Last week, Tiffany and I were invited to fish with the Wall family aboard their 70’ Jarrett Bay, Ravaganza in the 10th Annual Custom Shootout. The Custom Shootout has become one of the premier billfish events with teams from all over the east coast gathering in the Bahamas to raise money for charity. It is unique that boats are open for visitors to come aboard and many of the builders attend the event. This year Roy Merritt, Richie Scheffer, Dominic Lacombe, Daniel Spencer, Jimmy Floyd, Michael Rybovich, John Vance, John Bayliss, John Whiticar and myself were there sharing laughs and stories about boats and fishing.
The weather for this year’s event could not have been better with clear skies and light winds. Typically when you think of fishing in Harbour Island, short runs and easy days would come to mind, but this year was an exception! In the days leading up to the event, Capt. Dave Fields of Ravaganza had good fishing 50 miles north of Harbor Island off of Abaco. His hard work before the tournament paid off for our entire crew as we fished those waters every day. On day one, we were fortunate to catch the boat’s first Grand Slam! Chuck wall released a sailfish, Clark Beaty a blue marlin, and Tiffany Griffin a white marlin and a sail. We had a slow second day, but on day three Clark Beaty released a sail and Tiffany Griffin released two sails to seal a third place finish for our team and also tie for Top Lady Angler.
It was a real pleasure to have an opportunity to fish with Chuck, Jane Beth and Keith Wall, Clark Beaty and our world class crew led by Capt Dave, Matt and Stetson. I have had an opportunity to fish with a lot of people, but I am not sure I have ever fished with a harder working, more committed crew or a family. As the season progresses I cant wait to see what they can accomplish together.
