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Rowland/Cardenas take Seamaster Superfly Series Grand Championship
2000-11-06 - Strong finish in Redbone Superfly for the Key West Team

Capt. Tom Rowland and Jeffrey Cardenas recieve the Seamaster Superfly Series Grand Championship award from Redbone Tournament Director, Gary Ellis

Tournament Recap - Redbone Superfly in Islamorada November 3, 2000
Cardenas/Rowland take series Grand Champion trophy
The Seamaster Superfly is usually met with poor weather, cold temperatures and high winds. This year, however, temperatures stayed in the 80's and skies remained clear. On the morning of November 3, 40 boats left out of World Wide Sportsman in Islamorada to attempt to catch a bonefish and a redfish in their pursuit of the high profile winners trophy.

The 40 boats participating in this years Redbone Superfly account for more boats than participated in the first Redbone. Since its inaugural tournament, the Redbone (Islamorada) has expanded to include the S.L.A.M. tournament in Key West, the Baybone tournament in Key Largo, as well as the Redbone at Large tournament series, the Redbone Journal, and the Redbone Gallery. These tournaments have raised over 1.5 million dollars to find the cure for Cystic Fibrosis.

Jeffrey and I headed straight for the area that I had been exploring the previous 3 days. Just as I had expected, we found a group of tailing bonefish immediately. The fish were working up the bank and into the tide. We chose to fish out of the Maverick HPX tunnel hull boat, which is the shallowest flats skiff, made. I took advantage of our draft and stayed higher on the flat than the bonefish and allowed Jeffrey to present a beautiful cast to the fish. As we watched the fish edged closer to the perfectly presented fly, Jeffrey took two smooth small strips and I watched the dorsal of the lead fish flex upwards as he showed his excitement for the fly. Two seconds later, Jeffrey was tight to what would be a major step to securing a place in this tournament. After 10 minutes we saw the fish close to the boat and knew that we had connected to a spectacular fish. Excitement built as I netted the fish and put him on the scale. At 13 ½ pounds, this was Jeffrey Cardenas’ second largest career bonefish, but more than that, it was a major obstacle behind us at 7:42 in the morning.

We continued to look for bonefish until 10:00 am. Jeffrey got many shots at bonefish in the two hours and briefly hooked one but when 10 am rolled around, we stuck to our plan and packed up for Redfish territory; The Everglades National Park.

After a 40 minute run, I decided to fish another area that I had recently checked on. As I had hoped, the Redfish were there and Jeffrey and I began harvesting one approximately every 30 minutes. With 5 fish under our belt, we knew that we had a good score but with a little simple mathematics realized that two bonefish and two Redfish would beat our score. Calculating the points, we determined that we needed at least 8 redfish and a bonefish to compete with this group of famous and talented anglers and guides.
I moved us to another of my redfish spots and luckily, the redfish were also there and we were able to catch 4 more for a total of 9 redfish and 1 bonefish. At 3:00 we departed for the dock.
Once there, I had an idea that our score would be among the top scores but I also had a feeling that someone was going to strike it rich and completely smash our score.

Tim Mahaffey and Capt. Rick Murphy were leading when we returned with 1 bonefish and 3 redfish, which would have won this tournament on any of the previous years. We took the lead for a few minutes until Capt. Rob Fordyce and Craig Reagor came in with the winning score of 3 redfish and 4 bonefish.
As always, it is disappointing to loose a tournament with such a strong score, but anyone who turns in a scorecard with 3 redfish and 4 bonefish on the same fly deserves to win and I offer my whole hearted congratulations to Craig and Rob.

The Seamaster Superfly is Saltwater Flyfishing's Triple Crown event and series points are awarded for the top 4 finishes in each event. First place receives 1000 points, second receives 750, third receives 500, and fourth receives 250 points towards the series Grand Champion. With our first place finish in the Key West event and our second place finish in the Islamorada tournament, we won the Seamaster Superfly Series Grand Champion award.

Each year, I am reminded of how much I enjoy tournament fishing and especially, any event in the Redbone Series. Gary and Susan Ellis put on such a wonderful event and participating in this event makes me proud of our donation to such a worthy cause. Should you wish to participate in a Redbone event, email me from this site and I will help you find out how to get started!


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