The 34th Annual Balboa Angling Club’s Master Angler Billfish Tournament, the most prestigious and oldest marlin tournament on the west coast, was held September 11th and 12th in 100+ degree hot weather!
The Kick-Off Party and Captain’s Meeting was standing room only on September 9th at The Tee Room in Newport Beach. Since 129 Marlin were caught and tagged/or released by BAC members or on BAC boats BEFORE the MABT even started, the atmosphere was electric and the anglers were ready to go!
The fishing started on Friday at 6:30 am with the first fish hooking up two minutes later! Sadly, that fish was lost, but by the 11:00 am roll call, 8 marlin had been caught and released! Boats were fishing mainly in the northern section of the area in Grid 10 and 11 near Santa Cruz and Anacapa Islands; some boats were even flying Kites like in the old Zane Grey days!
The BAC once again teamed up with the IGFA (International Game Fish Association) and had 9 Great Marlin Race satellite tags purchased and assigned to boats in this year’s MABT. Two tags were deployed: one by Black Fin, fishing for the Dana Angling Club, and one by Magellan, fishing for the Tuna Club of Avalon. You can track their paths by visiting the IGFA-IGMR website at https://www.igfa.org/Conserve/Balboa%20USA%202015%20Race.
Overall, it was light line marlin fishing at its finest, a great success for the Balboa Angling Club, and the anglers are ready to come back in 2016!
Here are the results of the 2015 Master Angler Billfish Tournament:
Clubs = 7 Boats = 41 Anglers = 170
82 Hook Ups 54 Releases
Total Fish 1st Day 34 Released
2nd Day 20 Released
High Club
1st Dana Angling – Team 1 1950 pts.
2nd Tuna Club of Avalon – Team 1 1620 pts.
3rd Light Tackle Marlin Club 1140 pts.
High Boat
1st Black Fin 1080 pts.
2nd Kelsey Lee 720 pts.
3rd Good Karma 720 pts.
High Angler
1st Shane Hurt 1080 pts.
2nd David Herrera 660 pts.
3rd Greg Stotesbury 450 pts.
4th Barry Brightenburg 450 pts.
5th Bob Petrina 420 pts.
6th Larry Coots, Jr. 360 pts.
7th Don Butts 360 pts.
8th Erik Landesfeind 360 pts.
9th Don Goodwin 360 pts.
10th Bobby Leinau 360 pts.
Tuna Division
The Tuna won this year.
Bob and Sally Kurz Perpetual Circle Hook Award
Chase Offield, Calen Offield, Sawyer Jones, Hunter Heatly
Kelsey Lee
2014 MABT IGMR
1st Place Team Andreya
Fishing for Balboa Angling Club
2nd Place Jock Albright
Fishing for Tuna Club of Avalon
3rd Place Team Hooked
Fishing for Dana Angling Club
THIS STORY WAS WRITTEN BY THE BALBOA ANGLING CLUB
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