WINTER SEMINARS 2011

 

SPACE IS LIMITED FOR OUR WINTER SEMINARS

AND THEY FILL QUICKLY. RESERVE TODAY

Travel Fishing Rod 5 Section 7 ft Stand Up/Pier. 30/50 lbs

TAKE THE FISHING WITH YOU

One of our best kept secret.

We designed these rods in 2009 and had a few made for friends and a handful of customers. Earlier this year we put a few of them in our showroom and as customers found them, they started buying them for their Caribbean trips. Finally we felt comfortable we had a winner and had our factory produce them in quantities for website and store sales.

It is our original design based on Alan Seidel's recommendations and experience. We think it is a great rod but not meant for the pursuit of big blue marlin. It is a great lightweight stand-up for mahi to sailfish and whites.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO BUY

Lighthouse Ladies KDW

a fishing tournament for ladies of all ages

Ladies, get ready for your tournament...

Join us on the 1^st annual Lighthouse Ladies KDW Fishing Tournament  presented by

Stingray Fishing Outfitters to benefit Lighthouse for the Blind of The Palm Beaches.

This tournament is for ladies of all ages, so grab your rod, pink, purple, or whatever color

suites your fancy, and join us on June 4^th to show the men the girls can fish just as well. Have fun, win prizes and contribute to a great cause.

Early Registration $ 75/angler

Guaranteed Minimum Prizes

· $ 1,000 award, a $ 100 stingray gift card, and a Reactor ladie's watch for 1st place

· $  500, award and a $ 50 stingray gift card for each category 2nd place

· $  200, award and a $ 50 stingray gift card for each category 3rd place

· $ 200 little lady angler category winner

All net proceeds to benefit the Lighthouse for the Blind of the Palm Beaches

AWARD AND AFTER TOURNAMENT CELEBRATION AT THE NEW

WILDERS WATERFRONT BAR AND GRILL

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION  CLICK HERE

TO REGISTER NOW  CLICK HERE

Marlin University Guatemala

I had arrived from our week with Marlin University in Guatemala only to board a plane for the Orient to visit our vendors and manufacturers. Luckily the long flight is a perfect opportunity to catch up with my reading, answer emails and write this entry for my often neglected blog. After all, this year’s trip was a memorable experience and well worth a good entry.

My yearly trip with my friends from Marlin University (www.marlinuniversity.com) has become a ritual that I look forward to. It is always a great experience and an opportunity to spend time with some of the best in our sport. The ideas and inspiration for many of our products have come from late night discussion with fellow anglers and by observing the crew and captains that call the productive Pacific coast of Central America home.

This year’s StingRay group included staffers John Tobias and Walker Holcomb (a MU staffer), my son in law Mike Kress, his brother in law Orazio Nastase, my good friend and frequent partner in crime Alan Seidel, Reel Candy’s captain and friend Marvin Steiding and one of our favorite customers, Tony Oliva.

From the outside, Casa Vieja looks just like many other walled compounds down the road; non-descript guarded gates and very little indication that this is a place where our four day long adventure will begin. After a three hour ride from Guatemala City’s airport with a stopover in the colonial city of Antigua for a typical (and awesome) lunch, we are ready for action. Although reports from down the pacific’s central American coast are all the same; a slow bite since soon after the Chilean earthquake, we are all hoping for a return to earlier this year, when the average Marina Pez Vela boat was releasing in excess of 50 billfish a day.

The security gate swings open and our first impression of Casa Vieja soon changes. We find a half a dozen smiling senoritas waiting for us with cold ‘mojitos’. A warm greeting from Antonio, casa Vieja’s general manager, assures us this is no ordinary place. Soon we are ushered to the dining room to experience an excellent dinner, consisting of local fish, excellent steaks and an assortment of fruits. Our beginning to the first fantastic meal of many in the days to come. The comfortable rooms with quiet and excellent air conditioners, a ‘must’ in this hot country, and deliver a good night rest.

