Botin Saba’s crewmembers and the Marpac Bud Girls pose with the winning marlin that weighed 140.3 pounds during the Saipan Fishermen’s Association 39th Saipan International Fishing Tournament on Sunday at Smiling Cove Marina.
BOTIN Saba returned in the nick of time with the day’s heaviest catch — a marlin weighing at 140.3 pounds, which won the grand prize in the two-day 39th Saipan International Fishing Tournament held over the weekend at the Smiling Cove Marina.
On Sunday, at around 2:30 p.m., the crew of Islas Marianas reeled in a marlin weighing 127.2 pounds and seemed to have the grand prize in the palm of their hands.
However, at around 4:30 p.m., they were dethroned by Emmanuel, whose crew hauled in a marlin weighing 130.2 pounds.
An hour later, Captain Paul Roberto and son James returned on their boat Botin Saba with a marlin weighing 140.3 pounds to take the crown.
“You know those fisherman stories — we just went out there in the ocean and caught it,” said James Roberto, adding that they caught the marlin between 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. and fought with it for around 20 minutes before the fish could be reeled in.
He said they continued to fish until the time limit of 6 p.m. “Even with a big fish on our boat, we kept going until the last minute. You never know. You might catch a bigger one on your way back.”
Botin Saba struggled during day 1 of the tournament.
“We actually lost a big one yesterday,” James Roberto said. “We tried to catch it again but couldn’t so when we went back out, we told ourselves that we needed to catch a big one. Day 1 was challenging and after losing the big catch we were down,” he added.
He has been fishing for almost 20 years now and he and the rest of the Botin Saba crew have topped several events, the last of which was six years ago. This was the first time they won the grand prize in a tournament.
In second place is the current record holder of 945 pounds, Emmanuel and its captain Michael James from Guam.
It was on their way back when they caught a marlin weighing 130.2 pounds, which was brought in at around 4:30 p.m.
“It’s always nice to catch fish when you’re in a tournament,” Michael James said. “We were just praying to the Lord to help us catch a fish and we caught one on the way in. It’s the good Lord — I give Him all the credit.”
The fish was caught about 3-5 miles out of the lagoon. Aside from the marlin, the crew also caught some wahoos and tunas.
Michael James has been participating in the annual event since 2002. “The Saipan derby is one of the most prestigious derbies in this region. That’s why we Guam people would go out of our way to join this. It’s really a blessing,” he added.
He was with angler George Arriola, who was also with him when they caught the record holder fish, and his nephew Christian Camacho.
According to Saipan Fishermen’s Association Solicitation Chairman Curtis Dancoe, there were 91 registered participants including crews from Japan, Palau, and Guam. Eight marlins were brought in during the two-day event.
More results will be featured in Variety’s next edition.
