2002 Results
Final Standings
DAY 3 Final Results ''Se7en'' Brings Home The Bacon ( $$$ ) The 64 foot Jim Smith boat ''Se7en'' with Capt. Billy Borer at the helm came home a clear winner with a total of 1621 points from 2 blue marlin releases and a 621 pound blue boated. Their Cabo Yachts First place Team prize money totaled $21,600. Their big fish also won the Saltwater Taxidermy Day One daily prize money of $14, 666.67. Anglers Stan Walker, John Vance, and Jim Lambert each bested a blue with owner/angler Stan Walker catching the largest fish of the tournament. The 621 pound blue marlin won the Cape Fear/Fin Nor Largest Blue Marlin and another $7200 for Walker and his crew. Total winnings for ''Se7en'' - $43,466.67!  ''Sniper'' with angler Ed Borg and Captain Jim Bayne fished a strong second with two blue marlin releases the last day backing up one blue released on Day Two for a total of 1500 points and the Stamoid Second Place Team prize money of $10,200. Less than one white marlin released separated the top two finishers. ''Sniper'' also won the Simrad Most Billfish Releases award worth $7,200 and took home $18,000 total winnings.In third place and resoundingly cheered on by the locals at both the weigh-in and the awards banquet was ''Knock Down'' with a white marlin released on Day Two and a blue released and then a 556 pound blue boated. A large crowd waited with bated breath during ''Knock Down'''s sprint home. The locals cheered them on as they reached the weigh station and beat the clock with minutes to spare. The 556 pound blue in their cockpit won the $14,666.66 daily money for Day Three. Angler was Patrick Mc Gee and Captain was Steven Rance. TheYaupon Embroidery Third Place Team prize money of $7,200 brought ''Knock Down'''s total winnings to $21,866.66.  Knocked back to fourth place overall with a total of 1071 points but winner of the Day Two daily prize money with a 570 pound blue was the ''Won By Land''.The final statistics fail to reflect the total number of billfish strikes achieved in this biggest and richest of all Bermuda billfish tournaments as a number of strikes resulted in short hook-ups with marlin escaping before the strike could be called into the radio control. Congratulations to Tournament Director Dan Jacobs and all his staff from ''Sport Fishing Magazine'' for a job well done. Peter B. Wright Tension Builds As I predicted the ''Won By Land'' team jumped into the lead last night when angler Harry Patten's blue marlin tipped the scales at 570 pound. Combined with a 250 point white marlin release on Day One the team lead at the end of Day Two with 820 points. Day Three was the best weather yet with bright skies and just enough breeze to hopefully stir up some action. ''Sniper'' quickly jumped into the lead with another blue marlin release, by angler Ed Borg, which added to Borg's release from Day Two making a team and individual angler total of a neat 1000 points. ''Rum Bum'' managed to attain what appears to be a dead solid lock on the Crying Towel Hard Luck trophy when they lost a blue marlin a mere 10 feet from the leader. ''Rum Bum'' has now had the misfortune to lose three blue marlin in what may best be described as ''Great fishing but poor catching!'' Pulled hooks, broken lines and indistinct photography have all been factors in Luis Bacardi and his team's tales of woe. 'Sniper'''s place on top was soon threatened by the ''Se7en'' crew with angler John Vance tagging a blue marlin. Added to Stan Walker' 621 pound beauty on Day One the ''Se7en'' team needed only to present an identifying photo (THEY TOOK 4 !!) to have a total score of 1121 points to recapture the lead. It is still a wide open race for top honors - stand by for a wrap up later this afternoon. Peter B. Wright
DAY 2 Day 2 Comes to a CloseAt the end of day two in the 2000 Bermuda Big game Classic everything hung on the balance- an electronic balance that is, the one that would tell everyone the weight of angler Harry Patten blue marlin aboard the ''Won By Land''. In Capt Jim Garnsey's opinion the fish would weigh in excess of the 500 pound minimum weight and would catapault his team into first place. Knowing Capt Garnsey (''Cousin Jimmy'') and his years of experience I for one expect the fish to make the weight and push ''Fine Lines'', yesterday's leader, into Second Place with ''Se7en'' dropping to third. Tied for 4th place with one blue marlin release will ''Warrior'', ''Mako'', and ''Sniper''. ''Warrior'' actually leads on time if none of these boats can advance their point score. ''Mako'' has won the Felix Velez bronze trophy for being the first early entry boat to release a blue marlin after ''Rum Bum'''s hard luck with the photo finish yesterday. Among the several contestants vieing (NOT on purpose) for the crying towel, those who have hooked and lost Blue Marlin, is New York Rangers hockey star Mark Messier who pulled the hook out of a blue marlin at 3:26 PM today. We will update our report with the weight of today's big blue marlin later this evening. Peter B. Wright Almost Double Headers Better conditions and an early bite greeted the contestants on day 2 of the 2002 Bermuda Big Game Classic. Brisk 15-20 knot SW breezes are supposed to