Next day, with our group divided, my half is assigned to the legendary ‘Finest Kind’, a 44’ Whitaker with a long history of winning tournaments and record catches. The Kind is captained by another legend, Captain Ron Hamlin. Although I have not met Ron, I feel like I know him from the stories I heard and read, always involving big game fishing, skills and a temper of great proportions.
Lucky for our group, friend and IGFA Hall of Famer Capt. Peter Wright is our instructor for the day. Peter is undoubtedly the best in the business. A wealth of knowledge and experience he shares willingly with all. We headed out of Marina Pez Vela and set course west. After an hour’s full speed run, Ron trims back and we are trolling. Five minutes later, Ron screams ‘left outrigger’. Marvin makes a run for the rod and skillfully feeds the ballyhoo, but fails to hook the first sail of the day. As we are in the middle of telling Marvin that captains not necessarily make good fishermen, the sail makes another pass and heads to the freshly deployed left rigger. This time Marvin executes his dropback perfectly and soon is fighting a beautiful Pacific sail. The first action packed day set the pace for a perfect week with 44 sails tagged and released for the week. We had several closed encounters with good sized blues as well during the week, but unfortunately they did not stick for the count.

In subsequent days we fished aboard the Release with Capt Nico Melendez, the Rum Line with Capt. Chris Sheeder and Intensity with Capt. Mike Sheeder.These meticulously maintained boats are awesome fishing machines and deliver every day under their crew’s skillful care.

Every day we arrived back at the Lodge tired but looking forward to the next day and each new day did not disappoint us. Great fishing action, great accommodations and world class food made our Casa Vieja experience one to remember.

If you are interested in joining us at a future Marlin University trip or other fishing outings, let us know by email or signing up for our newsletter.

Totals for our four days of fishing Guatemala: 92 raised, 76 bites, 44 sails released and 9 blues raised, 5 bites

www.casaviejalodge.com
www.marlinuniversity.com

below from left to right: 1: an early tag and release, 2: the boys and the crew of the 'Finest kind'. 3: release No.2, 4: The StingRay boys and MU's staff, 5: Mike sporting a 'cuban' and StingRay's fashionable cap, 6: Orazio showing off his unusual catch, a Mexican needlefish, 7: Peter doing what he does best..sharing his vast expertise.
[gallery link="file"]

Fishing the '09 WMO

Instead of offering my version of our week in Maryland, I will let our Captain Dave Ferrell do it for me. What follows is his recent posting in the Marlin Magazine's blog (http://www.marlinmag.com/blog.jsp).

Author Dave Ferrell (Marlin Magazine's editor)

[/caption]

Well, I just got back from my first "captain's" job at the White Marlin Open up in Ocean City, Maryland, and I didn't win a dime. I did, however, have a blast fishing with the boys from StingRay Tackle, Ray Lorenzo and John Tobias, as well as mates Charles Perry and Walker Holcomb, Orazio Nastaze and Alan Seidel. We fished the brand-spanking-new 34-foot Jarrett Bay center console, and I really put her in some tough situations.

On the first day, after loading what seemed like a literal "ton" of gear onto the boat, I tried to keep up with the crew on Big Oh since they had caught five whites a couple of days before the tournament started. Once we cleared the inlet, however, we hit some pretty thick fog and I had to start navigating by the boat's radar, a first for this Florida boy. As a bonus, the seas were a confused two to three foot with virtually no period in between. But since I had to keep up with Big Oh, I had to make 25 miles per hour in that slop or risk losing them. Unfortunately, I forgot that the trim tabs had a switch on the main panel and I couldn't get them to work, so the boys in the back took a bit of a beating.



Big Oh didn't get a bite that first day and neither did we, so I decided to trust Mitch Roffer at Roffer's Ocean Fishing Forecasts and fish the next day since the weather looked like it was going to be perfect.

We headed out from the inlet at 6:30 a.m., did about 40 mph in glass-calm seas (Charles Perry said, "I can't believe this," about 50 times) and wound up on the wall of the Wilmington Canyon, 72 miles later, at 8:15. It was a pretty ride and a gorgeous day all around.

After about two hours of trolling up and down the canyon wall, I got fed up with Walker's ballyhoo and decided to rig a couple of swimmers like the ones used in Costa Rica with the X of floss on the head and a small chin weight. After rigging three or four, I started to put one out on the left flat when Charles Perry yelled down that there was a white marlin trying to eat our mackerel on the right flat. As Walker slowly teased the white in on the mackerel, I slid over and put the swimming ballyhoo in the lane and called Tobias over to take the reel. Walker pulled the mackerel out of the water, and the marlin spun around and pounced on the ballyhoo. Tobias fed the fish for about three seconds, locked up the drag and came tight. We had our first fish on! I climbed the ladder and put the boat into a slight turn as the little white started jumping all over the place in the flat-calm water. Less than five minutes later, Walker got the leader and gently eased the fish up to the surface for a quick cutoff. The guys got to see that our circle-hooked Spanish mackerel did work as teasers for the whites and that the fish would make the switch from the swimming mackerel to a swimming ballyhoo.



