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MIAMI RAFT INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT PUTS 'FUN' IN EXTREME SPORTS CHALLENGE
By William Kearney
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As proof that humans are an insane species, I offer Exhibit A: the Miami Raft Invitational Tournament (most recently held April 26, 2006). Forget
trolling, forget towers, forget chasing down a fish that could spool the reel. This tournament reduces angling to the bare essentials: a man, a
raft and a fish. For 21st Century anglers, it’s the closest they’ll come to “The Old Man and The Sea.” It’s also a hell of a lot of fun.
The Miami Raft Invitational Tournament,
now in its second year, is the brainchild of
Miami-based charter boat captain Matt Tambor.
“We thought about doing it out of kayaks,” says
Tambor about the genesis of the tournament,
“but this is where all the balseros (Cuban boat
refugees) land. We figured if we could do it
without insulting any of the Cubans, it’d be a
hoot.” The tube raft concept ended up being a
stroke of design genius, as raft anglers can sit
at the hub of up to 16 rod holders. That just
wouldn’t be possible in a kayak.
Some see the raft tournament as part of the
extreme sports movement. “I’ve been fishing
tournaments since I was 8,” says Matt Neber,
a first time raft angler. He anticipated a very
different experience on the raft. “I’m going to
have a fish right here (he motions to his waist).
I’m in a rubber inner-tube now. It’s more
adrenaline. More exciting.”
Captain Ray Rosher of Team Penn Reels,
who won last year’s tournament, describes it this
way, “The challenge is trying to maintain two or
three or four baits in the water at the same
time. If you ever get seven or eight rods
out, you take a deep breath and you almost
don’t want anything to bite. You know, just
enjoy the solitude for a minute. It’s a major
achievement to get it all out there.”
Managing baits without a crew is one
thing, but what about fighting a fish? “You
lose a lot of line,” says Tambor. “You can’t
chase them down. On the other hand, if you
tighten up on some of these fish they start
dragging the raft.”
As far as presentation goes, raft anglers
may actually have an advantage over
boaters. “These fish will swim right up
to the raft to try and eat the free pilchards
we’re throwing out,” says Tambor. “You will
see visions of sailfish that you will never
experience (in a boat).” With that in mind,
the event gets under way.
It’s 3 p.m. A squadron of sport boats
race around Cape Florida, each carrying
cheering men and strange looking rafts.
It’s an odd spectacle. The first vessel
out to the Gulf Stream color line is the
tournament boat, carrying the tournament
host, Captain Dan Kipnis. Eastern skies
are clear while thunderheads rise over the
Everglades. On the water, loose tracks of
sargassum concentrate in the more stained
water. The men lower their rafts and begin
rigging. Some have trouble standing, others
constantly fidget with their lines. Once adrift
the rafts look like huge bloated porcupines
floating out to sea.
Before long, Rosher has the first hookup.
Instead of fighting the fish aggressively, he
actually takes the time to set out more baits.
Apparently he’d seen a second fish with the
first. This is where the raft fishing becomes
interesting. As the fish circles, Rosher lifts
up the spare rods and passes the fighting rod
around the others. “Of course he swam right into the kite line
and three down lines,” Rosher says. “(On a raft) you’re kinda’
in a jam. Murphy’s Law kicks in.” As the fish pulls the raft east,
the wind and kites push the raft west. He’s into his backing with
300-yards of line out and starts pulling his kites in.
Further down the fleet, frigate birds work a school of bait about
200 yards south of one of the rafts, but there’s nothing the
angler can do about it. The support crew tosses out live chum
but it doesn’t make a difference, at least not yet.
An hour into the tournament and Rosher has landed his first
fish and is hooked up again. There have been other hookups,
but they’ve all broken free. Kipnis notices that unlike most of
the other anglers, Rosher set up inside the color line. When
asked why, Rosher says there’s a lot of other boats outside, so
he set up inside. He also knew, from the previous day of charter
captaining, that people had caught fish in the dirtier water
yesterday.
Around 4:30 p.m., the action really starts to pick up. One of
the Contender rafts has a doubleheader, but the fish cross paths
and break each other off. Meanwhile, a cobia remains hooked
up. They are notoriously difficult to handle once gaffed. The
angler jokes that as soon as he pulls the cobia into the tiny raft,
he’s jumping out. Before long, Roger Rex of the “Scatterbrain”
comes up with a mystery fish. It’s big. Could be a tuna. Could
be a sail. “This fish is kicking my ass,” he says. All those
aboard the support boat can do is yell encouragement. Suddenly
the fish turns around, speeds back and is gone. We get news over
the radio that a hammerhead shark is circling one of the rafts,
curious about what’s going on. Another raft that just landed a
tuna has a puncture and is slowly sinking.
As the afternoon progresses, hookups pick up. At 5:40 p.m.
someone lands a fish, then three rafts have fish on at the same
time. We pull up to Neber’s raft just as he lands a sail. I ask him
if it’s what he expected. “It was beyond my wildest dreams. It’s
all about the glide. You gotta’ go to the fish. You can’t make the
fish come to you.”
With an hour left in the tournament Rosher is in first place
with three fish, all on circle hooks, all tagged and released,
which gives him bonus points. In second place is Neber of the
Contender 1 with three releases. Several rafts have one fish each,
as well as fun fish like cobia, kings and tuna, which will shuffle
the standings.
As dusk approaches there are a series of quick hookups.
Rosher’s on again, and Tambor fights three fish at once. This
won’t win him the tournament, but it’s quite a challenge. In
round-robin fashion he fights each fish a minute at a time. In the
end he loses one and lands a double.
At 7 p.m., with most of the anglers exhausted, it’s lines
out of the water. The Miami skyline fronts the sunset. Rafts are
hauled onto support boats and everyone returns to shore. All
told, five rafts where punctured, numerous fish were lost, and
20 fish were released. Like last year, Rosher takes first, this time
with four sailfish tagged and released. Cort Vernon III of Capt.
Harry’s takes second and Neber takes third. “I see next year
being even harder to compete … I was blown away by some
of the rafts,” says Rosher. “It’s a fun, fun deal at the end of the
season. There’s no big money on the line. Everyone just goes out
and has fun.”
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;)
