Koror, Palau – The Palau Sports Fishing Association held its annual Evolution Tournament on Saturday, November 18th. This year, we had 34 teams register for the Wahoo Classic derby, and 29 participants in the GT Catch & Release. Begun a few years ago in partnership with the Reel Fishermen Measure Up campaign, this tournament slated for November requires fishers to bear the strong winds and rains of Palau’s rainy season!
Despite the rain and winds, the fishermen launched from Drop Off Bar and Grill early Saturday morning at 5AM with the aim of reeling in the winning catch. And WIN they did!!
The winning teams are as follows:
Wahoo Classic:
1st – Mengesbakl (Captain: Timis Emesiochel) – 29.5 lbs weighed in at 1:32 PM
2nd – Omenged (Captain: Clint Madracheluib) – 28 lbs weighed in at 3:59 PM
3rd – Stay Salty (Captain: Toribiong Mekreos) – 28 lbs weighed in at 4:35 PM
4th – PCAA (Captain: Esebei Remengesau) – 27 lbs weighed in at 4:40 PM
5th – Ski (Captain: Mayer Julius) – 22.5 lbs weighed in at 3:58 PM
GT Catch & Release:
1st – Kai (Ivan Blesam) – 44 in.
2nd – Kai (Junior Seid) – 37 in.
3rd – Doggy Fun (Kazuo Sugiyama) – 36.5 in.
4th – Roning (Ryan Mikel) – 35 in.
5th – Kai (Ziske Asanuma) – 34.8 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, IP&E, NECO Yamaha, Palau Pacific Resort, 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.