2009 Annual Dinner & Awards

(See Stuart Sailfish Club Pictures for an album of many more pictures.)

Club members enjoyed another fine annual dinner & awards banquet. Miles Grant Country Club did their usual fine job and no one went away hungry.

And, many anglers took home some pretty fancy awards after having done a fine job of fishing over the past year. Award winners who were there or had a representative to receive the award on their behalf included:

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Outstanding Junior Angler - Van Wichers .... 11 sailfish releases

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Member Charter Boat 1st Place - Challenge .... 135 releases

Member Charter Boat 2nd Place - Bone Shaker .... 41 releases

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Member Private Boat 2nd Place - Shovel Boy .... 45 releases

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Top Adult Angler 3rd Place - Mike Fogel .... 21 releases

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Top Lady Angler - 1st Place .... Lorraine Francis .... 15 releases

Top Lady Angler - 2nd Place .... Eileen Prickett .... 4 releases

Top Lady Angler - 3rd Place .... Mary Jo Grell .... 3 releases

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Top Junior Lady Angler - Maria Pricket .... 9 releases

Top Junior Angler - 1st Place .... Van Wichers .... 11 releases

Top Junior Angler - 2nd Place .... Carl Weigold .... 10 releases

Top Junior Angler - 3rd Place .... Sky Wichers .... 9 releases

2009 Top Catches

Adult Division

Cobia - Erika Long .... 42.2 lbs.

Dolphin - Mary Jo Grell .... 38.4 lbs.

Grouper - Jesse Rehe .... 22.4 lbs.

Kingfish - Erika Long .... 24.3 lbs.

Snapper - Eileen Prickett .... 3.4 lbs

Snook - Dick Francis .... 22.1 lbs.

Tuna - Eileen Prickett .... 9 lbs.

Junior Division

Cobia - Jon Fogel .... 52.8 lbs.

Dolphin - Carl Weigold .... 34 lbs.

Grouper - Jacob Ertle .... 21.3 lbs.

Kingfish - Carl Weigold .... 19.8 lbs.

Snapper - Maria Prickett .... 1.7 lbs.

Tarpon - Van Wichers .... 80 lbs.

Tuna - Maria Prickett .... 15.2 lbs.

Wahoo - Jon Fogel .... 23 lbs.

2009 Donna Detmer Wahoo Award - Jon Fogel .... 23 lbs.

Congratulations to all these fine anglers. And, it's always great to see many new Jr. Anglers catching fish and winning awards.

Fall 2009 SSC Cruise

(Many more pictures in Stuart Sailfish Club Pictures)

Nine people on three boats enjoyed perfect weather and great times on an eight day trip to Florida's west coast. Desert Rose, Patricia J, and Cavalier left on 10/28 and returned on 11/4 with 9 people and a pup.

Overnight stops both ways at Ft. Myers, gave us the opportunity to visit the newly renovated and beautiful "old town" area a couple of blocks from the Yacht Basin. Two days & nights at South Seas Island Resort on Captiva, two days & nights at Boca Grande on Gasparilla, and one night at Venice rounded out the trip. Golf carts provided transportation around Captiva & Gasparilla.

All agreed, Ft. Myers, Captiva, and Gasparilla are definite "go back" places where all our hosts at the Yacht Basin, South Seas Island Resort, and Boca Grande (Millers) really went out of their way to be sure we knew they were glad we were there and would want to come back. The Crow's Nest at Venice, not so much, as they choose, after the fact, to sneak in such hidden charges as including bow pulpits and swim platforms in boat length charges and following it up with an additional charge for their submersed land lease space. (Ever see that before? It was new to us.) Too bad, as their facilities are just fine with a great restaurant on site, good docks, and newer clean rest rooms and showers.

See Stuart Sailfish Club Pictures for many of the sites and scenes.

Members Tournament Results

Fifty-eight anglers on eighteen boats fished the one-day tournament that was delayed one day in favor of calmer seas. And, there was some pretty good fishing for early in the sailfish season, and some excellent anglers took home some nice trophies.