It sure is great when a plan comes together. (See more in an upcoming issue.)
POSTED BY MarlinEdit AT 01:11

WHITE MARLIN OPEN, LESS THAN ONE WEEK TO GO

Tomorrow we are headed to Ocean City to participate in the White Marlin Open. We will be fishing with Dave Ferrell of Marlin Magazine and wireman extraordinaire Charles Perry. Walker Holcomb of Marlin University is a late addition to the team and will be handling cockpit duties.  In all, there are seven of us that may make for a crowded boat. This year’s boat is the new Jarrett Bay 34 outfitted with three Merc 300s. (http://forum.jarrettbay.com/introducing-the-jarrett-bay-34-semi-production-express-t40.html ) 

The red Jarret Bay 34 will be docked at Sunset Marina. Look for us there.

I’ll try my best to post updates from OC. Stay tuned.

 

OUR FRIENDS' MEMORABLE CATCHES

[caption id="attachment_115" align="alignleft" width="275" caption="North Platte trout"][/caption]

We have some new pictures to post. The first one from Trent Schemerhorn, our official Rod and Reel Pajama tester.  The picture is of a 42” brown trout from the North Platte in Casper Wyoming. Trent tells me that the real big one got away, so this smaller trout had to do for the picture.

 

 

Alan Seidel obtained his first StingRay rod and reel by winning an auction at the recent Wall Street Cares golf tournament. Alan  is one of those guys that dream about leaving the big city and heading down to a tropical island to run his own fishing camp (sort of a fishing Norman Paperman). Here are some of his trophy catches:

 

[caption id="attachment_118" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="This is one big striper"][/caption]

 



[caption id="attachment_120" align="alignleft" width="275" caption="Nice Jack Crevalle"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_122" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="A keepr tuna from a recent trip to Cabo"][/caption]

 

We are now entering the prime spring fishing season and as you start bringing in your catch, remember to send us pictures featuring your StingRay product. We will send you gift certificates and other neat stuff but only if we can clearly see our product.

 

 

Winter Fishing 08/09 Part 4 March

COSTA RICA DAYDREAMIN'

 

Guanamar is an unpresumptuous hotel nested on a hill overlooking the beautiful Playa Carrillo bay. Not the type of place you would go for a luxurious get away and a far cry from the Four Seasons at Los Sueños not too far away, but for the second year in a row I am here to join our friends from Marlin University for four full days of bill fishing and how-to seminars.

 

Marlin University offers a unique opportunity to learn from some of the world’s best captains and legends of our sport. Instructors for this session included IGFA’s Hall of Famer Capt. Peter B. Wright, Marlin Magazine’s editor Dave Ferrell, well-known mate Walker Holcomb, Spirit of Pilar’s Captain Scott Jones and my friend Capt. Charles Perry, the undisputed king of the wire. This group is the equivalent of a ‘Dream Team’ in any professional sport.

 

You rest little during the four days of classes and the wear and tear shows after the second day. This is not a relaxing vacation by any mean and the days are packed full of fishing and hands-on training. A typical day starts at 6 AM and after a hearty breakfast, the attendees head down to the boats. Divided in teams of four, each group is assigned a different instructor each day. Emphasis on the use of circle hooks and the unharmed release of the fish is the order of the day. The teams return to port around 5 PM and after a quick shower, they meet for incredible dinners followed by seminars in all aspects of the sport, from rigging bait, to selection of terminal tackle, and how to handle a 500+ lbs marlin.

 

Costa Rica offers many opportunities to encounter billfish and it is common to hookup quadruples on a regular basis. This time we encountered unusually turbid waters three of our four fishing days but we managed to find a few fish in the pea soup. Enough to hone our skills and re-learn some of the techniques we had forgotten.

 

On the fourth day, the teams participate in a mini-tournament. Our team was lucky enough to team up with Capt. Peter Wright for tournament day. On this day, the water cleared considerably and the fish showed up. Under Peter’s guidance, we went on to win the mini-tournament to the delight of our two mates, which shared the $ 500 purse.

