Los Cabos Billfish Tournament: All About the Anglers

John Hawley: We have with us Dan Jacobs of World Publications to discuss the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament to be held Oct 17-21. Tell us about your involvement and that of World Publications in the event.

Dan Jacobs: I’m an account executive and event producer for World Publication’s various fishing titles including Marlin, Fly Fishing, Saltwater, and the Sport fishing Magazine television show. I take the lead role as the tournament producer for all the events we do at World Publications (continued).

Efrem ''Skip'' Zimbalist III discusses his famous dad, his St. Petersburg Boat Show, and direction of Show Management

To obtain the most authoritative voice on what is in store at the St. Petersburg Boat Show, which will take place on Nov. 16-19 at Bayfront Yacht Basin, St. Petersburg, Florida one needs to talk to the president and CEO of a company named Active Interest Media. AIM’s subsidiary Show Management owns or manages five of the Florida boat shows including the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat show and Miami Yacht and Brokerage Show that were previously run by Yachting Promotions Inc. (YPI). While the successes of YPI are legendary in the yachting world everyone over 40 years of age will recall the family name of AIM and Show Management’s president and CEO as his father was Efrem Zimbalist Jr. who played the lead role in the television series the FBI (continued).

Interview with Hatteras Bertram Shootout owner Kaye Pearson

Interviewing billfishing tournament directors, captains, and anglers may not be as fun as fishing each of the events, but it has its rewards. One is while covering the sport and producing audio interviews, text copy, and providing a few photos for www.BillfishingTimes.com I have the pleasure of conversing with some interesting and accomplished individuals. The latter was true recently when conducting an interview with Kaye Pearson about the prestigious Hatteras Bertram Shootout. This invitational tournament will be held this year on May 9-13 out of Boat Harbour, in the Bahamas. Pearson bought the event a few years back. He also recently sold his company Yachting Promotions Inc. that ran the grandest boat show in the U.S. the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show, and the Yacht & Brokerage Show in Miami Beach, the Palm Beach Boat Show and several more renowned boating events.
After 30 years of heading the Ft. Lauderdale show and others in a stellar lifetime of industry achievement Pearson continues at the helm directing other industry initiatives. This International Game Fishing Association Trustee, and founder of the Superyacht Society while redeveloping the Chub Cay Club in the Bahamas plans to further build the prestige of the Hatteras Bertram Shootout. He will also fish the event in his 68’ Hatteras, the yacht Showpiece. The following is what this 65-year-old dynamo recently shared with me about the Hatteras Bertram Shootout (continued).

Wayne Bisbee Talks Till Black & Blue!

The grandest purse and a possible grander marlin await anglers prepping to fish the Bisbee’s Black & Blue Billfish tournament in Cabo San Lucas each October. This year is no exception as the event purse and participation has grown steadily now for nearly 30 years. Last year 3.8 million dollars in prize money was awarded after the sun set on the final day of tournament activity. Mainstream media personalities seem more like paparazzi as like sea birds they perch dockside waiting for word of the catch-of-the-day that will be worth millions (continued).

Bahamas Billfish Championship Begins Interview with Al Behrendt, Tournament Director

Yachting magazine’s “Six Billfish Battlewagons” article noted there were 383 billfish caught during the Bahamas Billfish Championship (BBC) series of five tournaments last year compared with 301 the prior year. The writer attributed the increased catch to smart boat builders and anglers. With the first of these tournaments, the Marsh Harbour Championship leg start only a few weeks away on April 17 it seemed timely to get some perspective from the longtime BBC Director Al Behrendt.

