AWESOME JOB GUYS!!!!!!!!!!
July 5, 2009
WOUND UP WINS THE 2009 BERMUDA BILLFISH BLAST
BECOMES FIRST EVER WINNER OF BLAST/WORLD CUP DOUBLE HEADER
What a brilliant day for sports enthusiasts. That was an incredible Wimbledon final over in England - Roddick gave everything he had but
eventually succumbed to the mighty Roger Federer in a mind-boggling 16-14
fifth set. In the other major sporting event over in Bermuda - there was
no such tension as the mighty Capt. James Robinson and his "Wound Up" team released a blue marlin at 11:34 am to take a commanding lead with 1,865 points. It must have been a very jovial and deeply satisfying afternoon on the bridge of the "Wound Up" !! This is the largest points tally ever accumulated in the five-year history of the Blast and it was easily enough to lock-up first place overall, worth an additional $28,700 on top of all the big winnings from yesterday. I was very recently informed that there
had been a huge blue marlin taken in Hawaii in the World Cup yesterday, but
it was 828 lb and so fell narrowly short of Bermuda's winner. "Wound Up"
becomes the second consecutive local boat to win the Blast after "Reel
Addiction" had done so last year. "Wound Up" also becomes the first boat
to ever win the Blast and World Cup together. However, no local boat has
yet won the overall Triple Crown series and so many of us Bermudians will
be rooting hard for Capt. James. In the four year history of the Triple
Crown Series the winner of the Big Game Classic has always ended up winning the overall Series, so perhaps everybody still has a good chance !
The following results are all still subject to photo verification. The Day
Two bite was very slow. There were 6 blue marlin released and 11 whites
released. This equates to 127 points per boat, which equates to the
slowest day of the 10 days of fishing since inception of the Blast. It
also ranks 31st out of 34 days since inception of the Triple Crown Series
(2005), which is when I started tracking this statistic. I attribute this
to the poor weather in recent weeks which has kept the water temperature
below normal and also kept conditions rather "mixed-up" offshore. The
abundance of whites is a good sign to me because the best blue marlin bite
usually happens after the whites clear out. I expect this means that the
bite will improve nicely for the Big Game Classic next week and perhaps be
even better for the Sea Horse event of the following week. Visiting boat
"Lisa" won the Level One and Level Two Release Jackpots worth an aggregate of $53,500 with a white release near midday and a blue marlin release at 3:41 pm. This beat out "Anita Jean" by less than a minute as they had a white release at 2:04 pm and secured a blue marlin release at 3:42 pm. "Mama Who" also scored a white release and then had a blue marlin release at 3:51 pm, and their last fish put them at 900 points which ultimately was good enough for Third Place overall and cash winnings of $8,200. "Off Piste" did not score today, but their 900 point tally from yesterday held-up for Second Place overall and additional cash winnings for them of $16,400. On Day Two, blue marlin releases were also secured by "Last Stall" and "Reel Addiction", and white releases were also made by
"Seraphim", "Mattanza", "JACS", "Paradise One", "Waste Knot", "Sea Toy",
Won Buy Land" and "Over Budget".
The final tournament standings and cash winnings (subject to Day Two photo verifications) are as follows:
1. Wound Up - 1 blue boated 865 lb; 2 blue releases - 1,865 points and
cash winnings of $116,700 plus World Cup winnings ($400,000+ est) and WC
local calcutta of $20,000
2. Off Piste - 1 blue release; 2 white releases - 900 points and cash
winnings of $35,900
3. Mama Who - 1 blue release; 2 white releases - 900 points and cash
winnings of $8,200
4. Mako - 1 blue release; 1 white release - 700 points and cash winnings
of $34,000,
5. Bree - 1 blue release; 1 white release - 700
6. Fish On - 1 blue release; 1 white release
7. Lisa - 1 blue release; 1 white release - 700 points and cash winnings
of $53,500,
8. Anita Jean - 1 blue release; 1 white release - 700
9. Reel Lax - 1 blue release - 500
10. Weez in the Keys - 1 blue release
11. Overproof - 1 blue release
12. Last Stall - 1 blue release
13. Reel Addiction - 1 blue release
14. Sea Toy - 2 white releases - 400
15. Over Budget - 2 white releases - 400
16. Treasure Isle - 1 white release - 200
17. Touchdown - 1 white release
18. Seraphim - 1 white release
19. Mattanza - 1 white release
20. JACS - 1 white release
21. Paradise One - 1 white release
22. Waste Knot - 1 white release
23. Won Buy Land - 1 white release
18 boats did not score and there's a lot of talent and past winners on this
list = Attitude, Boogieman, Challenger, Lights Out, Margin Call, Mega
Bucks, Never Enough, Profit Margin, Que Mas, Queen of Hearts, Reel Hot, Rum Bum, Sea Scorpion, Smooth Operator, Topless, Triple Play, Unreel, and Wet Pleasure.
