For Immediate Release:
Contact Dan Jacobs, 407-571-4680; dan.jacobs@bonniercorp.com
Cabo Team Takes the IGFA Offshore World Championship Title on the
Final Day of Fishing
"We were 12 to 14 miles away from Cabo on the Pacific side, but just
one mile offshore when we spotted marlin feeding on bait on the surface,"
says team member Oscar Daccarett. "We caught two
on ballyhoo and six on live baits."
Daccarett, a Cabo San Lucas local, is no stranger to
tournament fishing and took home a second-place finish in the 2007 IGFA
Offshore World Championship. For him, being a part of the Offshore World
Championship team represents his largest accomplishment in offshore fishing, he
says. "Winning the event is a dream come true. In my mind this is the most
important tournament in the world. It's not about money; it's about fishing for
the honor of being number one in the world."
Daccarett and his fellow teammates, including team
captain
In second place, the team representing the Presidential Challenge of
Guatemala released a total of eight striped marlin and three sails to score
3,000 points. The team of Ebby Hall, Michael Huling and Gary Tarpley of
Virginia and Michael Viveiros of North Carolina got
off to a great start in the event, catching three sails and two marlin on Day
One. They went scoreless on Day Two and caught two marlin on Day Three, but it
was their Day Four performance that helped them move into second place overall.
With four marlin releases on the final day, the Presidential Challenge of
Guatemala team jumped up the leaderboard and secured
the runner-up spot. The second-place team didn't go home empty-handed. For
their impressive performance, the team won Bodo Muche sculptures, giclee prints
of the
The XLVI Torneio Annual de Peixes de Bico ICRJ-Brazil
team caught four marlin on Day Two and kept on scoring
fish for the final two days. The team of Vicente Arruda,
Gustavo Lima, Marco Antonio Oliveira Ribas, Chris Badsey and Jose Espinoza was in a tie for first place after
Day Three, but their two billfish on the final day were not enough to keep them
in the lead. They finished with 2,700 points and third place overall, just
edging out the team from
Because of their great competitive spirit and sportsmanship, the IGFA
Offshore World Championship decided to extend an invitation for the first and
second runners-up to attend and fish in the 2010 event. The Presidential
Challenge of Guatemala team and the XLVI Torneio
Annual de Peixes de Bico ICRJ-Brazil are both being invited back to compete
next year. The winning team, however, is extended a lifetime invitation to fish
in the Offshore World Championship, perhaps the most coveted prize of all.
The team of Sean Mendonca, Derrick Tardieu, Mark Vilain and Clint Quong Sing of the International Marlin Madness Game Fish
Tournament in
Rounding out the top five spots was the International Governor's Cup Team.
Anglers Jose Albanjo, Horace Barge, Alex Edwards,
Steve Hewitt, Richard Mott and Mick Thompson didn't see a fish on the first two
days of the tournament, but they made up for it on the final two days. The team
caught three striped marlin and a 32-pound dorado on
Day Three and released four more striped marlin on the final day to bring their
total to 2,132 points. In doing so, the International Governor's Cup team edged
out last year's champs by just three points. The 2008 IGFA Offshore World
Championship team of Robert Collins, Kenny Longaker,
Scott Salley, John Timura
and Taylor Walsh finished with 2,129 points for seven marlin and a 29-pound dorado.
Hernando Gonzalez of the World Championship Billfish Release Tournament
sailed away to a surmounting lead in the high-point-angler category with 3,900
points. The remaining individual angler spots, however, were extremely close.
Jose Espinoza of the XLVI Torneio Annual de Peixes de
Bico ICRJ-Brazil finished in second place with 1,800 points, followed by four
anglers with 1,500 points each. Clint Quong Sing of
the International Marlin Madness Game Fishing Tournament took third place. The
top three anglers all took home handsome prize packages, including Bodo Muche sculptures, Reactor
watches, Accurate reels,
Capt. Ivan Gomez, who runs the 45-foot Cabo express Chaos, won the
coveted top spot in the captain's division, tallying 11 striped marlin releases
for 3,100 points. Gomez proudly took the stage at the awards ceremony and
accepted his bounty of prizes, including a Reactor watch, a King Sailfish
Mounts trophy,
In the game-fish division, two 32-pound dorado sat
neck and neck atop the leaderboard. Mick Thompson of
the International Governor's Cup team caught his 32-pounder before Lucas
Kilgore of the Cantina Cup International Gamefish
Tournament caught his dorado. So Thompson walked off
with first place in the division, winning a King Sailfish trophy,
In all, it was an extremely successful event with teams from nearly 20
countries around the world fishing together in the incredible setting that is
The IGFA Offshore World Championship is all about sportsmanship, and with
that in mind, one team also took home a newly added Sportsmanship Award. The
Salmon Masters Team from
The IGFA Offshore World Championship represents the largest international
field of competitors in the world of offshore sport fishing. The 42 teams
participating in the event represent 19 countries around the globe, including
For the first time in the history of the IGFA Offshore World Championship,
the scoring is broadcasted live online. Follow all of the action by visiting www.igfaowc.com
and clicking on "real-time tournament updates."