This weekend we fished in the KHMC Interclub Marlin Tournament, which we have fished every year for the past 27 years. This is an all-release tournament with light tackle bonus points, and usually draws about 20 boats. We always fish this event with family aboard including wife Dara, brother Mike, and son Zane. Zane didn’t make it this year as he has a new job aboard Andy Crean’s new 70’ “Bounder” so it was just Dara, Mike and me.

We started our tournament Friday near the 209 and found a tailer and a couple sleepers that didn’t go for us. The tower on Knock Down is working out perfectly thanks to Tom Rogers’ exceptional fabricating and design. The seating is comfortable and all the padding allows us to “lock in” to the glasses in complete comfort. The canvas dodger I designed keeps us warm, and the console is like a complete electronics command center with 2 radios, plotter-radar-sonar, gauges, controls, trim switches and plenty of storage for glasses, note pads, etc.

We worked the 209 zone for a couple hours and looked at a few fish and lots of porpoise, but there was better volume 10 miles west of us, so we made the run at 30 knots and quickly found another sleeper in the gyros. The fish was in the middle of a porpoise school and it sunk out before I could get on it good. Mike threw on the spot with 12lb tackle and Dara dropped a bait on 12lb in the wake. The fish bit a jig in the rigger at dead idle, came off the jig, and ate Dara’s drop back bait under the port corner. Unfortunately, we had a snafu with the 2 bait lines and broke the fish off after a short run.12lb tackle leaves no room for mistakes!

We finished the tide in the same area where we found the sleeper for no more bites, and ran into Dana to spend the night. Steve had the Badger anchored outside the harbor and gave us some info on fish up west and out front. Saturday morning we made the 47 mile run to the area above the mackerel bank. The weather was downright nasty, but the big Contender easily did 25 knots straight into the 3-5 foot slop. I drove from the lower station, which is completely enclosed in .060” polycarbonate glass that is sealed to the tower floor. All of us were completely dry when we arrived at the numbers! This is exactly why I was so excited to build this rig with the full tower, the sealed lower station, and a bullet-proof hull with 50-knot speed!

Once we arrived in the area, Mike and I got locked into the tower and Dara put 4 Sevenstrand EALs in the water. Mike immediately gyroed a tailer in the distance and we were bit on the port rigger before we got into the area. Dara fought the fish from the padded bow of Knock Down and we released the fish on 16lb tackle in less than 15 minutes. We quickly re-set the pattern as I charged up hill to the bite numbers on the Simrad plotter. I had no sooner got the big Yamahas settled into their 1600 rpm trolling speed, when Dara yelled “follow” and a marlin crashed the starboard flat line. The fish took a bunch of 16lb off the reel on the bite, but Dara charged back up to the padded bow of Knock Down and we released our second fish in less than 20 minutes! Fishing light line aboard this boat is like cheating! We were now leading the tournament with 2 releases on 16lb tackle.

The weather continued to build and the fish bit well for some in the fleet. We gyroed several tailers and Mike had a 12lb fish gag the bait out before he came tight. Later in the afternoon we slid toward the east end and found a big group of tailers at 16/16 a minute after lines out at 4pm. Mike had the bait knocked off by one tailer, and we left the area to head in for our tournament awards party in Avalon.

Dara was first place angler in the tourney, and Knock Down was second place boat. Bob and Marilyn Stephens were high boat in the KHMC tournament with 3 releases on 20 and 30lb tackle.

We picked up my mom in Avalon Sunday morning and ran back to the 16/16 area off the east end. We watched Steve, Anthony and the Badger do what they do best and release a fish right on our numbers as we arrived!

I’m in absolute awe of their ability to get the job done with such efficiency and speed!

We put the jigs in a mile off the Badger’s transom and I had just settled into the tower when a feeder popped up off the bow. I ran over the boil and the port rigger went off and another fish grabbed the drop back. We were doubled up, but the jig fish fell off. Mom ran to the bow with the drop back marlin in full greyhound mode! Mike laid on the bow as I slid Knock Down up on mom’s tailing striper. He grabbed leader and we had the clean release in 12 minutes. This was my mom’s first fish in several years. At 72 years young she did an awesome job on 20lb tackle! Needless to say, she loves the new Contender!

This past weekend’s trip was the epitome of what I wanted out of this new boat–we can fish and run comfortably in just about any weather, we can be very competitive and efficient with light tackle, and the whole family can fish together and easily compete with any boat in the fleet…(except the Badger!!)

Many thanks to Anthony, Barry, Rod, Steve and the whole CNY- Sundance-Contender family for the chance to build and fish Knock Down!This weekend we fish the Master’s, next weekend the Pesky’s, and a couple more release events after those are done. Our confidence level is very high and we look forward to “hanging more laundry” from the riggers over the next several events!