Hamilton, Bermuda
Sunday - 8 AM Atlantic Daylight Time

It took Peter Rans and his JC31 Overproof well over an hour to return to the dock since they had fished their way around the back side of the island. The 12 foot seas that sent some larger boats back to shore didn't faze Rans and his crew. Not only did they fight a big marlin for over an hour, they then had to wrestle it into the boat without the benefit of block and tackle or a tuna door.

Paul Rowan (a devoted Sport Fishing reader and tournament participant), waited patiently as the crane carefully hoisted his fish out of Overproof's cockpit. The crowds were so anxious to see this blue that they barely left enough room for the fish to hang over the seawall. Ultimately, it tipped the scale at 531 pounds. Not enough to catapult Rowan into first place or anything dramatic like that, but enough to put him in third place overall, jumping past boats with a single blue marlin release.

In one other note, Capt. Tim Hyde called in a hook-up by Concubine during the day. They fought the fish for half an hour before the 130-pound test line broke. When asked how big he thought the fish was, he said, "It was a grander. It was big enough that it would eat Allan Card's [646-pound] fish and use its pectorals to pick its teeth!"

Lines just hit the water in this, the last day of fishing in the Bermuda Big Game Classic. Consensus among participants, Bermuda Tourism and Fisheries personnel, is that the event has been a wild success so far. The weigh-in parties have been extremely well attended and loads of fun. Bermuda has also shown the caliber of its fishing with fish being weighed each afternoon. But today also promises to be the roughest of the tournament and that makes fishing harder.
 

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Hamilton, Bermuda
Sunday - Midnight

First, a quick recap of yesterday's amazing results. You remember that Concubine brought a big 628-pound blue marlin to the scales just before lunch. They returned to the hotel, had lunch and rested for an hour or two, then headed back out to fish. Back on the grounds Concubine hooked a grander. They busted the line on that one so she's still out there. Concubine's crew did bring back some incredible memories of that fish though, I'm sure. And according to Capt. Tim Hyde, formerly the skipper of Tyson's Pride, "Where else besides Bermuda can you go out, catch a 600-plus pound marlin in the morning, come in for a civilized lunch and cocktails, then go back out and hook into a grander? Man, I love Bermuda!"

Equalizer, with Capt. James Kite, also made the leader board by releasing a nice blue, shortly after which, Allan De Silva's 57-foot custom Sonny Briggs, De Mako, released yet another.

As you read yesterday, with less than an hour left, the call came from Peter Rans aboard Overproof, one of the smallest boats in the fleet fishing. They chose the roughest day to hook up to what they thought was a keeper. They were so far away on the opposite end of the island that we lost radio contact with them. Needless to say, everyone breathed a great sigh of relief when we heard they would be at the scales before too long -- accompanied by what turned out to be a 531-pound blue.

Day Three

What a day! Band after band of squalls whipped through the area. Boats spent much of the day on the radio broadcasting their locations to the other boats fishing the same area so as to avoid collision in the near-zero visibility at times. The only saving grace of the intense rain was the calming effect it had on the storm-tossed seas.

Today the freshwater washdown worked overtime on all boats. However, the rough weather did nothing to slow down the bite. After lines-in at 8 AM, De Mako hooked up at 8:09, Chaos at 8:49, Challenger at 8:58, all battling in a major squall. In what proved to be a heart-wrenching week for Allan De Silva on De Mako, (mashed two props earlier in the week and almost didn't make the tournament) De Mako's blue marlin release didn't count for points because they couldn't get the required release picture before the fish sprang free. Only moments later, De Silva radioed that he had a medical emergency and was heading to shore. In such rough weather, things do get dangerous. However, it appears his mate, David Soares, had a minor bout of stress and would be fine.

Chupacabra with Capt. John Uhr and Capt. Brian Lines' Margin Call got things going again at 10:19 and 10:27 all releasing blues. De Mako headed back out at the same time that Capt. Russell Young aboard Sea Wolfe announced he planned to release the only white marlin caught in the tournament. Since neither tuna nor wahoo had come to the scales yet, both Capt. Sloan Wakefield's Atlantic Spray and Capt. Kevin Winters' Playmate executed wise, strategic moves by concentrating on those species and each boated wahoo. The final two blues of the event were released by Playmate and De Mako.

The suspense stayed at fever pitch right up to the last lines out call as every fish had the potential to alter the standings dramatically. This one went down with every fish possibly changing the standings.

At the Awards Banquet, Minister of Tourism, The Honorable David Allen, announced that Bermuda thinks this tournament proved so successful that they were already planning for the 2nd Annual Bermuda Big Game Classic next year in July.

