The Grand Bahama Island is opening its arms again for Mike Schmidt’s Winners Circle Offshore Challenge, the June 8-11 event in which anglers will fish for wahoo, dolphin and tuna. This year’s Challenge will be the sixth consecutive year that Schmidt, a member of the Professional Baseball Hall of Fame, has hosted the gathering.
The event is part of the Mercury Redbone @ Large Celebrity Tournament Series, and proceeds from the event – and from all events in the Series benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Schmidt, the longtime Philadelphia Phillies third baseman, hit 548 home runs in an extraordinary 18-year career, earning eight National League home run titles, three most valuable player awards, 10 Gold Gloves and a World Series championship.
Schmidt became personally involved with the CFF after his daughter, Jessica, became friends with a classmate who had the affliction. Brett Weinstein and his family grew close to the Schmidts, and he lived into his early 20s.
“We watched the family go through waiting for a set of lungs _ which they never got,” Schmidt told ESPN Classic. “The family lived in a hospital room with Brett the last year up in North Carolina. Finally, they lost him.”
Schmidt was approached by the CFF branch in Palm Springs, Fla., and was offered a chance to become associated with the Challenge. He accepted the invitation and raised $27,000 the first year of the event in 2001.
Bob Noble, Sr., won Grand Champion Angler honors for the second time at the event in 2005, earning the Brett Weinstein Grand Champion trophy for his fishing aboard the Stihl Leader. Thirty-four boats participated in the tournament, which raised more than $100,000 for the CFF.
The second place award went to Citigroup Private Bank aboard Scooter. The tournament’s largest tuna caught and released was 54 pounds, caught by the Citigroup Private Bank team, while the largest wahoo honor went to Kyle Eiler on Pass Line with a catch of 18 pounds. Bob Noble, Jr. (Stihl Leader II) and Dan Swanson (China Girl) tied for the largest dolphin award at 28 pounds.
The Challenge has netted more than $600,000 for the CFF since its inception, thanks to participants and sponsors.
Entrants in the Challenge will be paired with celebrities or other entrants, and all teams will be assigned a professional guide for the duration of the tournament. Contestants will catch, photograph and release as many fish as possible, and a point system awards weighted values for each fish caught.
Entrants will participate in a competition that includes accommodations at a top-shelf resort, a gala auction, tournament fishing with a celebrity, gourmet meals and opulent prizes.
The Challenge has grown from the seed planted in 1988, when a handful of anglers, fishing guides and sports celebrities organized a tournament in the Florida Keys village of Islamorada. The group focused on just two of the available species: redfish and bonefish. The ground rules were simple, to win, the angler must catch and release at least one of each.
The initial tournament was designed to raise money for the CFF, and in 17 years Redbone tournaments have contributed approximately $8 million to the foundation. The inaugural Islamorada event was a great success, and the “redbone” moniker was born. The current format of the individual tournaments can include freshwater, offshore and flats fishing.
The ultimate goal of the CFF is to cure the fatal hereditary affliction, and Redbone founder Ellis and his wife, Susan, have passionately supported the cause not only because of the foundation’s noble research efforts, but also for a very personal reason: their daughter, Nicole, was diagnosed with CF as an infant in the mid-1980s. Nicole is now a college student, and has witnessed first hand the advances made in the treatment of the disease.
The environments in which the Redbone events take place have played a major role in their success. The Florida Keys, for instance, contain miles of clear flats with acres of turtle grass and marl, features that create a welcoming habitat and a diverse fishery that includes bonefish, tarpon, permit, redfish and snook. Tournaments are also held in such diverse locations as Massachusetts, Colorado, New Jersey, New York, Costa Rica, Pennsylvania, Ohio, the Bahamas, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Louisiana.
Mercury Marine, the official outboard engine of the Redbone events, began its support of the Series in 1992, and the collection of events has drawn the attention and support of big-name celebrities such as the late baseball great Ted Williams, baseball stars Schmidt and Wade Boggs, football legend Ken Stabler and the late broadcasting icon Curt Gowdy.
For more information on the Mercury Redbone @ Large Celebrity Tournament Series and/or Mike Schmidt’s Winners Circle Offshore Challenge, visit on-line at www.redbone.org The CF Foundation’s web site is www.cff.org.
By: Steve Flemming
