I quickly re-rigged and got another bait into the spread. It was almost in disbelief that my line was snapped from the outrigger a second time. This time I kept my cool and dropped back just like I would for a South Jersey Flounder. When I locked up something much bigger was pulling on the other end of my line. Over six feet of brilliant iridescent blue body sail and bill was launched into the air. I had measured my drag exactly so I let it do the work and with some great boat handling I soon had the leader into the tip of the rod and had my first official sailfish release of my life. As we reported the release on the radio It was confirmed that it was the first official release of the tournament which at least in a sense put me in the record books for Guatemala's International Sailfish Tournaments.
I kept at it for the three days of the tournament and against a field of international anglers from South Africa, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the United States as well as the best Anglers that Guatemala had to offer, I have to say that I did well and finished in fourth place individual with ten releases. This was a time that all the participating boats were outboards and the offshore waters had not been nearly explored as they would be in the future. Still the total releases for this Mosquito Fleet was the most ever recorded by the International Light tackle Association up until this time.
