The first three weeks in January are prime tournament time in Florida with teams competing from Ft. Pierce to Key Largo. This year Captain Jimmy Garner has led his Wrenegade team to a first and second place finish. Captain Garner explains, “You have to be 80% or better with your bites to hook up ratio to place in tournaments anymore, the talent level gap has closed over the last few years.”
Captain Garner and the Wrenegade team will remain idle until the Custom Shootout in the Bahamas and then finish the year up with a few more tournaments in the Contender Florida Circuit.
In other news, Captain John Bayliss on his very own Tarheel sucked up the sailfish in the Sevenstar Yacht Transport International Division during the first leg of the Los Suenos Triple Crown. Bayliss’s Tarheel released 108 sailfish in three days of fishing.
According Jimmy Vaughn, an angler fishing on the Pescadora, “It was a spectacle watching the Tarheel, it wasn’t like he was all by himself, Bayliss was catching fish right in the middle of the fleet. You couldn’t tell if the Tarheel was trolling or hooked up because they were always in a turn catching fish. It’s certainly going to be a big challenge for over half the fleet to catch them in he final two legs. We were right there and had plenty of shots but not the numbers the Tarheel had. It is something to see.”
The single screw Tarheel has dominated the Mid-Atlantic circuit for years prior to Bayliss turning his focus to boat building and his return to the helm in Costa Rica will be fun to watch in the coming weeks.
Be sure to stay tuned to our InTheBite Captains of the Year Cup news and updates in our exclusive Captain of the Year section on our website.
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