Sea Horse Anglers Club Billfish Tournament 2011
July 21, 2011
In Bermuda, 23 boats headed offshore to compete in the 38th Annual Sea Horse Anglers Club Billfish Tournament. This is the third and final leg of the 2011 Triple Crown series. At 8:10 am, "Fish On" hooked-up to a blue marlin and it seemed that they might release the first blue marlin for the third consecutive tournament, but this time things were different because it was a Monster.
While "Fish On" battled away, El Cazador scored the first points with a blue marlin release at 8:49 am. Then "Queen of Hearts" hooked into a big fish at 9:11 am. After a battle of well over an hour, Queen of Hearts had the blue marlin in the boat at 10:31 am, and soon reported short length measurements of 118/64. The big blue marlin subsequently tipped the scales at 560 lbs and was good enough to win the Day One Blue Marlin Jackpot worth $13,933. Congratulations to Capt. Peter Olander and owner angler Walter Cross. These guys have a solid track record of hanging winners, this is the fourth time they have weighed a blue marlin down at Barr's Bay Park in a Triple Crown event. Prior catches included the 728 pounder that won the 2007 World Cup, as well as a 572 pounder that took heaviest blue marlin honors in the 2008 Sea Horse, and a 534 pounder that took a daily in the 2006 Classic.
Meanwhile, Fish On remained locked in battle. Eventually, after over three hours, they had the huge blue marlin on the leader, but it made its escape when things came slack soon after. The team did get the video and points for the release, but this was a very large blue marlin, which they were probably disappointed to lose. Instead of crying about it though, this team got back to business and at 1:51 pm they were hooked-up again; releasing a blue marlin at 2:05 pm. The two blue marlin releases were good enough for Fish On to win the Day One Billfish Release Points Jackpot worth $13,300 - so they pretty much swapped one daily for another, a nice consolation and they sit in first place at the end of Day One. It is also the second release daily that Fish On has won in this year's Triple Crown Series.
Uno Mas also released two blue marlin, which is very significant in the Triple Crown series standings as it elevates them from 3rd place with 2,200 points, up into the overall lead with 3,200 points - five hundred ahead of Sea Toy and six hundred ahead of the defending Series champion Click Through.
On Day One, there was also blue marlin releases recorded for Rameseas
and Over Budget, and a white marlin release for Georgie Girl.
The tally for Day One is 1 blue marlin boated, 7 blue marlin released and a white released.
Friday July 22, 2011
Despite gorgeous sunny conditions and a pleasant SSW breeze of 10-15 knots, it was a very long wait to get points on the board this morning. There were a few early pulled-hooks, before the leading team on Fish On looked to take a firm grip on the tournament with a blue marlin hook-up at 10:17 am, and the excitement geared up a few minutes later when Georgie Girl hooked into a double header of blue marlin. At 10:36 am, Fish On scored their blue marlin release, and at 10:40 am Georgie Girl released the first blue marlin of their double header and then secured the second blue marlin release at 10:59 am. Later in the day, Georgie Girl was hooked-up again and scored a white marlin release at 2:51 pm. The 1,200 points deservedly earned Georgie Girl the Day Two Billfish Release Points Jackpot worth $13,300, and going into the last day they are in 2nd Place, only 100 points behind Fish On.
There was a bit of a lunchtime bite, but it was mostly enjoyed by boats getting on the board and so there was no change in the top three spots in the overall tournament standings. Boomer, Que Mas and Never Enough released white marlin, and there were blue marlin releases for Great Escape, Wound Up, Mega Bucks, Click Through, Reel Lax and El Cazador. The above mentioned blue marlin release on Click Through was part of a double header, with the other one being a HUGE fish that threw the hook. The blue release on Wound Up was reported to be a nice one - close to the 500 lb class. Click Through weighed a nice 64.4-pound wahoo to take the lead in the game fish division.
