by Darrel Williams

It’s a rare assignment that really gets the juices rolling. But the thought of three days, all expenses paid on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua covering a fishing tournament is about as close to Margaritaville as it gets for this writer.
It’s early March, the moon and planets are aligned with the stars and it’s “Tarpon time.” What else in life is there, I ask myself?It’s the third year of the Annual Oasis International Fishing Tournament out of Bluefields and off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. This was the third year and judging by the increased numbers that arrived for the event this time round, the past two must have been a lot of fun. Fishermen came from all over Nicaragua and the rest of Central America. Some even made the long haul down from the United States.
The Oasis Hotel and Casino in Bluefields hosts the tournament and a lot of the continued success of the event can be attributed to those running that operation, taking great care to make sure all are well catered to, with great hospitality. On Tournament Eve, for example, a banquet for the fishermen with Caribbean music and a traditional dance troupe puts everyone in a great frame of mind for the tournament days ahead.
After a few Toñas and a hearty fill of local culture, it was off to bed. The tournament starts at daybreak and I wasn’t about to be caught lagging.
As luck would have it, tournament host Mark McKnight got me a ride with a party of Nicaraguans who were the epitome of everything a fishing tournament should be about.
They had more chests onboard than Captain Kidd; these guys were here to have a good time. If fish want to participate, all fine and well. But no fish was about to determine whether these guys had a good time, not today.
We took off up the coast, two 175HP Yamahas churning off the stern, the bow cutting still waters like a knife. We flew along for quite a time. I couldn’t wait to drop lines in the water to land the business at hand. Oh, come all ye Tarpon!
Two hours of that seemed like an eternity and we finally arrived at one of the most beautiful scenic locations you could ever imagine. A 30-meter wide lagoon, calm as a millpond, mangroves draping over either flank… the stuff that this English boyhood’s dreams were made of.
The motor power was pulled down and we dropped lines for the hunt. We had come in search of the elusive Tarpon, the Silver King, a beast of a fish that lurks within these lagoons. We settled back on the boat with much anticipation.
Today, though, was not to be a good one for us in our pursuit of the King.

The best laid plans…
My hearty-party boatmates moved on to Plan B very early on in the day. Judging by the amount of liquid refreshment onboard, it may well have been Plan A. They were as happy as proverbial pigs and I was just in awe of my surroundings.
Hopes of meeting our foe were waning and then it happened. The line spun off the reel, the rod doubling in pain, awakening us from our somewhat sedated stupor. Mario Vallejo, kitted out like a mannequin from a BassPros shop window, leapt to his feet to start the fight. Immediately as if to make a statement, the Tarpon burst into the air from beneath the surface to let Vallejo know that if there was going to be a fight, this Silver King specimen was not about to go gently up into the afternoon sun.
It is difficult to convey an adequate idea of the regal splendors of a full-grown Tarpon to those who have not seen it. Imagine a herring or sardine lengthened out six or seven feet. Imagine its scales as newly minted silver dollars, frosted not stamped; silver dollars that have the nacre of the whitest pearl in their composition. That may give you some conception of the glories of this radiant creature as the sun rays flash upon it, glancing off in every direction.
This particular fish was about five feet long, weighing 50 kilos give or take ten, depending on what time of day you hear the story. It was giving Vallejo all he could handle and just as it seemed as if he had gotten the upper hand over this magnificent specimen, it was gone, back into the depths to fight another today. Vallejo slumped back into his chair for some Finlandia comfort, visibly disappointed but certainly not deterred.
As we headed back to port one of our team, Jaime López, summed up the day’s proceedings with a good old fishing adage: “A bad day’s fishing will always beat a good day at work.”
We headed back to the comfort of the Oasis Hotel & Casino. Perhaps Lady Luck would be with us tomorrow. She was nowhere to be found today.

Tomorrow’s another day
Back out on Saturday, we decided to try our luck elsewhere. Reports had come in that the “King” was holding court in Wawashan Lagoon. At the same location, Victor Law (on a different boat) had set the mark the previous day with one of 49.5 kg (circa 109 lbs).
The guys were still pumped from the fleeting encounter of the previous day and it wasn’t long before we started to see action. At one point, three rods trailed off at the same time causing mayhem en masse, resulting in all three fish fighting free and a lot of precious liquid being spilt all over the boat.
Nothing like that would dampen the spirits; we were having a blast, with or without fish onboard. Javier Vallejo was entertaining everyone often at the expense of his immaculately attired brother Mario, but it was all in good fun.
When Jaime López finally landed our first fish, it was poetic justice to the spirit maintained on the boat through all the lost battles with this, the most elusive of fish.
We headed back to port noting that the organizers had added a nice touch to this year’s festivities with sailboat races during the afternoon on Saturday with many locals taking part. On arrival, it seemed the whole of Bluefields was waiting to gape at our catch.
There was all the excitement of the weigh-in and it turned out that López had netted the second biggest fish of the tournament, putting himself in the top three for the second year running.
We all retreated to the comfort of our air-conditioned rooms at the Oasis. This hotel really is just that in Bluefields. The mini-bar in each room rivals any bar in town, making it a major decision to leave the comfort of your own room. But decision made, we went down for the closing banquet and awarding of prizes.
The banquet was a great way to close the weekend, with the stories of ones that got away resounding round the room. Seemed like everyone had one; such is the nature of fishing King Tarpon.
Victor Law was this year’s winner with his 49.5 kilo fish and he took the $750 First Prize. When I later spoke to him about his fish, he seemed more concerned about a deer he had seen crossing the lagoon. “I saw it swimming across,” he said. “It was just too far behind us to turn around and catch it.” He had me convinced he would have swapped the money for the deer any day.
There were many other prizes that had been donated by the very generous sponsors and it seemed almost everyone got something. All proceeds from the event went to the Bluefields Red Cross who, according to all reports, do an amazing job when natural disaster strikes, like last year in the aftermath of Hurricane Felix.
The Oasis International Fishing Tournament is well on its way to becoming a must-do for many in Nicaragua and from shores farther. Organizer Mark McKnight is hoping to make next year’s tournament the first leg of a Caribbean tour with another event on Corn Island the week following.
As I headed off the next morning, I felt very grateful to have been part of such an excellent event. My hosts on the boat had treated me like family and the vision of Javier Vallejo busting a move on the back of the boat to some nondescript 70’s music is something that will stay with me for a many a day.