July 9, 2001 – Catching and releasing two blue marlin over the weekend earned Dee Spear the prestigious Give 'm Line Trophy, making her the fifth woman to win the award in the 38-year history of the July Open Tournament, hosted Friday through Sunday by the Virgin Islands Game Fishing Club.
Fishing aboard Sea Deal, a 45-foot Hatteras out of Fajardo, Puerto Rico, Spear came up fishless on Friday. "We had just one release that day — a white marlin that Rick released for 100 points," Spear said of angler Rick Carolus' catch. Only blue marlin, white marlin and sailfish counted in this all-release event, with points for each released fish being 400, 100 and 50, respectively.
On Day 2, Spear's rod sang with spinning line as a blue marlin bit in the first hour out. "The line was wrapped around the marlin's dorsal fin, so it was a difficult 45-minute fight," she said afterward. "But the fish was in excellent condition when we released it."
Later, about 2 p.m., Spear hooked her second blue. "It was a smaller fish, and about a 20-minute fight," she recalled. "But it was real aggressive — lots of fancy dancing and tail walking."
The last day of fishing proved fruitless for Spear.
Two other anglers — Florida's James Cleary aboard Rapscallion and South Carolina's Tommy Hancock on Dem Boys — also released two blue marlin to earn 800 points over the three-day event. Spear won the Give 'm Line Trophy because she reached her two-fish total first.
Historically, the trophy has been awarded to the angler who caught the biggest fish. But this year, "We decided for the first time to go with an all-release format because of the growing concern for conservation," Harry Clinton, VIGCF board member and tournament director, said. "That meant that no fish were killed and brought to the docks." Thus, no fish were weighed, and so this year the Give 'm Line Trophy was awarded based on points and time.
Top Boat honors went to Dem Boys, a Sea-Pro out of Charleston, S.C., owned by Doug Hancock and sons Tommy and Jimmy Hancock, which earned 1,600 points with four blue marlin releases. "This is our first time fishing out of St. Thomas, and we've seen more blue marlin here in three days of fishing than we do all summer fishing out of South Carolina," Tommy said.
Tommy put Dem Boys on the scoreboard the first day with one blue marlin release. Angler Jimmy Metts did the same on Day 2, and on the final day Doug Hancock released one and Tommy scored the second in the final minutes of the event. "That last catch took over an hour," Tommy said. "It went deep."
While the Dem Boys anglers were new to fishing in Virgin waters, they had help from experienced crew. Capt. Ryan Hanckle's brother Milo used to work with St. Thomas sportsfishing charter captain Bill McCauley aboard Prowler. "We definitely picked his brain," Tommy said. Mate Jose Astorga is a native of Costa Rica, an area known for its billfish, and he's had lots of experience with them.
Spear's two blue marlin, Carolus's White and another blue caught and released by Ken Towne earned Sea Deal 1,300 points and second-best boat honors. St. Thomas's Grizz Skeels was the captain, with David Birt as mate. Pescador, out of San Juan, was third with 900 points.
The July Open, begun in 1964, is the oldest continually held tournament hosted by the VIGFC. The club's next event is the Inshore Four, set for Labor Day weekend in September. For more information, call 775-9144.