Day 1 - May 8, 2006
CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico – With five marlin releases each, three teams are in the lead over 61 others after day one of the Rolex/International Game Fish Association (IGFA) Offshore Championship Tournament in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Teams representing tournament wins in Sicily, Italy; the Turks & Caicos and Eastcape, Mexico, made a very strong initial presence in the four day event garnering 1,500 points each in a tie for first place. Each catch and release of a marlin equals 300 points. A total of 60 striped marlin were released in the seventh annual event which is taking place off the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja peninsula.
Considered by blue water anglers as the “offshore fishing championship of the world,” the prestigious four-day catch-and-release tournament is believed to host the single largest contingent of international teams ever to compete in a fishing competition.
“We saw tons of fish,” said John Jacobi of Dinuba, Calif., USA who along with three other Californians represents the TAA Eastcape Billfish Tournament in Mexico. “It could have been more than the five as we lost 10 of 11 fish on lures and one on bait. His teammates are Keith Leimbach, San Carlos; Dave Stoller, San Rafael and Bill Evans, Hillsborough.
“It was a great bite for us all day,” said Sean O’Neill representing the Caicos Classic team. “We saw at least 12 more fish so there was plenty of action.” He’s joined by Jared Fulton, Chris Stubbs, David Ward and Hugh O’Neill all from the Turks & Caicos.
The Sicilian team, one of three from Italy, lost only one of the six bites they had while seeing several more marlin. That team is made up of Daniele Tarroni who caught three of the fish, Fabio Gieri, Carlo Pezzini and Massimo Brogna.
In fourth place is a Canadian team from the Third Annual Salmon Masters Tourney in British Columbia with 950.6 points on three marlin and a 50.6 lb. wahoo. The team includes Garnet Eastcott, Jamie Paul, Rob Anderson and Wes Romaniuk all of Red Deer, Alberta.
In fifth place with 928.2 points on three marlin releases plus a weight fish of a 28.2 lb dorado are the 2005 Rolex/IGFA defending champs of Ray and Charmain Rosher, Miami, Fla., USA and Chicago’s Scott Segal and Tom Schramm. Three teams from Angola, Africa; Vanuatu and Freeport, N.Y. USA are tied with 900 points on three marlin releases each.
The tournament has attracted many of the world’s best angling teams who have won at least one of 110 IGFA sanctioned qualifying offshore events held in 40 countries across the globe during 2005. The number of IGFA qualifying tournaments continues to climb each year.
This is the fifth straight year Cabo San Lucas, Mexico is the location for the international event.
