18 West Palm Beach Fishing Club 2016 Top Angler & Rea Trophy winner, H. Wesley Schwandt. of the tournament boundary. Reel Easy, captained by Derby veteran Chip Shee- han, ended up taking top boat honors on the first day with 7 releases. Boats re- ported seeing lots of bait and clean water offshore the Stuart area. Unfortunately, the short lived drop in temperature did not yield the action most anglers were looking for. A total of 68 sails were released the first day of fishing, with 30 of the 37 boats in the fleet registering at least one sailfish release. The heavy weight fish on day one was a 26.3 lb. cobia landed by angler Mike Donohue of Wilmington, Delaware, who was fish- ing aboard the Griffin with Capt. John Adams at the helm. Nearly every boat in the Derby fleet headed north on the final day of fishing. Seas had subsided considerably, but a significant groundswell remained. For the dozen boats at the top of the leaderboard it was anybody’s tournament to win. “When the fishing is slow it doesn’t take many fish to climb up the scoreboard in hurry. A double or a triple can shoot you to the top,” commented WPBFC chairman and official Derby radioman Pete Schulz. Pete’s words proved to be right on the mark. Several Derby boats were all making big moves on the second day ascending the leaderboard, among them Goin’ Raptor led by Capt. Will Sabayrac; last year’s Derby champs, Wrenegade, captained by Jim Garner; Lady Lane, led by Capt. Robert ‘Fly’ Navarro; and 2010 Derby champs, team Double Take, led by Capt. Mike Laufle. Double Take angler Mike Causley would end up earning the Top Daily Angler Award on the final day. Also rising to the top on day two was Team Liquid. After having caught only two sails the first day, Liquid decided to deviate from their their plan early into the final day. “When the wind dropped out we had trouble flying the kites. In fact, we never caught a single fish off the kite the second day. We were seeing fish, but just couldn’t get the bites. So we decided to switch it up and start chasing the bait sprays and free jumpers we were seeing,” said Capt. Art Sapp. The tactical change to run and gun sight casting paid off. Team Liquid finished the day with 9 sailfish releases, claiming the Top Daily Boat award and earning the title Derby Champions. It was one of the best comebacks in recent Derby history and underscores the value of being able to adapt to changing conditions. With 11 sailfish releases in the tournament, Liquid won the Top Boat Overall Trophy. Joining them in the Derby winner’s circle was Second Place Boat Overall Reel Easy with 10 sailfish. Third Place Overall was Griffin with 8 releases on time and Fourth Place Overall was Good Call with 8 releases. The Top individual angler was H.