 

I cannot praise enough the folks at Marlin University. They do an outstanding job and they constantly deliver way past the attendants’ expectations. The format of the University affords the opportunity to make friends with fellow anglers from across the country and from all walks of life. Your fishing skills will greatly improve and your confidence in being able to handle larger fish will definitely take a boost. It is truly a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience.
Here are some pictures from our time in Costa Rica:

 

AERIAL DISPLAY

 

Billfish always brings a smile to my face	Dave Ferrell watching the action

John watching the lines

 

Photo op before release

 

Tournament in the bag, Peter relaxes

 

By the way, if you want to know more about Marlin University, visit www.marlinuniversity.com  or call Barbara at 407.571.4606 (or email
Barbara.Lehner@bonniercorp.com). Tell her Ray sent you.

Winter Fishing 08/09, Part 2 January

AND THE BITE CONTINUES, WITH A VERY PLEASANT SURPRISE!

(January 10^th)

Great action and awesome weather once again here in Palm Beach. Yes, the sails are still here and the action is hot, but today we had a pleasant surprise:

 

John’s 14 y.o. nephew David joined us this weekend and caught his first billfish. Not the expected sail, but an awesome white marlin. He fought the fish a little longer than we like due to the light tackle he was using and being David’s first, we did not want to take a chance; but it was a good release and the white swam away no worse for the wear. David was using a 20lbs rated Azul spinner rod and a prototype of our new Aqua saltwater spinner reel.

 

 

Awesome job David. You are the ‘MAN’. And yes, I owe you fifty bucks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Debbie was in charge of hooking dinner. A beautiful African Pompano fell for the bottom bouncing goggle eye trick. Two nice sized Amberjacks dropped in as well. She was fishing with a StingRay Cockpit Chaos rod and the prototype Tolimar 30 reel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a full featured day with a lot of action. Back at the dock by 2 PM.

 

Until next time.

Ray

 

THE BITE IS ON (January 3rd)

The sailfish action out of Lake Worth Inlet is outstanding this season and the weather is cooperating with nice cool and calm days. Here are some pictures from Saturday. All caught on our Cockpit Chaos series and prototypes of our new Tigre high retrieve reels (coming this February)

John’s careful release

 

 

Monica patiently waits. She had three hook ups within two hours

Mike’s first sail.

Mike’s smile after his first sail

Michelle landed this nice grouper bouncing a goggle eye off the bottom as we drifted . She was using a Caliente Pink stand-up rod and a prototype Tolimar reel

And a 'plug' for Marlin University

And this picture of Matt, StingRay Tackle's youngest fan in Gloucester, VA sent in by our master rod builder Neil Drumheller of Severn Wharf Rods.

Matt caught this striper all by himself. You stilll can't wipe the smile off this nine year old's face

SEND US YOUR PHOTOS

Send us your photos for posting and bragging rights. ANY TYPE OF FISHING..If you show one of our products we will reward you with a gift certificate. Send photos to ray@stingraytackle.com or use our file transfer site below.

Fish do not read magazines nor visit tackle shops ..... an old fisherman

 

Incredible Day

 

It was an incredible day, for sure. One of those days when you do all the right things and find the life. It was an 85 mile run for us, and with $4-$5 a gallon gas we had to make it count. We ran out the night before at about midnight and started fishing at dawn about 70 miles out. By 3:00, we had limited out on dolphin and Wahoo, saw two white marlins, had a big blue eat one of our hooked Wahoo, and started passing up huge dolphin because we had caught so many. What a day!

The dolphin were not responding to trolled baits that day, so we used lived bait with light tackle and had a blast. Definitely my favorite way to catch Dolphin. Later in the morning we found some really good debris and limited out on Wahoo trolling by it with only three passes. After that, we caught a bunch of Wahoo on spinning tackle with jigs and poppers. The dolphin were so hot we took the hooks off our poppers and it did not matter how fast you reeled, you just couldn’t keep it away from them.

 

  

• 19 dolphins, 9 of which were bulls in the 30-40lb. range. One with a hole in its' head from a possible earlier encounter with a Marlin or Sword Fish


• 6 Wahoo in the box with an additional 10 or so caught and released.


