The 14th annual Bermuda Big Game Classic came to a thrilling finish when captain Travis Butters’s Que Mas came from behind to take first place honours with a total of 1,400 points garnered from two blue marlin releases and two white marlin releases.

In second and third place, respectively with 1,200 points were captain Tommy Lynskey’s Uno Mas and local skipper captain James Robinson’s Wound Up.

This signature event had attracted a total of 377 anglers on 48 boats, all vying for a share of the prizes at stake. The fishing was not quite as good as it had been the previous years with all that effort managing to catch only 52 fish (33 blues, 18 whites and a lone spearfish). The 2013 tally was 57 with the 2012 catch also on 52 fish.

The largest fish weighed in was JT Winston’s 693lb blue marlin caught on board captain David Soares’s Kerry D. This also earned Winston the High Point Junior Angler award. The High Point Angler was Brooks Smith with 1,200 points amassed aboard the boat Uno Mas. The High Point Lady Angler was Ashley Dent (700 points) and the Biggest Game Fish was a 39.9lb wahoo caught by David Campbell on captain Andrew Dias’s Triple Play.

Outside of the tournaments, there were boats that continued their quest for the ultimate billfish. On Sunday, the Angry Scot, skippered by captain Dave Metzler, hooked a large fish that had potential but which unfortunately went down and died leaving the crew to boat the lifeless fish. Back at the dock, it tipped the scales at about 814lbs, making it the largest so far this year.

A trophy fish of another sort was caught this week by eight-year-old Gillian Ricks who boated a 336.3lb blue marlin while fishing aboard captain Mike Kennedy’s El Cazador. The fish is a potential new IGFA small fry record and, if successful, would be the first time Bermuda was listed as the location for any blue marlin world record.

The month has now sped by and the Bermuda Triple Crown is into its final leg with the on-going Sea Horse Anglers Club 41st annual Bermuda Billfish Tournament rounding out events. This event has a total of 290 anglers on 29 boats competing for the cash and prizes up for grabs and hoping to add to their respective tallies in the Triple Crown.

As it happened, the Sea Horse tournament got off to a slow start, perhaps because of the weather and an imminent change that finally took place around noon. The fish then started to bite with ten boats scoring. All but one fish was released, leaving three boats tied on two releases apiece.

As day two progresses, the competition stiffened up with the fish pleasing from early on the second day. Two blue marlin and two white marlin were caught and released in the first couple of hours as was another spearfish, a usually uncommon feature of local waters. With only the time factor separating the first four boats and another six boats within one fish striking distance of the leaders, a close finish looks to be on the cards.

On the first day, frequent visitor, captain Chris Zielinski’s Weez In The Keys, hooked into a large fish that took angler Scott Robins over two hours to bring to the boat. Quite obviously better than the minimum weight the fish was boated and eventually tipped the scales at 598 pounds, winning the daily jackpot. Competition is also tight in the Triple Crown. This involves all the entrants of the three major July billfish tournaments with each event offering an opportunity to amass points. At the start of the Sea Horse tournament the leading boat was Que Mas with 2,400 points. No Vacancy was in second with 2,273 points and Uno Mas was in third with 1,900 points. In terms of fish, it would take only one qualifying fish to move the third place boat into first. A blue marlin release would put it into a neck and neck situation.

Things will start to return to normal and the billfish will be given a bit of a rest as these tournaments come to an end. Although some boats will remain fishing here for a little while longer, most have bookings elsewhere as they look to take part in the billfish tournaments on the East Coast and down in the Caribbean. Add to those attractions the increasing possibility of a hurricane as the summer progresses and there is every reason to be somewhere where a safe haven is more readily available.

Next month will see the Bermuda Marlin Release Challenge. This is an all release tournament that is open to local boats only. After the marlin have had the equivalent of a few weeks’ break they will again be the subject of concentration by the local fleet on the 17th August. The general thinking is that, at that time, there is usually a preponderance of smaller blue marlin (fish in the 150-300lb bracket) which will be better suited to the classes of gear more traditionally carried by local weekenders.

Local focus will return to the other game species with the yellowfin tuna and wahoo being the prime targets but with other species also contributing to the overall activity. Wahoo will be occasionally caught but it will probably be a while before their numbers increase to the point where the fishery will be directed at them.

Although the usually common yellowfin tuna is in shorter supply than usual, blackfin tuna are fairly reliable on the Banks and on Bermuda’s Edge and a favourite with light tackle chummers. Never growing much over about 40 pounds, this fish is capable of putting up a prolonged battle which will test out just about any angler’s prowess. There was a time when they helped put Bermuda on the angling map and themselves became a noteworthy source of Tight lines!!!