Marlin, marlin and still more marlin. It seems that the whole of July is awash with billfish and the deep water surrounding this island is well churned up by the propellors of more vessels than it sees any other month of the year. Two tournaments down and two more to go!

The Blue Marlin World Cup drew some 140 competitors from all over the world with the most entries coming from the little island of Bermuda with 50, many of which were visiting foreign boats.

When the dust had settled around the world, the big pot was awarded to the team Bad Company which was, predictably, fishing off the Cape Verde Islands. The winning fish was a 653lb blue marlin. But it was not quite as simple as that.

Here in Bermuda, at 8.45am on Saturday morning, Kyle Laine boated a fish on Bree that was later weighed in at 617lb; unfortunately, not quite good enough. But then the cat jumped among the pigeons when at 11.51am Michael Matson aboard Swish boated a blue marlin that shortly thereafter tipped the scales at, you guessed it, 653lb

And while this situation quietly brewed, the fishing started in the eastern Pacific with mega-player Hawaii coming into its time zone. Surprisingly, the 39 boats working the fabled Kona coast were unable to supply a qualifying fish, leaving the Atlantic competitors to thrash it out.

Although fishing in a different time zone, apparently on corrected time, i.e. standardised to allow for zones, the Cape Verde fish was caught first and so was declared the winner. This was not without controversy as some serious questions were raised. Aside from different interpretations of the published rules, some wanted to know if the weights of the ropes used to hang the fish from the scales were accounted for; if electronic scales were used, what were the decimal points and so on. It is highly probable that the organisers never foresaw a situation where boats fishing thousands of miles apart would catch fish with identical weights.

But the local efforts were not in vain. Many of the boats fishing the World Cup were also entered in the three-day Bermuda Blast, the first leg of the Triple Crown and things were heating up in that event.

The action came fast and furious as a total of 48 billfish were caught that day. The leader at the end of day one was Captain Brent Gaskill’s Builder’s Choice with 1,300 points from two blue marlin releases and three white marlin releases. Close up behind, in second place was Captain Ronnie Field’s Inconclusive on 1,200 points.

Day two was another bout of hectic action as another 29 blue marlin were caught along with 14 white marlin. All the fish but one were released with the exception being a 532lb blue marlin caught on Captain Jack White’s Miss Ma’am.

At this stage, the competition was tightening up. With a day to fish and everything to play for, Captain Jimmy Werling’s Plane Simple bounded into contention with three blue marlin releases and one white marlin release for a total of 1,600 points on the day. This followed a single blue marlin release on the first day of the tournament.

The action continued on the third day with another 27 blue marlin releases and 15 white marlin releases. The three-day total billfish haul was 87 blue marlin and 46 white marlin, quite a total considering that more than 40 boats were out looking for billfish.

It was at this point that it turned into a two-horse race as Builder’s Choice and Plane Simple repeatedly matched the other’s feats as both boats took full advantage of the action. This finally came to an end when tournament time was up, and the tally showed Captain Gaskill’s Builder’s Choice had been pipped at the post by Captain Werling’s Plane Simple by a margin of just 200 points.

In third place, some 900 points behind was Captain Matt Wardlaw’s Juben on 2,100 points. The Heaviest Wahoo was won by Herschel Martin’s 43.3 pounder taken from Bobojo while the Heaviest Tuna was a magnificent 172.9lb yellowfin caught by Stone Dupree aboard Top It Off.

The large number of whites is a bit unusual for Bermuda at this time of the year as was the single spearfish that was also caught and released. It will be interesting to see if this persists as the water continues to warm up to its summer maxima.

Some insight will be provided as the Bermuda Big Game Classic gets under way today. The premier event in the Triple Crown Series, this tournament draws the highest level of participation with many foreign boats coming here solely for the purpose.

This year’s competition looks to be a bouncy one, although it is a lot more comfortable on a 70-footer than it would be on a local 35-footer. In either case, the fish do not seem to mind a bit of sea; regardless of whether the crew see it or not, when a blue marlin wants a bait or plug, it is almost instantaneous Tight Lines!!!