Reeling In

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Reeling In

69th Annual TIFT gets underway

BY MIKE GONZALEZ, The Brownsville Herald

August 3, 2007 - 11:14PM

A blue marlin hangs on the docks after it was measured and weight during the Texas International Fishing Tournament Friday evening at Port Isabel. The blue marlin was caught by Craig Hale and weight 381 pounds and was 102 1/8 inches long.

PORT ISABEL — Craig Hale had a heck of a day.

The Victoria resident is one of the many anglers participating in the 69th Annual Texas International Fishing Tournament and it turned out his name was above all others in the first full day of the fishing contest.

The fisherman, aboard the Mechanical Man based out of Port O’Conner, brought in the biggest fish un-officially at 102 1/8 inches, 381-pound blue marlin with captain Ben Hilker by his side. Hale caught it at approximately 10:45 a.m. after a 45-minute fight using an artificial lure. The angler of about 20 years of experience said it was the most challenging fish he’s ever had to deal with.

“It’s awesome. It’s my first blue marlin,†Hale said. “It jumped out of the water three times while I was fighting it.â€

Hale added, once the large fish jumped the first time, he and his crew knew it was a keeper.

“It was a good fight,†Hale said. “I was tired afterwards.â€

All fish caught and brought to the dock at Southpoint Marina on Friday and today are considered unof-ficial until Sunday morning when the top anglers are awarded in a presentation at the SPI Convention Centre. Points are accumulated on the basis of the two days of fishing.

First time TIFT participant Tommy Brown arrived with less than an hour remaining until the 8 p.m. dock time and brought in a yellow fin tuna that measured at 58½ inches, 135 pounds, which proved to be the heaviest in the tuna division. The 21-year-old came in dripping with sweat and somewhat exhausted due to the long day, but it was all worthwhile for the Schulenburg resident.

“It was very exciting,†Brown said. “It was hard as heck.â€

Ryan Maza caught the largest shark measured at 72½ inches, 101.5 pounds while the largest bay fish was a 28-inch, 8.9 pound red fish reeled in by Leonel Teran, who was riding The Salty Dog.

Port Mansfield resident Charles Buchen put his name on the board with a 73-inch, 73.51-pound white marlin. No barracuda was caught, which is unusual for the first day of TIFT tournament.

Tournament director Betty Wells confirmed this year’s TIFT had 1,578 registrants and 526 boats, both of which are new tournament records.

“Every year we hope for a better turn out and we did this year,†Wells said. “We had great weather and great fishing, and we’re looking forward to it (today).â€

[crazy_cajun02]

 

  wow that is impressive.  300+ lb  bluesuit in 45 minutes.  That can only be due to complete team work between captain, angler, and crew.  A lot of boat work went in to that fight.  I wonder how green the fish was when leadered it?  I hate they had to kill it with the shortage of blues migrating through the gulf canyons.  Anyone know if they have started the circle hook only for bill-fish in the gulf?  I know the gulf council was considering it a while back.