wahoo division was won by Brett Armstrong, fishing on the 61’ Weaver,
Tar Baby with a 90.8 pounder, while 2nd Place went to Gordon Moss, fishing
on the 44’ Topaz, High Risk, weighing in at 76.4 pounds, with 3rd Place
going to Jeremy Steele on the 48’ Viking, Steele Away, weighing in at
63.4 pounds.
Our Tag/Release Division was won by the crew of the 48’ Cabo, Revolution,
from Houma, Louisiana, with three Blue Marlin releases, Captained by Jermie Ball
and Team Leader Heinke Trapp. They are now qualified to fish the
IGFA Offshore Championship next year. Second
Place in the Tag/Release Division went to the crew of the 56’ Viking, Reel
Addiction, with two Blue Marlin releases, followed by the crew of the 50’
Viking, Pass-It-On, with three Swordfish releases. All Tag/Release
Division winners received gorgeous inlaid teak step boxes from our Diamond Level
Sponsor, Release Marine.
Top Youth Angler went to 15 year old Grayson LaBorde, fishing on the 40’ Cabo,
Zephyr, with his first Blue Marlin release (and they even got a tag in
it, then Grayson got his swim for his first Blue Marlin). Grayson was awarded a
Top Youth Angler trophy, along with a portable Sony Playstation, and numerous
other sponsor gifts.
Top Female Angler went to Lainey Jones for the 2nd year in a row, fishing on
the 60’ Bonner, Big Adventure, with one Blue Marlin release along with
numerous Yellowfin Tuna and Dolphin also weighed in.
The Top Billfish Boat this year went to the crew of the Revolution.
They are our first winners of the C. R. Bob Potter Memorial Trophy. Mr. Potter
was one of our Founding Sponsors and passed away last year on June 9. Mr. Potter
will be missed dearly, but his smile and character will be forever remembered
with this perpetual trophy. Special thanks go to Billy Potter at
Area Wholesale Tire for helping us
continue this tradition in memory of his loving father.
Our Awards Party Saturday night was a BIG HIT with
Acme Oyster House outdoing themselves
with Red Beans and Rice, Gumbo, Raw Oysters, more Jambalaya, Crayfish Etouffee,
Natchitoches Meat Pies, and more of their world-famous Bread Pudding. Thank You
Acme! Our Charity Auction, to benefit
both CCA of Louisiana and
The Billfish Foundation had some
wonderful items and raised almost $8,000.00 for these two fine marine
conservation charities.
All our Base Entry Winning Captains received a gift bag stuffed with numerous
Hatteras gifts,
Maui Jim Sunglasses Gift Certificates and
other prizes compliments of comefishLa.com,
along with TABASCO gift bags. To the
winning Captains-ENJOY THEM.
With a total of 12 verified Blue Marlin releases, 5 verified Swordfish
releases, 1 verified White Marlin release, and 1 Blue Marlin on the dock, left
us with a 92% release rate.
I would like to thank our loyal sponsors, the Best of the Best, without whom
we could not have put on our 3rd annual Cajun Canyons Billfish Classic. Please
support them as they truly represent the finest manufacturers and products
available. In closing, I would like to thank the Plaquemines Parish Council and
Parish President Billy Nungesser for their support. The sportfishing industry is
just one opportunity to help Plaquemines Parish with their rebuilding
program—Thanks go to all of you for helping keep Venice on the fishing map. See
you next year and bring another boat with you; let’s make it bigger and better
every year.
Steve Thomas
Tournament Director