• Triple tail


• 98 miles from the pass


• 19 Hours on the water


• 42 Hours with no sleep

Reggie Lawrence

Atlanta GA

Winter Fishing 08/09

This great shot of an Atlantic sailfish attacking a trolling lure was sent in by my friend Joe Yeni of MarineMax in Stuart. Joe took this picture on his birthday last December 10th. Joe, it was that beautiful new Cabo 52 Express and those quiet MAN engines that did it. The boat is a sailfish (and chick) magnet without a doubt!

SOUTH FLORIDA SAILFISH ALLEY

The waters off Palm Beach north to the Treasure Coast are some

of the most productive Atlantic sailfish grounds at this time of the

year. The strip, not too far from shore and between 90 and 250 ft of

water is frequently called Sailfish Alley. For the looks of it, this

promises to be a banner season for sailfish in the region and I am

sure we will be posting many more sailfish shots this winter.

 

These beautiful fish can be finicky and unpredictable. The style of

choice for seasoned locals is to live bait with circle hooks on a free

line where there is a confirmed sailfish presence. When specifically

targeting sailfish, we prefer the local method as circle hooks dramatically

reduce fish mortality. Sailfishing is strictly a catch and release activity.

As Joe’s photograph proves, a motivated sailfish will go for a plastic

trolling lure just as well. Such by-catch is common when trolling for other

species that visit our sunny South Florida at this time of the year.

 

BTW. If you need a boat, Joe at MarineMax Stuart is the man!

 

LATE FALL STRIPERS

Jimmy Z from Rhode Island and one of those
big stripers the area is known for.  This one caught

on an Ming reel.

 

PHOTOS

Send us your photos for posting and bragging rights. If you show one of our products we will reward you with a gift certificate. Send photos to ray@stingraytackle.com or use our file trasnfer site below.

 

    

 

 

 

Fall Fishing

Well, it has been a busy and rather short fall season. We missed most of the early fall traveling in China and although we are still a couple of weeks from officially welcoming winter, I do not think we will have time to do much fishing between now and the first days of winter. So I decided to post some of these photos. The girls were able to meet us for the weekend and we headed out of Oregon Inlet aboard the SeaNote (www.seanotecharters.com) with our friends Capt Benjie Stansky and William for some offshore fishing on a very cold November day. Things were slow so we decided to try our luck at bottom fishing. It was a great success and the girls had a lot of fun landing 17 good size tilefish. It is always great to spend time with Benjie and William, so the fish were just an added but welcomed bonus. Melissa and a double header Michelle and Will and a nice tilefish Melissa, Michelle, Debbie and Ray with the day's catch Our next trip was out of our winter home in Palm Beach. The nice late season Dorado found us and Debbie had the honor of bringing it home for dinner. Colette bagged the nice opportunistic cobia after it cleaned a couple of hooked snappers on the way up. It turned out to be a perfect South Florida day and not a bad fishing weekend. Debbie and a nice dorado (Cockpit Chaos) John manning the downrigger (Cockpit Chaos) Colette and a Cobia (Azul) A nice cow West End (Cockpit Chaos) Last weekend we crossed over to the West End hoping to find some of those wahoos that make their way from up north. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and it turned ugly from the get go making our weekend trip an overnighter. We stayed Friday night at Ginn’s Old Bahama Bay (www.oldbahamabay.com), a first class resort in every way. Our friend Janice Thompson went out of her way to welcome us with her characteristic Bahamian charm. Our short stay was memorable and I can assure you we will be back,Janice. David Onesty and a very decent striper (Azul) Here is a picture sent in by our great friend Neil Drumheller of Severn Wharf Rods in Gloucester Point, VA. Neil emailed me this nice shot of a Chesapeake Bay striper this afternoon. It was caught on a StingRay Azul rod by Neil's fishing buddy David Onesty. Neil, I am looking forward to joining you in late December for some serious striper fishing. (http://www.thenakedchickenflyshop.com). HAVE TROPHY SHOTS? STINGRAY EQUIPMENT IN ACTION? We encourage you to share your fishing pictures and stories with us. There are gift certificates and free tackle waiting for your contribution Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyways. – Anonymous

Nag's Head Committee Proposes Funding for Tournament Data Gathering

According to the Associated Press, a committee has recommended that revenue from saltwater fishing licenses go toward projects that include a data collection system and youth fishing programs.

The North Carolina Coastal Recreational Fishing License Advisory Committee has agreed that 12 of 19 programs requesting should get a grant. Its recommendation goes to the state Marine Fisheries Commission, which meets in November.

