A whopper of a fish tale

BY SUSAN COCKING

scocking@herald.com


For more than a week, the South Florida recreational fishing community has been abuzz with the mystical (and perhaps, mythical) story of the sailfish and the ring. This remarkable story weaves together the universal themes of lost love, found fish and seemingly impossible luck. The tale is so fantastic that Ripley's has expressed an interest. The principal characters all have volunteered to take polygraphs.

On December 28, 2002, three close friends, Jamie Artzt, Eric Bartos, and Blake Liebeskind, went sailfishing on Liebeskind's boat, Running Barely, off Fort Lauderdale. Bartos was a bit preoccupied because his marriage was breaking up. The three decided that if they caught a sailfish, they would hold an informal ceremony: They would put Bartos' gold wedding band around the fish's bill before letting it go.

''To mark an end and beginning to chapters in his life,'' said Artzt.

It happened a few hours later. A sailfish ate one of Running Barely's kite baits, and Bartos fought the fish to the boat. Quickly, the men slipped the ring over the bill and let it go.

''I put the ring on the bill. It went on a little crooked. Jamie got a bunch of pictures,'' Bartos recalled. 'I do remember thinking to myself, `The fish was bleeding a little.' I hoped someone would catch it [again]. I kind of blew it off and never expected to hear about it again.''

LORD OF THE RING

Fast-forward more than two years to Jan. 22, 2005. The same three friends, along with Artzt's brother-in-law, Joe Hupp, and friend John Rogers, were fishing in the Miami Beach Rod & Reel Club's Interclub Sailfish Challenge aboard Artzt's boat, Pineapple. It had been a very slow day for the crew -- a few noneligible fish caught -- no sails.

Shortly before lines-out, the crew found itself off Fowey Light with one kite holding three baits -- one of them a goggle-eye on the long bait that Liebeskind had spat on for good luck.

With one minute to go in the tournament, the men saw a sailfish emerge and eat the goggle-eye. Bartos grabbed the rod. They radioed the hookup to tournament official Dan Kipnis and left the other two baits in the water, hoping for a double hook-up. The lines tangled, and the crew thought they had lost the fish. But Bartos kept reeling, and pretty soon, the line came tight again with the fish still on. At least they would not end the tournament fishless.

''We cleared all the rods and sea anchor and began to chase the fish as it started an aerial show off to the south,'' Artzt said. He estimated the battle lasted about 10 minutes.

Wearing gloves, Liebeskind grabbed the leader for the release.

'As I started pulling the fish in, I yelled, `Oh my gosh! It's the ring fish!' '' Liebeskind said.

There was stunned silence for a couple of seconds. Then Artzt yelled for Liebeskind to boat the fish so he could snap some photos. Everyone started asking Bartos whether he wanted his ring back.

''I was in shock,'' Bartos said.

Artzt said the bill had grown around the ring ``a little -- not unlike a ring that fit on your hand some years and many pounds ago.''

Bartos decided to keep the ring as a trophy. He and Liebeskind managed to pull it off. One of Artzt's photos purports to show the indentation of the ring on the bill as they let it go.

The story made the rounds that night at the Rod & Reel Club and the next day online on the Florida Sportsman Forum. Liebeskind stopped to buy lottery tickets his way home to Jupiter from the tournament. Surprisingly, his numbers didn't win.

WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

For the first couple of days after the incident, Bartos -- now divorced -- wore the ring on his right hand -- much to the consternation of his girlfriend, Yanina Lepre.

''My girlfriend says it's a sign I should marry her,'' Bartos said. ''I'm still shell-shocked.'' His ex-wife could not be reached for comment.

Eventually, he took the ring off and put it next to some other fishing trophies in his Fort Lauderdale home.

The story has met with a great deal of wonder and skepticism -- which the three men take in stride.

''We are people of integrity,'' Liebeskind said. ``To make up a story, what benefit does it get us? I believe there's fate, but just the odds are crazy. One goggle-eye. One minute left in the tournament. The three of us fishing together. Eric on the rod. What are the odds? People need to tell us what it means because we don't know.''

One expert who believes the story is plausible is Dr. Eric Prince, billfish scientist at NOAA Fisheries' Southeast Fisheries Science Center on Virginia Key.

Prince, who has been tagging and studying billfish since 1980, said he has heard of rare instances of an angler tagging and releasing a billfish and then recapturing the same fish some time later.

''It is very unusual, but not unheard of,'' Prince said. 'It doesn't surprise me. You don't hear `bull' coming out of my mouth.''

Prince explained that sailfish are the most abundant of species tagged and released since the Cooperative Gamefish Tagging Program was launched more than 50 years ago at Massachusetts' Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Sails tend to frequent coastal waters where almost anyone with a 20-foot boat is capable of catching them.

Still, Prince said, ``the odds are extremely remote. . . . probably once in a lifetime. This guy won the lottery.''

As for whether more than two years at large with a gold ring on its bill might have harmed the sailfish, Prince replied: ``I don't think there would be any harm. It wouldn't stop it from feeding. Obviously, the fish was hungry enough that he ate the bait again.''

__________________
Enough about me, how are you doing?

No one?

__________________
Enough about me, how are you doing?

That's a Whopper!!!!

I love fishing of all kinds so I read it right away It is an amazing story but I'm not sure I feel it on a personal level. I keep thinking this should be posted in Stefabo's "So, this online dating site matched me with an old high school friend...." thread.
Tally Ho
Marty

__________________
-Marty

1986 300E 220,000 miles+ transmission impossible
(Now waiting under a bridge in order to become one)

Reading your M103 duty cycle:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/831799-post13.html
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/831807-post14.html

Yeah, he got the ring, and he skipped on the bill.