Backcountry Fly Championship Series: 2017 Hurricane Cup Tournament results
Lisa Everett and Gail Kennedy holding up one of their many snook.Hurricane Irma hit the Florida Keys hard, destroying homes and businesses, but it did not break the spirit of the community. As they have come to use a term #keysstrong, the community came together to help their neighbors, friends and even strangers in worse hit communities. Many Keys residents, including fishing guides went down to the lower Keys to help feed others while assisting them in the clean up of their properties, this is what the Florida Keys is all about, helping others in their time of need.
This time of year, Captain Paul Tejera from Islamorada puts together a tournament called The Backcountry Fly Championship Series; which is a 2-day, catch and release, fly only tournament where anglers target redfish and snook and are only able to count their two biggest fish caught for each species. Anglers are able to continue upgrading their catch in hopes of accumulating as many inches as possible. The series is held in the spring on the last Friday and Saturday in February and again in the fall in October. The anglers and guides that fish both the spring and the fall tournaments compete towards the coveted title for the “King of the Backcountry” which is a perpetual trophy where the winner’s name and the Captain’s name is etched on and displayed at Sandy Moret’s Florida Keys Outfitters in Islamorada.
When Hurricane Irma hit in early September affecting many hotels and restaurants, Tejera made a call to cancel the tournament, much to the dismay of many of the guides who really…