Results are as follows:

PLACE.......BOAT NAME......BILLFISH.....POINTS
3rd Place...PATIENCE..........3......................75
2nd Place...PRIME TIME.....3......................75
1st Place....OUTLAW.............4......................100

PLACE......BOAT NAME.......WAHOO.........POINTS
3rd Place
2nd Place
1st Place..PRIME TIME - Sky Wichers......23.8

PLACE......BOAT NAME.......KINGFISH..........POINTS
3rd Place..R K NU -Curt Croteau.........................6.3
2nd Place..CARRIED AWAY - Jerry Robinson..8.4
1st Place....FAST EDDIE - Dave Krunic..............14.3

PLACE........BOAT NAME..........DOLPHIN...........POINTS
3rd Place....PRIME TIME - Van Wichers............14.3
2nd Place...SHOVEL BOY - Greg Carpino...........15.4
1st Place.....BONE SHAKER - Jesse Rehe............18.8

TOTAL POINTS GAMEFISH
BOAT NAME..........TOTAL POINTS
1st Place.................PRIME TIME.....38.1 lbs.
2nd Place................BONE SHAKER..18.8 lbs.
3rd Place.................SHOVEL BOY....15.4 lbs.

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TOP BOAT
PRIME TIME (Ian Wichers 2 sailfish releases Sky Wichers (1 sailfish Release)...113.1 pts.
PRIME TIME Releases + meat fish)

OUTSTANDING ANGLER
KYLE FRANCIS (3-sailfish releases)...75 pts.

OUTSTANDING JR. ANGLER
SEAN DUNNUCK- (1-sailfish release)...25 pts.

Another 3-4 sails released on other boats suggests that this could be a good season. Congratulations to all. Thanks for fishing the Members Tournament.

October General Meeting Report

50 Club members met last evening at Finest Kind to enjoy h'orderves, refreshments, and fishing lies, er stories.

President Andy Kubiak called the meeting to order at 6:30. First, he welcomed new members. We have 16 new members since June. They are:
Dennis Gayle ....................................... Serge & Kerri Rivera
Dr. Eric & Natalie Knipfer ..................Kevin McNamara
Robert Brosche ....................................Barry Berhoff
George Fearons, Jr. ............................Joseph Yeni
David Shieber ......................................Nick Newman
Philip Anson .........................................Larry & Dixie Bartlett
Jamie & Mary Matt ............................Stephen & Janice Shuda
David & Donna Deakins .....................George Scott

Next, he recognized the Club's Lifetime Members. They are:
Edward & Willy Welter
Eugene Detmer
Dean & Laura Crawford
Mary Bayley
Patti Lambrecht
George & Jilline Fearons

Business transacted included approval of changes to the Club's By Laws, as well as a vote on 2010 officers and directors. After some announcements, the meeting was turned over to representatives from Diawa who introduced many new rod & reel products for the coming year.

The meeting adjourned at about 8:30.

Talkin' Tourism

Gary Guertin, a past president of the Stuart Sailfish Club, has been very actively involved in recent years in an effort to increase tourism to the Treasure Coast. This is very much in line with the vision of the founders of the SSC in the 1930's, as one of the main early objectives of the Club was to bring tourists to Stuart during the great depression.

You can view information about current activities at http://talkintourism.blogspot.com/. Also, you can listen to Gary's weekly radio show every Friday at 10:00 AM on WPSL, 1590 AM, or on line at
http://www.wpsl.com/ .

Gary is currently general manager at the Harborage Yacht Club and Marina.

Great Double Diamond Sword

Check out our 1st swordfish day dropping. She weighed 327lbs at Light House Point marina. Our crew included SSC members Gerrard Weigold and Nick Froonjian, as well as Carl Weigold, Gary Froonjian, and Glen Rassmussen. Great fish on the Double Diamond. Hope to fish the Members tournament with you.

(Contributed by Gerrard Weigold)

Martin County Nautical Flea Market & Seafood Festival

MANY THANKS to our Club volunteers who sacrificed their personal time this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to come out to the Martin County fairgrounds and man our booth in sweltering heat.

Cindy Mumford, Char Griggs, Sherry Simmons, Erika Long, George Federko, Fred & Pat Bartlett, Nippy & Sue Pauels, Andy & Dodi Kubiak, & Jodi Mills sold new memberships, a couple of hundred dollars of Club shirts, burgees, towels, & stickers to people who came by our booth. (Nippy & Sue even pulled double duty by working Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning! If you are looking for a Charter, think about I'm On Sportfishing.) Char & Cindy were thrilled to pick up several new sponsors for Club tournaments.

We love new members and new sponsors. Thanks to all of you for all your help.