BILLFISH TOURNEY: A LEISURE OF LOVE

Key West Citizen Sports June 19, 2001

 

          Even before the charter boat Erica left Key West bight, Captain Jim Butters announced, “We’re not going to Cuba to fish; we’re going to Cuba to win a fishing tournament.”

 

          Compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake in other fishing tournaments, the first-prize gold medal and hand-carved swordfish bill for winning the 51st Ernest Hemingway International Billfishing Tournament is hardly reason enough to start an engine, let alone risk the possible wrath of the US Treasury Department.

 

          But the competition among world-class anglers from 46 lean, mean fishing machines registered in this year’s tourney is a lure greater than a bull moose roar during the rut.

 

          "There’s some prize money put into a pool collected from the fishermen themselves,” said Drew Santoro, the attending captain on Erica, who flew into Key West from New Jersey to participate on Butters’ four-man fishing team.  “But even if we win, it won’t cover expenses for a boat like Erica.”

 

          Captain Butters’ 43-foot Viking Sport Fisherman with twin 800 horsepower engines makes the 90-mile crossing from Key West to Hemingway Marina, which is 18 miles due west of Havana, in just three hours.  Twelve fishing rods and reels with more miles of lines than Cuba has roads are greased and trembling with the excitement of the first Bimini Start on Tuesday morning.

 

          “It’s something to see; all those pristine, big boats lined up as far as you can see from the Malecon.  Then all at once, they gun their engines and spray flies,” said the US Marine’s Regional Security Officer at Friday evening’s “Marine House” happy hour.

 

This every-other-Friday evening gathering of the Marine’s who secure the US Interest Section in Havana is unrelated to the Hemingway Fishing Tournament – and none of the Marines participate in the event, of course – but their compound is located near enough the water to observe each morning’s rooster-tail spray from the fast start.

 

An appreciative toast is made in honor of the anglers.

 

A bit later this same Friday evening, Cuban fishermen host a dinner at Hemingway Marina to honor their international competitors.  With only one day left in the tournament, standings are posted and captains of fishing boats from as far away as Spain, Nicaragua or Mexico plot tomorrow’s strategy.

 

Erica is in fourth place, right up there with the mostly North American fishing fleet, which boasts at least 30 of the boats in the tournament.  The 180-pound blue marlin that Matt Thompson tagged and released in only 20-minutes on the first day has held Erica’s place near the top of the pack.  But before Thompson caught his fish at 11:30 a.m., a mate on Crisdel, a boat out of Brielle, New Jersey, caught a smaller white marlin, and first-in counts more than size.

 

 “There are daily trophies for whoever catches the first fish for the day, but the overall number caught determines the winner,” said Captain Santoro.  “Right now, Crisdel is in first place because that crew caught a second white marlin Wednesday, which underscores that so far, the fishing sucks.”

 

Captain Santoro says this is a “well managed, well run” tournament, but “8 a.m. to 6 p.m. is a long fishing day, even when you’re catching fish.”  The hour it takes to go through Cuban Customs in the morning and in the evening elongates the fishing day, typically from 9 to 4 in other tournaments:  “Throw in the time it takes to clean the boat and gear at the end of each day, there’s just enough time to have a drink then go to bed,” he said.

 

The competitive edge on a fast moving boat like Erica is softened when the sport becomes a trolling match.

 

“There’s a lot of stress in competitive fishing, and it only gets tougher when there are no fish to catch,” said Captain Butters, who previously, has placed second and third in Hemingway Tournaments.  “The Cubans time this tournament for tag and release of male marlins, and to win this one, we only have to catch two tomorrow.

 

“Two is standard stuff in most tournaments…a simple task,” he said before he throws in the punch line, “If you can find them.”

 

 On Saturday, two other boats, Relentless and Tyson’s Pride, find their marlin, which increases their catch to two each.  Erica did not.  Her crew, with only one catch for the four-day event, is bumped back into 6th place.  The winning team aboard Crisdel takes the 51st Hemingway International Billfishing Tournament with just two white marlin, and significantly, one of those marlins was the first fish caught on the first day of the tournament. 

 

Being first in Cuba counts almost as much as a chad counts in Florida.

© Barbara Bowers 2001