On the morning of January 18th, 2025, The Main Attraction Sailfishing Tournament Team was pumped and ready to go for day one of the 2025 Cheeca Presidential Sailfish Tournament. The team hoped to keep momentum from their recent second-place win at the IFC Captain’s Cup Sailfish Tournament just three days earlier!

Mark Busch catching one of the Sailfish that helped him win Top Male Angler at the IFC three days earlier.

The night before the tournament, Captain Marty asked his young daughter to make the team good luck bracelets. She spent well over an hour making rubber band bracelets for the entire team: Captain Marty Lewis, First Mate Ben Zdan, Mark Busch, Alex Lewis, Mike Cangemi, Robbie “Reggie” Hiro, and Danny Lombardo.

Day One

On day one, the team left the dock at 5 am and headed towards Islamorada. Once there, they caught fresh bait to top off the wells before getting into position for lines in. Mark started the morning off with an inspirational message to the team and reminded them he was in it to win it! The guys were ready to give it their all in this third and final leg of the 2025 Florida Keys Gold Cup Sailfish Championship Series.

The day was windy and rough, but had warmed up a bit. The morning bite was slower than usual, but several teams had successfully released Sailfish. Captain Marty knew each fish would be vital to them, and he reminded the team to make it count because a single fish could make or break them. At 10:27 am, the team got their first chance at a Sailfish. Angler Danny Lombardo successfully caught and released his fish, putting Main One officially on the leaderboard. It was a start, but the team had plenty more work to do.

Captain Marty scanned the horizon intently as the sun began to shine. Marty excels at spotting Sailfish from afar when the visibility is good. Sure enough, he found a fish swimming in the deep blue water, and At 12:25 pm, angler Mike caught and released that Sailfish, making it their second of the day. Team morale was hopeful; they knew they could turn the day around if they kept fishing hard.

Captain Marty found more fish throughout the day, but he couldn’t get any of the stubborn Sailfish they encountered to bite, no matter what baits they presented. Even worse, they had a sailfish escape after they finally managed to trigger a bite! This was frustrating for the team, but everyone kept their cool. This is how it goes sometimes, and they knew they had to keep grinding to see if their luck might turn.

Persistence is the key to success when the bite is slow.

Captain Marty’s wife, Katie, was keeping tabs on the team via the website’s live scoring page. It was relatively slow for most of the day, but suddenly, she could see a flurry of activity on the page as several boats released Sailfish. Not long after, Katie got a text from her husband saying, “Got him”. Twenty minutes later, the Main One team caught another, and just like that, was up to four releases. At 4 pm, the committee boat called lines out, and team Main One / Main Attraction was in 1st place and won the daily! As the guys reeled in their lines and started their journey back to Marathon, Katie and her daughter got creative and made the team a sign to welcome them.

When the team pulled into the dock, Captain Marty’s daughter was on the edge of the dock, cheering for her dad and his teammates, holding up the sign that read “Go Main One”. We couldn’t have been prouder for the guys that day! They worked so hard and delivered.

The Main One pulling in after a long first day of the tournament.

The guys were in great spirits as they docked the Main One, and thanked Captain Marty’s daughter for the good luck bracelets that clearly worked! Mark requested a good luck necklace for day two. Even though the fishing was done, the day was not over. Katie helped restock food and beverages, while the team dipped baits for  and cleaned up the Main One for the next day.

Captain Marty rested that evening after a long day of looking for hungry Sailfish. He studied the weather and looked at his maps to put a game plan in place for day two. While he was planning, his daughter worked on the good luck necklace Mark requested.

Captain Marty preparing for day two of the tournament.

Day Two

Sunday, January 19th, was Day Two of the tournament, and By 4:15 am, Captain Marty was already at the boat getting ready with his team. Excitement was in the air; they were starting off in 1st place but only by the skin of their teeth. Marty sipped his coffee while discussing his game plan with the crew before heading off for Islamorada at 5 am. The team again caught fresh bait and prepared for lines in. The Main One was loaded with bait, so they needed was some good luck on their side!

Mark Busch wearing his new good luck necklace and sign courtesy of Natalie!

Unfortunately, lady luck wouldn’t make this an easy day for them either. After lines in was announced, Katie watched the scoreboard as several boats released fish. Captain Marty texted Katie that the boat beside him had just released fish. She could sense his frustration, offered encouragement, and wished him luck . Later that morning, she received a text that said, “Lost one, Sh&$!” and “Lost another”. 

Even the most experienced Captains, with the best boats, crews, and all the gear, have bad runs of luck when it comes to fishing. It takes tenacity to be able to defy those streaks of bad luck, shake them off, and keep grinding away to try and turn it around! This is easier to say than do. Captain Marty was starting to get discouraged as the team had lost their 3rd fish of the day. He told Katie the fish were small and kept spitting out the baits prematurely. Katie reminded him it was just bad luck and told him to regroup, stay focused, and have faith!

Within minutes, the Main One was hooked up and fighting a sailfish! This time, junior angler Alex Lewis released the team’s first fish of day two at 1:13 pm. Alex was also now the only junior angler on the leaderboard!

Robbie “Reggie” Hiro releasing a sailfish.

The Main One team knew they had more fish to catch if they wanted to be in the winner’s circle, but with a morning of bad luck, it was highly challenging.

With only half an hour left to fish at 2:30 pm, the top teams on the leaderboard were all within one fish of each other! Katie said a special prayer, asking for a doubleheader.

10 minutes later, Captain Marty’s excellent eyesight paid off again. After spotting a free-jumping sailfish offshore, Marty hollered to the crew to reel in the baits, and while keeping the kites in the air, he ran to where he saw the free jumper!

At 2:44pm Katie got a text message from Captain Marty “Double, Pray!”. Katie was delighted, and she thought to herself, “If that wasn’t an answered prayer, I don’t know what is!”

She then sat at her computer and stared at the screen since she didn’t want to distract Marty. Eventually, the total number of fish caught increased by one on the website, and Katie cheered! She saw Alex had released his second fish of the day and waited to see if they would complete the double.

They were currently in 3rd place, and if they could convert this double, they would be in 2nd place overall. Katie stared at the computer screen, until at 2:53 pm, literally 7 minutes before lines out, when the website showed Main One angler Danny released the second fish! Katie cheered; she was ecstatic! Team Main One, with 7 minutes to go, was now in 2nd place. As the committee boat announced Lines Out, no other boat was hooked up, which meant that team Main One / Main Attraction had won 2nd place overall, top male angler (Mike Cangemi) and Top junior angler (Alex Lewis)!