Team Fish Up/Boat Center weathered a bit of controversy to win $20,200 for the heaviest total of five dolphin -- 121.95 pounds -- in the SeaVee/Mercury Grove Slam Saturday.
When team members Jorge Torres and Ryan Smith brought their catch to the scales at Monty's in Coconut Grove, some observers speculated the fish looked old, and that they were caught before the tournament opened.
Smith was adamant the fish were freshly caught during the competition. He wouldn't say where they fished, but tournament director Tony Albelo said a check of the boat's GPS unit showed they traveled to the vicinity of Chub Cay in the Bahamas -- a distance of more than 200 miles round-trip. He awarded them the win.
''There's nothing that would question the validity of their catch,'' Albelo said. ``There is no further action planned. There's a lot of dock talk, no protest filed, nothing in writing. The fish were fresh.''
The five-member crew of Back For More won $5,000 for the tournament's heaviest dolphin -- a 48.74-pounder caught by David Chong of Hialeah.
Chong said he caught the fish in 180 feet of water off Miami while trolling a blue-and-white-skirted bally hoo.
Fishing Magician caught the second-heaviest fish, a 46.05-pounder, earning $10,400 because the team was entered in the value-added prize category.
Rounding out the top five in the aggregate category were runner-up What? (69.17 pounds, $5,120); third-place Peacekeeper (65.25 pounds, $3,080); fourth-place T-Zer (62.55 pounds, $500); and fifth-place Dusky 33 (56.54, $250).
Deep Penetration caught the largest wahoo, a 25.04-pounder, good for $300. NMMA Fishing Team caught the largest kingfish, a 15.96-pounder, also $300.
A total of 181 boats competed.