moderate today and tonight to a comparatively zephyr like 10 -15 knots tomorrow. The first marlin, a blue, was caught and released on Mako by angler Ricky Sousa. Immediately before hooking the fish an enormous crash strike on another bait was probably the bigger half of a second larger, blue. ''Like a grenade going off'' said skipper Allan De Sylva., Shortly thereafter at 9:05 AM ''Won By Land'' reported a double hook up on blue marlin and continued to fight both fish until pulling the hook on one fish at the boat before being able to take the necessary identification photo. The second fish was boated by angler Harry Patten at 9:56 and estimated to be similar in size to the 621 pound blue marlin boated yesterday on ''Se7en''. Coupled with a white marlin release yesterday, if Patten's fish weighs in at even one pound over the minimum qualifying weight of 500 pounds his team will seize the lead from ''Fine Lines'' which has a total score of 750 points from a white and a blue released yesterday. Local veterinarian Neil Burne has boated a wahoo, and Ed Borg on ''Sniper'' was fighting a marlin as this report is being sent in. There have been several other strikes and lost fish. Peter B. Wright
DAY 1 Fish Bites FishA 621 pound blue marlin caught by angler Stan Walker on board his new 64 foot Jim Smith ''Se7en'' caused more than one stir on the grassy park bordering the Bermuda Big Game Classic. The heavy set marlin weighed in heavier than even the estimates generated by the classic length and girth measurements formula. The exceptionally well proportioned female was accurately weighed on certified electronic scales to take the lead in the big fish division. Then, when scientists from the Bermuda Fisheries Department took gonad samples from the massive roe and examined the stomach contents, they found the remains of a smaller billfish. The easily identified lower jaw of what was most likely a white marlin or spearfish was among the partially digested contents of the mighty predator's stomach. The big fish was, however, only good enough, for second place overall at the end of day one. The team on board the 75 foot Merritt ''Fine Lines'' held the lead with 750 points after angler Joan Gillings bested both a blue marlin worth 500 points and a white marlin for 250 points - And the crew produced the required photographic evidence of both of the fish's species along with a radio relayed code. The crew and angler, Luis Bacardi, aboard the 54 Bertram ''Rum Bum'' had the misfortune to get a commanding lead in the race for the hard luck trophy after spending several hours fighting 2 blue marlin. The first blue came to the boat full of vim and vigor and would have earned 500 release points except for one stroke of extreme bad luck, the only photo they were able to get when the fish was along side the boat was too indistinct to enable the judges to determine the species ( the relayed code was correctly displayed in the photo.) The second blue won the fight after a protracted fight when the line failed after over three hours of fighting time. Marlin are not so thick even in these prolific waters that the loss of two well hooked fish in a single day is not a cause for anguish. A blue marlin, half of a double header hooked on board ''Warrior'' kept them in third place overall with 500 points and a single white marlin on ''Won By Land'' had them in fourth at day's end with 250 points. With the weather scheduled to ease tomorrow it is still a wide open event. Peter B Wright Let the Games Begin The 2002 Bermuda Big Game Classic got off to a lively start with a cocktail party and Captain's meeting at the lovely, gracious, and historic Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel. A total of 99 anglers from 24 teams came together in Bermuda's largest ever and richest ever Billfish Tournament. Over the course of the next three days they would compete for a total purse of $116,000 as well as a plethora of prizes including electronics, fishing tackle, and art work from internationally renowned sculptors and painters. Day one started with a brisk southwest wind that failed to dampen the spirits of the contenders and appeared to have little effect on the blue marlin that are the primary targets of the captains and crews of the competing teams. Boats ranging in size from Bermuda based ''Janie May'', a 30 foot Rybo, to the 75 foot Merritt ''Fine Lines'' left the protected waters of the harbours and coves that make Bermuda a boater's paradise and headed for the open seas. The first hook-up came from ''Fine Lines'' who shortly afterward called in a pulled hook. The first successful angler was Luis Bacardi with a blue marlin release at 10:16 AM. If the species of the fish in the obligatory boatside photograph (with radio relayed code) Is identifiable, Bacardi will win the Early Registration Prize, a beautiful bronze marlin sculpture by Felix Velez. At noon there had been several more billfish strikes, either missed strikes or hooked and lost and a white marlin released by ''Fine Lines'' angler Joan Gillings. Our next report will be filed as soon as possible after this afternoon's weigh in at Barr's Park. Peter B. Wright |
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