Bye Pass sails away with 60th FirstRock Sir Henry Morgan marlin tourney
PORT ANTONIO, Portland — Boat Bye Pass copped the 60th FirstRock Sir Henry Morgan Anglin Association Port Antonio International Marlin Tournament which ended at the Ole Marina here on Saturday.
Angler Mark Myers released all six marlin caught. A total of 14 marlin were released over the three days.
Bye Pass’s release of their six marlin were done over two days as they did not fish on Thursday’s opening day. Two were caught on Friday and four on Saturday.
Keepin It Jiggy released four marlin — two on Friday and two on Saturday — as their female angler Paulette Tai Chun and Stephen Silvera released two each.
Other releases of one each came by way of defending champion Integrity, 2 Contankerous, Fair Prospect and Diana.
Sable-Joy McLaren, FirstRock Group marketing manager, was pleased with the tournament.
“We are not strangers to the tournament as we did the spring tournament and we have a long-standing relationship, and we don’t see this stopping soon. It was a good tournament and there is a strong relationship between Sir Henry Morgan Anglin Association and FirstRock.
“It is good that the tournament is back after COVID — which gave them a big hit — and having 15 boats and 14 releases is very good. It”s about supporting marine life and protecting the environment in a safe way, and we will be around to support it again,” she said.
The top female angler was Tai Chun from Keepin It Jiggy, while the top male was Myers from Bye Pass.
Myers paid tribute to his boat captain and recounted some of the highlights of the fishing expedition.
“I must give credit to my Captain Andrew Richards who is responsible for me catching so many marlin. He is the best in the business and put me on to seven fish. [The] first three [were] on the Friday, which were back to back with five-minute intervals in-between — I thought he was going to kill me! And, unfortunately, we lost the third one.
“On Saturday we got four more, which is overwhelming but they were more evenly spaced out so I was able to rest in-between. It was a fantastic two days of tournament as I was not able to make it for the first day,” he said.
Earlier in the week Nature Boy, with Captain Andrew Peat, took the 39th local Port Antonio Canoe Tournament which got underway on Tuesday morning with 51 local fishermen.
Peat and his team landed two marlin — one at 119.8 pounds and another weighing in 181 pounds.
Fifteen-year-old Captain Johnay Donald (149-pound marlin) for second on Sea Pine.
Donald’s team from St Mary got lost at sea and ended up in St Thomas where they ran out of fuel, and that’s when they realised they had passed Portland.
Notwithstanding, the young Donald was elated in landing a marlin.
“I enjoy fishing and I fish with my father Easton. It is good that I caught this marlin,” he said smiling.