Nine-tenths of a pound separated the first-through-third-place teams in the 23rd annual Islamorada Fishing Club’s Captains Cup Dolphin Tournament in Islamorada on June 28.
Forty anglers headed out to capture three mahi — the largest combined weight of three fish would win the tournament’s $11,000 prize money and unique porthole trophies. When the scales closed at 5 p.m., all the stories were the same. There were lots of fish out there but no big ones.
Coming out on top was Captain Brian Cone aboard his charter boat Contagious with Justin Matson, mate, and anglers Don DeLeon of Miami, along with Travis Bennett and Andy Cone from Tavernier. The team weighed in three fish at 8, 6.8 and 6.2 pounds, totaling 21 pounds to win the $11,000 grand prize. They also received first-place trophies sponsored by Caribee Boat Sales and Yamaha outboards.
“The porthole first place awards were very cool,” said DeLeon. “When you opened the porthole our picture with our winning fish was inside.”
The Executive Decision team and Captain Chris Ware were close on the heels of team Contagious with a total of 20.8 pounds. Anglers Jill and John Paglia from Ocala, Mike Kasten of St. Petersburg, and Sam Milazzo from Tavernier weighed fish at 8.4, 7.2 and 5.2 pounds to take the second-place trophies sponsored by TD Bank and Baker Mitchell Plumbing.
Anglers Tyler Kelly from Auburndale, KC Spaulding of Islamorada, along with Digger Rodamer and Joe Marino from Marathon weighed in fish at 7.6, 6.8 and 5.7 pounds. Fishing aboard the Killbox, with Captain Cody Darbie at the helm, the team’s total was 20.1 pounds, winning them third-place trophies sponsored by Regan Roth and Travis Bennett Dentist.
The largest fish of the tournament was 9.2 pounds caught by Brandon Mitchell from Charlotte, North Carolina. He was fishing aboard the Heavy Guns with Captain TJ Zinkand.The fishing tournament was presented by Island Arms and Indoor Range. Next year’s event will be the last Thursday in June. For more information on the tournament and the Islamorada Fishing Club call the club at 305-664-4735 or visit www.theislamoradafishingclub.com.
