Bradley Johnson with second largest Mahi Mahi in IWW Mahi Tourney

The St. Maarten Sport Fishing Foundation hosted their fourth annual Island Water World Mahi tournament on Saturday at Bobby’s Ma­rina in Philipsburg. There were 16 registered fishing teams from both sides of the Friendly Island, Saba, St. Barth’s, and St. Kitts.

Fishing vessel Lorna Mae from St. Maarten, cap­tained by Clayton Joseph stole the show for the sec­ond consecutive year as they were named the Mahi Kings of 2017 after hauling in the largest Mahi Mahi, at 30.9 lbs.

The second largest Mahi Mahi went to fishing vessel Second Wind from Saba captained by Bradley Johnson with a 12.7 lbs. The third largest Mahi of the day was reeled in by fishing team Blue Crush from Saba captained by Randell ‘China’ Zaegers, weighing in at 11.9 lbs.

The winner of the Bill­fish challenge was team `Tahla’0 from St. Barths, catching and releasing one Blue Marlin for the day. Team Tahla’O will be rep­resenting the Island Water World Billfish challenge during next month’s St. Martin Billfish Tournament set to be held at Fort Louis in Marigot, June 21 to 24.

The Largest lima cat­egory received allot of at­tention also, as fishing team Tahla’O reeled in three huge yellowfins, the largest at 71.0 lbs. The Yellowfin Tuna was the largest fish caught during the competi­tion. The largest Wahoo weighed in at 56.6 lbs by fishing team Yellow Whip from St. Martin captained by Laurent Petit.

Apart from the competi­tion itself, the fishermen donated some fresh fish, which was delivered by committee members to the I-CAN foundation’s foster home, which houses 27 of our island less fortunate children. The tournament was made possible by sponsors Island Water World, SOL petro­leum Fuels, CCI, Antillean Liquors, President, Great Bay Express, Lagoonies Bar and Bobby’s Marina.

The Daily Herald.