LHPSSA NEWSLETTER

Hey guys let’s get out there and start the new year off right. We have a couple of new members who are eager to get out there and fish. And what better way of meeting and getting to know them than spending the day out fishing. 

If you have a friend who would like to join but is not in the club we will try to get them on a boat as long as we have enough room for all of our anglers who are members first. 

We are planning on having a Hat Tournament Saturday March 7th. We are going to be in the middle of sailfish season and this is a perfect window to do our annual sailfish tournament. If you would like to enter your boat or be an angler please feel free to email me or text me at 954-224-4184.

We will be picking angler names out of a hat at the February meeting which is a week and a half before our tournament date. Depending on how many boats and anglers participate we can book the yacht club for lunch and weigh-in after fishing. 

Tournament Rules:

Lines in will be 7:00am and lines out will be 1:00pm.   
 

Point System
Sailfish release is 25 points each
if There are no sailfish caught the winner will be decided by a meat fish at 1 point per pound. Any legal all size fish will count                        

Meat fish are 

King fish (24 inches to the fork)
Wahoo (No size limit)
Tuna(No size limit)
Cobia (33 inches to the fork)
Dolphin (20 inches to the fork)
 

If you guys have any ideas or suggestions on the rules or species for future tournaments, please feel free to reach out to me. Email, phone, or text.

Jeronimo Grassi

Club Tournament Schedule 2019-2020

March 7 HAT Tournament – sailfish

We have our annual Chokoloskee tournament coming up on March 28, 2020.  Contact Arnie Sedel for further info (954-871-7056).

Our annual Key West tournament will be May 16, 2020.  This is one of our Club’s favorite trips and one which our wives/sig others enjoy also.  More info, contact Arnie Sedel

   
 
Tournaments Results 2019/2020:
 

• Hat tournament winners June 29,2019 (only 2 boats weighted in)

1^st) Final Judgement- Tom Mathews, Jeronimo Grassi (mate), Ken Whyte, Robert Roy
2rd) Crescendo – Charley Greenberg, Randy Strauss (mate), Trae west, John Kent 

• Venice trip Oct 10-13, 2019
  • No tournament points tracked due to weather

• CLUB BATTLE 2019 (Nov 16^th 2019)

1^st – Meat wagon – Tom Jones, Steve Siegel and Mike Price
2rd – Kona Blue – Charlie Berkley
3^rd – My Time/Big Dog Tackle – Trae West

Leaderboard 2019-2020

 
Sailfish Catches Per Day 

1. Meat Wagon Tom Jones 4 sails released

 
Most Outstanding Catch Nominations:

• Staley Weidman & Greg Edwards boat – Wahoo 93lbs Chub Cay  

 
2019 / 2020 LHPSSA CLUB ANNUAL AWARDS Rules
Goal: 
To create a fun and challenging competition that is fair and equitable for our club members. 
We want to encourage the highest participation amongst active club members. 

Annual Tournament Champion (Major Award – Trophy) – Qualifications will remain the same.  Most points acquired through the entirety of the annual hat & money tournaments. 
Points:  3 for 1^st, 2 for 2^nd, 1 for 3^rd. Most points acquired annually by individual.

Most notable/ outstanding catch award (Major – Trophy) – Notable catches will be documented by pictures submitted to the board. (In person or online) Board will vote at tournament year conclusion. Notable catches can be caught anywhere in the world and can be any fish species. Points will count toward Club Championship (3 for 1^st, 2 for 2^nd, 1 for 3^rd).  If you catch something notable/outstanding you must tell me that you want to nominate it for this category and send me a picture.

Club Sanctioned Travel & International Trip Tournaments – Tournament Rules will differ by tournament. Each club sanctioned away trip will be its own tournament.  Some of these tournaments will have individual winner(s); some will be by boat.  In order for the Club to sanction a travel/international tournament, there must be at least 3 boats if it will be a boat tournament or 6 LHPSSA anglers if an individual tournament.  Points will count toward Club Championship (3 for 1^st, 2 for 2^nd, 1 for 3^rd).  

Most sailfish releases in a day – Fish must be caught on day trip out of local inlets of Boca Raton, Hillsboro or Port Everglades and not on a Charter.  Points given to LHPSSA captain & LHPSSA anglers on board. Points will count toward Club Championship and Florida Championship (3 for 1^st, 2 for 2^nd, 1 for 3^rd).  

Offshore targeted species champion: Awards given to the angler/LHPSSA captains who catch the largest Blackfin Tuna, Swordfish, Dolphin, Wahoo and Kingfish. Fish must be caught on day trip out of local inlets of Boca Raton, Hillsboro or Port Everglades. Reports can be submitted online. For Swordfish – girth and length measurement calculated weight will count if weight by scale is not possible. 
The 1st place angler and/or captain for each species will be crowned the champion for their respective species for the year and they will earn 3 pts.   Second Place and Third Place anglers or captains will gain 2 or 1 point respectively.  Both the angler and captain will be the winner, but the points will be split in half if both the angler and captain were LHPSSA members. Points will count toward Club Championship and Florida Championship (3 for 1^st, 2 for 2^nd, 1 for 3^rd). 