The advisory committee has collected about $7.9 million since the licenses were required as of Jan. 1, 2007. After deducting costs for other obligations and fisheries projects, the fund has about $4.3 million.

The North Carolina Coastal Recreational Fishing License Advisory Committee has determined that at least 12 of 19 requested programs should be funded from the nearly 8 million dollars in licensing fees collected since Jan. 1 2007.

One of the projects listed is a text messaging system for collecting catch and effort data on South Carolina King Mackerel tournament anglers.

Fishing The WMO

This year we entered the White Marlin Open, the premier-fishing event that is held in Ocean City MD every August and makes claim to the world’s largest billfish tournament. Over 300 boats participated and the payouts totaled $ 2.2 million. Three days out of five fishing within 100 miles radius of OC means one can hit some of the most productive fishing grounds on the East Coast during the tournament. A circle hook tournament emphasizes releases but requires landing of qualifying fish.

 

Our team consisted of my friends John Tobias and Doug Talbot, my son in law Mike Kress, Orazio Nastaze, owner of the famous Jake’s Bar in West Chester PA, and me.  We fished aboard the ‘Sea Note’ out of Oregon Inlet captained by its owner the legendary Benjie Stansky, mates William and the infamous ‘Fog”.  Charles Perry was scheduled to join us but unfortunately came back from the Azores with a bad back and had surgery a week before. Joey Stansky, Benjie’s brother and captain of the Flow Control out of Sailfish Marina in Palm Beach FL joined us for the second and third day of fishing.

 

The first day we headed south to the red-hot Norfolk Canyon, which has been consistently producing monster fish this season.  It is a long ride to the fishing ground and the destination pushes the envelope on the allowed fishing range.  Ironically, it is closer to our home base in Virginia Beach than it is to OC. 

 

The day went rather slow but Mike managed to fight and release a very nice white mid day.  However, it was not big enough to get us on the board. The rest of the day was uneventful except for a nice mahi that stumbled in.

 

After a great dinner at the Marlin Moon Grille that night, the team decided that Wilmington Canyon was to be the destination for the next day.  A shorter run to the north, Wilmington is a consistent producer and have delivered quite a few tournament winners.  

The next day (Tuesday), John found his white and had a lot of fun bringing it boat side. As William released the feisty fish, John had a fit, as he was sure it was a record white of at least 100 pounds. The crew begged to differ and assured him that it was not a money fish.   In the afternoon, we ran into a school of very decent sized mahis.  Fog showed us the Outer Banks jigging technique that he claims is taught at the Outer Banks School of Dolphin Fishing. We landed thirteen 12+ pounds mahis in no time. The rest of the day was fun as we relaxed and Fog continued to provide live entertainment with his impersonation of Darth Vader and non-stop one-liners.

 

As we headed back in, we heard that a big blue was landed so we rushed to the weight in area to see this magnificent fish.  The blue was shy from being a grander but weighted in at 935.5 pounds (paid $ 600,000). It was landed by Robert Lockwood aboard the Last Run.  We all agreed that it was a sad sight to see such a magnificent animal loose its life  but at $ 641 a pound, we also agreed that we would have had no problem landing her.

 

We sat out the next two days and used the time to enjoy the good food and sights of Ocean City. The family came in to spend time with us, as it is a relatively short drive from Virginia and New Jersey. 

 

We hit the water the last day of the tournament. The seas were still a little rough but the Sea Note, with its deep Carolina hull had no problem handling it. We headed once again to Norfolk Canyon. These are familiar waters for the Oregon Inlet fleet and Benjie feels quite comfortable hunting in his backyard.      

                            

Early on, Orazio hooked a white and the consensus was that this one promised to be a money fish. After a great fight and beautiful acrobatics, the fish was landed and measured. Just short of the money by 1 ½ inches, it was quickly released.  The rest of the day was non-eventful as we settled into the reality that we were not going to have a weight in.

 

As we wrapped the exciting week, we all agreed that it was a great experience and an awesome week. Obviously, a trip to the scales could have added some more excitement but we had enough action to finish 60^th in points out of a field of 300+ boats. The crew was fantastic and we enjoyed the camaraderie and the insights they all shared with us.  Ocean City is a great venue, albeit somewhat touristy tacky, it has its share of fun places and activities. We look forward to next years WMO as we will be fishing under the StingRay banner.

     

We spend our life looking to where we have been while disregarding where we are going.