The 2014 Saint Martin Billfish Tournament was again a very tight competition between 27 of the best teams in the Caribbean, with several boats vying for the top spot right down to the last minute on day 3. But in the end Oyster / Team Budget Marine, from St.Maarten, captained by Tim Roosens maintained the lead they held from day 1 and finished the tournament with 2 Blue Marlin releases and 1 White Marlin release for a total of 800 points. Second place boat Living the Dream, captained by Austin Schneider, from St. Croix, also finished with 800 points by pulling off a last minute thriller and releasing their second Blue Marlin of the tournament during the extra hour of fight time on the last day of fishing! Time of catch proved to be the tiebreaker and Oyster emerged victorious. Big Sailfish Too, captained by Jean Pierre Goetz, from St.Martin, came in third with 700 points - only a White Marlin release separating them from the 1st and 2nd place boats. The Most Blue Marlin Releases prize went to Oyster as well as the Best Angler prize, which went to their star angler Jonathan Schaede. Captain Phillipe Casaubon of One Shot brought a beautiful Blue Marlin of 489 lbs to the scale on Day 2 that earned his team the Largest Blue Marlin prize. Oyster went home with the following prizes: for First Place they received $5,400 in cash, 1000 Liters of Fuel sponsored by Delta Petroleum, an awesome lure package sponsored by Legend Lures, a beautiful painting by Carey Chen, a $500 Gift Certificate from Budget Marine, a plethora of prizes from the BVI Tourism Office, a beautiful trophy and last, but certainly not least, they are immortalized on the Saint Martin Billfish Tournament’s Perpetual Trophy. On top of these exceptional prizes they now qualify for the 2015 IGFA Offshore World Championships in Costa Rica. For the Most Blue Marlin Releases prize they went home with $2,700, an amazing carbon fiber rocket launcher rod holder made by Lamort Custom Composite Workshop, a lure package sponsored by Legend Lures, a painting by Carey Chen and a beautiful trophy. Oyster’s Top angler Jonathan Schaede took home a beautiful painting by Carey Chen as his prize for Best Angler. Second Place boat Living the Dream took home $4,050 in cash, 750 Liters of Fuel sponsored by Delta Petroleum, a $500 Budget Marine Gift Certificate, a lure package from Legend Lures, a Painting by Carey Chen and a beautiful trophy. Living the dream was without a doubt the top money winning boat; they were the winners of the marlin jackpot, which this year was a whopping $15,200! For coming in third in this year’s tournament Big Sailfish Too went home with $2,700 in cash, 500 liters of Fuel sponsored by Delta Petroleum, a lure package sponsored by Legend lures, a $500 Budget Marine Gift Certificate, a painting by Carey Chen, and a beautiful trophy. For the Heaviest Blue Marlin Prize the team of One Shot went home with $2,700 in cash, a lure package from Legend Lures, a painting by Carey Chen, and a trophy. An abnormal current made locating the fish difficult this year, with many of the local fishermen agreeing that it pushed the majority of the fish very far out; far beyond the bounds of the fishing zone. Albeit this, a very healthy number of billfish were caught this year, with 18 Blue Marlin released, 1 Blue Marlin Landed, 14 White Marlin released and 1 Sailfish Released, for a total of 34 billfish caught. 3 amazing concerts were organized to end each day of fishing. British Dependency soothed the crowd on the evening of Day 1, Onyan and the 3 Cylinder band blew the crowd away on the evening of Day 2 and Orange Grove rocked the house for the final evening. The ambiance was great and was really appreciated by all who attended. A Special thanks goes out to all the sponsors and individuals that made the event possible, and we hope to see you on the Marlin Boulevard and at the tournament village next year!
Posted on: Mon, 23 Jun 2014 11:26:20 +0000
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