“I think what John Clemans was leading to in that article in Yachting is that these guys are able to cover a lot more ocean with today’s boats than they did some even 10-15 years ago,” Behrendt said. “I also think that our methods have changed over the years and one of the biggest reasons for going to the 100 lb. test line was to shorten the fight particularly with the smaller fish, but the bottom line is that the anglers want more time actually fishing. I think that there is a lot that has changed in the way of angling methods, and certainly today’s sophisticated electronics have certainly aided the anglers as well. One of the big things I feel personally is the fact that the Bahamas has had a ban on long lining for about 20 years now. And that has gone a long way toward helping increase numbers particularly in white marlin that we have seen in the Bahamas.

“For car nuts, it’s the 24 hours at Le Mans,” Clemans wrote in Yachting. “For big-game fishermen, it’s the five tournaments that make up the annual Bahamas Billfish Tournament.” Behrendt, known as “uncle Al” to BBC regulars has been a fixture there since 1981. He was one of the integral ingredients in the transformation of the BBC into the so-called big game fishing Le Mans. “We were a group of businessmen in South Florida, involved in the marine community that were approached by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism in an attempt to dissuade some of the images that were rampant at that period of time about goings on in the Bahamas,” Behrendt said. “These were primarily rumors of hijackings, piracy, and that sort of thing. And in meeting with not only Tourism, but Drug Enforcement and U.S. Customs, Coast Guard, and so forth we found certain that those were not factual instances, but more or less drug transactions that didn’t go well. And we were looking along with Tourism for a vehicle that would allow us to show quite clearly that the Bahamas was a safe place to cruise, fish, and visit.”

That vehicle turned out to be the BBC, which predated even its official startup in 1973. “The Bahamas Billfish Championship was originally a very disorganized group of about sixteen anglers that fished in the tournaments at Cat Cay, Bimini Big Game Club, Summer Blue Marlin Tournament, Chub Cay, and Walker’s Cay,” Behrendt said. “That was a casual group and was a title but not much more. We felt this was an opportunity to make the championship, give it a higher profile and also get it to where it had a uniform set of rules, entry fees, and that sort of thing. So that is what we started out to do in 1981and we’ve been working at it ever since and we’ve seen steady growth. Already for this season we have 123 teams signed up and ready to fish. Not all of them are going to be fishing all five tournaments, but our smallest tournament is sixty boats and our largest is eighty.”

That equates into a huge economic impact for the Bahamian economy as those boats contain some of the most in-demand billfishing captains and requisite captains of industry and like luminaries as only those of such stature can afford such battlewagons. While interviewing Behrendt for an industry trade magazine prior to the 2004 tournament he noted, “Where the average size vessel fishing the BBC five years ago was 48 feet, today the average length is 56 feet.” Though that increase of eight feet is less than the length of many of the billfish to be hooked during the BBC such a size increase can equate into more than a million dollars (U.S.) in investment for the owner. The extravagance isn’t reserved for the boats.

“We have a group of anglers that are used to travelling first class,” Behrendt said. “So we have our work cut out for us in meal planning, social events, and making sure that the resorts have everything that we need.” Keeping such company happy can be difficult as the magnitude of this event in the Bahamas is staggering. “Right now we are sold out on our tournaments,” Behrendt said. “We are not trying to have a 100 boat tournament or 150 boat tournament that type of thing because quite honestly the facilities in the Bahamas can’t handle groups that size. What we have tried to do is look at the marina’s capacity, the resort capacity to feed people and so forth in determining how many boats are going to fish at each leg. I think that in the long run the anglers and the teams participating appreciate not dealing with the cattle car approach.”

Concentrated conditions dockside might be a more apt description as these teak, mahogany, and marble laden luxury fishing machines will fill some of the most exotic portages in the Caribbean. “This year we are going down to Emerald Bay, which is a new Four Seasons resort (http://www.emeraldbayresort.com) marina, and championship golf course down on the island of Great Exuma on Exuma Sound,” Behrendt said. “This is the first time there has been a tournament of our size in what they call the Lower Central Bahamas. We are excited and actually we have the tournament full and about a 15-boat waiting list. So it is going to be interesting to see if the area produces and what it produces. The sound area seems to have an abundance of small blue marlin and then within a 35 mile run they can be off Columbus Point (80’ to 3000’ depths), which is off Cat Island an area well known for large blue marlin. It is going to be interesting to see with our point structure the way it is how many of the guys go the distance and fish Columbus Point, out toward Rum Key and areas like that as opposed to working right there in Exuma Sound.”

