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The World’s
Richest Tarpon Tournament will be back in 2012. |
The announcement was made on Wednesday, July
13 that the Boca Grande Fishing Guides Association annual
tournament will now be coordinated by the Boca Grande Chamber of
Commerce, and will once again be called the “World’s
Richest.”
May 17 and 18, 2012 from 3 to 7 p.m. in Boca
Grande Pass will be the time and place.
The actual decision was made to bring the “World’s Richest”
back at the last chamber board meeting, but it wasn’t until
recently that the agreement with the guides association was
reached.
The tournament began in the early 1980s when
it was called the Boca Grande Club Invitational. The chamber
took the tournament over in 1991 and kept it until 2005, when
the BGFGA took control of the tournament.
In the tournament’s heyday, purses could
range up to as much as $200,000 or more. But the last World’s
Richest tournament first place prize in 2005 was just over
$4,000.
The number of entries in the annual
competition began to slow down, and in 2007 the chamber decided
to put the event on hiatus.
Jon Zorian, a long-standing member of the
Fishing Guides Association, said he was pleased with the
agreement. He was glad, he said, to hear the chamber would be
retaining the same rules that the guides tournament adhered to.
“We’ve perfected these dates, times and
rules,” he said. “We know that on that second set of May
tides, they will catch fish.”
Board member Chad Lach said they were looking
for sponsors, and hoped for at least a 40-boat field.
The Gasparilla Island Kids Classic is
scheduled for the afternoon of Saturday, May 19, 2012, and the
chamber board discussed having a street party that weekend to
combine the two events.
The chamber is looking for people to help
coordinate the World’s Richest Tarpon Tournament of 2012, as
well as for volunteers. Call Lew at the chamber, 964-0568, to
get signed on.
–MARCY SHORTUSE
Reprinted from the Boca Beacon
View
full article here.
Boca
Blue team takes top honors in
2011 Guides’ Tournament
Reprinted from
www.bocabeacon.com
May 20, 2011
Photo by Daniel
Godwin
It might have been the clucking that did it, but Capt. Sandy
Melvin’s team aboard Boca Blue took home a
check for a little more than $17,000 after winning the two-day
Boca Grande Fishing Guides’ Association Tarpon Tournament with
nine releases.
Melvin’s teammates were Ron Walker, Bob Melvin and Michael
Vaughn.
Capt. Charlie Coleman’s team on Casuarina
had eight releases and took second place and a $10,560 check.
Third place was awarded to the team on the Chris Rip
with Capt. Lamar Joiner Jr. at the helm. Dixie Hollins was the
team leader, and he had the last hook up of the tournament at
6:58 p.m., with a release at 7:03 p.m.. They took home a little
more than $7,000.
The total tally for the other boats in the competition
included 7 tarpon for Blaze, 4 for Faithful
II, 7 for Hey, Moma!, 8 for Magic,
7 for Miss Sarah, 3 for Spook
and 6 for the Tracy Lynn.
At the end of the first day’s fishing, Capt. Willie
Mills’ team aboard Tracy Lynn was in
the lead with five tarpon officially caught and released. There
were four teams tied right behind him with four fish each,
including Capt. Wayne Joiner’s team on Hey, Moma!,
Capt. Charlie’s team, Capt. Cappy Joiner’s team on Magic
and Captain Lamar Joiner Sr.’s team aboard Miss Sarah.
Capt. Waylon Mills’ team on Blaze got three
tarpon Wednesday night, as did Capt. Lamar Joiner Jr.’s team .
The Faithful II team got two tarpon and Spook
got two.
Cappy Joiner said at least twice that many tarpon were caught
and not counted that first night.
Melvin said he had two words for what happened to his luck in
that second day of the tournament: Running hot. After releasing
only three fish on the first day, he said they started out on
the second day with a tarpon that jumped right off the line.
Bobby Melvin was the angler.
“Bobby started clucking as soon as that first tarpon got
off the line,” Sandy said. “He was teasing them about being
‘chicken.’ The next thing we knew, he hooked another one up
and released it, and we ran hot the rest of the time. He kept
clucking, too, the whole time. It’s our newest trick: “The
Secret Chicken Call.”
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