TEAM TROPPO 1ST PLACE "FISH TO THE MAX"

FISH TO THE MAX FEBRUARY 2023 TOURNAMENT REPORT

SIGFA’s most recent FTTM (6) monthly tournament was held on Saturday the 4th of February. Once again it was a tremendous success. Eight boats set out from SIGFA Base in the early hours to be greeted by moderate choppy seas and an overcast day. Perfect fishing conditions for teams looking to land a bonanza of pelagic species. Some teams worked their inshore marks early, while others went directly to their offshore marks looking for YFT and marlin. Those teams who decided to troll their Spaniard marks strait away struck early. Dury fishing from Fiaui struck first, landing a whopper of about 18kg, while Selesetina and Pure Indulgence were landing multiple big fish in 35m. Meanwhile, Shirley B, Roadie and Amana were trolling the 2000m line on the hunt for the BIG fish. It wasn’t long before Dennis fishing with Capt Bruce aboard Shirley B west of Apia “Dickies” FAD landed a solid yellowfin tuna of around 45kg. The Game was ON! Not long after, junior angler Benjamin, fishing with Capt Scott and Mikey aboard Roadie landed a bigger YFT going around 50kg. It was now around 11am and the tide had changed so Team Troppo decided to hit the 3000m line and try for a marlin. Capt Henry and Team Selesetina were still landing Spaniards at a steady pace when the 12pm Roundup was called and Team Troppo announced Randy had tagged and released a feisty blue marlin. The cat was now amongst the pigeons. The afternoon bite was not quite as strong as the morning. Then, all of a sudden Amana had landed a solid mahi mahi and Shirley B another solid YFT. At the 3pm Roundup, Selesetina proclaimed they had landed 15 big Spaniards up to 20kg. Whoa, this was going to be CLOSE! Even though Team Troppo had earned big points by releasing a marlin, they knew that they need more points quickly to ensure success. So with just a couple of hours to go they bolted back to their inshore marks as Team Selestina and the other teams continued to land more fish.

1st Place Team Troppo

2nd Place Team Selesetina

3rd Place Team Rodie

4th Place Team Shirley B

5th Place Team Amana

Champion Angler – Randy Sizemore - Team Troppo

Champion Junior Angler – Benjamin Betham - Team Roadie

Biggest Fish Weighed – Benjamin Betham – Yellowfin Tuna 50.6kg – Team Rodie

T&R – Randy Sizemore – Blue Marlin – Team Troppo

A big Thank You goes out to both Irene and Olivia for manning the Weigh Station because Brook was fishing for a change.

Once again, many thanks to this month’s tournament sponsors Signs Studio and Delicious Cakes and as always, Congratulations to all the Winning Teams.

SIGFA's next FTTM Open Tournament is the “Troppo Terrific Tuna Tournament” sponsored by Troppo Fishing Adventures Samoa. It is scheduled to be held on Saturday the 4th of March.