Bill fishing throughout the tournament series is expected to be excellent “We publish a magazine quarterly called The Teaser,” Behrendt said. “And each year in our Spring issue we ask Mitch Roffer (http://www.roffs.com) of Roffs Ocean Fishing Forecast to take an annual look ahead, the crystal ball and gaze into the season and let us know what things look like. Mitch’s outlook last year was good and the results showed that. This year his outlook is if anything a little better. So we’re looking forward to a strong year.”

These elite anglers are equipped for extended ranges some at speeds of over 40 knots, but skill and seasoned area familiarity is a key in winning as the overall BBC champion. “This year as it stands when you look at the Abacos and North Eleuthera we have a 60 mile radius from the host resort that the anglers can travel to fish during the tournament,” Behrendt said. “In the Abacos and North Eleuthera there is no need to run anywhere near that distance. There are some excellent bottom structures along the barrier islands of the Abacos as well as down on the northern tip of Eleuthera on an area called Dutch bar and other areas like that.”

The BBC series participants aren’t planning to gut the fishery, as the tournament billfish release percentage is 98 percent even as circle hooks and release rules are not in place. Managing the fisheries resources is an underlying theme of these anglers and tournament organizers. “We like to be directed by our anglers and our teams when it comes to rule changes and that sort of thing and not make things mandatory,” Behrendt said. “It is the same sort of thing we have done over the years with our increases in minimum length for boated fish and we have maintained rather rigidly that all the fish are released in the water. We are guided primarily by the anglers the same way years ago, I’m going to say probably 15 years ago now we eliminated live bait because of the issues with the fish possibly swallowing the bait and being gut hooked and that type of thing. These are moves on the part of the anglers and it has worked extremely well for us.”

This tournament management style has created one of the most competitive fishing environments using a balance of mandates and incentives. “We have a 100 lb. test manufacturer stated line requirement not to exceed that,” Behrendt said. “In the last 2 years with the change in our point structure we reward 600 points for a released blue marlin and there has been a return to catching and releasing fish as opposed to going after the record breaker. Interestingly, in the last year we wound up with a very, very, very, close tournament and an even closer finish to the series. Allan Burr’s Perfect Parts wound up with the exact same number of points as the boat called Cerveza. And the winner had to be based on who accumulated those point totals first. It wound up being Perfect Parts. The odds of having 20 days of fishing spread over a three months period and have 2 boats whined up with the exact same points is phenomenal in itself.”

Along with outright benefit to the Bahamian economy the BBC series has since 2000 endowed a scholarship fund raising $65,000 per year for Bahamian students interested in pursing careers in Marine Biology. “The scholarship fund is administered by the Lyford Cay Foundation, a tax-deductible foundation, which when I say tax-deductible it is tax-deductible for U.S. tax purposes as well as the Canadian government recognizes it,” Behrendt said. “This goes a long way toward making it easy relatively easy to raise funds when the guys know they get a tax deduction. We have had a total of three students who have gone through the scholarship process now and one is in senior year. The two others have moved through the process and are now in graduate school. They are going to be returning to the Bahamas with in this case both having Master’s degrees in Marine Biology.”

There are a few prizes along with bragging rights for the tournament participants. With Rolex serving as the championship title sponsor one would expect nothing but the requisite A-list in terms of event vendor sponsorship. “We have Hatteras Yachts, Bertram Yachts, Viking, and this year Riviera,” Behrendt said. “So you know we have the major big boat manufacturers along with Caterpillar, and MTU/Detroit Diesel. Osmond Lincoln Mercury in Melbourne, Florida in cooperation with Ford Motor Company they are awarding a Lincoln Mark LT, a two-year lease to the winner of the BBC. Abaco Gold has been a long time sponsor and they award a championship ring, which rivals anything you see in terms of a Super Bowl ring.”

