November tournament Phuket Thailand

1

Guys, get in while you can it is going to be a lot of fun !!!

2007 Chalong Bay Fishing Tournament
14.-17. Nov. at Jimmy`s Ligth House

In an effort to showcase individual team skills, the rules of the 2007 „Chalong Bay Fishing Tournament“ have been designed to allow teams to fish this event as they would while fun fishing.
The Tournament
The 2007 “ Chalong Bay Fishing Tournament „ is a three-day team fishing event with top team honors going to the the team that tallies the most points per kilo during the tournament and pays down to the third place (first, second and third place ) The tournament will also award prizes to the teams that catch the largest fish (by weight) in each of the eligible species.
A release trophy will also be awarded to the team releasing the most billfish.

Eligible Species
Black Marlin

Sailfish

Wahoo

Dorado

Yellowfin Tuna

King Mackeral

Trevally

Barracuda

Rainbow Runner

Tuna

Cobia

Scoring

Three points per kilo for a weighed and verified Marlin min. 50 k.g.

Three points per kilo for a weighed and verified Sailfish min. 25 k.g.

Two points per kilo for weighed Wahoo, Dorado, Yellofin Tuna,

King Mackerel, Trevally, Barracuda, Rainbow runners, Cobia,
no min. weight
One point per kilo for all otherTuna species weighed no min. weight.

Released Marlin 150 Points

Released Sailfish 75 Points

Weighed Billfish under min. Weight only 1 Point per kg. Please do not kill juvenile Billfish

Release Rules

Especially to recognize the value and the beauty of all Billfish, angler have the option of „Catch and Release“.
Released Billfish will be credited 75 points for Sailfish and 150 points for Marlin. (for Example: If you catch a Sailfish under 25 .k.g., or a Marlin under 50 k.g.), or if you do not wish to kill any Billfish, take a foto in close range (1 to 3 meters) with the camera provided, and then release the fish unharmed.

PLEASE DO NOT BRING BACK JUVENILE BILLFISH, YOU WILL GET ONLY 1 POINT IF UNDER MINIMUM WEIGHT. PLEASE „CATCH AND RELEASE“. DO NOT USE GAFF ON A BILLFISH UNLESS YOU ARE SURE THAT YOU WISH TO KILL IT.

Catch Reports

All billfish hook-ups, releases and lost fish shoud be reported to the next tournament boat in reach of your radio, along with the name of the boat, the team and the fish species.
Teams are requested to seperate the haviest fish of all eligible species for Individual weigh -in ,if they belive a fish is eligible for a Species Trophy. The catch of any Lady Angler, and the catch for any Junior Angler must be bagged seperately, and the Weighmaster notified. All other „ team fish „ may be bagged and weighed „en masse „. Team Capitans should note the Angler responsible for “Heaviest fish “ of a species on a Daily Catch Report ,and also note the fish credited to Lady or Junior anglers. In the event of a tie of any Species trophy , the fish, first weighed in will win.

Sharks do not count in this competition and should not be harmed.

Rules

IGFA Rules apply in this tournament
It is the responsibility of one team or crew member to now, understand and abide by IGFA Rules during the competition.

LINE

130-pound test maximum.

Rods

Unlimited in use or numbers

Teasers

Unlimited in use or numbers

Baits

Live bait, dead bait, lures and any combination thereof are permited in this tournament.

Daily Fishing Hours

All teams are free to start from Chanlong Bay at 8:00 am on all 3 days of the competition. 15. 16. 17. of november 2007.
The weigh station will be open from 5:30 pm on the 15. and 16. Nov.
On the 17. Nov. the weigh station will be open from 4:30 pm
Any team that not docks at the pier by 7:00pm on the 15. and 16. And at 6:00 pm on the 17. will be not weighed in.
A Tournament Marshall will be at the pontoon from 5:00 pm to verify the times.
Your weighed in time at the scales after 7:00 pm, must have had,arrival time verifyed by the Marshall at the pier. Team Captains please note that the time tickets are in the Competition Packs.
Some of the fish caught on all 3 days will be donated to a communal BBQ. The Organisers also reserve the right to sell all of the catch to raise funds for the tournament participants.
Hint-if you want free free drinks, catch lots of fish !

