Fleet of 132 Boats Fish 2023 Blue Water Open

The 29th Annual Sebastian Blue Water Open Charity Offshore Fishing Tournament was a tremendous success! The event took place Saturday, June 3 with a fleet of 132 registered boats. It was a great day of fishing with lots of big fish weighed in.

The main board fish categories were dolphin, tilefish, kingfish and grouper, and all 12 positions were filled. A bonus board gave an additional 15 places to win some cash.

Here are the results.

Dolphin: First place with 16.79 pounds went to Sebastian Myths with Capt. Ray Harrison; second place, 15.28 pounds caught on Fishmonger, Capt. Garry Becker; third place, 12.89 pounds, Just the Tip, Capt. James Beyer.

Tilefish: First place, 27.69 pounds, on Tail Chaser, Capt. John Hardin; second place, 21.56 pounds, Reel Natives, Capt. Taylor Stark; third place, 20.33 pounds, Alcoholics Aknotymous, Capt. Sonny Richards.

Kingfish: First place, 35.10 pounds, Catching Smiles, Capt. Eric Urso; second place, 34.46 pounds, Easy Drinking, Capt. Joel McKinney; third place, 27.74 pounds, Ms Understood, Capt. Darwin Harrelson.

Grouper: First place, 42.46 pounds, caught on the Jaw Ga, Capt. Brent May; second place, 40.86 pounds, Reel Commis, Capt. Jason Bistarkey; third place, 37.58 pounds, Side Piece, Capt. Michael Gressinger.

Amberjack, wahoo and swordfish were the bonus fish this year. The boat Side Piece won the top amberjack weighing in at 42.04 pounds with Capt. Michael Gressinger. The top wahoo was a whopping 88.19 pounder caught on Strictly Business with Capt. Chad Painter. No swordfish were weighed in.

Top lady angler was awarded to Becka Ashley, fishing aboard Reel Estate II with Capt. Justin Kessler. Becka snagged a 31.81-pound grouper for the prize. Nice catch, Becka! Becka received a hand-crafted