The new scoring system was designed to measure and photograph the fish on a ruler, and convert inches into points, instead of pounds. Historically in the bonefish tourneys, any bone over 8 pounds was brought back to the dock and officially weighed and then released. New Florida laws now protect the bonefish, and do not allow for possession. The updated method of length value is much kinder to the fish, with less handling, transportation and possibly damaging trauma. These valuable gamesters are now immediately returned to their own backyard after a battle, giving them the very best chance of survival. Any bonefish under 8 pounds is a release, and is generally unhooked in the water, with little or no actual direct contact.

Maverick Mirage 18 owner Troy Pruitt dominated the Spring All Tackle with a terrific performance of 12 releases and 4 weightfish while guided by Capt. Brian Helms. The dozen speedy silver bullets also won the team the Most Releases Trophy. I watched Frank Delucas win Second Place honors with 9 releases and 2 weight fish. Brian and I both fished Biscayne Bay for all three days of the event, a very long run from the Islamorada Fishing Club each morning, and back in the afternoon, but well worth the trip. Frank and I covered the distance, all the way to Sands Cut, in about one hour and 15 minutes running at 4500 RPM’s with a 115 Four Stroke on my 18 HPX. Remarkably, we used just over one half of a tank of fuel for each day. Collins and Gillman added another weight to come in Third just behind us. The Largest Permit Award was grabbed by Jim Bokor Jr. and Capt. Jared Raskob with a 33 incher to the fork of the tail.

Frank Delucas

You needed the ultra shallow draft hull for reds and bones in only inches of water, the medium skiff for a wide range of daily uses including fly and bait tarpon, mudding bones and permit and the “barge” for additional people and bigger water. Compromises generally had very defined (and performance costly) boundaries.

Consider the Mirage 18 HPX. Tournaments past and present require you to catch certain species on specific tackle. Conditions during a 3 or 5 day event can change so frequently. You cannot return to the dock and climb into another skiff to make the adjustment. The 18 was obviously designed with multi-dimensional fishing in mind. It is recognized for innovation and design, fitting so many boats into one, thus providing the biggest bang for buck in today’s economy.

I must rely on my 18 to do many things well over the course of a calendar year. We might be throwing flies at tailing reds in Flamingo, running markers or crab pots for tripletail, live baiting giant tarpon in the dark, patch reef chumming in Hawk’s Channel, or super stealthfully stalking the largest, smartest bonefish in the world in Islamorada.

The storage helps make this boat so very adaptable. My 18 has the three (sometimes 4) oversized Coastguard required life vests, throw cushion, anchor and chain, extinguisher, tackle drawers, large landing net, 3 castnets, commercial raingear with boots and other personal items. But, you’ll never see any of it when you store your gear or manpurse. Again, weather changes and we must bend or break with conditions. It is essential to have enough varied equipment on board to be ready for anything.

Any 15 or 16 foot vessel can be just slightly horse powered with weight shaved off and termed a “technical poling skiff”. But you still gotta get there. These skim boards with outboards are not going to arrive comfortably. Additional food and tackle can make it suddenly cramped, then downright crowded if another angler is added.

The 18 HPX certainly is a technical poling skiff! It poles along silently as the blade of a sharp knife, tracking true, not blowing off course constantly like a light chunk of styrofoam and still able to reach reds and bones in much less than one foot of water. You can focus even tighter on your goals by hanging a 90, 115 or 150 4-stroke, with variable gas tank capacities to customize draft, speed and overall performance.

It is usually not until the Fall season that it becomes once again apparent of the long list of tasks this boat can perform. There’s no other venue like the Redbone Series (and Superfly Series) to showcase the versatility of the 18 HPX. Over the course of 6 tournaments, 3 zipcodes and 3 months we must catch redfish, bonefish, tarpon and permit on bait, artificial and fly. Years ago, we used a different boat nearly every day during each of these events. Now the 18 HPX efficiently performs all duties required.

Alan Routman fools giant downtown Islamorada bone in 18 HPX

At S.L.A.M. in Key West, even after catching 3 bonefish, 2 tarpon and a permit, Smith was behind leader Ross Reeder and Capt. Dave Denkert by 7 fish on Day One. Reeder added several more fish on Day Two, but Smith double slammed plus 2 additional tarpon to equal the score on fish points and win on time by just one hour!

Baybone was hampered by a very rainy low pressure system. Mo caught a permit with less than one hour remaining in the tournament, to go with his 3 bones. He specied out and snuck into third place.

Redbone was dominated by the Denkert/Davis/Reeder team, who did fish one of their two days in a Mirage 17. Davis landed 2 bonefish and 18 reds and Reeder caught 17 reds and one bonefish for a rare First and Second Place finish on the same boat. Smith caught a bonefish with 50 minutes remaining in the event to go with his 14 reds taken on Day One to grab another Third Place and his FIFTH Series title in 5 straight years! Smith now shares the Series record with Jim Bokor, also with 5 trilogy titles.

The same horrid system that doused Baybone washed out anglers at Baybone’s Superfly and no fish were caught. The Superfly Series was decided in two tournaments.

Capt. Justin Rea poled Cal Collier Jr. to a slam and win at S.L.A.M. Superfly to out specie Smith’s 2 bonefish and 3 permit Second Place performance. But it was all Smith at Redbone Superfly, nailing 4 reds in the morning and then dropping his fly into a massive cloud of three or four hundred mudding and flashing bonefish and pulling one out for the camera at 2:58p.m., official lines out at 3:00p.m.! Bob Rich, guided by Capt. Rusty Albury, took second with 2 reds and a bonefish. This Redbone Superfly win iced the 2011 Superfly Series for Smith. He has now taken this Series 5 out of the last 6 years.

Editor’s Note: Capt. Mark Krowka now has 6 Superfly Series titles with two anglers, Frank Delucas in ‘02 and Smith in ‘06,’07, ‘08, ‘10 & ‘11. He also has nine regular Series victories with 4 anglers, Scott Deal ‘97 & ‘98, Dan Zicari in 2000, Kal Blumberg in ‘04 and Mo Smith in ‘07,’08,’09, ‘10 & ‘11. Both are Redbone Tournament records.

Mo Smith 2011 Double Series Winner in Mirage 18 HPX