The billfish tournament went from Thursday through Saturday and we watched from the boat as they came right past our stern for the flags they fly (click on the picture below and you can see the flags) indicating the kind of billfish caught that day. The flags are colored to signify the particular kind of fish caught - white flag with a blue fish is a blue marlin; blue flag with a white fish is a white marlin; white flag with blue fish with large top fin is a sailfish; and don't know what the flag looks like for a spearfish because no one caught one.
in case you're interested in more info. It's pretty exciting just to walk the docks after they come in and see what else they've caught.
We also like to check out the names of the boats as well as where they come in from. The best name this year has to be 'Chasin Tail' out of Ft. Pierce, Fl.
This year's winner for this first segment of the tournament went to 'Bear Trap' out of none other than Lookout Mountain, Tn.
We met the owner on Friday - John Stout. Obviously this is a very rich man's sport. We were told the big gold reels on the fishing poles cost about $10K each!!!!!!
Entry for each segment of the tournament is about $3K and if you are lucky enough to win the overall championship the prize money is $10K. Sounds like a lot, but when you factor in that they use in the neighborhood of $2K diesel fuel each day it's not even enough to begin to cover your cost! Some of these numbers can be verified on the tournament website, but the others were given to us by one of the boat owners. When you figure that diesel fuel was $5.62/gal at the start of the tournament and they use several hundred gallons or more each day it's not hard to see it add up. OUCH!!!!
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