Contender Florida Division

Photo courtesy Leonard Bryant
Photo courtesy Endless Imagery
Capt. Jamie Ralph won the 2017 Final Sail and placed 3rd in the Silver Sailfish Derby.
Capt. Jon Brooks and the Ditch Digger team holding up the prestigious Gold Cup in 2017
Aces wins 2017 Sailfish 400
Miss Britt Contender 2017 1st Place Sailfish Challenge
Capt. Wink Doerzbacher. COTY 2013, Florida COTY 2014. Showtime!
Capt. Glenn Cameron and his mate.
COTY Travis Butters, master of the smoked pig.
Capt. Jim Mulcahy, Florida COTY 2015. Bar South.

Showtime -Photo courtesy Endless Imagery

Captain of the Year Home

2023 Standings:

Capt. Garrett Yarborough // Lo Que Sea // 1,000 pts.

Pelican Yacht Club Billfish Tournament, 1st Place, 500 pts.
Buccaneer Cup, 1st Place, 500 pts.

Capt. JC Cleare // Remix // 800 pts.

Cheeca Lodge Presidential Sailfish Tournament, 2nd Place, 300 pts.
Sailfish Challenge, 1st Place, 500 pts.

Capt. Trevor Frins // Hillbilly Deluxe // 750 pts.

Cheeca Lodge Presidential Sailfish Tournament, 1st Place, 500 pts.
Florida Keys Gold Cup Champion, 250 pts.

Capt. Andrew Dotterweich // Fish On // 600 pts.

Silver Sailfish Derby, 3rd Place, 100 pts.
Operation Sailfish, 1st Place, 500 pts.

Capt. Jorge Sanchez // Priceless // 500 pts.

Silver Sailfish Derby, 1st Place, 500 pts.

Capt. Bernard Paul-Hus // Skip Jac // 500 pts.

Islamorada Fishing Club’s Sailfish Tournament, 1st Place, 500 pts.

Capt. Dave Dalfo // Wrapped Up // 500 pts.

Sailfish’s Club Gold Cup Team Tournament, 1st Place, 500 pts.

Capt. Matt Alligood // Just Chillin // 500 pts.

Jimmy Johnson’s Quest for the Ring, 1st Place, 500 pts.

Capt. Nick Carullo // Goombay Smash // 300 pts.

Silver Sailfish Derby, 2nd Place, 300 pts.

Capt. Josh Chaney // Champagne Lady // 300 pts.

Pelican Yacht Club Billfish Tournament, 2nd Place, 300 pts.

Capt. Robert Helms // Que Mas // 300 pts.

Islamorada Fishing Club’s Sailfish Tournament, 2nd Place, 300 pts.

Capt. Chandler Miles // Bad Boyz // 300 pts.

Operation Sailfish, 2nd Place, 300 pts.

Capt. Randy Yates // Trophy Wife // 300 pts.

Buccaneer Cup, 2nd Place, 300 pts.

Capt. Keith Greenberg // Krazy Salt’s // 300 pts.

Sailfish Club’s Gold Cup Team Tournament, 2nd Place, 300 pts.

Capt. Colin Page // Big Ben // 300 pts.

Sailfish Challenge, 2nd Place, 300 pts.

Capt. Chris Marchesani // Too Many Martinis // 300 pts.

Jimmy Johnsonn’s Quest for the Ring, 2nd Place, 300 pts.

Capt. David Grubbs // Grand Slam // 100 pts.

Pelican Yacht Club Billfish Tournament, 3rd Place, 100 pts.

Capt. Brian Cone // Trophy Hunter // 100 pts.

Islamorada Fishing Club’s Sailfish Tournament, 3rd Place, 100 pts.

Capt. Quinton Deirtle // Contender One // 100 pts.

Operation Sailfish, 3rd Place, 100 pts.

Capt. Anthony Pennella // Quick Raise // 100 pts.

Buccaneer Cup, 3rd Place, 100 pts.

Capt. KC Spaulding // Caribsea // 100 pts.

Cheeca Lodge Presidential Sailfish Tournament, 3rd Place, 100 pts.

Capt. Jon Meade // Showtime! // 100 pts.

Sailfish Club’s Gold Cup Team Tournament, 3rd Place, 100 pts.

Capt. John Hagen // MDALA // 100 pts.

Sailfish Challenge, 3rd Place, 100 pts.

