Game Fishing Champion Voodoo headed for Offshore World Championship

Winner of the 2019 Barbados International Fishing Tournament, Voodoo, will now represent Barbados next year at the Costa Offshore World Championship in Marina Pez Vela, Quepos, Costa Rica, one of the world’s premier international game fishing competitions.

Voodoo received congratulations and best wishes for a successful run at the World Championship from Republic Bank, one of the tournament’s major sponsors, now in its sixth year of partnership with the Barbados Game Fishing Association (BGFA).

Captained by Edward Albecker, Voodoo’s crew of Kenneth Pestano, Father Andrezj Nyga, Paul Marshall, Shane Marshall, Carlos Fuenteville, Colin Goodman and Jacques Maynard finished top of 28 teams in the Barbados Game Fishing Association’s major annual event. The champions notched a close but well deserved victory scoring 1500 team points. Challenge II placed second with 1375 points, a narrow 25 point margin ahead of third placed Ocean Pearl.

In the individual categories, Ricardo Roach of Ocean Pearl was the Champion Overall Angler with 350 points; Diana Webster of Reel Crazy Too was the Champion Female Angler with 250 points; and the Champion Junior with 142 points was Adam Marshall aboard the Grenadian vessel, Grey Ghost, which was the Champion Foreign Boat with 1142 points.

This year there was an increase in Mahi Mahi (locally Dolphin) to the scale with 129 total catches, while angler Wayne Theobalds broke the record dolphin weigh when he hauled in a catch of 56.5 pounds aboard Wave Dancer.

In congratulating all the winners, Republic Bank’s General Manager, Retail Banking, Sharon Zephirin said the tournament had been extremely competitive and exciting. She noted that with the high level of skilled angling on display, the sport of game fishing had the potential to put Barbados on the map with good showings in future internationals.

“Barbados clearly has some of the best anglers in the world, and Republic Bank is proud to be a sponsor of a competition of this high quality. We congratulate all the competitors, especially our winners, Voodoo for their outstanding performance. We also commend the Association for the great job it continues to do in developing the sport of game fishing and in representing Barbados,” Zephirin said.

BGFA President, Ralph White said the Association was indeed thankful for the support of Republic Bank and other corporate sponsors whose contributions had been invaluable in developing local game fishing, and staging of the Association’s annual tournaments. White also expressed thanks to Port St Charles for hosting the event every year.

“Without sponsorship we would not be able to continue hosting these tournaments and giving local competitors the opportunity to go up against the best from the region and the world. Our sponsors are very important to us, and Republic Bank has been very committed. So much so, that they are here every year to support, and they even do a special draw at the presentation ceremony, giving anyone attending the opportunity to walk away with a high-end rod and reel,” White said.

Now in his second year as President of the Barbados Game Fishing Association, White said the 2019 tournament had been a resounding success.

“We had a very successful tournament again this year with 27 vessels and 170 anglers participating, and around 100 supporters coming to watch the weigh in. This year there were fewer overseas entrants than last year, though still a good number of international competitors. Added to that our local fan base is growing as is our online presence with now at least a few thousand fans on Facebook.”

The President said he was also pleased with the number of young anglers participating in tournaments.

“The number of junior anglers is definitely growing and has increased during my presidency, and we have also increased the junior prizes as we see these young people as the future of the sport in Barbados.”