Cultural concerns somewhat soured the awarding of a prize trip to the Lizard Island Black Marlin Classic, in Australia, but a black marlin fishing trip to Ribbons Reef off Lizard Island is still scheduled. “The thing that we have learned in two years of awarding that is that it is a very structured time frame that the participants have to be involved in,” Behrendt said. “The other thing is that a lot of the tournament fishermen there don’t really start fishing until eleven o’clock in the morning. So when somebody is over there that has an opportunity to fish in Australia where they have never been before it is kind of a study in frustration if they have to wait till eleven o’clock to go fishing.”

Anglers won’t be sleeping in during the BBC tournament series, which is scheduled for:
Marsh Harbour Championship- April 17 - 22
Harbour Island Championship- April 30 - May 5
Emerald Bay Exuma Championship- May 14 - 19
Treasure Cay Championship- June 4 - 9
Boat Harbour Championship June 18 - 23

For those wishing to participate in next year’s event they had best not rest on their laurels. “By October at the latest we will have our 2007 schedule posted on our website,” Behrendt said. “By January 15 this year we had two tournaments all ready sold out. I can’t stress enough that the sooner they make their decision and get registered the better off they are going to be.”

For those seeking play-by-play action, the real-time scores and streaming video will be available at the BBC website www.bahamasbillfish.com. As Behrendt concluded, “We are looking forward to a good season.” We shall see as the fishing palaces commence to haul in the crown jewels of the Bahamas equally luxuriant turquoise seas.

11th Annual Tobago Game Fishing Tournament

The 11th Annual Tobago Game Fishing Tournament’s President Gerard De Silva, more popularly known as “Frothy” has been around the tournament since its inception at Pigeon Point where with only a few of his fellow anglers then were vying for drinks. Although it continues to be a lot of fun this March 30- April 2 tournament has become a serious qualifying event for anglers seeking to participate in the Rolex/IGFA Offshore Championship. “We’ve been a qualifying event since the inception of the Rolex,” David Wong, TGFT Committee Treasurer said. “And in recent years teams coming out of Tobago have been in the top 20.” Great fishing, organization, and plenty of Tobago attractions to draw from could result in this year’s event being the biggest ever.

“We have been building the tournament over the years and it really kicked off four years ago when we strengthened the committee,” Wong said. “Things have been growing since. We have managed to secure great sponsors internationally such as Penn Reel and Bodo Muche (wildlife sculptor). We get great support from them and others including the Billfish Foundation and the IGFA. They give us lots of great and unique prizes and the local sponsors they give us a lot of assistance…”

Heating things up the big game fish move south in winter, which coincides with the regions dry season from January through May as the rich nutrient loading of the waters by some 17 rivers including the Amazon and Venezuela’s Orinoco create terrific big game fishing conditions. The Guyanese Current running along the South America coast turns to the north and strikes Tobago on the southeast before passing on both sides and forming the Gulf Stream in the Caribbean Sea to the north.

The tournament is held in the northeastern quadrant of the island out of Charlotteville on Man-O-War Bay. “It is unique in the fact that we don’t use a marina facility to fish out of, but use a concrete jetty in the fishing village,” Wong said. “We’ve got a great fishery on the north coast that can give you some big hook ups once in a while. We put our lines down before we leave the bay, which sucks in a lot of baitfish. You can get lucky right there in the bay. I’ve known of a couple of hookups of 300 pounders or larger blue marlin right inside there.”

