THE TOURNAMENT

Since 1959 almost 50,000 angler-days have been spent fishing; about 136 years of angler fishing time. The 1959 and 1960 tournaments were slightly different in that there were fewer anglers (120 and 225 respectively and fewer fish caught (6 and 4 respectively). Since the 1961 tournament however team, angler (and fish) numbers have been much as they are now. The average number of teams has been 70 with an average of 5 members of each team. Of the 1791 anglers who caught fish, 71.6 % have had a single catch, 14.6% have had 2 catches while 5.6% have had three and 3.7% have had four catches.

Table 3:

**Top 10 point scoring anglers in the HIBT since 1959**
Angler	Points	Blue Marlin	Yellowfin Tuna	Spearfish
Ken Brown	4476	13	3	0
Sanbo Sakaguchi	4085	14	1	0
Rufus Spalding	3831	7	5	1
Gamo Takashi	3703	13	1	0
Ray Martinson	3253	10	2	1
Pierre Letourneur	3167	7	6	0
Steve Zuckerman	3130	7	2	0
Eddie Sicilia	3008	4	1	1
Rock Franich	2861	6	1	0
Alban Ellacott	2597	5	2	0

The top anglers of the HIBT since 1959 are an elite group.

Only 51 anglers have had more than 1 catch on any single day (2.6%). A single case is recorded of four catches by a single angler in one day. Kevin Crosbie caught three blue marlin and one yellowfin tuna on the second day of the 1970 tournament. Winston Hoshino caught three yellowfin tuna on day 5 in 1975 while back in 1962 Nort Norton caught two blue marlin and one yellowfin tuna on day 2.

HIBT Blue Marlin Catch 1959 -1994
and Blue marlin tagged and released

Since 1986 tag and release (T&R) has become a major component of the tournament with 68% of the blue marlin caught, and tagged and released. The trend is toward higher percentages as the years go by. The estimated weight of T&R fish has been significantly lower than those boated and the capture time for T&R fish is about 1/3 of non-T&R fish (See Table 4). There is the suggestion that the average weight of T&R marlin is creeping up nearer to the average weight meaning that larger fish are being tagged and released.

Table 4:

**Capture times, weight and line strength for Blue Marlin tagged and released since 1986**
Blue Marlin	All Fish Mean weight lbs	All Fish Mean capture time (mins)	Since 1986
-	-	-	Weight lbs (estimated)	Mean capture time (mins)	50 lb line test Mean capture time (mins)	80 lb line test Mean capture time (mins)
Tag and Release	225	20	158	20	20	20
Non-Tag and release	159	46	270	60	55	75

With a couple of exceptions, anglers with multiple T&R catches on different days, often in different years, appear not to have significantly lower capture times. This suggests that capture times are largely determined by the fish rather than angler or gear. Of the 51 people with multiple catches in a single day, not necessarily T&R, capture time on average is shorter for the second fish, down from 20.5 to 14.8 minutes and clearly an experience factor is present, at least in the short term.

The 1993 and 1994 Tournaments

THE TOURNAMENT

HIBT Blue Marlin Catch 1959 -1994 and Blue marlin tagged and released

HIBT Blue Marlin Catch 1959 -1994
and Blue marlin tagged and released