Point awards

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Blue marlin release -
500 points

Blue marlin boated -
500 points PLUS 1 point per pound over 500.

White marlin, Sailfish, Spearfish
250 points (All release)

Tuna and Wahoo -
1 point per pound - 15 pound minimum


FINAL STANDINGS

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Place	Boat	Captain	Boat Make	Points
10th	Sea Wolfe	Russell Young	Torres 43	250
9th	Playmate	Keith Winter	Torres 43	500 (on time)
8th	Chupacabra	John Uhr	Hatteras 60	500 (on time)
7th	Margin Call	Brian Lines	Cabo 35	500 (on time)
6th	Equalizer	James Kite	JC31	500 (on time)
5th	Overproof	Peter Rans	JC31	531
4th	Concubine	Tim Hyde	Hatteras 70	628
3rd	De Mako	Allan De Silva	Sonny Briggs 57	1,000
2nd	Chaos	Brooks Rans	Davis 38	1,500
1st	Challenger	Allan Card	Gamefisherman 40	1,646

• Sea Wolfe, Captained by Russell Young, ended up in 10th place with 250 points, one white marlin release. Angler was Todd Price of Columbus, Ohio

• Playmate, Captained by Keith Winter, placed 9th with 500 points, on time, one blue marlin release. Angler was Bob Marsh of Severn, Maryland

• Chupacabra, Captained by John Uhr, took 8th with 500 points on time, one blue marlin release. Angler was John Uhr of Dallas, Texas

• Margin Call, Captained by Brian Lines, was 7th with 500 points on time, one blue marlin release. Angler was Scott Lines of Hamilton, Bermuda

• Equalizer, Captained by Reggie Horseman, placed 6th with 500 points on time, one blue marlin release. Angler was Brandel Kite of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

• Overproof, Captained by Peter Rans, took 5th with 531 points, one boated blue marlin. Angler was Paul Rowan of McLean, Virginia

• Concubine, Captained by Timothy Hyde, was 4th with 628 points, one boated blue marlin. Angler was Charles Schultz of Williamstown, New Jersey

Because the Stamoid-Ferrari largest tuna and the Saltwater Taxidermy largest dolphin divisions didn't have winners, those cash prizes were split between the largest wahoo, the most releases and the biggest blue marlin divisions.

The winner of the Fairmont Hamilton Princess Largest Wahoo was Playmate, Captained by Keith Winter, with a 35.7-pound wahoo. Caught by Dennis Hayes of Mechanicsville, Maryland. Team was awarded $4,625.


The winner of the Simrad Most Billfish Releases was Chaos, Captained by Brooks Rans, with three releases, all blue marlin. Team was awarded $7,400. Anglers releasing fish was two for Craig MacIntyre and one for Neil Jones, both of Paget, Bermuda.


The Winner of the Bacardi Biggest Blue Marlin was Challenger, Captained by Allan Card, with a 646-pound blue. Angler was Alberto Ruiz of Odessa, Florida. Team was awarded $7,400.



The Winner of the Yaupon Embroidery third place team division was De Mako, Captained by Allen De Silva, with 1,000 points. Team was awarded $2,775. Two blue marlin releases. Anglers Lawrence Correia and Ricky Sousa, both of Hamilton, Bermuda.


The winner of the Davis Yachts second place team division was Chaos, Captained by Brooks Rans, with 1,500 points. Team was awarded $5,500 bringing their total winnings to $12,950.



The winner of the Davis Yachts first place team division was Challenger, Captained by Allan Card, with 1,646 points. Team was awarded $13,875. Two blue marlin releases. Anglers Fernando and Francisco Viscarrondo of Puerto Rico and one 626-pound blue boated by angler Alberto Ruiz of Odessa, Florida.

Because there was no winner of Day 3, U.S. Paint daily blue marlin jackpot winnings were split between the Day 1 and Day 2 winners.

The U.S. Paint daily blue marlin jackpot Day 2 winner was Concubine, Captained by Timothy Hyde, with a 628-pound blue. Angler was Charles Schultz of Williamstown, New Jersey. Team was awarded $16,000.

And finally the Day 1 U.S. Paint Daily Jackpot winner was Challenger, Captained by Allan Card, with a 646-pound blue. Angler was Alberto Ruiz of Odessa, Florida. Team was awarded $16,000, giving team Challenger a total of $37,275 and an invitation to the Rolex IGFA International Tournament of Champions.

In all, the 18 teams had 65 blue marlin strikes, released 13 with 11 counting for points, one white marlin release and three blues coming to the scales. Over $100,000 in cash and prizes were awarded at the event.

Next year's tournament will be July 11-14, 2002. Contact tournament director Dan Jacobs at 407-571-4680 or dan.jacobs@worldpub.net.