The good weather, calm seas and promise of good fishing helped attract no less than 37 boats carrying 167 anglers to Grenada’s 38th Spice Island Billfish Tournament held at The Grenada Yacht Club. Boats participated from Trinidad & Tobago, Scotland (via St Lucia!), St Lucia, Barbados, Martinique and, of course, Grenada. The fishing fulfilled expectations with good numbers of blue marlin, white marlin, sailfish, dorado and yellowfin tuna being caught.

The Houdini celebrate after winning the Top Boat Prize

Program of Events for 2007

With so many boats the Bimini start (where all the boats line up and roar off at the sound of the starting cannon) held on Tuesday 23rd January generated some challenging wake zones for those at the rear – more than one boat was seen demonstrating severe (but fortunately temporary) listing! Magic Lady (USA/Trinidad) showed a clean pair of props to most of the others although many were close behind. Oo La La (Trinidad) broke a rudder on the 82ft catamaran coming up from Trinidad and missed both the start and first days fishing. Half an hour after lines in at 7.15am Yes Aye (Grenada) had their work cut out for them with an early double hook up with yellowfin tunas (115 & 158lb). After this icebreaker the radio came alive with many boats reporting a steady stream of billfish releases and dorado catches. Zu Zu (Grenada) was in a hot area and had 3 releases on sailfish & white marlin. Miss Abbie had a large yellowfin (111lb) and later boated a blue marlin of 391lbs. Hard Play II (Tobago) and Barbie Doll Too (Trinidad) both lost large marlin after long fights and many others reported missing or losing fish. Contendress (Martinique) boated a yellowfin, which equalled the larger Yes Aye fish at 158lb. In total 20 billfish were released on day 1.

Wednesday, the 2nd day of fishing saw early trouble for Talking Blues (Trinidad) who had a prop throw a blade through the hull of their boat whilst running out – quick improvisation managed to stem the flood and allow them to get safely back to the dock where they spent the day making repairs. More trouble awaited Storm Hunter (Barbados) who broke a prop shaft whilst far offshore – they had a slow trip back on one engine to make repairs. Zu Zu (Grenada) was again on the fish but this time their luck was not quite so good as they lost 4 and released one. Why Worry (Trinidad) hooked a monster marlin, which they played for 5 hours before losing it almost within gaff range when the swivel broke. They were in awe of the size of this fish which jumped close to the boat at one point – a definite tournament record breaker – if only…. They have requested that the tournament allow the heavier 80lb class line next year…. Hook (Trinidad) had a marlin release and later landed a nice yellowfin but sportingly disqualified it, as they had to swap anglers on the rod due to exhaustion! This was the best day of the tournament with a total of 29 billfish being released.

The lay day on Thursday was a relaxed and enjoyable affair on the beach at the Grenada Yacht Club. The Barbados anglers organised excellent dishes of seafood and fish chowder, which complemented the “oil down” and roast pork provided by the tournament, as usual the bar was kept busy all day and some crew members had trouble leaving….

Last days fishing on Friday saw a slower but steady bite in the calm seas, Talking Blues (Trinidad) had a marlin so enthusiastic to take one of their large plastic lures that it was deep hooked and had to be boated (313lb). Ocean Spirit (Barbados) probably the smallest boat in the competition also boated a small marlin, which had become tail wrapped and died. This fish did not make minimum weight and they were penalised for this – however this was soon forgotten when Ian Hutson boated a record-breaking yellowfin tuna of 173lbs which earned them a cheque for EC$5000. Houdini (Trinidad), Miss Abbie (Trinidad) and last year’s winners Legacy (Barbados) all continued to add to their release scores as did local boats Risky Business and Crazy Horse. In total 11 billfish were released on day 3 but many, many more were lost or missed – Grey Ghost reported raising 15 fish but only releasing one!

Ian Hutson with the crew of Ocean Spirit-173lb Tuna

In total 11 billfish were released on day 3 but many, many more were lost or missed –Grey Ghost reported raising 15 fish but only releasing one! At the end of the competition 23 blue marlin were released plus 3 landed, 32 sailfish released plus 3 landed, 5 white marlin released, 11 Dorado, 4 wahoo and 5 yellowfin tuna had been caught.

At the awards ceremony and closing dinner held on the beach at the Grenada Yacht Club the results were as follows:

First Place Boat Houdini-Trinidad

Second Place Boat Legacy-Barbados

Third Place Boat Miss Abbie-Trinidad

First Place Angler Danny Swanson-Miss Abbie

Second Place Angler Bernard Johnson-Grey Ghost

Third Place Angler Charles Ross-Houdini

Boat Pool-Total weight of Fish brought to Scales

First Place Miss Abbie-Trinidad

Second Place Yes Aye-Grenada

Third Place Talkin' Blues-Trinidad

Top Grenadan Boat Captain Leslie

The Zu Zu at GYC

The SIBT committee would like to thank all the participating boats and anglers for supporting the event, and to thank all their sponsors and especially Carib Beer and Island Water World for making this competition possible.

Just to round off the whole thing Trinidad boat WRS was en route back to Trinidad after the event only to discover a missing Trinidad commercial fishing boat, which had been adrift for 3 days with engine failure and a flat battery! The 2 crew were OK and in fact were still fishing off the stern of the boat! WRS was able to raise Jonathan Fisher at Island Water World on the radio and they helped to coordinate a rescue by the Grenada Coast guard. A good example of sportfishing and commercial fishing boats helping one another - we are all brothers on the sea.

Special Thanks to our Major Sponsors
Carib Beer	Island Water World

 

Gary Clifford SIBT Committee

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