Outside of Man-O-War Bay hookup opportunities abound. “If you go left toward the Spice Isle area in front of the Sister Islands ranging from a mile to 30-35 miles offshore it is all great fishing,” Wong said. “If you go straight out heading more northerly there is also great fishing out there where you hit all the great drop-offs. You can head out northeasterly as well and get great drop-offs and great fishing that direction to. The great thing about it is the fishing is right there. So you don’t have any long runs to the fishing. This is why we go to Charlotteville. You are fishing in 10 minutes outside of the bay.”

Tobago is a member of the Western Central Atlantic Fisheries Commission Working Group on flying fish, which are an integral link in the big game food chain. In the past it was the Tobago Fishing Co-operative Society in Charlotteville that did much of the baseline work relative to keeping an accountin of the catches in Tobago. This conservation ethic is also seen in the tournament. “Over the years, we being conservation minded started off with a 300-pound minimum and we have been raising it since every year or every other year,” Wong said. “This year we will be going to a 400-pound minimum on blue marlin, 50 pounds on sailfish and white marlin, and for the game fish wahoo, dolphin, and tuna we have raised it from 15 pounds last year to 20 pounds this year. We have been seeing a fair amount of swordfish early in the morning and late in the evenings. So there could be the occasional hookup. It is a good catch. We encourage release again obviously.”

Whereas, growing numbers of tournaments are circle hook required, which benefits the health of released fish this tournament has not yet implemented the technique. “It was experimented with last year during the tarpon tournament,” Wong said. “It proved quite successful. We have an article in our brochure done by the IGFA about the advantages and we are planning to introduce the circle hook.”

Tournament scoring based on catch and release, and tackle techniques are a big part of this sport. At the TGFT each successive catch and release earns the angler an incrementally added 50 points to their score. “We are trying to encourage release and eventually get to an all release tournament, but we do need to reward somebody if they do catch a big fish,” Wong said. “It is still a great catch. This year we added the 130-line test to our tackle. What we were noticing is that a lot of smaller billfish get hooked up on the light tackle and suffer a wee bit. So we figured if we allowed people to increase their line size they may get the fish to the boat sooner and encourage healthier releases.”

Farming the edge of the sea for more local sportfishermen and captains is part of their strategy at the TGFT. “We have always run a tournament within the international tournament for our local fisherman that fish in the smaller boats, the pirogues similar to the piros of the Gulf Coast area,” Wong said. “This year we have changed their format quite a bit to help educate them into sportfishing rules. We are encouraging them to get involved with sportfishing and follow the rules of the IGFA.”

This is an open tournament that requires $500 entry per vessel that covers four anglers per vessel, which is the Rolex/IGFA standard. Charters are available for those anglers who wish to leave their boat at home. “Charter wise there are a lot available on the island,” Wong said. “The Hard Play has three boats, there is Super Cool, the Grand Slam II. There are a couple of great charters around and some based out of Trinidad that do quite well. We try to encourage them as well to be involved and advertise their businesses on our website.”

And there is plenty to do on the island if one cares to take an extended holiday. “Tobago is loaded with reef and rainforest tours, parties, and a lot of festival activities,” Wong said. “From January to Carnival we have a lot of build up with steel bands and Calypso and different competitions. Right after that we have the fishing. We have our tournament and the Carib tournament and between those there is a jazz festival that I hear Sting will be one of the features. After the tournaments, Tobago has a Heritage Festival where all the villages participate at different days for about a month displaying different heritages of Tobago. Following into the summer holidays there is a power boat race from Trinidad to Tobago, the Great Race. In September we have in Tobago, similar to Carnival, Tobago Fest. And then Christmas is always packed with fun things to do.”

And there are most always activities on or in the waters around Tobago. “There are a countless amount of dive operators on the island as well as all the charters,” Wong said. “The charters are seasonal they will go for big game from January to May and then they will do the reef and bottom fishing. We have great fishing all year long.”

So with passport in hand those looking for a Caribbean getaway would do well to consider a trip to Tobago this week or sometime in the future. “There are several web sites including our own www.tgft.com, which gives you links to the Tobago tourism website www.visittobago.gov.tt,” Wong said. “We are trying to build the industry as well as protect our fishery and create a great destination for sportfishing.”
Check out the interview in the audio section.

