With the competitive fishing calendar at
its peak a new tournament is on the scene for Cayman anglers.
The first annual Kirk Slam Dolphin fishing
tournament will make waves from 16 to 17 April. The waters around Grand Cayman
and Cayman Brac will see a bevy of fishing crews from as early as 6am.
Fishing on both Saturday and Sunday
stretches until 4pm with weigh-ins starting thereafter and lasting until 6pm.
The Barcadere Marina in George Town will
have the scales to see which fish is the biggest. More than bragging rights are
at stake though as there are some hefty cash prizes on offer.
The heaviest fish, whether it is a dolphin,
wahoo or yellowfin tuna, nabs $5,000. Second place earns a cool $2,000 while
third takes $1,000.
From there the heaviest dolphin grabs
$1,000 plus a rod and reel combo. The heaviest fish reeled in by a lady angler
gets $500 and the top junior angler catch earns $500.
The awards ceremony, which takes place
early the following week, will also see a rod and reel combo offered as a door
prize.
Making the event possible are title sponsors
Kirk Group, in particular Kirk Freeport, Kirk Marine, Kirk Beverages and Kirk
Supermarket. Other sponsors include radio stations HOT 104.1FM and Cayrock
96.5FM.
Rosalind Robertson serves as one of the
marketing managers for the Kirk Group. She states the tournament is about
stimulating the sport.
“The title sponsor for the event is Kirk
Group and products that are represented from this group are Coca Cola, Shimano
and Victorinox Swiss Army.
“The fishing season is for a short time
usually March-May and we wanted to give our fellow fishing enthusiasts more
opportunity to fish and enjoy the sport.
“We chose the time to fall in the middle of
two other major fishing events so that we wouldn’t compete with dates.”
Indeed the Kirk Slam will heat up the spring.
The major fishing event last month was the Rooster Shootout. May meanwhile sees
two tournaments in the Cayman Brac Jackpot fishing tournament and the biggest
of them all, the Cayman Islands International Fishing Tournament.
Vice President of Operations for Kirk
Freeport, Christopher Kirkconnell, is one of the organisers for the Kirk Slam.
He has an interesting link to angling as members of his family have gone
fishing in Cayman for many generations.
Based on that experience and the current
level of fishing in Cayman, he states the Kirk Slam has a long-term future in
fishing.
“I think that if successful we would like
to build this into a charity tournament. No local charity has been chosen yet
as we don’t foresee breaking even on cost but this is definitely a possibility
in the future given larger sponsors.”
The entry fee for the tournament is
$250. WH
The heaviest fish, whether it is a dolphin,
wahoo or yellowfin tuna, nabs $5,000. Second place earns a cool $2,000 while
third takes $1,000.
For more information e-mail rozr@ksl.ky