Florida Inshore targeted species champion: Awards given to the anglers who catch the highest number of any of the following individual species in a day: Snook, Redfish, Tarpon, Bonefish or Permit in a day of fishing.   Try to document your catch by picture if possible. These species can be targeted on any day trip in Florida waters. 
3 Points will be awarded to each winning angler.  The 1st place angler for each species will be crowned the champion for their respective species for the year.   Second Place and Third Place anglers will gain 2 points or 1 point respectively. Points will count toward Club Championship and Florida Championship.

Permanent Trophies:
Club Champion – (Major)   Points will be awarded for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place for the annual hat tournament winner (3x) or triple credit, each club sanctioned travel trip (1x), the most sailfish releases (1x) and for each of the offshore and inshore targeted species and for most notable catch (1x) in order to determine the club champion. Name on Permanent Trophy, Individual Trophy award. 
Florida Champion – (Major) Member with the most points acquired from the Targeted offshore and Florida Inshore awards.  – Name on Permanent Trophy, Individual Trophy award. 
International Champion – (Major) The person with the most points from the Club sanctioned travel and international trips. – Name on Permanent Trophy, Individual Trophy award
We will not award the Club Championship and Florida Championship to the same person.  If the same person is in first in both categories, then the next person with the most combined Club Champion and Florida Champion points will be the Florida Champion. 
 General Format of a Hat Tournament 
The goal of this tournament format is to get the whole fishing club especially new members the opportunity to fish together!

• No entrance fee per boat (no buy in costs)
• $600 prize money put into pot by club!
  • Pot split 50/30/20
• Optional $100 per boat for Calcutta with 50/30/20 splits
• Captain allowed to pick 1st mate, then 2-4 random club members picked from hat
• Members can invite friends to fill boat after club members placed on boat
• Teams split expenses estimated to include $0 entrance fee, $100 optional Calcutta fee and $60+-estimated fuel & $100 baits
  •  General targeted for costs are $100-$125 per member on boat

 
General Format of a Tournament (Non-Hat tournament format)
The goal of this tournament format is to be competitive but allow anyone in club that wants to fish the opportunity

• $200 per boat buy in
• $100 Calcutta with 50/30/20 splits
• Captain allowed to pick three core guys (captain and three mates) 1-2 random club members
• Club members not on a team goes into a hat and are pulled at random and put on a team
• Team split expenses estimated to include $200 entrance fee and $100 Calcutta fee and $70+- fuel & $100 baits
  •  General targeted for costs are $125-$150 per member on boat

Fishing Reports!
Also submit your fishing reports at https://lhpssa.org/turn-in-fishing-reports/ or email lhpssa@fishangler.com and include a photo and the following information:

• Catch Date:
• Fish Species:
• Catch Location:
• Weight:
• Length:
• Bait used:
• Water depth:

Thanks
Tom Wye
Fishing Reports & Tournament Bean counter!

Recent Catches

Trae West with a beautiful wahoo. Intel from Trae – Wahoo bite has been hot this month outside of both Hillsboro and Boca inlets. Baits of choice have been Seawitch with bonita strips, diving lures, rigged ballyhoo or mullet. High speed lures have also been productive.

Steve Fishman with a truckload of beautiful wahoo

Greg and Staley with a beast!

Michael Zislin with a 450lb swordfish

DIVE REPORT

The weather has been tough for diving.  Water temperature is down just below 75 degrees, and with the cold weather lately, you need to dress warm both for above and below the surface.  Three weeks ago we able to limit out lobsters and we dove again this weekend and picked through a lot of short lobsters to eventually wind up with 20 keepers.  Visibility was pretty good, and we saw several large male hogfish.  They clearly know they are out of season.  We will be organizing a dive and after-dive party for the last weekend in March just before lobster season closes.  We are also going to try to put together a level I free diver course for an upcoming weekend this spring once the weather warms up.  Reach out to Steve Siegel if you have an interest in that. 

