The Drop Off, Koror, Palau November 5, 2022 – The Palau Sports Fishing Association held its 2022 Evolution Tournament. Despite recent bad weather and soaring fuel prices the fisher community felt it was time to come out in force to demo their skill – diak di dolngamech as the t-shirt tells us. The tournament had 22 teams in the Wahoo Classic derby, a traditional catch and weigh the fish category, and 14 teams in the Giant Travalley Catch & Release category.
The fish were big this year! Tournament organizers were pleased to see that fish sizes broke previous tournament events. William Tsung tried to defend his title but was not able to beat out the 38.5 inch in first place caught by Ngiraului “Ului” Remengesau. Ului will keep the revolving tournament trophy and defend it next year.
The winning teams are as follows:
Wahoo Classic:
1st – Yahoo (Captain Rickbal Anastacio) – 38 lbs 2nd – Ngetibad (Captain Ngotel Uehara) – 24.5 lbs
3rd – Fish On Palau (Captain Mlib Tmetuchl) – 24 lbs
GT Catch & Release:
1st – Ngiraului Remengesau – 38.5 in.
2nd – OnlyFins (Captain Cody Rorer) – 36 in. 3rd – Duke Joseph – 35.5 in.
The board of the Palau Sports Fishing Association would like to extend their deepest gratitude to the sponsors of the tournament: Bank of Guam, Family Surgical Clinic, Neco Plaza, Palau Pacific Resort, Palau Shipping Company, the 11th OEK Senate, and Shimbros. The board would also like to thank all the fishermen who participated in the derby, the volunteers, as well as everyone who came to support them.
ABOUT the Palau Sports Fishing Association
For over 30 years PSFA has been the official organization for sport fishing in the Republic of Palau. Each year PSFA organizes the largest sport fishing event on Palau, The Annual Fishing Derby featuring the Etpison Cup, to promote game fishing, the growth in the sector through the Junior Angler program and community engagement through its network of offshore Fish Aggregating Devices. In partnerships with corporations such as Palau Pacific Resort, IP&E, Shimbros, NECO Yamaha and Bank of Hawaii along with the local community PSFA has been able to realize increasing numbers of participants in sport fishing competition and spectatorship. As the official organization for sport fishing in Palau, PSFA is associated with tradition, integrity and, most importantly, responsibility as stewards of Palau’s fishery. PSFA is also a member of the International Game Fishing Association.
About the Tournament
Begun over 5 years ago in partnership with the Reel Fishermen Measure Up campaign, PSFA, NECO Marine and the team at Ebiil Society, the Evolution Tournament is the first catch and release tournament where you earn the same purse whether you weigh in your fish or catch and release. Fishers who fish for GT are highly skilled at casting targeted fish. As we look toward high yield tourism catch & release customers are some of the most lucrative for individual Palau based guides. The tournament’s aim is to evolve towards catering to these types of customers that are low impact and high value.