ANTIGUANICE YACHTING INSIDER NEWSLETTER

John Watt and Eli Fuller organised the first ever jugging and chunking tournament on Saturday, September 27, 2014.  The tournament was based at Waterfront Bar and Grill in Hodges Bay, Antigua.

Photo by Andre Philip.

The rules of the tournament were simple:

• Each boat could start fishing at sunrise and had to finish in time to be back at Waterfront Bar and Grill by 4:00 pm.
• The fishing area was limited to two FADs and coordinates were given on Friday evening to all registered entrants.
• Registration fee was EC $250.
• A complete crew list must had to be given to Eli via email before leaving port.
• Only jigging and chunking were permitted.  Live or cut bait could be used but bait had to be caught only by jigging. All fishing had to be done with rod and reel with lines no more than 80 lb test.
• No fish under 10 lbs was counted.
• There were two prizes - most poundage and largest tuna.
• Fish belonged to the boats and could be sold at Waterfront if desired.
• A dock was made available for fish and crew drop off at Waterfront.
• Some smaller vessels were permitted to stay within the small marina but others were required to anchor offshore.
• A dinghy shuttled people to and from their vessels.
• Vessels had to be properly licensed and have sufficient safety equipment.
• VHF channel 06 was used for this tournament.

Music, food and drinks were available at very reasonable prices at Waterfront Bar and Grill.

Winning yellow fin tuna caught by Stuart Meyer weighing in at 115 lbs.  Photo by Eli Fuller.

When the lines came out and the fish were weighed, the winning fish weighed in at 115 pounds!  It was a yellow fin tuna caught by Stuart Meyer and won the prize in both categories - largest tuna and most poundage!  The second largest fish was caught by Eli Fuller's team and weighed in at only one pound less - 114 lbs.

A great time was had by all and there will most certainly be a repeat of this exceptionally fun tournament sometime in the future.

Click here to view the event on Facebook. Click here to watch a video by participant George Steele, who captured a young angler reeling in a Mahi.