Tounament 2008 of the Annual Spice Island Billfish Tournament, Grenada

SPICE ISLAND BILLFISH TOURNAMENT

Great Turnout , Ninety Billfish Releases and a Record Breaking 53lb Dorado at the 39th Spice Island Billfish Tournament 16-19th January 2008

Thirty Six boats carrying 175 anglers arrived at the Grenada Yacht Club to participate in the 39th Spice Island Billfish tournament. Boats entered from Trinidad & Tobago, St Lucia, Barbados, Martinique, United Kingdom and Grenada. The fishing exceeded the high expectations generated from last year’s tournament with Ninety billfish being released including good numbers of blue and white marlin as well as sailfish, plus some large yellowfin tuna.

Hard Play II win the 2008 Tournament

Program of Events for 2008

This year as a new feature the boats paraded out through the Carenage area of St George’s on the way to the bimini start behind the cruise ship jetty. This gave the public and media an opportunity to view the boats up close and personal before they headed offshore to find the fish. At the bimini start Crazy Horse, Magic Lady and Grey Ghost were notably quick off the mark as was the new super-sized Afunday, which has to be one of the quickest boats to ever fish the tournament (44 knots!). Lines in was 5 minutes after the start at 7.35am. Anyone who was concerned at the amount of green water everywhere (instead of our usual cobalt blue) need not have been - it was full of fish!

Finesse got off to an early lead releasing a sailfish, shortly followed by Challenge II, and Risky Business, white marlin releases were reported next for High Spirits and the tiny catamaran - Gecko. Ocean Spirit (Barbados) scored the first blue marlin release, followed by countrymen and 2006 winners Legacy. Pair-a-dice who had made a late arrival from Trinidad the day before due to computer-based engine problems scored 2 releases on sailfish. Luhred Away had a double release on white marlin and later added a blue marlin release. Boats that ventured north found whales feeding accompanied by large yellowfin tuna, no fewer than 11 were caught – the biggest by Trendsetter at 150 lbs. Barbados boat Challenge II worked hard and boated 4 tunas while Trinidad’s Crazy Diamond had another 2. Nigel Hypolite fishing on local boat Crazy Horse caught a huge bull dorado – weighing 53lbs it beat the long standing tournament record and earned him a EC$1000 prize. 28 verified billfish releases were recorded on Day 1.

1st Place Angler and Top Release Angler-Matthew Armstrong

Thursday, the 2nd day of fishing saw Zu Zu II, Equity and Hard Play II release blue marlin in the early morning followed by High Spirits with a white. Grey Ghost started off an excellent days fishing – they found a patch of unpromising looking green water with no birds in evidence – but they kept circling around and fish after fish came up! They ended up releasing 4 sails and a blue in that area. Hard Play II (Tobago) were not to be outdone however – they added 2 sails and another blue release to their first catch – further more they lost one blue marlin shortly after the hook up due to a backlash – Capt “Frothy” de Silva reckoned that it might well have been over 1000 lbs! Par-T-Time from Trinidad put everyone in the shade however as they scored no less than 4 sailfish releases - plus a white and a blue – this rare catch of 3 billfish species in one day is known as a Grand Slam - well done! Luhred Away also achieved a tournament grand slam i.e. 3 billfish species within the 3 days fishing. Risky Business added another sailfish release to the 2 they scored the day before. Gecko had surely the worst hard luck story of the tournament – they released 5 billfish overall including a very large marlin at the end of day 2 – however photographic and other problems disqualified all but 2 of these fish – come back and try again next year guys…. 38 verified billfish releases were recorded on day 2 and 1 marlin was landed.

Cladia Calase collects the Trophy for Top Lady Angler

The lay day on Friday was held on the beach at the Grenada Yacht Club. Lawrence Worrell of the Barbados posse organised his usual excellent dishes of seafood and fish chowder, which were greatly appreciated by all. The “oil down” and chicken curry provided by the tournament went down well, while the Trinidad roast pork was given high marks by everyone who tried it. The Island Water World bar was kept busy and stayed open later than intended – thanks to their staff!

Last days fishing on Saturday saw heavy winds and the rough seas gave everyone difficulties. Hard Play II proved up to the task however and added 2 sailfish and a blue marlin release to their already impressive score. Par-T-Time tried hard but were only able to score 1 sailfish. Challenge II remained consistent and added 2 blue marlin releases to their tally. Finesse were last as they were first – finishing off the competition with a final sailfish release. 12 verified billfish releases were recorded on the final day.

At the end of the competition 15 blue marlin were released plus 1 landed, 54 sailfish released and 9 white marlin released; 2 Dorado, 1 wahoo and 11 yellowfin tuna had also been brought to the scale.

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

First Place Boat

Hard Play II-Tobago

Second Place Boat

Par-T-Time-Trinidad

Third Place Boat

Grey Ghost-St. Lucia

First Place Angler

Matthew Armstrong-Challenge II

Second Place Angler

Christian Hadeed-Par-T-Time

Third Place Angler

Ronald Worthman-Hard Play II

Boat Pool-Total weight of Fish brought to Scales

First Place

Challenge II-Barbados

Second Place

Wayward Wind-Grenada

Third Place

Crazy Diamond-Trinidad

Top Grenadan Boat

Risky Business

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.

Special Thanks to our Major Sponsors

Carib Beer Island Water World

Gary Clifford

SIBT Committee

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