Yamaha Contender Miami Billfish Tournament

While offshore fishermen are beginning to thaw along the northern reaches of the eastern seaboard the southern coast has already heated up. “It has been crazy down here,” Judy Layne, spokesperson for the Yamaha Contender Miami Billfish Tournament said. “Last year we had 556 fish that were hooked up in the two and a half days of our event, but this year there are events in the area where they are catching anywhere from 500 to 900 fish. So it is very hot right now.” And for the 24th time on April 6-9 this qualifying event for the Rolex International Gamefish Association Invitational Tournament of Champions and World Billfish Association Series will get under way.

And what a terrific time it should be for everyone whether or not they are fishing. The event is held at the Miami Beach Marina in beautiful South Beach. “We do try to have a lot of fun activities for people of all ages,” Layne said. “People bring their children out and it is always a lot of fun for everyone. We have live music and exhibits. This is obviously more than a fishing tournament as it has really become a big community event. Each day before and during our weigh-ins we have dock parties and a small Baywalk arts festival where we have local arts and crafts and a farmer’s market. We let the kids guess the weights at the weigh-in station. We have the IGFA come out and they have a touch-tank that is great for the families. And they have a casting contest.”

The tournament is organized as a non-profit made up of a 100 percent volunteer crew with all proceeds going to various marine conservation groups. This is a circle-hook required billfish tournament with mandatory release and no boating of the billfish.

With the turquoise waters of the Gulf Stream flowing so near the Miami coast the offshore gamefish should be in close. “I don’t know necessarily where the anglers will travel in the area to make their catches as they don’t like to give away their secrets, but they do travel a pretty good distance up to Ft. Lauderdale and down to Key Largo,” Layne said. “Contender is a title sponsor of our event and we have a lot of guys that come out and fish our event in Contender boats and they sure do run and gun on them.”

For anyone interested in a chance at winning a Contender boat or Yamaha engine there will be opportunities during the event. “The prize for the $10 per ticket raffle that anyone can enter is a 200-hp Yamaha four stroke engine,” Layne said. “ There is another raffle for $25 per ticket for a 25’ Contender boat complete with a 300-hp Yamaha engine, t-top and lean post from Bluewater Towers, and a Continental trailer. The tickets are tax deductible and all proceeds go to marine conservation.”

The grand prizes are to be had in the water during the event. “Last year our top boat team walked away with over $90,000, but we gave away about $185,000 total last year,” Layne said. “Plus, about $40,000 worth of prizes. And we have a lot of prizes that are donated by our various sponsors as well. So there is a lot up for grabs and its not just for the big boat or the top pros that come out. We have a lot of families that come out and so many various divisions for people to try and win. Obviously we have a professional division and an amateur division, ladies, junior, and this year we are launching our peewee division. So there are lots of ways to win and lots of prizes and money to go around, which is one of the reasons our tournament has grown so popular over the years.”

If you are thinking about entering, but don’t have experience with billfish there are other angling opportunities that can put you in the money at the event. “We do have a fun fish division and if you enter into the billfish division you are automatically entered into the fun fish division.” Layne said. “We also allow people who may not be interested in billfishing or may not have the expertise to come out and specifically enter the fun fish division, which includes dolphin, tuna, king, and wahoo. This division is based on weight whereas the billfish division is based on the number of fish that are recorded. The top dolphin and kingfish caught win $5000 prizes and the tuna and wahoo have $1000 prizes. Plus, there are prizes for others such as second and third, top fun fish boat, top family fun fish boat, and lots more.”

