Team For Now winners of the Yellowfin Billfish Classic

This year the Old Salts have teamed up with Yellowfin to start a new Billfish series called the West Coast Triple Crown Billfish Series.  It has a guaranteed payout of $50,000 and the winner takes all!  Three events make up the series starting with the inaugural Yellowfin Billfish Classic.  The second leg is the Crosthwait Extreme Billfish Event and the third and final event is the Old Salt LOOP Tournament.

This past week was the first leg of the series … Yellowfin Billfish Classic. The event was held at Marina Jack in Sarasota right on the bay front. Tuesday night was the Captain’s Party they went over the rules and got the indicator for the photo release.  Boats left their ports anytime after noon on Wednesday and fishing started at midnight.

The weigh-in was held on Saturday (July 26th) and every boat came back with something to weigh!  The Team Haulin’ Grass stole the show with a Swordfish that weighed 71.46lbs.  The photos/videos came in and 3 teams caught bills.  One blue marlin and 4 sailfish totaled the count for bills. Team For Now took the win with the Blue!

It appears to still be anyones game to win the crown … only 3 teams on the board with points and 2 more events to go.

The final results were:

Billfish Division
1st Place:  Team  For Now with 1 Blue Marlin – 501pts
(Angler Anthony Biblehouser)

2nd Place:  Reel Screamer with 3 Sailfish – 300pts
(Anglers Mark Wodlinger & Scott Rickert)

3rd Place:  Team Ripper with 1 Sailfish – 100pts
(Angler Darren Impsen)

Funfish Division

Dolphin (Dorado / Mahi Mahi)

1st Place Reel Screamer 29.70lbs
2nd Place The Ripper 22.76 lbs

Wahoo

1st Place The Ripper 36.38 lbs
2nd Place Hooker 35.46 lbs

Tuna

1st Place For Now 19.80 lbs
2nd Place Reel Screamer 19.76 lbs

Swordfish

1st Place Haulin’ Grass 71.46 lbs