The scoreboard on the first day of fishing in the 20th International Cap Cana Billfish Shootout showed a surprising entry: a release credited to Scott Leon, captain of Sandman, a 63ft Spencer owned by Florida’s Sandra MacMillan. It’s anglers, not captains, who get credited with billfish release points. Yet Leon received his ‘points’ as a humorous way of ribbing him about running over and releasing a FAD (fish aggregating device).
“Sometimes it takes something bad for something good to happen,” says Leon, who with the anglers and crew aboard Sandman had the last laugh by ultimately winning Top Boat.
“The luck is that FAD started working for us that first day when our anglers released four white marlin,” Leon recalls. This catch placed the talented team aboard Sandman second to those on Puerto Rico’s Peje, a 47ft Cabo whose team finished the day in the lead by one billfish release.
