By Bryan Rose

The 16th Annual Catalina Classic kicks off today, Monday September 22 as a field of fifty boats leave Avalon Harbor on Catalina Island for the first of two scheduled fishing days. It is the third and final stop of the California Billfish Series held in three concurrent weeks on Catalina and is the culmination of all the events. The tournament has the highest number of participants of all three runs and is one of the biggest marlin tournaments on the Pacific Ocean each year.

Boats and crews have prepared long and hard through pre-fishing days and the previous two tournaments so that they can bring their best chances into this prestigious event. A fun-filled and active pre-tournament party was held at the Descanso Beach Club on Sunday and the crews were already competing as they fired casts in an accuracy contest, cranked on a weighted sled in a timed stand-up fishing trial, tied knots and had them tested in a high tech machine provided by Berkley and even pitched golf balls to see who could accumulate the most points.

As Monday morning dawns these same crews will be on the water and running hard as the tournament begins with an action packed shotgun start and over fifty boats pushing the throttles to the pins, setting course to the area that they believe to hold the largest striped marlin in the area. The boats will be scored in both release points and the weight of the largest billfish that they can muster. While the release division offers a chance for fish that are under the 84-inch and 165-pound minimum to be turned loose and conservation practiced but the spotlight will be shining on Avalon’s Green Pier where the largest fish will be weighed on the historic Avalon Tuna Club’s scale.

Sportfishermen.com will be providing full coverage from both the weigh station and on the water through their Big Game Fishing Forum as well as here on Catalinatournaments.com. Real time updates will be offered alongside photo and video coverage and live streaming webcam and VHF radio feed of the tournament radio channel. Tournament statistics will be updated as they happen and full results will be published each day.

There are hundreds of thousands of money on the line and it is the last chance for west coast billfishermen to score a large tournament purse before most head south to Mexico and beyond for more tournaments and incredible striped marlin fishing. Thus far in the past two weeks there have been over 80 striped marlin released in five days of fishing and with action that outpaces the norm for the southern California coast the Catalina Classic is poised to be an incredible event. If for some reason the boats are unable to find a weighable fish there will be an additional day of fishing offered on Wednesday. If that extra overtime day fails to find a winning striped marlin then much of the money will be rolled over into next year’s event though all of the participants will be hoping to get on the board Monday and win the tournament during regulation time.