Big Port A tourney

Continued from page 1 doing the whole process,” Goodman said. “It’s a lot of work, but a lot of fun at the same time.”

This year’s victors were the anglers aboard Rebecca, who led the way in points as Tournament Grand Champions and were also atop the Overall Billfish list with the most accumulated points during the two-and-a-half-day event. They accumulated enough to earn just under $200,000 in prize money.

What makes the tournament unique is the 100-mile “fence” that creates a boundary for competing boats.

“The point of doing that is kind of twofold,” Goodman said. “One, we wanted to appeal to everybody, and we didn’t want to leverage the most expensive, biggest, fastest boats. We wanted

Arrowing sheepies

Continued from page 9 sheepshead, as the legal size begins at 15 inches. the Bertram 31s (a ‘70s-era, smallsized fishing boat) to be able to compete as well. Also, we wanted to limit how far people could run. That way, it’s not about who’s faster or who can run farther. It’s about, ‘Who’s a better fisherman?’”

Although the sheepshead run peaks in March and April, anglers can find them all year in smaller numbers.

The two work their way around wooden pilings of fishing cabins built along the Laguna Madre, as well as rocky areas adjacent to jetties or bridges.

During an early morning trip, the two only spent a few minutes near their reliable pilings before Ramirez sent a whooshing echo across the water and an arrow beneath.

“I got one!” Ramirez said. “This one has some good size.” Minutes later, the same sound repeated, but this time paired with a clean miss. The routine continued, on and off until about 11 a.m. when it was time to go before the heat became unbearable.

After bowfishing long enough to find a rhythm, Ramirez has learned how to increase his efficiency. But the nontraditional method wasn’t something he picked up in his first outing.

“It takes a lot of patience more than anything else,” he said.

Ramirez learned the sport from Garcia, a seasoned bowhunter from Harlingen, who switched to bowfishing decades ago.

Garcia and a friend, Michael Guajardo, discovered the sport while fishing with a rod and reel. He said they started catching carp with a small bow along area canals and later along the South Padre Island jetty on clear days.

Garcia said good bowfishing equipment is a must, followed by lots of practice.

“You really have to develop an instinct to look for fish around you,” he said.

That elbows-to-elbows format, pitting the competitors against each other in a close-to-home vicinity, evens the playing field and makes for a better tournament altogether, at least according to those who’ve participated. The 40-boat limit has been reached each year, and 90-95 percent are pre-registered ahead of schedule, reinforcing the interest in a tournament of this stature in Port Aransas.

In fact, the Billfish Pachanga emerged for its first year just af- ter a long-running sportfishing tournament in the Gulf of Mexico called it quits and left a gap in the calendar. It was perfect timing for the emerging success of a smallbut-promising event.

“Luckily, because we have the venue, we were able to kind of scrap it together at first,” Goodman said. “Each year we’re learning from the year before and improving. It seems to be getting bigger and better every year.”

In addition to the main competition, Goodman and his team also put on a small Piggy Perch dock fishing tournament for kids under 12, which is completely free. Bait, tackle, rods and reels are provided and it’s a fun way for those who aren’t actively fishing in the tournament to get in on the action. Also, a post-event pri- vate concert for participants and their guests caps things off each year. The 2023 concert saw performances by Charlie Robison and Jason Boland and the Stragglers.

The organizers donate all the money raised to several meaningful causes, including the Billfish Foundation, the Port Aransas Scholarship Fund, and the Harte Research Institute for Sportfish Science at Texas A&M UniversityCorpus Christi.

To help contribute to the Harte Institute’s tagging efforts, the tournament gave each participating boat 10 tags (and an extra incentive of a percentage of the pot) to attach to billfish. Rebecca wound up applying all 10 of their tags, which contributed to 38 total billfish tagged during the tournament — more than the Harte Institute is able to tag in a typical year.

“It couldn’t have worked out better,” Goodman said. “It’s neat to be able to see something that creates value for somebody else.”

2023

Tournament Grand Champions

1 Rebecca 1868 points

2 Backlash 1304 points

3 Poured Out 1300 points

4 Vamonos-Clement 1161 points

5 Ambush 905 points