Pre Tournament Press Statement from the
Spice Island Billfish Tournament 2010

GRAND(ER) SLAM GRENADA 2010!!

Over EC$217,000 in Cash Prizes at the  41st Spice Island Billfish Tournament
Grenada, 24 - 28th January 2010

The most popular and productive fishing tournament in the Southernernern Caribbean just got even more attractive with the introduction of a record EC$100,000  (US$40,000) prize for the first person to catch a 1000 lb (known as a “Grander”) Blue Marlin at the Spice Island Billfish Tournament (SIBT), Grenada 2010! Catching a Grander is the Holy Grail of Marlin fishing around the globe – it is by no means an easy task but fish this large are well known to swim in Grenada's waters. This lucrative prize is sponsored by Rebecca Riley of “Anything on the Water” a Florida based yacht broker.   If you fall short and catch an 800 lb marlin – don’t despair! – there is also $50,000 available for the first angler to do so! - sponsored by Netherlands Insurance (Grenada). Even if you “only” break the existing tournament record of 669 lb you will still get $30,000 (so long as no one catches an even bigger one!). Since 2009 the tournament has allowed the use of 80 lb breaking strain line (previous maximum was 50lb) – this helps increase the chance of such a giant fish being landed should one be lucky enough to hook it!.

Grenada is usually associated with large catches of blue marlin, white marlin and sailfish – the capture of one or more of each of these species in a day constitutes a “Grand Slam” and Grenada is the only tournament in the region where this is regularly achieved by at least one of the participants. First boat to do so will get the Grand Slam trophy to take home.

New for 2010 the tournament has invested in web based software to help improve the accuracy and speed of results calculation as well switching to the use of digital cameras. Therefore all boats planning to enter this event must bring their own digital camera(s) with SD data cards. In the interest of conservation, most Billfish are released alive - a photograph is taken of the fish in the water before letting it swim away. Points are awarded based only on the species of billfish not the size. Only a few of the biggest fish (usually potential record breakers) are retained and weighed for points.

SIBT is also a qualifying tournament in the IGFA Offshore championship (the winner of our event is invited to fish a tournament of champions held in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico). It is also included in the recently formed Southernernern Caribbean Billfish Circuit (SCBC) which organises the tournaments of Grenada, Trinidad & Tobago (2), Barbados, St Lucia and Martinique into a championship with prizes for the overall winner based on their best 3 scores from the individual tournaments.

Grapevine feedback suggests that entries this year could reach a record high as boats from as far away as Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Lucia, Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago converge on The Grenada Yacht Club base in January. Anglers from UK and Ireland have already registered on line at www.sibtgrenada.com Call (473) 407 4688 for more information.

Gary Clifford - SIBT Committee