January 8-12, 2008 marked the 36th Annual Gold Cup Team Fishing Tournament at the Sailfish Club!  We are proud to report that we had a total of 22 boats enter the tournament plus the Club’s charter boat, which brought the grand total up to 23 boats!  Fishing on the first day was exciting, with a total of 17 Sailfish released.  Enrique Tomeu’s “Big Dog” had the High Daily for the day with 4 releases. 

Day 2 was the best day with a total of 30 releases for the day!  MacDaddy led the pack on Day 2 with 6 releases earning them the High Daily Award for Day 2.  But Big Dog released 4 Sailfish, keeping them in first place with 2400 points and putting MacDaddy in second with 2100 points.  Day 2 proved to be a strong day for a lot of boats; Wrenegade released 4 Sailfish moving them up into 3rd place with a total of 1500 points for Days 1 & 2. 

Unfortunately, the third and fourth days were quite disappointing with only 10 releases between the two days.  A huge drop from Days 1 & 2.  But everyone had a great time and the festivities surrounding the event made up for the lack of fish.
The Thursday Night Docktail Party was a festive, relaxing evening by the docks with live music, tasty cocktails and an elaborate BBQ.  Teams were found hanging out on the docks by their boats and at the tiki bar with friends.  At the end of a day with 30 releases, there were lots of stories to hear and celebrating to do. 

The Saturday evening awards were a success with 200 anglers, captains, crew and their guests attending.  Although somewhat disappointed by the last two days of fishing, everyone still had a great time talking about their memories from this year’s Gold Cup.  Co-Chairmen Keith Beaty and Andres Fanjul hosted the awards and were joined by special guest (and Sailfish Club Member) Kay Rybovich, who presented the John Rybovich Memorial Award to Jamie MacGregor for the most Sailfish releases on dead bait.
Overall, the tournament was said to be a complete success!  Everyone said they had a wonderful time and that they looked forward to returning in 2009 for another great tournament!  A huge thank you to all to helped to organize and run the Gold Cup!

We are already in the planning process for next year’s tournament which will be held January 13th-17th, 2009.  Tournament information can be found by accessing the links to the right.  Registration information will be available beginning in September, 2008.