Marlin - like a cold, everyone is catching.....

Releases today:

California Style with 2
Scrambler with 2
Reel Time
Buck Fever with 2
La Dulce Vida
C Bandit
After Midnight
Rickdiculous
Code 3
Bad Company with 4
club Ted
One Hot Tuna
Pacific Edge
Surly Mermaid
Exta Sea
Great White
Knote for Rent
Reel Nice N Easy
Sea Dance

And the catch of the day - boated and weighed:

La Dulce Vida - 95.5 inches and 206 pounds.... Side note: they are running a Mikelson, the tournament sponsor

This update brought to you by Fishworks.....

The bite, it never left.....

There is a flurry of action going on.... Here is the complete rundown...

Hooked up:
Bad Company
Pacific Edge
Reel Nice N Easy
After Midnight - double
Mizpah
Club Ted
One Hot Tuna
Cazador
Surly Mermaid

Most Recent Released:
Bad Company - released their double


Boated:
Sharks Parlour (staying out to fish the rest of the day)
La Dulce Vida (in at high noon - how appropriate)

Making a run for the money...

And the first boated fish - La Dulce Vida... And they are on their way in...

Go to catalinatournaments.com to view the weigh station and watch it all live...

10:30 update

Brought to you by Owner....

Bad Company turned a single to a double...
Sharks Parlour
California Style
Surly Mermaid
Grand Finally
Good Karma
Cazadora

It is going great again...

10am update....

We have some news on hook ups and releases....

Hooking up most recently is

Sharks Parlour
After Midnight
Bad Company
Ridiculous

No new releases to report...

The bite is on and cracking....

9:30 update

Here is a recap of the action that is happening so far - this recap brought to you by Sea Vision...

Currently hooked up
C Bandit
Serious Business
California Style

Released
California Style
Reel Time
Scrambler
Buck Fever
La Dulce Vita

And then there were 3

Buck Fever has joined the mix with Scrambler and Reel Time - we now have 3 teams hooked up... The day is starting off right...

Here at the pier the sun is coming out, the air is warm and we are ready... Well as ready as we can be...

8am...

Reel Time is now hooked up...

California Style is on the board with a release...

Reel Time and Scrambler are hooked up...

Letting go...

California Style - they hook up and the sun comes out... The fish was not big enough, so they had to let her go... On the next one California Style and thanks for starting us off...

Scrambler is still hooked up.....

Scrambler....

One is the lonliest number... So in order to keep California Style company, team Scrambler has jumped into the mix and hooked up as well.

It is not even 8am!!! This is starting off great...

And so it begins.....

California style is starting off in style with the first hook up of the morning... Way to go, now lets see if the early bird gets the worm.... errrr, a keeper

So they creep.....

No shotgun start on day two. Just a check in and then a smooth ride out into the ocean. The air is cool, cloud cover surrounds Catalina with clear skies above Avalon..... The anglers and TC are ready for another great day of fishing...

With over 200k on the line it is go time...

Tight lines and more to come

Busy day - here is the report...

Brought to you by Berkley and powered by Sportfisherman.com

Here is the complete release report:
36 releases
C Bandit
Bad Company with 3
Gambler with 2
Sea Dancer
After Midnight with 3
Reel Nice and Easy with 2
Code 3
Good Karma (still hooked up at 5:45)
Everglades with 2
Sharks Parlour
Exta Sea
Mizpah with 2
Ahi Nui
Cazadore with 3
Surly Mermaid
Scrambler with 5
Chaser
Reely Hooked
Great White
1 Hot Tuna
Angel and the Badman
Buck Fever

Here is the boated marlin report:
10 boated - official weights
Gambler with 3 (length then weight):
1. 85 - 161
2. 87 - 188.5
3.87.5 - 191

Angel and the Badman (DNQ)
Surly Mermain (DNQ)
Salt Shaker (178.5)
End of the Line (171.5)
Puritan (166)
Ace High (DNQ)
C Bandit (DNQ)

Letting go.....

While we wait for the Salt Shaker to bring in their boated marlin here is a release update -

Both Great White and Team Bad Company have released their marlin....

Back to the docks as we get ready for Salt Shaker....

4pm update

The 4pm update brought to you by WFO sportfishing and the Blue Water CUP Series...

The action on the water has finally slowed down a bit and just like predicted by the anglers and the wizard sooth sayer, Bob Hoose of Berkley, the marlin being hooked are BIG. The marlin are in one small area and the 50 teams are all fighting for their attention....

Here is where we stand -
Gambler is now hold 3 marlin
End of the line has 1
C-Bandit has 1
Ace High with 1
Salt Shaker with 1 - they should be in first.

The following teams have moved on from their marlin...
Mispah has released
Great White released

The following are currently hooked up....

Angel and the Bad Man - still keeping up the good fight with a double
Buck Fever
Mispah
Bad Company

Boating even more

Salt Shaker has boated a marlin and last years Bisbee's Black and Blue winners, Angel and the Badman, have hooked up...

Very busy day on the water....

Holding even more

If we are in the land of Bizarro then Uno would only work if you held onto more and more cards. It seems like Gambler is in Bizarro world - they have boated their 3rd fish... I get it, you have to know when to hold'em, but 3... That is amazing work by an amazing team..

Gambler - holding again

The Gambler has boated another marlin...

Scrambler is doubled up

Many are compairing the bite today to Mexico...

Update - 2 let go

It's so hard to let go in a kill tournament but when the marlin are too small you have too. Both Chaser and Scrambler let go of their marlin in an effort to catch a much larger marlin... The money is big, the bite is on and the pier is loaded with on lookers and we wait for the Surley Mermaid to come in with their boated marlin....

Tight lines and more to come..

We are working on a record...

New update brought to you by the Bisbee's Black and Blue...

