St Lucia International Billfish Tournament
The St Lucia International Billfish Tournament began on Nov. 5th and was held at the Ocean Club and IGY Rodney Bay Marina and ended with an awards ceremony on Friday, November 9th. We greatly appreciate the assistance and support from Hon. Minister Lorne Theophilus, Minister of Tourism, for opening our event and Mr. Donovan Willliams, Permanent Secretary, who concluded our event.
19 boats and 89 anglers gathered in St. Lucia from Trinidad/Tobago, Grenada, St. Vincent, Martinique, Scotland, England, Antigua, USA and our local St. Lucia.
In the three days of fishing our local waters, 52 billfish were released. 41 Blue Marlin, 9 Sailfish, 1 White Marlin and 1 Longbill Spearfish.
The top five winning boats are:
– Vesper of Trinidad/Tobago with 3200 pts 9 Blue Marlin release and 1 Longbill Spearfish release
– Exodus of St. Lucia with 2450 pts 7 Blue Marlin released
– Braveheart of Scotland/SLU with 2100 pts 6 Blue Marlin released
– Sa Sa Ye of St. Lucia with 1500 pts 4 Blue Marlin release and 1 Sailfish release
– Navigator of Martinique with 1400 pts 4 Blue Marlin Released
As this tournament is a qualifying event for the IGFA World Championships, Team Vesper of Trinidad/Tobago has received the invitation to participate in the championships held in April 2013 in Costa Rica. Good Luck Team Vesper!!
St. Lucia is also a qualifying event for the SCBC, Southern Caribbean Billfish Circuit. This circuit includes the islands of Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada, Barbados, St. Lucia and Martinique. All boats and anglers from the circuit will receive points for attending and placing in this event. The winning boat with the most points earned throughout this year will win a custom perpetual
trophy.
The top five winning anglers are:
– Franck Cherchel on Exodus from St. Lucia 5 Blue Marlin release
– Jerome McQuilkin on Vesper from Trinidad/Tobago 3 Blue Marlin release
– Syam Galbaransingh on Knot Easy from Trinidad/Tobago 2 Blue Marlin release and 3 Sailfish release
– Francis Watt on Braveheart from Scotland/St.Lucia 2 Blue Marlin release
– Bernard Johnson on Exodus from St. Lucia 2 Blue Marlin release
The winning female angler was Allison Devaux on Pair A Dice from Trinidad/Tobago. Allison had one(1) Blue Marlin release on Day 1.
The fish that came to the scale are as follows:
Blue Marlin
– 349 lbs – Francois Mouttet on Magic Lady of Trinidad/Tobago
– 342.5 lbs – Alan Sheppard on Abracadabra of Trinidad/Tobago
Wahoo
– 31 lbs – Franck Cherchel on Exodus of St. Lucia
– 22.5 lbs – Gordon Dalgliesh on Abracadabra of Trinidad/Tobago
– 21 lb – Darren Mohamed on EZ Access of Trinidad/Tobago
Dorado
– 30.5 lbs – Ryan Agar on EZ Access of Trinidad/Tobago
– 20 ¾ lbs – Darren Mohamed on EZ Access of Trinidad/Tobago
A huge THANK YOU to our sponsors for making this a wonderful event for everyone: Ocean Club, IGY Rodney Bay Marina, Geely Cars, Duboulays Bottling, Food Express,Chairman’s Reserve, Import France, Scent Blazers, My TopOff, Reel Rush, Johnsons Hardware, Corona Extra, St. Lucia Cold Storage, Sureshots, JJ Photography, HTS, Great Captures, Palm Haven Hotel, Windjammer Landing, Shimano, Government of St. Lucia and St. Lucia Tourist Board.
The St. Lucia Game Fishing Association sends out an open invitation to everyone to join us next year from October 1 – 4, 2013 for the 23rd International Billfish Tournament, until then Tight Lines!!
Email Annie Hamu, Tournament Director at SLGFA@yahoo.com for more complete information.
