Anglers Bobby Rego and Danny Fox have landed the big one.

The Bermudian pair, fishing as The Sandpipers, took top honours at the 13th Key West International Light Tackle tournament in Florida.

Held over four days last week on the Atlantic side of Key West, the pair had to fight off stiff competition to net the top prize, accumulating a points total of 42,376.

"We were competing against 12 other teams that consisted of a number of fellow Bermudians and some very highly recognised light tackle anglers who among them share a considerable number of world records,'' Rego said.

"Everyone's out there to kick butt and we were fishing from some very good boats run by some up and coming young skippers.'' Despite sea conditions of between four and six feet and winds up to 30 knots, the duo won the first and fourth day of fishing to claim the title.

Fox was the high point angler for the same two days and took the overall tournament award with 22,922 points. Rego came in third with 19,454.

"The biggest thing was overcoming the weather. They were atrocious conditions,'' said Rego. "In fact the second official day, the Tuesday, was held over so we actually fished on the Wednesday which normally would have been an off day.

"The only time we got any relief was on the Friday when the wind backed off and the sea started to drop off a bit.'' Rego said it was no mean feat to win the title, especially given the testing circumstances.

"You have to apply a different strategy. With permit fishing, a lot of it is done through sighting the fish and then casting to them. When you have got rough conditions and a lot of cloud cover it becomes very difficult to locate them,'' he said.

"You have to depend on your electronics, your fishfinders, to hopefully locate them before you can present your bait. That becomes very trying and challenging.'' To take the win, the pair managed to release three tarpon, a sailfish, four kingfish, 20 permits, five barracuda, 40 little tunnies and eight dolphins.

Asked where it ranked alongside previous achievements, Rego said: "This is certainly pretty high up there. Individually and as a team we won the Bermuda International Light Tackle tournament some years ago.

"This one just seemed to be more challenging because of the options that were available and the different conditions you fish under and also the quality of anglers you are fishing against -- it's unreal some of the accomplishments they have had over the years.'' Rego said he and Fox made for a pretty good partnership.

"This is our sixth year of fishing together. I think it's the ability to work together as a team and understand each other's habits,'' he said. "Also our ability to communicate with the skippers because both of us have fished extensively here together or against each other.

"Over the years you tend to pick up those little subtle points that you can use -- it's not just putting your line overboard, you have got to have some idea of how to jig your bait and let it out according to the tide.

"We are keen too, we are working with the skippers doing the chumming and looking at the conditions and things.'' Husband and wife pairing Peter and Cindy Mitchell were the next best placed Islanders, coming in fifth overall with 33,408 points.

Rego's next time out will be the upcoming Bacardi tournament here in Bermuda.

Bobby Rego: Landed first place with partner Danny Fox in the Key West International Light Tackle Tournament.