Worth it.
What do you get when two days of a 3-day tournament are called off due to weather? A one day rodeo featuring a bonefish catch worth bragging about and two tournament awards, that’s what. For two days, winds ripped over the Florida Bay at more than 30 knots. For safety’s sake, the women in the Ladies IWFA Tournament stayed ashore. These are not your fair weather anglers either. These anglers are tough and willing which is probably one of the reasons why the IWFA is the second oldest fishing club in the country. While Wednesday’s weather wasn’t much better, conditions improved some and the 3-day affair came down to the fruits of one day’s work. My anglers, Jill Gaddis and Fran McKelvey, each caught an elusive grey ghost using the tournament required 8lb Ande monofiliment. Jill’s bonefish was her first ever and Fran hooked and landed a whopper, estimated over 12 lbs, which was her biggest bonefish ever. The current IGFA record on 8lb test was caught in Islamorada and weighed 14 pounds 4 ounces, to give you an idea of what Fran accomplished. That secured her the Most Outstanding Catch award. The participants in the IWFA Light Tackle Tournament also pool into groups to compile their catches for the Team awards, and these ladies were proud to contribute to nabbing the First Place Team prize too. Not bad for a blow out!
Fran and Capt. Steve pose with what would be the Most Outstanding Catch during the 2015 IWFA Tournament
Fran smiles with her 12b bonefish caught on 8lb test mono
2015 IWFA angler with her first ever bonefish caught on 8lb mono