?Team effort? means the bass boat will have to go

The problem is that Hoffman was a stand-in for his father-in-law who could not attend the Sandy Point State Park prize-raffling finale.

The problem? Dos Santos — the boat winner — lives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “With gas prices the way they are, I am not going to trail the boat to Rio,” joked Hoffman of his father-in-law’s prize and the family problem. Hoffman has a boat, a 21-foot cuddy cabin for his Bay fishing excursions.

That makes a gift, sale, trade or barter between the in-laws questionable.

The finale festivities put the boat, a Toyota Tundra truck worth $35,000, two $1,500 prize packages from Bill’s Outdoor Center and a $2,500 gift certificate from Boater’s World into the hands of five happy raffle winners. Another lucky winner got an $800 TAG Heuer Formula 1 watch from Smyth Jewelers. To qualify for the raffle, you had to catch a citation fish from the 60 eligible species throughout the state.

This year, 1,345 anglers did that, up considerably from the 224 of the previous year. Anglers from 23 states, Canada and Brazil participated in the big promotion.

The festivities this year again featured Gov. Martin O’Malley, trickling down through the Department of Natural Resources’ hierarchy and most of the citation-catching qualifiers. All were anxious to see who would win what.

Hoffman, his father-in-law, Hoffman’s wife Karoline, her mother and two friends were on board the “Beach Comber” out of Rod ‘N Reel Dock when a rockfish hit an umbrella rig. Since Dos Santos had not caught a rock or fished the Chesapeake Bay before, all agreed that he should take the rod and land the fish. The resulting 42-inch rock led to a citation and the Bass Pro Shops prize.

As a result, Hoffman is high on fishing. “After this event, as much fun and fortune came of it, we’ll definitely keep on fishing,” he said of the sport and Maryland promotion.

The final family decision — so far — is to sell the boat. This was reached Wednesday night by phone to Rio. “He wants to split the proceeds 50/50,” said Hoffman. “He caught the fish. I took care of the charter trip and the prize event, so it was a team effort.” Anyone interested in a new bass boat?

Decisions! Decisions!

Fred Menage, 69, was called second but was first up on the stage as one of the five top tournament winners, and he had choices to make. With the selection of a raffle ticket, each of the five finalists had to pick one tackle box from the five on stage. Opening the tackle box would reveal the prize. Would it be a $1,500 prize package, a $2,500 gift certificate, a $25,000 Bass Pro Shops boat rig or a $35,000 Toyota Tundra truck?

Menage, a retired design engineer for the Goddard Space Center, already has a boat, an 18-foot Sea Pro, which he pulls with his Camero the six blocks from his Edgewater home to a boat ramp.

The tackle boxes holding the prize info were lined up in order, one through five. “I started to go for number one, but then I said, ‘No, I’ll take the one in the middle.’ ” The one in the middle held the Toyota Tundra prize info, although Menage gets to pick his options from a dealer. Ironically, the almost-picked tackle box number one held the card for the Bass Pro Shops prize package. Menage was just destined to win something.

When last seen, he was scouring Toyota catalogs and pounding his dealer’s lot for ideas between a choice of a Tundra and smaller Tacoma.

Ironically, the $25,000 Diamond Jim was never caught. With monthly Diamond Jims out there (one each valid for the months of June, July and August) along with 60 “impostors” worth $500 each, none wanted a lure.

We’ll all have to double our efforts next year when this contest rolls around again.

C. Boyd Pfeiffer is an internationally known sportsman and award-winning writer on fishing, hunting and the outdoors. He can be reached at [email protected].