July 4, 2009
WOUND UP TAKES WORLD CUP VICTORY WITH 865 POUNDER
GIVES BERMUDA 5th WORLD CUP TITLE IN THE PAST SEVEN YEARS
It gives me great pleasure to write this report as one of my closest
friends, Capt. James Robinson, and his "Wound Up" team took ALL THE GLORY today with a beautiful 865 lb whopper. James and his team also released a blue marlin early in the morning and sit in first place in the Bermuda Billfish Blast tournament going into the second and final day with 1,365 points. The big fish was hooked at 1:41 pm and the team immediately knew they were hooked into a contender. The big blue sounded and died relatively quickly, and it was a matter of stopping her descent (no easy feat) and gaining line back inch-by-inch in relatively sloppy seas. At 3:30 pm, Capt. James called in to say that the fish was secure and ten minutes later he announced that she was in the boat with a 132 inch short length and a 68 girth. A FANTASTIC CATCH - HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO CAPT. JAMES ROBINSON AND TEAM ABOARD WOUND UP, and to junior angler, 17 year old Stefan Olsen, who did a terrific job in the chair. For me, Capt. James was always going to be a good bet to put a monster on the dock in a Triple Crown event, and so it was just a matter of when, and there's no better time to do it than during the World Cup !!! Last year, Capt. James caught the only grander weighed in Bermuda - a 1,049 lb blue marlin taken on July 7 (in between the Blast and Classic).
I no longer need to tout Bermuda as the best place in the world to catch a
big blue marlin - 5 World Cup wins in the past 7 years takes care of any
argument (and last year Bermuda had a 718 pounder that was narrowly
beaten). The past four Bermuda victories in the World Cup have all been
achieved by local boats (Wound Up, Queen of Hearts, Sea Scorpion and Triple Play). The 865 lb blue marlin ranks as the second biggest blue marlin
weighed in any of our Triple Crown tournaments (behind only Southern
Exposure's grander), and it is the biggest blue marlin weighed in the five
year history of the Bermuda Billfish Blast tournament. It is also the
fourth heaviest blue marlin to win in the 25 year history of the World Cup
(Bermuda now has three of the four heaviest winners). As the second day of
the Blast is a release-only day, team "Wound Up" have already won the Level One and Level Two Blue Marlin Jackpots in the Blast worth $88,000 in
aggregate and they also took the local World Cup calcutta pot worth
$20,000. So, that's $108,000 banked and the World Cup winnings will be
considerably more. I am not sure how much more, but almost certainly an
additional $400,000 or more, and, of course, they start Day Two of the
Blast in first place and are therefore very much in the running for cash
winnings awarded to the top three boats.
In the World Cup, "Hawk Eye" fishing in Madeira boated a 595 lb blue marlin
and there was also a 550 lb blue weighed in Madeira. In Bermuda, local
boat "Lone Star" was not entered in the Blast but was in the World Cup and
they brought a 554 lb blue marlin to the dock, but Hawaii did create some
excitement as an 828 lb blue was taken over there. I am not aware of any
other blues weighed in the World Cup, but "Mega Bucks" in Bermuda had a
good one hooked-up for over an hour - it was reported to be 700 lb or
better, but they pulled the hook close to the boat.
41 boats are entered in the 5th Annual Bermuda Billfish Blast and they
headed out into a stiff 16 knot southwest breeze and sunny skies. The 41
boat entry field is one more than each of the past two Blasts and so this
is a great achievement given the economic downturn.
Visiting boat "Reel Lax" scored the first points with a blue marlin release
at 9:01 am following a ten minute tussle. Then "Wound Up" successfully
released their first blue marlin at 9:13 am. Capt. Allen Desilva and his
"Mako" team then jumped into the lead with a blue marlin release at 9:54 am
followed by a white marlin release very shortly after at 10:10 am. The
morning action also saw a blue marlin release for "Fish On", two white
releases for "Off Piste" and white releases for "Over Budget" and "Treasure
Isle".
At 12:20 pm, "Bree" released a blue marlin to tie "Mako" on 700 points, and
then at 12:46 pm, "Off Piste" jumped into the tournament lead with a blue
marlin release taking them to 900 points. The afternoon bite was quite
slow - there were also blue marlin releases for "Weez in the Keys" and
"Overproof" and white releases for "Mama Who", "Fish On", "Sea Toy" and
"Touchdown". At the end of the day, "Off Piste" won the Level One Release
Jackpot worth $19,500, but they were not entered in the Level Two Release
Jackpot and so Capt. Allen Desilva and team aboard "Mako" were delighted to learn that they had won the Level Two Release pot worth $34,000. Who would have guessed that Brian Lines would not be All-In !!
So for Day One of the Blast there was the one blue marlin boated, 8 blue
marlin released and 10 whites released. That is 167 points per boat, which
translates to a relatively slow bite here (ranks 6th out of the 9 days
fished since inception of the Blast). The following are the standings after
Day One of the 2009 Blast:
1. Wound Up - 1 blue boated 865 lb; 1 blue release - 1,365 points and
cash winnings of $88,000 plus World Cup winnings ($400,000+ est) and WC
local calcutta of $20,000
2. Off Piste - 1 blue release; 2 white releases - 900 points and cash
winnings of $19,500
3. Mako - 1 blue release; 1 white release - 700 points and cash winnings
of $34,000
4. Bree - 1 blue release; 1 white release - 700
5. Fish On - 1 blue release; 1 white release
6. Reel Lax - 1 blue release - 500
7. Weez in the Keys - 1 blue release
8. Overproof - 1 blue release
9. Over Budget - 1 white release - 200
10. Treasure Isle - 1 white release
11. Mama Who - 1 white release
12. Sea Toy - 1 white release
13. Touchdown - 1 white release
28 boats are still looking to score. Good luck to all in Day Two !!!
WOUND UP WINS THE 2009 BERMUDA BILLFISH BLAST!!! 
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