INNOVATIVE'S HANDLINE TOURNEY
WHERE FISHING BECOMES CHILD'S PLAY

Smiles stretching miles. Loads of laughter. Eager seaside chatter. Shouts of "Wow - Look at `em all!" "Come on, come on - closer, closer." "Eeeeee - I got one!" Yes, this is a scene from the prestigious USVI Open/ABMT "Boy Scout", but the locale isn't the infamous North Drop. While the big boys are after 1,000-pound-plus blue marlin, it's the junior anglers who cast their handlines for lightweight creatures of the deep at the annual Innovative - Boy Scout Handline Tournament.

Innovative, a locally owned cellular company serving the Virgin Islands and its surrounding waters - is a major sponsor of the ABMT "Boy Scout" tournament. For many years this community minded company has been keeping in touch with the youth of the island by sponsoring this junior angler's handline tournament. Ask any of the over 250 juniors who fished the event last year and they'll vouch that the tournament provided a fun-filled day of fishing that their whole family - tots to teens - enjoyed.

ON YOUR MARK, GET SET . . .

The air is full of excitement when registration starts at the AYH marina around 9:30 AM on Sunday. Any boy or girl, scout or non-scout, under age 17, can enter the Innovative Boy Scout Handline Tournament. There's

A couple of scouts enjoy the handline tournament.

no fee to register and all entrants receive free Innovative supplied tee-shirts and goody bags. Complimentary pizza and drinks come after the fishing. Kid's are provided with handlines and bait for  fishing.

GO!

As soon as they get their instructions from the Scout Masters , the junior anglers can start reeling those fish in. Largest Fish, Most Fish, Smallest Fish, Ugliest Fish, Longest Fish, Cutest Fish (No jelly fish, please!) - all win kids great prizes like a half-day trip on a local sports fishing boat, rods and reels and gift certificates from favorite Virgin Islands businesses. Judging is thanks to the folks from the Department of Fish & Wildlife. The VI Council, Boy Scouts of America wishes to thank Innovative and the Prosser family for their sponsorship of this event.