Capt. Raul Gonzalez // BAR South // 100 pts.

Jimmy Johnson’ Quest for the Ring, 3rd Place, 100 pts.

2022 Contender Florida Division Captain of the Year

Capt. Quinton Dieterle // Contender One // 1,050 points

Sailfish Challenge, 1st Place, 500 pts.
Final Sail, 2nd Place, 300 pts.
Quest for the Crest Series, Overall Champion, 250 pts.

By Carol M. Bareuther

“In it to win it” is the best way to describe Capt. Quinton “Q” Dieterle. A native of Miami, Florida, Dieterle has fished the waters off Miami, the Florida Keys and the Bahamas his entire life, including over 34 years as owner-operator of his Key Biscayne-based charter boat, the 45’ Hatteras Cutting Edge. He also runs the Contender One/Costa, aka C1, the factory boat for owner Joe Neber.

“The C1 Team for 2022 consisted of a group of captains and mates that have worked with me for years. Three of the guys—Cap Hinkley, Mike Lawson and Lucas Nido—started with me on the Cutting Edge,” tells Dieterle. “We also have long-time sailfishing captains Steve Cunningham, Jon Cooper and Kenny Pontari, and our flat line angler Ivan Soto, who all also work at Contender. Jon Cooper, who only missed two sailfish in the 2022 season, Cap [Hinkley] and I also worked together for nine years on the Get Lit boat owned by Kitt Toomey and had remarkable success there. Joe Neber put the team together about five years ago, and we have had good success over those years. And, we’ve had a lot of fun.”

(Photo/Mike Finiquerra)

The 2022 season started off well, says Dieterle, with the expectations of winning the Burgundy Jacket in the Quest for the Crest Sailfish Series, which boasts over 70 teams entered, and hopefully doing well in the Jimmy Johnson (JJ) tournaments as well. After all, the team was well prepared. There were no details left out. Plus, the team’s combined experience is hard to beat, and the determination, Dieterle adds, will never be beaten. The team chose the Bluewater Movements Quest Series, and the JJ tournaments, because those were the ones that were the most competitive and fit everyone’s schedule.

“Fishing on a new 44’ Contender, and with a lot of strong brands backing us, we had no excuses,” says Dieterle. “All of our team specialize in sailfishing with the kites and spot fishing. Fishing together for so long we feel that as a team there are really no boundaries. All the guys on this team have been a part of other winning teams in the past so they know what it takes to win.”

The Sailfish Challenge, the second leg of the Quest Series held February 23-27, 2022, out of Fort Lauderdale, proved the perfect example of a plan coming together.

“Everybody was fishing together, and we were catching the fish we saw. Several free jumpers lead to multiple bites, which the team needed after trading the lead with another team throughout the day,” says Dieterle.

In the end, with 14 sails released, and a triple header all caught and released in the final 45 minutes of the first day of fishing, C1 topped the leaderboard. On Day 2 once again, they caught all they saw, missing zero fish, and never slowed down, showing how intense they were. In the end, with 18 total, C1 took first and bested the second-place finisher by two releases.

The Final Sail, the third and final leg of the Quest Series held April 6-9, 2022, out of Miami Beach, has always been the tournament that takes years off your life, says Dieterle. And 2022 was no exception. After all, the World Champion Title in competitive sailfishing was on the line.

“The first day we clearly screwed up by moving south 15 miles at 10 a.m. Then, we realized the conditions were better where we left so we ran back, wasting 60 minutes. But once we cracked the code, we started to catch fish, but it was too late for a daily comeback,” he tells.

C1 finished Day One with six releases and 16th on the leaderboard.

Dieterle admits that on the second day, he was just trying to hang on to at least make a respectful finish. But the team started off like gangbusters, with a triple and then a double in the first hour.

“I started to feel this was going to be a battle to the end. And it was! We just keep on finding little things that would get us another fish. A tailor, a free jumper, some flyers popping up stuff like that. Then with 20 minutes left, I took a chance and ran 10 miles south, which only gave us about 10 minutes to fish, but it paid off with a five banger, a second-place finish in the tournament and an overall series win. The series win was a simple formula, stay close to the winners and hope you pull something amazing off and we did,” says Dieterle.

The entire C1 team will be back and ready to go in 2023.

