The Great Marlin Race

After two weeks of effort, the final satellite tags have been deployed and the Great Marlin Race is in full gear!  

To quickly recap: 

The first tag, sponsored by WESPAC, went out August 3 on a fish caught by Kerry Kurz of the Laguna Niguel Billfish Club #1.  The second tag, sponsored by Laguna Niguel Billfish Club Teams 1 and 2, was placed just a few hours later on a fish caught by Bob Dudley.  Tag three, sponsored by Stephen Chow and Bob Duerr, was deployed the following morning on a fish caught by Ron Rudy of the Alii Brothers Marlin Hui Team.  The Fourth tag, sponsored by Kona Gamefish Club Miake, was placed on August 9 by Captain Guy Terwilliger of the Malolo, on a 175 lb. marlin caught by IGFA judge Bob O'Dea.  Tag five, sponsored by Paxson Offield on behalf of the JGFA, was deployed by Captain McGrew Rice of Ihu Nui, on a170 lb. marlin caught by Bob Kurz on August 10.  Tag six, also sponsored by WESPAC, went out August 11 on a 150 lb. marlin caught by HIBT staff member Sherry Vann on board Miss Mojo, tagged by Bob Kurz.  The seventh tag was placed just a few hours later by Captain Marlin Parker of Marlin Magic II, on a 120 lb. marlin caught by Kirby Carter.  The tag was sponsored by John C. Johnson on behalf of the Game Fishing Club of South Australia.  And a third tag for the day (tag eight in the Race), sponsored by Out of the Blue Fishing Club, was placed on a 225 lb. marlin caught by Kazuya Kaneko and tagged by Captain Guy Terwilliger - this time on Game Plan.  The following Monday, August 16, saw tags nine and ten go out.  First Captain Marlin Parker tagged a 100 lb. marlin caught by Betty Ann Scott on Marlin Magic II, then Kevin Nakamaru on Northern Lights placed the final tag of the race on a 150 lb. marlin caught by Debbi David.  Tag nine was sponsored by Phillip Duke and Bob and Sally Kurz, and tag ten by the Pajaro Valley Gamefish Club #1 and Hilton Grand Vacations Fishing Club - Japan.

Each tag is programmed to record depth, temperature and light readings every 60 seconds for the duration of its deployment.  After 120 days, the tags will release themselves from the marlin and float to the surface, where they will begin transmitting their data back to the laboratory via the ARGOS satellite system.  As we have seen in the past, however, some tags may come off early - and some may never show up at all.  So stay tuned for updates!

To see a summary at a glance, click here to see the 2010 teams listing.  To see a map of where each fish was tagged, click here.