Teams Rules

Maximum number of anglers in a team is 4.
All fish must be caught by rod and line, and a team member must fight the fish to the boat.
„Fair fishing“ Practices are expected from all competitors.
Cheating will lead to disqualification.

All boats are requested to pay attention to Dive Charters operations especially in the waters around Racha Yai and Racha Noi Island. (Divers are not an eligible species and will not be weighed.)

Trophys
Team most Billfish (Catch&Release)

Team most Points Overall

  1. Runner Up
  2. Runner Up

Top Team Day 1
Top Team Day 2
Top Team Day 3

Top Boat Overall

  1. Runner up
  2. Runner Up

Junior Angler (antil 14 Years)
Lady Angler
Heaviest Fish of all 11 Eligible Species

Specials
We have tried to create a level playing field for all competitors, independent of boat size or speed. In that, Phi Phi Island, Hin Bida, Shark Point, Ko Ha, Ko Rok, Hin Deng and the Similan Islands are out of bounds for all boats.

All boats registrered do so at their own risk,by registering as an angler in the tournament, the angler holds harmless the tournament commitee, tournament judges, organizers, sponsors, donors, and all other persons connected directly or indirectly with the operation of the tournament from any liability for libel, slander, loss, damage, negligence, harm,injury or death suffered by any participant,entrant, sport fisherman, their companions, boat captains, crew members, family, vessels and equipment with occur during or in conjunction with the tournament.

Tournament Entry Fee

Registration Fee (per Team) 7000.- THB app. 200 U$

Calcatta for 3 Fishing Days 3000.- TBH Free participation

Daily Jackpot Team Most Points of the Day

Also Haviest Wahoo, Dorado and Barracuda.

Example. 10 Teams 10000.- THB

Team Most Points 7000.- THB

Haviest Wahoo, Dorado and Barracuda each 1000.- THB

WE HOPE THAT YOU WILL ALL HAVE HEAPS OF FISH AND LOTS OF FUN !

Good Luck and tight lines to you all

The Tournament Committee

Info :
uweschittek@yahoo.com
w3er@mac.com

[:)] Tight Lines [:)]
[:)] Dan McGatha [:)]

2

[8D][8D][8D]

chan

3

Bro,
Wrong thread. Should be inserted under Tournaments!

RainbowRunner

Tightlines and screaming reels

4

Sorry about that guys. I just wanted to let you guys know about this fun tournament. This info can be deleted any time.

[:)] Tight Lines [:)]
[:)] Dan McGatha [:)]

5

Dan, this is going to sound highly critical. It’s not aimed at you. It’s aimed at the tournament organisers. I know you enjoy your fishing and only want to share that with everyone here.

As a part time charter skipper for over 10 years I have fished many tournaments and even been fortunate to win one. I have never killed a billfish during any of these tournaments. There simply is no need or excuse for it.

I can’t believe in this enlightened day and age that ANY tournament encourages killing of ANY billfish. The tournament organisers state "Especially to recognize the value and the beauty of all Billfish, anglers have the option of "Catch and Release“. The points system outlined means any sailfish over 25kg’s will be killed. Any Marlin over 50 kg’s will be killed. At this weight they earn more points dead than released, which is silly. When there’s prize money involved, this pretty much gaurantees these qualifying fish will be killed. Why? Why not have lower points for fish weighed in so that anglers are actually encouraged to release all billfish, rather then rewarded for killing them? It’s easy to verify a release with a photograph or an observer system.

Sailfish are Phuket’s main tourist sportfishing attraction and whilst a Marlin over 50kg’s isn’t common in Phuket, Sailfish over 25kg’s certainly are. This could mean lots of sailfish being killed. The tournament organisers ask “PLEASE DO NOT BRING BACK JUVENILE BILLFISH”. Since when has a 50kg Marlin been mature? At around 2 years old, a 50 kg Marlin will have another 4 years of growing and another 100 kg or so to grow before it can breed for the first time. Marlin of this size are juvenile fish!

