Fishing with Fiorentino
11/29/2006 3:00:36 PM by Sandy Lindsey
Tiger Direct’s Gilbert Fiorentino loves boats — but what he loves more is getting the whole family together for a day of fishing and quality time.
“You shouldn’t be writing about me. You should be writing about my son,” says Gilbert Fiorentino. The founder and chief executive officer of the wildly successful online superstore Tiger Direct is being overly modest. A successful tournament fisherman in the early ‘90s, he quit the tournament circuit while his children were young. Now that his son Jeffrey is in his teens, Fiorentino is back on the tournament scene, sharing his skill and success with the next generation.
“About two-and-a-half or three years ago, I returned to the tournament scene. This time with Jeffrey, who is now 16 years old and won top angler for the junior division in just about every tournament we fished in last year,” says Fiorentino proudly. “We have a 65-foot Viking sportfisherman. It is our fourth Viking. We started out with a 38-footer, then a 47-footer and on up to the current 65-footer.”
The family of Viking is used much more than the average boat — about 1,000 hours per year vs. the average person’s 200 hours, he estimates. It spent three months in the Bahamas this past summer, with Jeffrey and a friend onboard for 90 days. Gilbert flew back and forth to join them when he could for excellent fishing off of Bimini. From November through April, the focus is on the sailfish season and things get really serious.
“Fishing competitively is much different than fishing for fun,” explains Fiorentino. “Fishing competitively is about time, money and other people. The night before a tournament starts, there’s a sense of anticipation in the air. The anglers are on their sportfishing boats tying lines and getting their reels ready. There is a tangible sense of hope on the docks. At this point everyone is thinking that this could be their tournament, and it continues throughout the event.”
His most wacky moment on the water came during the Mayor’s Cup tournament last year. “We were aiming for second place with a great sailfish on the line,” Fiorentino states. “We had him about 25 feet from the boat when a 300-pound Mako shark came along and grabbed him and cost us the tournament. We ended up in fourth place. The money only went down to third place, with second place coming in at around $50,000. Still, it was a once-in-a-lifetime sight to witness.”
Boating is a Fiorentino family affair. “My wife loves it as much as I do, and my daughter likes to dive and snorkel or just read a book onboard,” reports Gilbert. “My kids grew up on the water, on a boat. Boating is a great way to keep the family together. It is an important part of my children’s lives.” Fiorentino was lucky to have Bob Lewis of kite fishing fame as a mentor who taught him to sailfish 15 years ago, as well as being blessed with great friends. His captain is Neil Orange — a notable name amongst the sportfishing elite.
Even when there isn’t a tournament in sight, Fiorentino likes to be on the water. He recently covered 14 islands in 13 weeks from Miami to the Turks & Caicos and back. Marlin were the target fish in the Turks & Caicos, with some big tuna landed off of San Salvador.
Jeffrey is proving to be a fishing rock star in his own right. He won not only the Top Angler slot for the Junior Division of the Capt. Bob Lewis Billfish Challenge, but Top Boat as well. Amongst his dozen or so recent wins are Top Junior Angler at the Miami Billfish Tournament and Second Place Master Angler/First Place Junior Angler at the Fort Lauderdale Billfish Tournament. There can be no doubt that holding a rod and reel is in the Fiorentino genes.