St. Croix angler Beth Basinski on Sunday hauled in a 35.3-pound dolphin, also known as a mahi-mahi, to win the top-angler award and a $1,000 cash prize at the Virgin Islands Game Fishing Club’s Dolphin Derby.
The prizes were announced Monday at the club’s award’s dinner.
Fishing aboard Livin’ the Dream, a 65-foot Hatteras, Basinski caught her winning fish off the south coast of St. Thomas, approximately 15 miles northeast of Christiansted, St. Croix.
“We were working our way north across the South Drop when we saw a lone frigate bird,” Basinski said. “We kept following it and circling around. Even though we couldn’t see any fish, we knew the bird saw something there.”
Basinski’s dolphin came up as part of a double-header. Ryan Senff, another Livin the Dream angler, hooked a 26.4-pounder at the same time. Senff brought his fish to the boat first, followed by Basinski, who boated her whopper after a 15 to 20 minute fight. Senff’s fish earned him the third largest dolphin prize.
Basinski’s first-place fish was about 20 pounds shy of the over-55-pound criteria that would have won the tournament’s ultimate prize – a $25,000 cash bonus.
The second largest dolphin, a 30.3-pounder, was caught by St. Thomas teenager Colette Cogan, fishing aboard the 31-foot Bertram, Hookie II.
“We had a great day,” Cogan said. “We saw birds and then my dad and I hooked up at the same time. He reeled in his fast. It took me about 20 minutes. I saw it jump a couple of times during the fight, so I knew it was a good-sized fish.”
Cash prizes were awarded to anglers catching the 10 largest dolphin. Those anglers were: fourth place, Mark Blackburn, 26.3 pounds; fifth, Danno Gerritsen, 25.4 pounds; sixth, Tamika Turbe, 25 pounds; seventh, Jared Buckstein, 26.4 pounds; eighth, Gilbert Laban, 24 pounds; ninth, Fred Kopko, 23.5 pounds; and 10th, Jeremy Austin, 21.6 pounds.
The Best Boat award went to St. Thomas’s Emanuel, a 34-foot Calypso, with 12 dolphin collectively weighing 238.3-pounds.
“We were out fishing two days before the tournament and scouting where the fish were at the same time. It paid off,” Emanuel’s Capt. Alvin Turbe said. “We ended up burning a lot of gas, but we also found fish all day long.”
A fleet of 16 boats and 68 anglers competed in this year’s Dolphin Derby. Four boats donated fish to the host Virgin Islands Game Fishing Club, where this was the featured entrée at Monday’s awards dinner.
The tournament was sponsored by Budget Car and Truck Rental and Glazer’s Premier Distributors LLC.
The Virgin Islands Game Fishing Club’s next event is the Memorial Day Tournament, May 24 to 26, followed by the July Open Kid’s Tournament on July 6, and the 51st Annual July Open Billfish Tournament, set for July 9 to 11.
More information is available by calling 1-340-775-9144, sending email to [email protected] or visiting www.vigfc.com online.