10th Annual Riviera Zane Grey Invitational Tournament Final Results

By Bryan Rose

We have reached the end of the 10th Annual Riviera Zane Grey Invitational Marlin Tournament and it was an exciting finish that went right past the lines out call with the Gambler fighting a fish that could have potentially put them over the top of the competition. As it happened the fish was not big enough to qualify and therefore change up the standings but it did ensure that they would win some money by taking the daily jackpot with 500 points for the day. Some teams picked at fish to make sure that they ended in the top three and took some money while other boats worked hard and finished with a bit of pride. Of the 14 boats entered in the tournament all but one managed to release at least one striped marlin and collect some points.

The picture of consistency was Team Bad Company who managed to boat four fish on each day of the competition for a total of 12 fish and 1200 points. They were the best team on the water and by converting several single hook-ups into multiples they nailed down the top spot.

The Good Karma had a single fish on the final day and none on day 2 but with five releases on the first day they were able to hold a spot in the top three throughout the tournament and finish out in second place.

C-Bandit caught at least one fish through each day and had a good finish with three fish on the final day to take the third spot in the standings.

The tournament started out on a windy Monday and the weather slowly got better though the fish didn’t want to come up and feed in the usual manner. Boats were forced to look in their wakes for fish coming into the spread rather than spotting the tailing marlin that west coast fishing is usually known for. As the weather got better the fishing slowed slightly with day one seeing 19 releases while day two only had a dozen and day three only accelerated back to a total of 18 stripes between the field.

The awards ceremony will be held tonight with the checks and prizes being handed out to all of the contestants. This was the second leg of the California Billfish Series here in the waters off Catalina Island. The final leg will be held starting with Sunday’s captains meeting for the Catalina Classic, the culmination of three weeks of hard fishing by some of the very best anglers on the west coast. A total breakdown of the boats and their catches can be found here on CatalinaTournaments.com along with photos from throughout the three days and full live coverage of the Mickelson Catalina Classic starting next Monday.

First Place - Bad Company - 1200 points

Second Place - Good Karma - 600 points

Third Place - C-Bandit - 600 points

Day 2 Results

We've reached the end of the second day here at the 10th Annual Riviera Zane Grey Invitational Marlin Tournament. The big mover on this day was Bad Company who kept consistent and put up another four releases to take over the lead on points. They also took the daily jackpot for day two with two more releases than any other boat. Good Karma who led after the first day is still holding in second place though they weren't able to hook a fish on day two. Another boat that maintained a spot in the top three was Ohana despite also going without a fish through the second day.

The C-Bandit added another release during the day to bag the fourth place spot going into the final day of fishing. Club Ted added two fish from a quadruple hook-up to slide into the top five. Sixth place is currently the Ruckus who have two fish, one on each day of competition. Angel and the Bad Man and After Midnight put up two releases each today to get their first points while the Scrambler got their first release of the tournament on day two. Upon review from the tournament committee the second fish released by After Midnight was disqualified due to the use of a double hook rig which is against tournament rules.

Tomorrow is the third and final day of fishing, and as today, starts at 6:30 in the morning with another exciting shotgun start. No fish have been big enough yet to be brought to the scales so while the points are spread over 11 of the 14 boat field there is plenty of room for a close finish if someone can find a striped marlin that meets the tournament minimum. It should be a fight to the finish and there are several boats that are within striking distance of the leaders. Nothing is set in stone so they will be fishing hard tomorrow, right down to the 3:00 lines out call.

1st Place - Bad Company - (800 points)
2nd Place - Good Karma - (500 points)
3rd Place - Ohana - (400 points)
4th Place - C-Bandit - (300 points)
5th Place - Club Ted - (300 points)
6th Place - Ruckus - (200 points)
7th Place - Angel and the Bad Man - (200 points)
8th Place - Gambler - (100 points)
9th Place - Warrior - (100 points)
10th Place - Scrambler - (100 points)
11th Place - After Midnight - (100 points)

(All results are unofficial until the tournament committee reviews the release affidavits, videos and photos from the crews.)

For photos from Day 2, Click Here: http://www.sportfishermen.com/board/f9/live-vhf-photos-10th-annual-zane-grey-invitational-day-2-a-53024.html

Live webcam coverage from Avalon Harbor and Day 3 results as it happens can be found here: http://www.sportfishermen.com/board/f9/live-day-3-vhf-photos-10th-annual-zane-grey-invitational-53084.html

The Day 1 Results

It is 4:00, lines out time. The total for today is 19 fish released, none were deemed big enough to be brought to the scale. The daily prize winner is Good Karma with 5 releases, just beating out Bad Company and Ohana who each turned four marlin lose on the day. C-Bandit had two releases and the Club Ted, Ruckus, Gambler and Warrior each had one release for the day.

Tomorrows competition starts at 6:30 a.m. here in Avalon and the tournament continues until Wednesday. There is plenty of room for people to move on the leaderboard so this is far from over. We expect to see some marlin come to the scale before the clock runs out on the 10th Annual Riviera Zane Grey Invitational so check back here tomorrow for live coverage from the pier and from out on the water. We will be bringing it all to you as it happens at www.catalinatournaments.com.

1st Place - Good Karma - 500 points
2nd Place - Bad Company - 400 points (at 2:20)
3rd Place - Ohana - 400 points (2:25)
4th Place - C-Bandit - 200 points
5th Place - Club Ted - 100 points (9:13)
6th Place - Ruckus - 100 Points (9:13)
7th Place - Gambler - 100 points (12:51)
8th Place - Warrior - 100 points (2:09)

(All results are unofficial until the tournament committee reviews the release affidavits, videos and photos from the crews.)