2010 Star Island Shark Tournament

The Small Fortune fished the 2010 Star Island Shark tournament this past weekend. With beautiful weather, full coolers, plenty of bait and chum, and lots of good guys on the boat, the only thing that was missing all weekend was a tournament winning worthy shark. We fought and released dozens of blue sharks, but none big enough to land and weigh in and no exotic sharks to take down the big prize.

The winning shark ended up being an impressive 335 lb thresher. Full tournament results were:

Heaviest overall - AFISHIONADO - 335 lbs. thresher
1st place mako - CAROL LIBBY - 241 lbs
2nd place mako - PANCHO - 236 lbs
3rd place mako - CHANGE ORDER -224 lbs
1st place other species - AFISHIONADO - 335 lbs. thresher
2nd place other species - HALFWAY THERE - 330 lbs thresher
3rd place other species - WE GO - 325 lbs thresher

No qualifying blue sharks were weighed in this year. All the ones we caught were skinny skinny skinny. They say that an 8.5 foot blue weighs 250 (the minimum for the tourney) but this year they were still too light even at that length. Also, folks, make sure you know the difference in the shark species that you may encounter in our waters. One boat killed a great white shark and brought it in to the weigh station, only to be greeted by the authorities shortly thereafter. I'm not sure what happened, but I've heard the fine was $25,000. Not only will it hurt your wallet, but the restrictions on certain sharks are in place for a reason (we hope). There's no excuse for killing a protected species due to ignorance.

Anyway, it was a great weekend. The boat is running pure. The new underwater lights look fantastic at night, can't wait to break them in on an overnighter tuna trip. Shouldn't be long now... Below are some pics.

















And in unfortunate news, due to moving to the left coast, David has been suspended from Team Small Fortune until further notice. The case is being reviewed, strict penalties are pending...

'10 Season has begun!

Small Fortune went into the water last week and we've already got a day of striper fishing under our belts. Here are some pictures of her going into the water. Notice the beautiful blue bottom. The last month and a half or so we've been busy completely stripping the many old layers of paint off her, sanding it down, and then putting on a sleek new fresh layer. You could have gotten lost in the enormous pock marks and craters that were carved into the old paint but now its going to be nothing but smooth cruising out to the canyons!

We decided not to soda blast the boat and instead went for a slower but more thorough method. We used Aircraft Fiberglass Stripper and a lot of elbow grease to get the paint off. Many thanks to our tireless crew, especially Dean for his relentless attack on the bottom. (Side note: If you're into playing the stocks and seen an uncharacteristic rise in Aircrafts stocks over the last two months and decided to get in on it, I would suggest selling now. Without the support of Small Fortune, things may take a turn for the worse!)

Small Fortune getting ready to go in the water

Notice that nice new paint job! Oh, and how about those brand new underwater lights! We already have seen lots of bait fish chased by giant stripers right in the harbor. I can't wait to see the squid and tuna in them!

Goin' in!

Now a call to arms for the father's day shark tournament out of Star Island. If you're in, shoot us an email at ssmall@smallctlaw.com

See you on the water!