A Black Marlin Wins JIBT

--- Eighty-six teams competed on the water off Shimoda ---

Unusual cold temperature hit Eastern Japan in the tournament time frame of July 21-24, 2016 and the sea in the area had a big mass of cold water. As a result blue marlin seemed to have swerved off the area with all strikes composed of black and stripees.

The first day was stormy, bringing only six bites but no catches. The second day the number of the strikes remained pretty much the same, but resulted in three striped and one black marlin catches. Team Core Dream lifted the black marlin, which had gotten tail-wrapped and died in the abyss in 4 hours and 25 minutes, and it brought 290.45 points to the team. Campanula III secured the temporary second position with 100 points with the tag & release of striped marlin on 30lb tackle. East One followed close with the catch of striped marlin of 52.5kg, the first marlin of the tournament, using 80 lb tackle. The last day, the bite improved to seventeen, but the fish tended to only nibble the lures, and the number of marlin that came to the boat was as little as three. Overall seven fish were caught during the 38th edition of Japan International Billfish Tournament, four of which were safely tagged and released. With the catch of black marlin of 160.3kg, Core Marlin Club climbed onto the top podium. The runner-up was Campanula III, and the 3rd was LEVANTE, both of which released one striped marlin on 30lb tackle.

Following is the data of JIBT this year: - Participating boats: 86

- Number of anglers: 425
- Marlin strikes: 30
- Marlin caught: 7 (1 black, 6 stripee)
- Marlin released: 4

The 39th JIBT is scheduled in the same time frame in 2017; the exact date is to be announced.