St. Croix realtor and recreational sports fisherman, Chris
Hanley, offers sage advice for catching fish. “He who finds the birds will find
the fish. Fishing is really a bird hunt,” says Hanley, whose 28-foot Cape Dory,
Dollagon, earned best boat at the 6th annual Golden Hook Dolphin
Tournament, held February 20.
Hanley describes
his fish catching day: “We were really unexcited to get out their on the water
because it was so rough. So, we left last minute from Green Cay Marina and
headed out towards the drop. On the way out, and about 15 minutes before lines
in at 7 [am], we saw birds and identified a school of dolphin. We kept
following the other boats out, but hoped they wouldn’t turn around and see the
birds. Finally, when it was time for lines in, we dropped them right into the
school, or it could have been multiple schools because there were so many fish.
We followed them west to Ham’s Bluff, riding about a half mile from shore the whole
time. We had 11 dolphin by 10 am, mostly singles, but we did get one double.”
When the schools
finally dispersed, Hanley and his crew, Kenny Edwards, and mate, Eric
Schindler, spotted a 55-gallon drum floating in the water.
“I threw a floater
marker over and we kept making passes. We ended up catching 6 or 7 more dolphin
and a wahoo,” Hanley describes.
Finally, it was
time to head into the weigh-in in Christiansted Harbor.
“We were too tired
to haul the lines in and ended up catching yet another dolphin on the way in.
That was after lines out, so it didn’t count. But, it does tell you the dolphin
were really running.”
The Dollagon team
ultimately brought 17 dolphin to the scale weighing a total of 200.4 pounds.
In special awards,
Felipe Rivera aboard Yellow Tail, with Capt. Errol Davis at the helm, released
the first blue marlin of the 2005 tournament series season.
12 boats and 49
anglers competed in the event which kicks off the Golden Hook Fishing Club’s
annual tournament series.
RESULTS
Best Boat: Dollagon, Capt. Chris Hanley, 200.4 pounds
2nd Best Boat: La-Mensagera, Capt. Alberto
Sanchez, 144.4 pounds
3rd Best Boat: Miss Becky, Capt. Erik Rasmussen,
113.8 pounds
4th Best Boat: Oh Suzanna, Capt. Mike Fuller,
105.4 pounds
5th Best Boat: Golden Eagle, Capt. Joe Hollins,
101 pounds
Largest Fish: Alberto Sanchez, La-Mensagera, 37.2 pounds
2nd Largest Fish: Richard Belliveau, Golden
Eagle, 28.2 pounds
3rd Largest Fish: Errol Davis, Yellowtail, 25.4
pounds
