Hello out there to all the fisher people who have taken part in the Steinlager I'a Lapo'a tournaments.
Just want to bring things up to date from this years event Attached are files giving boat stats, final standings and fish report. A lot of fish were caught this year and myself and the whole Pago Pago Game Fishing Club hope you enjoyed yourselves. (I enjoyed myself a little to much on several occasions)
After 2 years of marginal weather we finally had the sun shine this year. First day was a bit rugged as there was a large swell running but that started to go down by the second day. As the attached shows, there were a lot of fish caught and it was anybodies tournament up to the final weigh in. 25 Marlin tagged & released, 3 Sailfish tagged & released and 2 marlin to the pole (although 1 was under weight at 183 pounds and did not meet the minimum of 200lbs.) This along with 2,651 pounds (1205kg) of other fish species between 12 boats was quite exceptional.
A special Malo Lava must go to Ryan Simpson at 12 years of age bringing in a 153lb Yellow Fin Tuna. His brother Laeon almost took out top angler with 534 points. Great to see junior anglers doing so well.
Congratulations go to Tim and the crew of Girlfriend for taking first place beating out Bonavista III and Fu'a II with their 6 tag & release Marlin, 1 tag & release Sailfish, 1 Marlin to the weigh pole and a couple of other species. Tim won the entry to the IGFA invitational in Carbo San Lucas. (Tim, I finally tracked down the missing entry package. It was shipped to Samoa and not American Samoa and sat there for four weeks. I will be in New Zealand at the end of June and will mail the package to you. Could you please give me your mailing address)
Clyde and Christine from Brave Hart were missed but we did follow your progress on the web. We hope you and the crew enjoyed the tournament and you are healing up after your tumble Clyde. Tim and Mike from B-Caus should have a great time there next year and they will be missed at our tournament here.
For the daily $12,000 match the number prize. Following are the pre selected numbers and the biggest fish of the day, last two whole pound weight number.
Day 1 Pre Selected #42 Fish weight 2(58) Marlin Landed by Tim Dromgool
Day 2 Pre Selected #18 Fish weight 1(53) Yellow Fin Landed by Ryan Simpson
Day 3 Pre Selected #93 Fish weight 42 Yellow Fin Landed by Sam Fuamatu
Day 4 Pre Selected #76 Fish weight 40 Wahoo Landed by Russ Cox
Sam had the right number but wrong day. Almost $12000.00, Unlucky Sam.
Following are some links to the local news paper, if you look in the sports section there are some short write ups.
Tuesday May 10th
Wednesday May 11th
Thursday May 12th
Well, that's about it for now, I would like to thank all the people that journeyed in from overseas and special thanks to the captains and crews of B-Caus, Gamekeeper, Mawhai, Girlfriend, Fu'a II, Lady Saele and Kingfisher II for their participation.
A special thanks to our Major sponsors, Steinlager, American Samoa Visitors Bureau and the many others who make this possible.
Until next year (or the year after) safe sailing and tight lines.
Peter Crispin