In the Triple Crown Series, we are heading for a photo finish. Going into the 9th and final day, Uno Mas leads with 3,200 points, but both defending Champion Click Through and Georgie Girl are a mere 100 points back. Click Through is trying to become the first team to ever win the Series more than once. If Georgie Girl wins the series Capt Bryce Garvey will be the first Captain to win the Triple Crown Series more than once, albeit with different teams (he was the Captain of the Champion Bree team in 2009). Sea Toy who had led the Series coming into the Sea Horse is still in the running at 2,700, while the red hot Fish On is in the reckoning at 2,500, and don't count out Capt. James Robinson and Wound Up who are also at 2,500. The big blues always turn up in better numbers after the whites clear out, and that seems to be happening - as usual the final day of the Sea Horse promises to bring nail biting drama.
July 23rd;
The third and final day of the Sea Horse and last day of fishing for the Triple Crown series started off with a good bite at lines in. Red hot Fish On got things going with a hook up at 8:02 and successful release of a blue at 8:15 am. Georgie Girl released a white at 8:14 with Real Estate releasing a blue at 8:28 am. After a few pulled hooks Never Enough released a blue and then team Over Budget got a double header of blues at 9:38 am. Over Budget was successful with both fish adding 1000-points and zooming up the leader board. Before noon Mama Who, Overproof, Queen of Hearts, Boomer, Reel Lax and Weez in the Keys scored blue marlin releases. At 11:24 team Fish On and owner angler Rob Kathary were hooked up again and with the successful release at 11:56 the team moved into fist place in the Sea Horse and led the Triple Crown. At 11:44 team Ramseas and angler Terry Wells hooked into a nice one and continued to do battle well into the afternoon. Ramseas fish was ultimately boated at 2:56 and the team continued to fish until the 4:00 lines out. Back at the weigh station the fish weighed in at 544-pounds. Ramseas was not in the Marlin Jackpots so the double daily as still up for grabs. At 11:48 a key bite happened for Uno Mas and owner angler Brooks Smith. At 12:10 the blue marlin release came for Uno Mas moving them back into the lead in the Triple Crown. Georgie Girl fought back with a white release at 12:31 moving them into position to steal the Crown. Not to be outdone team Fish On was tight again to a blue one at 12:39 and with the successful release at 1:02 securing the win of the Sea Hose Tournament with 3,000-points and moved them back into the lead in the Triple Crown by 300-points over Uno Mas. Team Over Budget continued their fantastic day hooking up again at 12:55 releasing their third blue on the day for owner angler Ricky Sousa Sr. giving the team a total of 2,000-points and second place in the Sea Horse. This was a special day for the father & son duo of Captain Ricky Sousa Jr. at the helm and his father Ricky Sousa Sr. in the chair. The bite slowed for a while until Mama Who released their second blue for owner angler Elaine Jones. The release secured 1000-points and top lady angler for Mama Who. In a race to the finish Georgie Girl released a white at 3:36 to move into third place in the Sea Horse and a mere 300-points behind Fish On in the Triple Crown. Two teams including Uno Mas and Georgie Girl were just one blue marlin release from Triple Crown glory with less than 30-minutes to lines out. At 3:50 with ten-minutes to go Georgie Girl called in a hook-up. Unfortunately for them it turned out to be a game fish.
In a down to the wire finish First Place Team, Day one, Day Three and Most Overall Billfish Release Points Jackpots and High Point Angler honors went to Fish On and owner angler Rob Kathary, Captain Elliot Cline, mate Pat Nelson and teammates Parker Stephen and Chuck Warden. Total winnings for Fish On $88,750. Team Queen of Hearts ended up being the only team in the Marlin Jackpots to boat a qualifying fish so they sweep the Daily and Overall Largest Marlin Jackpots worth a total of $81,700. Team Over Budget earned second place winning $10,350. Team Geogie Girl took the Day Two Release Jackpot and Third Place honors winning a total of $20,200. Team Click Through took the Biggest Game Fish with a 64.4-pound wahoo wining $3,450.