After all that excitement if you still have not hooked any prizes the event caps off with another opportunity. “On Sunday what we do is have a half-day fishing where we still have the dock parties and weigh-ins, but we then move back into our 10,000 square foot air conditioned tent and start an enormous silent auction,” Layne said. “We have everything in there from consumer electronics, to marine electronics, artwork, fantastic trips all over the world, tackle, clothing, all kinds of things people might be interested in getting great deals on. And they do get great deals. We also have a lot of great merchandise available on our website.”

According to Layne all the information you might need is at their website www.Miamibillfish.com including; the schedule, rules, entry forms, information about dockage, and host hotel accommodations at Doubletree. And interested people are welcome to call the tournament headquarters office for more information at (305) 598-2525 or email them at fish@miamibillfish.com.

So don’t make me twist your arm to have a good time. Head to Miami’s South Beach on April 6-9 for a chance to support marine conservation, catch some fish and take home some terrific prizes.

Audio interview with Judy Layne is available in the audio section.

A Grander Sport

A week after visiting the Miami International Boat Show it feels like time to begin watching some of those working yachts in action as they throttle into billfish tournament season. Like gold and diamonds that never go out of fashion billfish tournaments are always in season, but participation swells coming into spring. There are a thousand reasons billfish tournaments make a great spectator sport not the least of which is the awesome sight of a grander (1000 lbs) marlin before and after capture. Tournament spectators have the opportunity to marvel at the bountiful catches of elite anglers who won their battles not only with the fish but the sea. Relentlessly these anglers’ bows break through the churning turquoise sea in search of record size and numbers of blue, white and black marlin along with sail and swordfish.

Bahamas Billfish Championship (BBC) Tournament President Al Behrendt attributes increased participation in that tournament to excellent fishing with “lots of billfish and an abundance of very big blue marlin.” That tournament series begins at Marsh Harbour, Bahamas on April 17-22. Conservation efforts including catch and release seem to have paid off with increased numbers of billfish being caught.

Dr. Robert K. Cowen, of the University of Miami, Center for Sustainable Fisheries in cooperation with organizers of the Presidential Challenge Tournament in Costa Rica, sees tournaments as an opportunity to tag marlin with satellite pop-up tags prior to release to aide in studying these majestic fish. The Adopt-a-Billfish program is coordinated from South Florida where patrons donate $4000 per fish, which pays for the satellite tags for these fish particularly those caught off the Pacific Coast of Central America.

Something else that is changing is the makeup of the vessels. “Where the average size vessel fishing the BBC five years ago was 48 feet, today the average length is 56 feet,” Behrendt said. Not only are the vessels larger, but so is the prize money with tournament’s such as Bisbee's Black and Blue Marlin Tournament paying out well over $3 million.

These tournaments are premier events that showcase top angling yacht owners, captains and teams, yacht brokerages and builders including Hatteras, Bertram, Ferretti Yachts. Participants may include owners of custom builder lines such as American Custom Yachts, Cabo, Cavileer. Jarrett Bay, Ocean, Post, Riviera, Roscioli Donzi, Rybovich, S&J Boatworks, Sculley, Sea Force, Viking, and Whiticar Custom Boats.

The tournaments also benefit local economies and “since a majority of the participating boats are based in the US, there are vast sums of money spent in boat yards, engine service centers, with accessory manufacturers, bait and tackle shops and the like,” Behrendt said. “The trickle-down effect is incredible.” So replenish your supply of sunscreen and get ready to troll into spring with the big fish.

Oh What A Relief It Is; Billfishing and Humanitarian Relief with the Southern Sailfishing Association

After fishing the waters off Central America and seeing first hand the poverty of local residents Jacksonville, Florida Attorney Jefferson Morrow spearheaded the creation of the non-profit billfishing and humanitarian relief group known as the Southern Sailfishing Association. Morrow credits Homer Bliss and Perry Penland who were also instrumental as founding members of this organization started on the fly four years ago. The unique mission of the Southern Sailfishing Association is facilitated by their sanctioning of billfishing tournaments in areas where the fishing is rich and where entry requirements provide humanitarian relief to the local poor.