Find out about the biggest billfish tournament in the world

The Bahamas Billfish Championship or BBC, entering its 35th year, is the oldest existing billfish tournament series in the world. The original tournament started in 1968 when a group of local anglers began competing for sport, hoping to earn the honorary title as Bahamian Champion. In 1973, this competition became formalized with rules and regulations and was officially named “The Bahamas Billfish Championship.” Once the tournament was up and running it continued to evolve, becoming more structured and building more credibility with each event. Today, the Bahamas Billfish Championship holds an important place in international tournament series.

The Bahamas Marine Council was created in 1981 for the purpose of shaping and administering the sport of boating in the Bahamas, while also increasing the amount of tourism in the community. In an interview with Al Behrendt, Tournament Director of the BBC, he describes the progress that has been made with the championship over the years, stating, “The Bahamas Billfish Championship was originally a very disorganized group of about sixteen anglers that fished in the tournaments at Cat Cay, Bimini Big Game Club, Summer Blue Marlin Tournament, Chub Cay, and Walker’s Cay. That was a casual group and was a title but not much more. We felt this was an opportunity to make the championship, give it a higher profile and also get it to where it had a uniform set of rules, entry fees, and that sort of thing. So that is what we started out to do in 1981and we’ve been working at it ever since and we’ve seen steady growth” billfishingtimes.com

The council has contributed to the championship’s overwhelming success, with growing public interest and extensive media coverage, the BBC has definitely made its mark in the wonderful world of sports fishing. Not only have they gained the confidence of the real fishermen, but they have also won the hearts of billfish conversationalists. By increasing the minimum lengths for billfish in competition and administering penalty points for those that do not meet these requirements; they have encouraged competitors to throw more billfish back into the ocean. Last year’s competition in 2007 recorded a total of 449 Billfish that were caught, with 444 of them released back into the water. The council supports the Billfish organizations even further by awarding scholarships to Marine Biology students, assisting in the continuing efforts in billfish research.

As mentioned earlier, the tournament is organized and follows specific rules including; minimum lengths for the fish, line class, hours of operation and fees. You may compete in all of the tournaments if you pay the necessary registration fees, with an accumulative scoring system, your final total will include all points acquired from each of the tournaments you have participated in. The BBC runs from the middle of April to the end of June, consisting of as many as 6 tournaments and stretching from Bimini all the way to Great Exuma. This year’s series contains 5 tournaments. For further details about the tournament rules, regulations, or general information visit the official BBC website.

2008 BBC Tournament Schedule:

Central Abaco Championship @ Treasure Cay - April 13th thru 18th
Marsh Harbour Championship - April 27th thru May 2nd
Central Abaco Championship - May 11th thru 16th
Central Abaco Championship - June 1st thru 6th
Central Abaco Championship - June 15th thru 20th

Upon entering, be sure to educate yourself with all the rules, regulations, and fees. For instance, the fees include a membership fee of $1,000 and then there is a separate fee of $1,800 for each tournament you enter. These fees include tournament giveaways, such as t-shirts and social events for up to four participants. There are also resorts with slips reserved specifically for tournament members, so call in advance to place your reservation.

It is extremely important to become familiar with the rules and regulations because this could ultimately determine whether you win the tournament or are penalized. For example, the fish must meet the minimum length requirements, if they don’t and your team brings them aboard or on the dock, you will be penalized 600 points! Another important rule to remember is, “The angler must hook, fight and bring the fish to gaff or the point of release unaided by any other person. No one other than the angler can touch the rod,” (Bahamas Billfishing, Edward Killer). This may seem simple enough, but when competing in the heat of the moment, it might be natural to want to help your fellow teammate when he is struggling to pull a 600 pound fish out of the water!

Billfish include marlin, sailfish, swordfish and spearfish and are best known for their long nose called the “bill.” They are extremely swift and powerfult, built for speed and strength, they can swim thousands of miles across the ocean for their survival when searching for food.

Blue Marlin are one of the biggest billfish, found all over the world, they can weigh well over 1,000 pounds! As shown below, they receive the highest number of points in the tournament. White Marlin are not nearly as big as the blue marlin and usually weigh no more than 50 pounds, but have been known to reach as much as 200 pounds. Sailfish have a very distinguishable dorsal fin, which they are best known for, and are the most common found species of the billfish.Spearfish can also be seen all around the world, but are not always easy to locate. They are the smallest of the billfish species.

So let’s look at the actual point system:

Each team will automatically receive 100 points for each tournament upon entry for their participation.

Once the winners have been determined, they are awarded additional bonus points:

1st Place - Highest point total + 600 BONUS POINTS

2nd Place - 2nd Highest point total + 500 BONUS POINTS

3rd Place - 3rd Highest point total + 400 BONUS POINTS

This competition is not for the weak at heart, it involves a lot of patience and endurance to succeed in catching one of these enormous billfish. Many times it is like a game of tug and war, where your opponent can weigh as much as 600 pounds or more! This is not an easy task and can usually take several hours to accomplish. By the end of the battle, the angler will usually experience great fatigue, dehydration, and overwhelming exhaustion. Having the right gear, wire, rods, and reels will obviously prove to be a great benefit for you and your team.

In 2003, angler Trey Tofner, member of Team Huzzy, demonstrated amazing perseverance and strength when he battled an 814 pound Blue Marlin for four hours. “It was the largest marlin of the 2003 Bahamas Billfish Championship, the largest marlin caught out of Boat Harbour since 2000, and the eighth largest blue marlin ever caught in the island nation"(www.floridafishandhunt.com). While it took about 4 hours for the gigantic billfish to finally keel over and die, it took another 2 hours to haul the beast aboard the boat.

Last year’s winner of the Bahamas Billfish Championship was the team “Heads Up,” with a total of 12 billfish including 10 blue marlin, 1 white marlin, and 1 sailfish. In the entire tournament series a total of 449 billfish were caught including 290 blue marlin, 103 white marlin, 1 spearfish, and 55 sailfish.

Each year the totals are getting higher, the boats are getting bigger, and the competition is getting greater. If you have the opportunity to witness or even participate in the BBC this year you are definitely in for an exciting treat, filled with experienced veterans and glorious billfish, something you don’t want to miss!

Resources:

Bahamas Billfishing, by Edward Killer

All at Sea magazine, by Carol Bareuther (August 2007)

Florida Sport Fishing magazine, by Captain Mike Genoun (Spring 2007)

BBC Begins, by John Hawley (April 2006)

www.billfishingtimes.com

www.bahamas.com