Steve Siegel

TREASURERS REPORT     

Happy New Year to all LHPSSA members, family and other interested parties.  As your Treasurer for the past 3 years I thought it would be good to provide all with the financial status of the association.  I’m very happy to report that the association is in excellent fiscal shape with 25 thousand dollars in reserve savings and a general operating balance for 2020-2021 of 32 thousand dollars.  The 25K in savings has been a carryover of savings from many years of excellent fiscal responsibility by prior board members and treasurers.  I do find it interesting that our annual bank balances, at any given time, are within $500 of a previous year’s balance for the past 3 years.  We have a balanced budget, and are enjoying dinners, speakers, quality raffles, tournaments, dive events and numerous club fishing/diving trips on a regular basis.
     Gee I forgot to mention annual awards that are second to none, and always beautiful trophies.  Let me not forget the wonderful efforts of Bill Dudziak for his unbelievable efforts putting together several high-end social events for our fishing and diving family.  His hard work, and the generosity of other club members providing facilities has saved the club hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars over the past few years. 
     Going forward I strongly encourage all members to participate in all our activities and take advantage of your membership benefits.  At monthly meetings we do our best to provide quality raffles, the profit of these raffles provides income to keep membership dues down and also goes towards the purchase of door prizes.
    One last note, during the last year substantial effort went into the administrative effort of turning our association into a 501 (c)(7) Non-Profit Social Group for purposes of our tax filings, which legally eliminates our tax obligations.  Note, we are not a 501 charity.  Sorry no charity deductions here.   

Bottom line: our association is in excellent fiscal shape.

May all of you have tight lines for the New Year.

I look forward to serving the association as Treasurer for the coming year.

Mike Price  
Treasurer
 

UPCOMING EVENTS1/29/20 – LHPSSA Meeting at LHPYC – see below
2/4/20 – Fish City Pride Tournament
2/5/20 – LHPSSA BOD Meeting at LHPYC
3/7/20 – Hat Tournament 
3/21/20 – LHPSSA Casino Party, Sea Ranch Lakes 6-11pm
3/28/20 – Chokoloskee Tournament
4/25/20 – Hat Tournament (meat fish)
5/16/20 – Key West Trip
7/25/20 – Hat Tournament (Dolphin)

This Month we have another great SPEAKER!!!
 
Capt. Rick Murphy

Most of you will recognize Capt Rick from the TV show Florida Insider Fishing Report. He has fished all around the world and has a wealth of knowledge. A topic of discussion for the meeting will be the legendary Casa Viejo Lodge and the unique fishing they have to offer. Below is a biography on our speaker ….
 
All my life I’ve been fishing for adventure––and boy, did I find it––in the waters off Key Biscayne, Lake Okeechobee and beyond … in the TV studio where I get to share tips and techniques with viewers to improve their catch … in the friendships of my crew and sponsors who believe in me and support what we do … in the faces of kids who’ve just discovered what I found out when I was five: fishing is a blast!
My family calls me a fishaholic. That’s because I even fish on my day off. (The funny thing is, they’re usually right there with me!) All I know is I’m hooked––on nature, the thrill of the sport, my fellow anglers and fans, and championing the cause of conservation by reminding others of our duty to preserve our oceans and their inhabitants.
In life, people often judge you by the numbers. And every year since 1994 ours have grown stronger. We’ve gone from one show to three, thousands of viewers to millions, and one or two sponsors to dozens. But the numbers aren’t what get me up in the morning. It’s the joy of guiding, fishing, teaching and being outdoors that turns every day into an adventure. I hope you’ll join me.
Awards and Recognition
•Fishing Guide, Founder & CEO RM Media
•Host, Florida Insider Fishing Report 2004-Present); Texas Insider Fishing Report (2017-Present), Sportsman’s Adventures (1994-Present)
•One of only two fishing guides to win the four Keys Tarpon Fly Fishing Tournaments (Ladies Tarpon Fly, Golden Fly, Don Hawley and Gold Cup)
•Angler of the Year IFA Redfish Tour (2004, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013)
•Angler of the Year Honors (ESPN, FLW and IFA Redfish Tours)
•South Florida Sailfish Circuit winner
•Master Angler Jimmy Johnson National Billfish Championship (2015 & 2016)
•Only professional redfish angler to win three Redfish Titles in 12-month period (two FLW Redfish Championships and one ESPN Redfish Cup)
•Only angler to win saltwater championships, both inshore and offshore, in
every category (bonefish, redfish, sailfish, tarpon and permit)
•All-time winningest saltwater tournament angler in U.S.
“Rick has an uncanny ability to connect with his fans––whether they’re 5 years old or 80. People respect his knowledge and are pleasantly surprised by his humility. When he catches a fish, he’s genuinely excited. He’s one in a million.” ~Brie Gabrielle
“Rick lives to fish. He doesn’t care what the species is as long at it tests his skill and sportsmanship. He is the only person I know in fishing who produces 65 shows in 26 weeks. He is truly living his dream.”
 

LHPSSA 2019 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

PRESIDENT: JOHN PIOTROWSKI
VICE PRESIDENT: TRAE WEST
TREASURER: MIKE PRICE
SECRETARY: TOM HELLER
MEMBERSHIP: TOM MATTHEWS
FISHING TOURNAMENTS:  JEROMINO GRASSI, TED ZIEL, JAKE BRYANT, TOM WYE, ARNIE SEDEL 
DIVE: STEVE SIEGEL, 
MEETINGS: TRAE WEST
NEWSLETTER / SAFTEY: MARK REPETSKI
SOCIAL: BILL DUDZIAK
COMMUNICATIONS: JOE WHITEFALL