Fancy fisherman full of confidence

Robert McVanne is the winner of the 35th Fisherman of the Year title.

McVanne’s haul of 587.4 pounds beat out the second heaviest catch by 487 pounds to give the Fancy resident his second ‘Fisherman of the Year’ title.{{more}}

A man of very few words, McVanne showed very little emotion as he conveyed to SEARCHLIGHT his feelings on the big accomplishment.

“I was never excited because I won the competition before,” he said.

“I saw the fish and I knew it was for me. It was a good day for us.”

McVanne, who has been practicing the craft for a number of years, and won the title in 1999, said that he has always been in active competition.

Flanked by Bartholomew Valery, the captain and owner of the vessel ‘Confidence II’, the men said that they left for the open seas at 4:00 a.m. on the morning of competition, Monday, May 24, with one intention – that of winning the grand prize of the 75HP 4-stroke outboard engine.

“When we left at 4 o’clock, I tell them we have (to) win that engine dey,” Valery said, noting that the old engine had started giving problems.

Valery, who has been plying his trade for some 40 years, said that he was satisfied with the outcome.

Douglas Lampkin and Seymore George tied for second for the heaviest catch of the day with a total of 210 pounds.

This year’s numbers showed a decrease compared with those of 2009, with the number of fishers participating down from 186 to 171; the number of boats entered down from 67 to 58, the average weight dropped from 135.7 in 2009 to 102.9 pounds this year and the total catch of the day was 3,292.6 pounds, down from 5,970 pounds in 2009.

Other notable winners of the day were Alban Michael, heaviest beach seine catch (4,383 pounds); Orla Matthew, heaviest catch in the female category with 20 pounds; Kevin Richards (junior champion); Christopher Trumpet (heaviest catch Class 4); William Dabreo (winner class 3); Leslie Hazelwood took the heaviest single catch of the day and heaviest catch (class 2) with 109.6 and 252.4 pounds respectively. (DD)