2008 Eddie Haneman Sailfish Tournament
Mel Miller, of the "Ma Ra III," accepts the award and $10,000 check for the two sailfish releases that won his crew the 2008 Capt. Eddie Haneman Sailfish Tournament, held July 24-27 out of Bridgtender Marina.
Releasing two sailfish on Friday, July 24, the event’s first fishing day, Mel Miller and the “Ma Ra III” crew, from Wrightsville Beach, took first place in the ninth annual Capt. Eddie Haneman Sailfish Tournament, held July 24-26 out of Wrightsville Beach’s Bridge Tender Marina.
While several other teams were able to release two sails during the event, the “Ma Ra III” scored their second at 11:10 Friday morning, the first crew to do so, and since the tournament breaks a tie based on time, the team took home the event’s $10,000 first prize.
With owner/captain Miller at the helm and Curtis Kamp, Steve Bunch, Paul Weedon, and Dave Fex aboard the 37’ Bertram, the anglers headed for the 30/30 Friday morning.
“We weren’t right there,” Miller explained. “We were just a little bit offshore of the rest of the boats when we hooked the fish.”
Trolling with a squid daisy chain and a bird daisy chain for teasers, the “Ma Ra III” raised their first sail just before 10:00 Friday morning, and it fell for a naked ballyhoo rigged on a circle hook, in accordance with the event’s conservation minded all circle hook rule.
Kamp was first on the rod, and he held on as the sail gave several jumps soon after the hookup. After it settled down, the crew were able to release it in short order, snapping the required leader-in-hand release photo with one of the official tournament cameras handed out at registration.
They tallied the first release at 10:02, and went quickly back to fishing, hooking up again around 11:00. This time, Bunch was the angler, and he fought the fish to a successful release after 10 minutes and a few jumps.
Continuing to fish the 30/30 and then moving a bit further offshore, the “Ma Ra III” crew raised two more sails Friday, but they were unable to hook them up. Holding the lead on time at the close of Friday’s fishing, the anglers knew they’d have the win if no other boat released more than two fish. Several boats reached the two fish mark on Saturday, when the fleet released 17 of the 25 fish. This gave the “Ma Ra III” anglers cause for some shaky nerves, as there is no second place prize, but no boat tallied a third release.
Blair White and Capt. Jamie Rushing display a sailfish they hooked and released in the ninth annual Eddie Haneman Sailfish Tournament. Their fish was the ninth sail relased, earning the anglers, who fished aboard Rushing's 22' bay boat, $500.
Weighing in a 20.3 lb. dolphin on Saturday, Carolina Beach’s Capt. Dave Marshall and the “Musicman” took home $3,750, the event’s second largest prize. Fishing aboard a 40’ Key West custom sportfisherman with mate Timmy Skidwell, the “Musicman” crew caught a big cobia Friday, but no fish that would have won them any money.
“We had my wife Sheila on board Saturday,” Marshall said, “so that brought us some Lady Luck.”
Lady Luck indeed, as the anglers fishing aboard the “Musicman” went one for three on sailfish Saturday in addition to catching the big dolphin. The crew found all their action Saturday at a spot around five miles offshore of the 30/30 known as the “Trailer Park.” Squid daisy chains and natural mullet dredges raised their fish, which all fell for circle hook-rigged ballyhoo.
Horace Sykes, fishing aboard the “Just Because,” took home $500 for the 18.9 lb. dolphin that earned second place.
The Eddie Haneman event featured $500 prizes for the first release each day, the last release of the event, and the ninth (this being the event’s ninth year). Matt Davis, aboard “Marine Copper Design,” took the first sail Friday morning. Saturday’s prize went to Dixon Dickens, on the “Turbulence.” Capt. Jamie Rushing, of Seagate Charters and fishing aboard the “SS Wonderbread,” tallied the ninth release Saturday morning. And Johnny Isley (better known as John Boy), aboard the “Duh-Huh,” had the tournament’s final sail just two minutes before lines-out on Saturday.
The Capt. Eddie Haneman Sailfish Tournament is put on yearly in honor of Haneman, the pioneering captain who essentially created the Wrightsville Beach charter boat industry. The tournament’s boundaries keep boats well inshore of the Gulf Stream, and are designed to highlight Wrightsville’s nearshore summertime sailfish bite. The 25 releases tallied by 47 boats in two days are certainly an impressive number, and a catch rate that many no-boundary billfish tournaments can’t equal.
In addition to shining some light on the area’s nearshore fishing, the Eddie Haneman tournament raises money annually for hospice and selects a beneficiary from the community each year. This year, the committee chose Brandon Matthews, a Southport outdoorsman who was partially paralyzed in a fall from a tree stand in 2006, in order to help pay for operations that will help him regain full use of his hands along with some of his other myriad medical expenses.
The event couldn’t exist without the help of its many sponsors, and the event’s committee wished to express their gratitude to all of them.