Scrambler released one of a double hook up
Cazador has released their marlin as well

The Surley Mermaid is due in aroudn 1:15.... More to come...

First marlin weighed

Puritan brought their marlin in - 85 inches, 166 pounds!!

Three more marlin are boated currently...

Busy day on the water

Playing for keeps....

We have two more teams that are playing for keeps...
C-Bandit has boated their fish
Surley Mermaid has boated thier fish and still fighting their second hook up
That is 4 fish boated so far today...

All the teams below have released their marlin -

Reel Nice N East
Mispha
Good Karma
Cazador
Gambler
Ahinui

More action, more hook ups

Three more hooked up and the action keeps going strong...

Gambler
End of the Line
Cazador

The update brought to you by Sportfisherman.com

Update brought to you by Lets Talk Hook Up

New hooks include:
Mizpha
Chaser

Lost off the hook:
C-Dance (lost)

Letting go (release):
Exta Sea

Update - brought to you by Sea Vision

New to the hook up are....

Surley Mermaid on a double (run by two fine ladies)
Reel Nice N Easy
Exta Sea

A ton of marlin are biting and two have been boated (Gambler and Puritan)

Update - brought to you by Owner

And the new hooks of up the minute are -

Salt Shaker
C-Bandit
Ahinui
Good Karma

Puritan is on their way in with a marlin... They should be into the docks by high noon...

Update brought to you by AFTCO

The releases including...

Reel Nice N Easy
Code 3
Everglades
Good Karma
Bad Company

The most recent hook ups...

C-Bandit
Warrior
Sharks Parlour

Boated marlin coming in

Puritan
Gambler

Gambler - knowing when to hold'em...

Gambler - boated. First marlin boated.

Reel Nice N' Easy let theirs go...

5 marlin are hanging on hooks...

This is getting good, really good..

A couple of hooks, a release and a loss

Gambler lost one of their 2 but still have one on...

After Midnight released their marlin

And new to the hook ups since the last update are -

Puritan XI
Reel Nice N' Easy
Bad Company

This update brought to you by EPYC - Pacific Provider

Update - brought to you by Owner

New hook ups to report -

Everglades and Code 3 are hooked up and fighting....

Still hooked -

After Midnight
C-Bandit
Good Karma
Gambler - on a double.....

You can hear the Bring It On cheerleaders now: ACT - ION!!!

The action is hot my friends and competition is fierce

Update brought to you by Kaenon

Gambler just hooked up a double....

Good Karma (last years defending champions) just hooked up as well...

Just like the last two tournaments, the bite is on and the action is exciting..

Update - Brought to you by Dechutes Brewery

C-Bandit is hooked up along with After Midnight.... The air is warmer and the bite is on! That written, we are still waiting for the, or any, big one...

Update: brought to you by Berkley and java from Bob Hoose

The Gambler and Bad Company have renewed their battle on the Pacific... Both have released their marlin...

After Midnight has also hooked up (a classic contender in all of the Catalina Tournaments).

More catches and one release

C-Bandit hooked up and quickly released...

Gambler, Bad Company and C-Dancer are still hooked up (is anyone fighting a big one??)

Game on for the Mikelson Catalina Classic....

Hooking up early...

The morning bite is on.... Bad Company and C-Dancer are both hooked up. The question remains, is the marlin big enough for the scale?????

Day 1: shotgun start

There is a cloud cover over the island. Unlike the last 2 tournaments, the weather is cool and the water temperature is down in the hi 60's.

After an fun day checking in; including the casting contest, chipping contest and a reeling contest. The anglers are warmed up for some excellent fishing..

The Mikelson Catalina Classic is "The Show" - this is the BIG money tournament on Catalina. These anglers are hunting for 250k in cold hard cash....... It all comes down to the biggest marlin, it is that simple...

And they are off...

Still time to sign up...

The catch has been hot, hot, hot... You can still sign up for the Catalina Classic - the richest marlin tournament at Catalina.

Last year Good Karma won over 340k - you could be next.....


Taking place on Catalina Island, the Mikelson Catalina Classic Marlin Tournament celebrates its 16th anniversary this year as Southern California's largest billfish tournament. Presented by Mikelson Yachts, the 2008 event will see 100 teams with 600 anglers competing for more than $500,000 in cash and prizes.We start the Tournament with our Sunday afternoon kick-off party at the Descanso Beach Club. As always, team members, family and friends are invited.

Our carnival-type atmosphere features games, product booths, food and entertainment. After check-in teams are welcome to participate in games where $4000 in cash awards can be captured by lucky winners. Our most popular contest is the Casting Competition where points are awarded for casting accuracy as each team's chosen angler casts into a water target. We'll also see who can reel in a "marlin" the fastest in the "Fight the Fish" competition where anglers are seated in a top-of-the-line Pompanette fighting chair and reel a (Classic) Marlin Sled around a series of obstacles. If you have a golfer on board, you'll have the opportunity to "chip" for a $1,000 cash prize. And lastly, our new Berkley knot tying competition will match the best knot tiers with the strongest knot winning another grand. Monday and Tuesday are fishing days filled with non-stop action. Fishing goes from early morning into the afternoon with hourly radio updates and on-the-air prize drawings for tournament teams. The weigh station on the green Pleasure Pier acts as our tournament headquarters where spectators watch as the day's catch reports arrive and leader boards are updated.The tournament format has been designed to bring to the scales only the largest marlin.

Every team is automatically entered in our Release Division where we encourage catch and release of marlin by enforcing a minimum qualifying weight and awarding extremely valuable prizes. Past years have seen up to $25,000 in prizes awarded to teams for released marlin.

In all, a fun time is had by both our tournament participants and spectators. We'll look forward to seeing you in Avalon!