This weekend Majuro will be the focus of the annual two-day fishing bash — both anglers and bottom fishermen — starting on the Fishermen’s Day national holiday Friday.
Miss Urok Moritha Nena Milne and Miss Billfish Kathleen deBrum will be on hand to welcome fishermen during the weigh ins at dockside both days.
Majuro Urok Club’s two-day fishing finale this weekend will be an exciting battle of top teams for an outboard engine and roundtrip tickets for two on Nauru Airlines and Air Marshall Islands. The 25hp Yamaha outboard will be presented to the team that catches the biggest fish of the year. The record is held by Team Boken Kibed for a 32.94lb jekro.
Over 30 fishing boats are expected to compete for over $10,000 in cash and in-kind prizes on offer for the two-day bottom fishing tourney, according to Urok Club President Chris deBrum.
Meanwhile, the 36th annual Marshalls Billfish Club fishing tournament gets down to serious business this Friday. The annual fishing bash continues Saturday, with weigh ins of fish both days at Uliga Dock in the late afternoons.
Aside from the bragging rights that go with catching the biggest fish, anglers are competing for $20,000 in prizes, trophies and assorted goodies. As many as 25 fishing teams are expected to participate, said MBC President Larry Hernandez, Jr.
A $10,000 prize is up for grabs for any team that catches a marlin to beat the 719lb tournament record. A carry over Catch-5 has a purse over $1,000 and the largest marlin caught during this tournament wins the team a Shimano 130 reel.
As in years past, after two days of fishing the anglers, family, friends and sponsors will enjoy a picnic Sunday at Enemanit. An awards banquet will be held Monday July 9 at DAR’s Jitak.
Going into this weekend’s 36th fishing tournament, Ronnie Reimers is in first place for the President’s Cup race with 2,428 points. He leads Wally Milne (1,490) and Melven Aliven (1,193). Rounding out the top five are Randy Jack (869) and Rudy Aliven (813).
As past tournaments have shown, a thousand point lead can disappear with a good day’s fishing by the competition.
Read more about this in the July 6, 2018 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.