2025 Sailfish Season Recap

As sailfish tournament season comes to a close down here in south Florida, it's time to take a look back on the season, and boy was it a memorable one!

We had a lot of big tournaments line up with incredible sailfishing conditions which led to over 3,400 releases across the 6 major tournaments, and we're proud to say that a large chunk of those were Wicked Wells' Captains.

Lets take a deeper dive into each one:

December - We started off in early December with the Dust ‘Em Off out of Palm Beach, Florida where we had a solid 124 releases from 24 boats with Wicked Wells customer, SERAPHIM, taking home first place with 13 releases earning them a solid $76,775.

January - brought our first of the the Quest for the Crest tournaments, Operation Sailfish on Jan 16^th-19^th. This tournament started one of the best, if not the best, stretches of sailfishing we have seen in south Florida EVER, with 402 releases over two days from 63 boats.

Special shout out to two Wicked Wells captains for taking home winnings (and the top spot) during Operation Sailfish: Old. No 7, captained by, Jamie Ralph, had 15 releases earning them a nice Day 1 payday; and Jolene, captained by Drew Rhonehouse, took home the top spot with a payout of $179,910.

Here is what Captain Drew Rhonehouse of the Jolene had to say about our wells and getting off to a hot start in Tourney 1 of the Fishbluewater Quest for the crest Series:

 “As soon as we started fishing tournaments I told my boss we needed Wicked Wells. Not only do they pressurize and keep the baits in perfect condition no matter the sea condition there's no overflowing onto the deck so you're not worried about flooding bilges or anything like that so they are definitely the best product on the market.” – Drew Rhonehouse, Captain of the Jolene

Operation Sailfish, was quickly followed by the legendary Buccaneer Cup, out of Palm Beach, on Jan 21-25th, and to be honest, this is when things started to really heat up. The tournament saw 806 releases handing out over $390k in winnings.

Three Wicked Wells Captains took home some of that $390K, with Sandman, Remix and Seraphim all finishing in the top 10; and Sandman finishing 3^rd overall. Great to see the Buccanner Marina finished and cant wait to see the tournament there next year!

February - After a brief respite, up next was the 2^nd leg of the FishBluewater Quest for the Crest on Feb 20^th-23^rd. This is where records were broken and we saw what south Florida really used to be (and what it may be coming back to). We had 1467 (yes that is correct) releases from 61 boats over two days. Team Native Son took 1^st place with 65 releases. 65 Sailfish releases in 2 days of fishing. Complete insanity.

Again, we saw multiple Wicked Wells Captains take home part of the winnings with Remix, Beast and Sandman all placing top 5 for Day 1 of this legendary tourney.

March - Quickly arrived, bringing with it a tournament growing in popularity - Quest for the Ring / Jimmy Johnson Fish Week. This tournament is known for its large payouts and high-end events around the tournament at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, and it did not disappoint with the largest payout EVER for the tourney: $455k going to longtime Wicked Wells Captain and legendary angler, JC Cleare on the REMIX with 18 releases.

We asked JC what he thought his edge was in the tourney here's what he had to say:

“Definitely our crew... but when you’re sitting in the middle of 10 other boats in the same area, what’s going to make the difference is better bait than everyone. We take care of our bait for weeks prior to the tournament so when they go in our wells they need to stay perfect. Our [Wicked Wells] are the only way to do it.” - JC Cleare, Captain of Remix

In total Quest for the Ring saw 451 releases from 85 boats over the 2 days of fishing, and a number of other Wicked Wells Captains (from Big Ben, Just Chillin, Vitamin Sea, Twin Reels and Jolene) all made it to the stage to collect some checks from the tourney.

April - As we came to a close - the question on everyone's mind was who would ultimately end up wearing the Burgundy Jacket? Which brings us to the final tournmanet of the season - Final Sail. With a handful of teams on the cusp, this tournament became even more important than years past. Teams like Jolene, Native Son, Vitamin Sea and Living Water all had a shot to win the Quest for the Crest if they could perform at Final Sail.

The tournament saw 226 releases over the 2 days in the beginning of April, and it came down to the bitter end - with Wicked Wells captain Drew Rhonehouse of the Jolene holding the lead up until the last hour, ultimately losing the lead, but catching enough to seal the deal and crown themselves as Quest for the Crest Champions.

What an incredible season! It was great to see the burgundy jacket go to another Wicked Wells Captain - we couldn’t be prouder!

Congrats to all on a great season and looking forward to it all again next year!

P.S. We're already starting to book out for next season, so if you haven't gotten your order in yet, make sure you do it soon so we can have you tournament ready come December.