The tournament organisers are killing Phukets sportfishing future.

I fished a Phuket tournament once and was disgusted at the numbers of other fish, many of them very small, weighed in and presumably then sold. I note the same applies here with all fish being sold by the tournament organisers. I also note there is no minimum weight for Wahoo, Tuna, Mackerel, Trevally, Barracuda, Cobia, Rainbow Runners or any other fish. They all count, any size, ensuring every non billfish species of any size will be killed.

Please do let us know how many sailfish end up dead and how many other undersized fish are weighed in during this three day “fun” tournament. Shame on the organisers! You can still have a fun tournament without encouraging wholesale slaughter, especially in a place like Phuket!!!

6

Marlin,
My friend like you said and I know your statement was not at me as we are all friends here. I think it is up to the guys fishing to do what is right. Today I bought a new boat just to fish here and I hope many of the MFN guys will fish with me soon. As a sport fisherman you know there is no un-necessary killing of ANY billfish but sometimes when tournaments are put together in the good spirit of fishing things get a little confused… At best as you well know… I think it is because this is not an IGFA tournament and the guys are just trying to get people to fish and have overlooked some semantics and not worded things quite right. I would suspect that in the future things and rules will get much better, however I also think it is up to us as the sport fisherman to let these people know… IE Use the link to tell them. I just passed the info along… I also think you may have miss read something in there. Here is a good example…PLEASE DO NOT BRING BACK JUVENILE BILLFISH, YOU WILL GET ONLY 1 POINT IF UNDER MINIMUM WEIGHT. PLEASE „CATCH AND RELEASE“. DO NOT USE GAFF ON A BILLFISH UNLESS YOU ARE SURE THAT YOU WISH TO KILL IT. I do understand what you are saying but the guys I know and the boats I know only catch and release unless there is no other option. As for me I will not target bill fish in this tournament because I think I can do better with the others… Wahoo. KM, GT …ect. I will not kill a billfish if I can help it. Anyway Bro I think it will be a Great tournament and I know “us real fishermen” will do things right and conserve our future fishing… I would like to say Thanks for the in put and I dosee what you are talking about. I also hope we can fish together someday soon.

[:)] Tight Lines [:)]
[:)] Dan McGatha [:)]

7

Dan, thank you for taking my post in the manner it was intended. At least one boat will be doing the right thing!

There’s a lot to be said for making the rules simple in a tournament. Had it been my tournament it would have said please do not bring back ANY billfish, you will only get one point per kilo regardless of how big it is…etc. The fact remains that the organisers have set a 25 kg breakpoint for sailfish. Below this weight, release is worth more points. Above this weight, kill is worth more points. 75 points for a sailfish release (any weight) would be simpler. The organisers could simply remove the 25 kg weight and have a great release all tournament.

I think it’s wrong to put the onus of responsibility entirely on the angler, especially when there is prize money at stake. The tournament organisers should set the example and not encourage any billfish to be killed. It would be sad indeed if the tournament was won because 1 boat weighed in a 30 kg sailfish to claim the 90 points instead of taking the 75 points for a release.

Anyway, enough ranting. We’re all fishermen! Have a great tournament and I hope you do well with lots of releases! One small tip if you’re new to tournaments. Fish hard right to the end. The radio will be buzzing with catch reports and it’s tough to keep tabs on which boats are catching what. It can often sound like all the other boats are catching lots and you are not. When the dust settles at the end of the day, there will be fewer fish on the winning boat that you thought from listening to the radio.

8

Marlin, yes it is so about the radio I have heard it all before but I am tuned into what we will be doing and giving our reports. I hope when the dust settles we will be in with a winning catch as well is video of any Billfish “Team Reel Action” catches and releases un-harmed. Like I said Billfish are low on my list but if we come across one that will take what we present to them we will surely video the catch and release. I prefer video because I can get the fish back in the water for a rest. Myself, I do not like to photo because the fish is out of the water to long for me.

[:)] Tight Lines [:)]
[:)] Dan McGatha [:)]