We had an unbelievable finish in the 2007 Sea Horse Anglers Club Billfish Tournament ("SHAB"). Warning - you need to be sitting to read further - Entering the last day of the SHAB, Perfect Parts had a commanding 1,000 point lead over Queen of Hearts and Weekly Sails sitting in 2nd and 3rd places, respectively. Que Mas was in 5th place and 1,100 points adrift.
By noon, the fleet had released six blue marlin and six white marlin, but not much had changed on the leaderboard. Weekly Sails had moved to within 800 points of the leader with a white marlin release, and Que Mas had scored a white release to move within 900 points of the lead. At 1:43 p.m., Never Say Never released their 3rd white marlin of the day (and 6th of the tournament) to move to 1,700 points, just 500 points behind, and seemingly become the only boat to really threaten the leader with just over three hours of fishing left. They did not add to their total, but the three white marlin releases did ultimately earn the team on Never Say Never the Day Three Billfish Release Jackpot worth $18,000. The afternoon bite was very slow for most boats, but Que Mas, fishing near the Eastern turn of Challenger Bank, hooked into a big blue marlin at 1:55 p.m. - they fought this fish for well over an hour, and at 3:27 p.m. they called tournament control to say that the blue was in the boat - based on measurements everyone was confident that the blue was over 500 lbs but was unlikely to be over 600 lbs, and so the team on Sea Toy who held the big fish lead with Friday's 685 pounder were able to remain comfortable. The blue marlin on Que Mas ultimately tipped the scales at 570 lbs and earned them the Day Three Blue Marlin Jackpot worth $18,000. This all meant that with 30 minutes of fishing left, Que Mas was in 2nd place with 1,870 points. Not knowing the actual weight of the blue, most people correctly assumed that Que Mas was still between 300-400 points adrift of the leaders and so really needed a last ditch blue marlin release for 500 points, although a pair of whites would do for 400 points. Well, with eight minutes to go nothing had changed, and then at 3:53 p.m., Que Mas called in a hook-up to a white marlin. The very alert professionals on Que Mas had spotted a second white in the spread, and while they were fighting the first white, one of the team cast out a bait on a spinning rod that was promptly pounced on by the second white marlin. At 3:55 p.m., Que Mas called in to say they were now fighting two white marlin. The first white marlin was successfully released and at the 4:00 p.m. lines out, the tournament honors were completely in the balance as the team on Que Mas spent 15 more minutes battling a white marlin on a spinner until they successfully got the photograph and release - and that was it - 400 more points for a final WINNING tally of 2,270 points. HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to team Que Mas.
Overall they boated a 570 lb. blue marlin, and released a blue marlin and released six white marlin in this tournament - this earned them first place honors worth $18,092 and they won the Day Three Blue Marlin Jackpot worth $18,000 as well as the Day Two Billfish Release Jackpot worth 18,000 and so their total tournament winnings in the SHAB were $54,092. They had a great Triple Crown series as they were 2nd in the 2007 Billfish Blast and they finished 2nd overall in the 2007 Triple Crown standings with 4,470 points.
The great comeback by Que Mas came at the expense of Perfect Parts, but the latter were probably not overly concerned as the day's end saw them secure the 2007 Bermuda Triple Crown Championship and, of course, just a week earlier it had been them storming up from way back with three late blue marlin releases to win the 2007 Big Game Classic!! Perfect Parts won the overall Triple Crown series with a record 5,400 points from 10 blue marlin releases and two white marlin releases. In the SHAB, Perfect Parts won the Day One Billfish Release Daily worth $18,000 and 2nd place worth $7,754, and Skip Giordano secured the High Point Angler award worth $2,584. So the team on Perfect Parts won $28,338 in the SHAB and an aggregate of $128,738 in the overall Triple Crown.
The 685 lb. blue marlin boated by Sea Toy on Friday earned them the Biggest Blue Marlin Jackpot worth $48,000 and the Day One and Day Two Blue Marlin Jackpots worth an additional $36,000 and the Biggest Blue Marlin Award worth $5,170 = a total of $89,170 !!
For the first time in many years, there was no eligible entry for the Game Fish award (25 lb. minimum) and so the $2,400 award was dispersed into several of the aforementioned awards. Paradise One did weigh-in a 24 lb, 3 oz. wahoo, and more interestingly, on Day One Overproof caught a 120 lb. class yellowfin tuna that ate the one remaining line in the water as they were winding up the gear at 4:01 p.m.
The final tally on Day Three was eight blue marlin released, 10 white marlin released and the one blue marlin boated (570 lbs). In total, over the three days the record fleet of 32 boats scored with 32 blue marlin releases, 27 white marlin releases and boated three blue marlin (685 lbs, 570 lbs and 519 lbs). A fantastic tournament and a BIG thank you to David Pantry, Dan Jacobs and all the others who made it such a success!!
The final tournament standings are as follows:
1. Que Mas - 570 lb blue marlin; 1 blue release; 6 white releases - 2,270 and cash winnings of $54,092
2. Perfect Parts - 4 blue releases; 1 white release - 2,200 and cash winnings of $28,338
3. Never Say Never - 1 blue release; 6 white releases - 1,700 and cash winnings of $18,000
4. Bree - 519 lb blue marlin; 2 blue releases - 1,519
5. Weekly Sails - 2 blue releases; 2 white releases - 1,400
6. Queen of Hearts - 2 blue releases; 1 white release - 1,200
7. Ruggie's Ride - 2 blue releases; 1white release - 1,200
8. Sea Toy - 685 lb blue marlin; 2 white releases - 1,085
9. De Mako - 2 blue releases - 1,000
10. Reel Hot - 2 blue releases - 1,000
11. Big Game - 2 blue releases - 1,000
12. Topless - 2 blue releases - 1,000
13. Profit Margin - 2 blue releases - 1,000
14. Challenger - 1 blue release; 2 white releases - 900
15. Tease Em - 1 blue release; 1 white release - 700
16. Great Escape - 1 blue release; 1 white release - 700
17. J.A.C.S. - 1 blue release; 1 white release - 700
18. Bermuda Banger - 1 blue release - 500
19. Last Stall - 1 blue release - 500
20. Dana Ann - 1 blue release - 500
21. Reel Addiction - 1 blue release - 500
22. Overproof - 2 white releases - 400
23. Outlaw - 1 white release - 200
Nine boats did not score - Grander; Jammer; Mama Who; Paradise One; Sandpiper; Shakedown; Treasure Isle; Triple Play; Wound Up.
Overall, there were 123 blue marlin caught, 86 white marlin and one spearfish - 210 billfish. This compares to 2006 when there were 133 blue marlin, 34 white marlin and one spearfish taken - 168 billfish and 2005 which saw 77 blue marlin and 23 white marlin caught - 100 billfish. The top four boats in 2007 each scored more points than any boat achieved in 2006 or 2005.
201 of the 210 billfish caught in this year's Triple Crown were successfully photographed and then released. We had a record of 61 different boats participate in at least one leg of the Triple Crown (up from 59 in 2006 and 54 in 2005), and the official Triple Crown purse of cash awards was a record $880,000 (2006 - $775,000; 2005 - $10,000), and of course, during the events Bermuda claimed its 4th World Cup victory in five years and 5th overall.
So, if you're making plans to catch big blue marlin and participate in the most prestigious and exciting blue marlin tournaments available then mark your calendars for July 2008 and the 2008 Bermuda Triple Crown Championship!!
