23rd Annual
Capt. Al Flutie OVER THE HILL RIP-OFF SAILFISH TOURNAMENT
January 23 & 24, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 30, 2012
CONTACT: CORINNE TRIVISKI, 305-432-8384

Favorable weather conditions with winds from the southeast at 12-15 MPH and seas of 2-4' made for another solid turnout in the 23rd Annual Capt. Al Flutie OVER THE HILL RIP-OFF Sailfish Tournament out of Gary Dunn's Oceanview Inn and Sports Pub in Islamorada. The one day competition kicked off on Monday evening, January 23rd with fishing all day on Tuesday the 24th boasting a total of 65 anglers competing on 24 boats.

The fishing was not red hot by Keys' standards but good enough to keep Scorekeeper Jayanna Cohan busy throughout the day as she tallied a total of 49 hookups by the OVER THE HILL gang of anglers with 31 successful releases and one of those sailfish being tagged and released for scientific research.

Part of the Redbone@Large series of offshore fishing adventures, the tournament benefits cystic fibrosis research and Monroe Association of ReMARCable Citizens according to Corinne Triviski, one of the tournament directors. The event was founded by Capt. Al Flutie along with Capt. Socko Gorenflo, Dick Sheppard and Rip Tosun to benefit Keys residents in their time of need. Although anyone can fish the event, it was originally designed for aging boat captains over 50 and grew to include other OVER THE HILL anglers. To the best of everyone's knowledge it is the only sailfish tournament in the world dedicated to senior anglers.

Over the years the tournament has continued to grow in popularity and participants have raised more than $400,000 for those in need, MARC of the Keys and as Redbone Director Capt. Gary Ellis likes to say, "Fishing to Catch the Cure for Cystic Fibrosis."

For those in the lead this year, the competition was down to the wire with anglers Frank Criscola and Joe Prestifilippo fishing on board Criscola's boat the 'CRISDEL' with Captains Paul Dalik, George Stellar and John Magursky going into the final hour of the tournament with a five fish total. The crew on the 'CRISDEL' hadn't raised or seen a fish since 2:30 PM when shortly thereafter Capt. Jon Reynolds on the 'DROP BACK' called the Committee Boat to report a triple header of sailfish. The 'DROP BACK' already had three releases on the scoreboard and catching and releasing all three fish would put them in first place as the clock continued to tick away. However, the sailfish would win this battle with two of them managing to throw the hooks and only one of the triple header coming to leader for a successful release.

At day's end the scoring and the Winner's Circle had Criscola and Prestifilippo the Grand Champions with a total of five sailfish releases. Frank Criscola also took the High Point Angler trophy as the single angler with the most releases at five. Anglers P.J. and Bobby Milazzo took Second Place on board the "PLAY BABY' with four releases guided by Captains Benny Spaulding and Sam Milazzo and Mate Jody Spaulding. The four releases on board the 'DROP BACK' held up to give anglers John Fuechsel, Brian Reynolds and Gary Salyers a Third Place finish guided by Capt. Jon Reynolds and Mate Gary Salyers.

On the night of the Kickoff special recognition and the Dick Sheppard Memorial Sportsmanship Award was presented to Rip Tosun, the only remaining living member of the original foursome that conceived the tournament. The Awards Banquet featured plenty of good food, silent auctions, raffles and a live auction carried out by DJ Dave Levy and former Pittsburgh Steeler Gary Dunn.

Special thanks are in order for everyone that contributed to the success of the event including Gordon Ross, Gary and Susan Ellis and Debby and Louie Zwerline. See you next year and Happy Birthday to Capt. Al Flutie.