Team Trophy Hunter, even with a motor down, released 11 sails for their second consecutive win at the lslamorada Sailfish Tournament.
April 05, 2024
By Matt Badolato
Blowing a lower unit on the first morning of a three-day sailfish tournament might severely discourage most crews, but the loss of one engine led Captain Brian Cone and team Trophy Hunter to win the Islamorada Sailfish Tournament held Nov. 30-Dec. 3, 2023.
“We like to run fast to find showers of ballyhoo and tailing fish,” said Cone who runs Contagious Charters out of Robbie’s Marina in Islamorada. “But we lost an engine first thing and had to switch strategies.”
Cone says that when he fishes around schools of ballyhoo that are being scared into the air by sails, or “showering,” he likes to visually pinpoint the action and run quickly to the surface activity. They use binoculars to locate showering bait schools—“sprinkles” if there are only a few ballyhoo jumping—or they look to the sky for frigatebirds to indicate sails feeding below.
“When you see sailfish on ballyhoo showers, there’s a very short window when they’re feeding and you’ve got to get a bait in the water fast,” said Cone. “They come up onto the reef edge and they might eat one or two ballyhoo which fills them up for a while. Especially after 10 a.m. They’ve already fed and will go deeper until they’re ready for another snack.”
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Down a motor and with 800 gallons of fuel and four full livewells, they were unable to get the loaded-down 42-foot Freeman Trophy Hunter up on plane quick enough to chase these brief flurries of activity. Cone—who puts a lot of emphasis on positive energy among his crew—made a quick decision to switch tactics.
“I told my guys to get the helium rigged up on the kites. They looked at me like I was crazy,” he said. “But I knew it would be too frustrating to try and run to showering fish. I didn’t want any negativity because we couldn’t fish the way we wanted to.”
Growing up in Islamorada, Cone knows a lot about ballyhoo.
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“After a drastic cold front, ballyhoo will exit the bay to find warmer Gulf Stream water on the patch reefs. If the water temperature drops enough and the cooler bay water pushes farther out, there will be a lot of ballyhoo on the edge of the reef. I’ve seen schools of ballyhoo over two miles long in 200 feet of water with tuna and sails feeding like crazy after a hard cold front.”
With all his time on the water, Cone has identified hotspots where schools of ballyhoo consistently concentrate on the edge of the reef. Unable to run and gun effectively, his plan morphed to slowly and methodically fishing these areas, hoping that sailfish would come in to feed on them.
It worked. Employing a blend of kite fishing productive areas and sight fishing for showering bait and tailing sailfish, Cone and his crew were about to catch and release 11 sails over the three-day tournament.
“If we hadn’t blown that lower unit, I don’t think we would have won,” he said.
Cone credits a high vantage point for some of their success. Positioned atop the boat’s gap tower—so named because of the 5-foot gap between the top of the hard top and the elevated control tower—Cone is able to see significantly more fish and make more precise maneuvers during the critical boatside phase of leadering and releasing sails.
More important than technology, Cone recognizes that his team’s positive energy and combined experience are vital to winning sailfish tournaments.
“We’re a great team, those guys do a great job and we didn’t miss a beat,” said Cone. “To win these multi-day tournaments, you’ve got to fish well every day. If you have one bad day when you’re off your game and missing fish, it jeopardizes your chances a lot.”
On board the Trophy Hunter were Mark Mitchell, Kenneth Padgett, Dr. Travis Bennett, Arek Wojcik, Justin Matson, Brett Shahlamain, and Cone’s 13-year-old son, Andy.
“Andy is really into sailfishing,” said Cone. “He’s got great eyes—he picks up on the little things and can spot fish before I do.”
The 2023 event marks the Islamorada Sailfish Tournament’s 60th anniversary. During the three-day tournament, anglers radioed-in 87 hookups and 76 sails released. The Trophy Hunter crew has taken first place for two years in a row, earning a $38,548 cash prize for their recent win.
“I feel honored to have won it again,” added Cone.
GIVE ‘EM HECK, KIDS Andy Cone earned top junior honors at the Islamorada Sailfish Tournament and third-place angler the following weekend. To complement the Islamorada Sailfish Tournament, the Islamorada Junior Sailfish Tournament kicked off the following weekend. Nearly as longstanding as the main tournament, this junior angler event has been held for 59 years. Founded in 1964 by Captain Don Gurgiolo, the idea was to hold the event on the lay day of the adult tournament. In 1989, the tournament became its own two-day event.
Twenty-seven anglers under the age of 16 hooked up on 20 sails, with 19 releases called in. Taking first place was team O’l Son with 11-year-old Chris “Marlin” David of Ft. Lauderdale releasing nine sails. Second place went to One Step Ahead with 9-year-old Matt Hawkins of Dania Beach for his six sailfish releases. Captain Brian Cone led his son, Andy, to third-place honors with two sails.
BLACK CRAPPIE NYE PARTY Nathan Peterson and Doug Cooper won the first-ever New Year’s Eve Crappie Tournament at Highland Park Fish Camp with their 13.92-pound bag of seven specks. Operating with as much technology, technique, and finesse as the top sailfishing crews, serious black crappie tournament anglers went head-to-head on the St. Johns River December 31, 2023.
Highland Park Fish Camp—situated in a nook of the St. Johns near Deland—hosts several tournaments throughout the winter crappie season in Central Florida. The fish camp runs a month-long derby for the largest speck throughout December. Angler Chris Creese picked up a 2.39-pounder for the biggest crappie and a $500 prize.
Rolling into 2024, the fish camp’s first annual New Year’s Eve Crappie Tournament saw some impressive catches. Most notable was Nathan Peterson and Doug Cooper’s bag of seven specks weighing a total of 13.92 pounds.
“These guys are very serious about their sport,” said Debbie Rawlins, partial owner of the historic fish camp. “Most of them are jigging for the biggest fish, but some people swear by trolling.”
The largest crappie caught during the inaugural event was a 2.32-pounder brought in by Donnie McCormick. It may not sound impressive, but once you’ve laid eyes on a 2-pound crappie, you’ll grasp the appeal of chasing these fish.