2021 Contender Florida Division Captain of the Year

Capt. Nick Carullo

Priceless, Showtime, Remix

1,350 Points

Silver Sailfish Derby, 2nd Place – 300 pts.

Operation Sailfish, 1st Place – 500 pts.

Final Sail, 2nd Place – 300 pts.

Quest for the Crest Series, Overall Champions – 250 pts.

If you’re familiar with the Florida sailfishing circuit then it’s likely you’ve seen photos of tournament teams sporting burgundy jackets, usually accompanied by big grins. Capt. Nick Carullo would be one of these individuals. The jackets, bestowed on winners of Quest For The Crest Champions, were donned by Carullo and his team after winning this year’s Series when the team took a second place spot after 21 releases in total at the Final Sail, which earned Carullo yet another coveted award: his second Captain of the Year for the Contender Florida Division title. Carullo and the team had previously won the Series in 2019 with Carullo winning the Captain of the Year Contender Florida Division that same year. Carullo also earned a third burgundy jacket when Free Bird, which he was captaining at the time, landed at the top of the standings in the 2018 Quest for the Crest.

“It was a great feeling to be back at top,” the Florida native says. “We’ve been a dominant team the last few years and we were excited to go back into it this year with the same team and same focus.”

The Showtime team was put together at the end of 2018 with owner Joe Fernandez, well, running the show. The core group has been together for about four years with Carullo, JC Cleare, Frankie Villasante and Doug Mientkiewicz having fished together for 10-plus years. The tight-knit bond the guys share is one of the main factors the captain credits for the team’s multiple wins.

“We all mesh well together and we all know how to run as a unit together so no one’s guessing about what to do,” Carullo explains.

One change for the team was the delivery of a 46-foot Release Marine Walkaround that they ended up fishing on later in the season. They had previously fished on a 42-foot Invincible.

“As captains you build trust in your boat as you build trust in your team,” Carullo says. “So going into that tournament it was a little nerve wracking but I got the boat dialed in. That boat is a sailfish machine.”

Along with a good crew and boat, preparedness is also key to Carullo when it comes to tournaments. He likens the fishing team’s mentality to that of a sports team where practice makes perfect, which means knowing the fishing grounds, knowing where the fish have been and being ready for anything thrown at them.

“I’m very competitive, I always want to be at the top and I demand a lot of focus,” Carullo says. “You need to learn the water, the current, the boat, the different conditions and just be out there and know what’s going on.”

As a captain, Carullo is always planning ahead. If there are windy conditions, he knows the team needs to switch to heavy kite lines, on no wind days it’s a 180 going light with the leader and hooks. Carullo is quick to emphasize the importance of bait.

On average, the team will be out catching bait four to five weeks before every tournament. It’s all about getting that perfect bait for Carullo. His aim is to get seasoned bait penned up and feeding properly over those weeks to keep them hardy come tournament time. Even handling—he makes sure that the team’s bait is dipped in and out of the boat one by one in a dip net—is key.

“You’re fishing against 30 or 40 other really good boats that have good bait,” he says. “But you don’t want good bait, you want perfect bait. It’s properly taking care of your bait like you’re taking care of everything else in the program.”

And looking back on the season, it seems this has proven true.

Now with another impressive year behind him, Carullo’s next goal as a captain is to win the Custom Boat Shootout in the Bahamas and keep moving on from there. For someone who grew up fishing with his dad out of Miami, got his captain’s license at 22 and wanted to one day be up there with the likes of Ray Rosher, who he mated under, Carullo doesn’t take his job and goals lightly. “To be a captain of a good program is special and you can’t take it for granted,” he says. “We get to do what we love and compete in big purse tournaments so you have to be grateful for what you do.”

Past Winners:

2022 Capt. Quinton Dieterle // Contender One // 1,050 pts.
2021 Capt. Nick Carullo // Priceless, Showtime, Remix // 1,350 pts.
2020 Capt. John Dudas // Sandman // 1,000 pts.
2019 Capt. Nick Carullo // Showtime // 1,250 pts.
2018 Capt. John Dudas // Sandman // 1,200 pts.
2017 Capt. Glenn Cameron // Floridian // 1,100 pts.
2016 Capt. Scott Fawcett // Off the Chain (Trust Me Too/Martha D) // 1,300 pts.
2015 Capt. Jim Mulcahy // BAR South // 850 pts.
2014 Capt. Wink Doerzbacher //Showtime! // 1,950 pts.