Team On Line Wins Second Leg of Bermuda Triangle Series
Fishing, and specifically the catching and releasing, heated up at the Bermuda Open, the second leg of the Bermuda Triangle Series (BTS), fished July 7 to 9, out of Hamilton, Bermuda.
“The marlin fishing was great,” said Jimmy Loveland, tournament founder and director. “34 blues and eight whites were raised and nine blues and one white were released.”
North Carolina’s Bob DeGabrielle released three blue marlin while fishing aboard Sea Toy with Capt. Bull Tolson, and won best angler. Second place went to fellow Sea Toy angler, Claudio Martinez, who released two blue marlin and one white. Florida’s Greg Talbott, fishing aboard Capt. Alan Card’s legendary’s Challenger, placed third top angler with one blue marlin release.
“Anglers in Bermuda fished the line test of their choice (50, 80, 100, 130), but it was agreed in the Captain’s meeting that there would not be a point spread this year between the line classes,” Loveland explained. “The reason was because the boats that regularly fish in Bermuda were not geared up with the lighter line. An interesting note is the fact that the winning angler Bob DeGabrielle caught all his fish on 50-pound test and most all the anglers were caught “pitch baiting” to the fish on teasers.”
Of the five boats entered in the tournament, only three represented teams participating in the BTS. Talbott’s Team On Line was one of them. His released blue marlin, added to the marlin Team On Line released in the Harbour Island Open in the Bahamas, moves them ahead of Luis Bacardi’s second place Team Rum Bum and Davis Clapp’s third place Team A-Fin-Ity in series standings.
“What enticed me to enter the BTS is several things,” says Talbott. “First, I enjoy the competitive nature of tournament angling. I also enjoy the people and experiencing fishing in different areas of the country and the world. Getting to know the local waters and wisdom of people who fish it often is something else I enjoy.”
The Bahamas leg of the BTS was a known commodity for Talbott. “I’ve fished all over the Bahamas and have a home there as well. Harbour Island is a great fishery that’s generally abundant with fish. It was slow when we were there, but any place has its windows and fishing is just as much luck as skill.”
In the Harbour Island Open, Florida angler Richard Limegrover released the lone blue marlin of the event to win the tournament. Limegrover fished with Talbott aboard Talbott’s and partner Scott Adam’s 61-foot Garlington On Line.
Unlike the Bahamas, Talbott had never fished Bermuda before. “I didn’t know Capt. Alan Card of Challenger fame, but I discovered just how lucky I was that he had a cancellation and we were able to charter with him. He’s world class and world renowned.”
Card, a celebrity of Bermuda’s sports fishing industry, has caught six grander (1000-plus-pound blue marlin) in his forty years captaining.
Talbott recaps Team On Line’s action in Bermuda: “We saw four or five the first day and got a couple of fish in the spreaders but couldn’t get them to eat. The second day, we saw five and caught two of them. The third and last day we saw three and missed three.
Marlin in Bermuda, says Talbott, “are spirited. They pull harder and fight harder. There’s a theory that it has to do with the salinity of the water and greater source of food.”
He adds, “It was exciting to fish when you knew you were in grander territory. It gave me a heightened awareness, a different feeling in my blood, that the next fish I might hook up could weigh over 1,000 pounds.”
Team On Line headed into the USVI Open/Atlantic Blue Marlin Tournament (the “Boy Scout Tournament”), the last leg of the BTS, with only a two fish lead.
“It’s anyone’s to win and mine to lose,” Talbott said.
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