The ladies left no doubt that it was a “Screamin’ Reels Tournament” when they hooked up with 100 fish in a Ladies Let’s Go Fishing event held in the Florida Keys at Tavernier and Islamorada’s Whale Harbor last month.

Under the leadership of founder Betty Bauman, Ladies Let’s Go Fishing is a national non-profit dedicated to attracting women to fishing and to promoting conservation and responsible angling. It stages a variety of events annually.

Like most LLGF events, the Screamin’ Reels Tournament was a three-day event with a gala kickoff on Friday evening. The ladies headed out for a full day of fishing Saturday, and a shortened day on Sunday. Most women fished aboard charter boats and received coaching from professional captains and crews. There was also a category for participating private boats. Greeted by flat calm seas, the ladies landed 100 fish in a variety of species.

The top angler was Susan Anthony of Fort Myers, Fla. She clinched first-place Offshore with a 25-pound blackfin tuna caught on the charter boat Caribsea. Second-place Offshore was caught by Lynda Traverso, St. Augustine, Fla., who also boated a blackfin tuna weighing in at 19.8 pounds. Among the competitors participating in the separate private boat category, Deb Salvi of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., landed an 8-pound mahi. Many of the tourney participants caught their first mahi.

LLGF is supported by such major partners as Mercury, Magic Tilt trailers, Shearwater Boats, Power-Pole, Penn, TACO Metals, Freedom Boat Club, Icom, AFTCO and Costa.

Other key partners include the Recreational Fishing and Boating Foundation, Star brite, Lowrance, Hubbards Marina, the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida, CCA Florida STAR, Bob’s Machine Shop, Smith Optics, Frogg Toggs and the Future Angler Foundation.

Local sponsors for the Screamin’ Reels Tournament included Breezy Palms Resort, Jeanne Towne of Fidelity Real Estate, and the Monroe County Tourist Development Council.

Events remaining on this year’s schedule include:

• Guy Harvey Outpost Bass Seminar and Tournament, Camp Mack, Lake Wales, Fla., Sept. 23-24

• Keys Saltwater Weekend Seminar and Fishing Fever Tourney, Islamorada, Fla., Oct. 7-9

• St. Augustine Surf Fishing Academy, Nov. 19-20

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Needed: Savior for Winston Churchill’s funeral boat

The state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill was unparalleled, including the dipping of dozens of waterside cranes in an unscripted final salute as the funeral barge, Havengore, slowly made way along the River Thames.

Richard Eden recently wrote in the Daily Mail that it was “an occasion of sombre splendour, unequalled. Now, though, I can disclose that Havengore’s fate hangs in the balance. Chris Ryland, the retired businessman who bought her for nearly [$958,000] in 2006 and spent more than [US$1.8 million] restoring her, has concluded that at 74, he needs to hand it over to someone.”

Unless someone takes her on, she could fall into disrepair and be lost. Thus far, yacht brokers have failed to find a buyer for what was originally a Thames survey vessel. “Moreover, an appeal to the government for help has elicited an acknowledgement but no real interest,” Eden writes.

Ryland’s passion for Havengore was born when he watched Churchill’s funeral procession after hitch-hiking with a school friend from Gloucestershire to London to join millions standing in silence on that freezing day in 1965. Forty years later, hearing that Havengore was being sold and would be taken abroad by the prospective buyer, Ryland matched the asking price and promised to keep the 85-footer in London. However, he soon discovered Havengore, launched in 1956 and constructed of oak and teak, needed a massive restoration, which he commissioned.

Havengore has taken her place in more recent ceremonial occasions, including the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee river pageant in 2012, when nine members of the Royal Family paraded along the Thames on board.

The boat bears a brass plaque where Churchill’s coffin rested, inscribed with the words of Richard Dimbleby: “And so Havengore sails into history — not even the Golden Hinde has borne so great a man.” (Golden Hinde was the first British ship to sail around the world, captained by Francis Drake.)

Will Havengore sail into oblivion, or will someone, somewhere, rescue her?