This past April, I had the opportunity to go to Isla Mujeres, Mexico and produce an episode of our TV Show, ADVENTURES IN FISHING. What made this trip different was we were filming women. My son, Christopher Kelly, jumped on the opportunity to be the cameraman of this particular shoot. Chris and I met a fantastic group of women. These women love their fishing. These anglers were members of the International Women's Fishing Association or the IWFA for short.

The IWFA is based in Palm Beach, Florida. The members are from all over the world. I just want to give a little history of the IWFA. The IWFA was established in 1955 as a non-profit association. The IWFA promotes angling competition among women anglers, encourages conservation and promotes release tournaments. They have been considered as one of the ten most influential groups in promoting the release of fish.

The IWFA usually has three to four release tournaments each year in different areas. They have had tournaments in Florida, Mexico, Costa Rico and many other areas as well. The IWFA was founded by the women- Mrs. Denny Crowninshield, Mrs. John Rybovich, Jr., and Mrs. Thomas T. Sherwood.

I have to say that this is one of best organizations that I had had the pleasure of working with and filming for our TV show. The main focus of the IWFA is to raise money for numerous scholarships for students attending various colleges and universities. I might add the women vary

in age as well as marital status. Some of the women are young and some are older, some are single, and some are married. Most importantly, they all love fishing. We filmed this particular group on a variety of boats. Alene Molle' was the tournament director and my hat goes off to her for doing such an outstanding job. It is alot of hard work arranging a fishing tournament. I know I run two tournaments myself. Alene told us of her many fishing expeditions and made us feel like celebrities. Chris and I were honored to be there.

We stayed at a beautiful hotel, The Hotel la Media Luna located right on the beach. The views from our room were spectacular. The pool was right on the beach with a nice tiki-bar. We were truly in paradise. The owners, Capt. Anthony Mendillo and his lovely wife, Keen made us feel so welcome.

I could see that there would be some tough competition after I met the women at the captain's meeting. The gals also made us feel welcome. This tournament was a billfish tournament so I knew the filming would be tough. People have no idea how difficult it is to film sailfish jumping

in the air or dancing on the surface. I must say, Chris, is one of the best camerman especially when it comes to filming billfish. Chris and I always hope and pray for biting fish and calm seas. The first evening, Chris and I went down to the dock. Some of the gals were down there also. A crowd was gathered around Capt. Anthony's boat, The Keen M., a custom 36' sportfish. We soon found out why. Capt. Anthony's charter that day had caught a monster grouper that day and photos were being taken. Chris took photos as well.

This fish got me excited as well as the gals who were there. Chris and I could not wait to go out the next day which would be a practise day. We went out with Capt. Anthony the next morning with Susan McCarthy and Alene. Susan landed a small dolphin and then bonitas kept hitting the baits. I could see Capt. Anthony and his crew was disappointed. Alene had told me that Capt. Anthony was one of the best. I knew he would do better in the tournament. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset during the ride back to the dock. We all wondered about the next day.

On Day One of the tournament, we were on board, Double Shot, a 55' Viking with Capt. Wink Doerzbacher and anglers Kay Young and June Phillips. It was non-stop sailfish action. Chris and I filmed and barely had time to rest. Both Kay and June landed 3 sailfish each. Needless to say there were bonitas mixed in.

We were back with Capt. Anthony on Day Two with anglers, Jean Geddes of Key Largo, Fl and Nora Schofield of San Jose, Costa Rico. Capt. Anthony found the sailfish. The girls had quite a few hook-ups but only one sail was landed by Nora.

On Day Three, Alene scheudled us aboard The Bone Shaker, a 40' Whitaker captained by V. J. Bell. Angler Margie Adams of Winter Haven, Florida landed two sailfish and Angler Fran Mc Kelvey of Lakeland, Florida landed four sailfish. Chris and I knew we had a fantastic show filmed. The action was unbelievable. I was so impressed by all the gals.

At the end of the tournament, the gals that did well all congratulated each other and offered kind words to those that did not fair as well.

The awards dinner was planned for the pool area under the moon at The Hotel La Media. The results were as follows: Top Anglers- 1st Place: Kay Young with 9 sailfish, 2nd Place- June Phillips with 8 sailfish, and 3rd Place- Fran Mc Kelvey with 7 sailfish; Top Boats- 1st Place: Double Shot with 16 sailfish, 2nd Place- Blue Max with 12 sailfish and 3rd Place- Bone Shaker with 11 sailfish. Total sailfish caught was 60. They all were released!

The food was great and we all enjoyed the rest of the evening. Chris and I did not want this adventure in fishing to end. Our flight was scheduled for the next morning. Alene shuttled us to the Ferry dock and both Chris and I posed for photos with Alene.

Most importantly ALOT of money was raised for those lucky students who be the recipients of the scholarships. The International Women Fishing Association is a first class organization. For more information on the IWFA write to them at P.O. Drawer 3125, Palm Beach, Florida 33480 or check the IWFA website at http://www.iwfa.org. You can call Adventures

In Fishing at 631-744-5951 and we will put you in touch with Alene Molle'.

And remember- "Let's get kids hooked on Fishing...NOT on drugs!"