Bahamas News Updates: October 2015

 Bimini’s Wahoo Smackdown VII introducing expanded format

Team "Cash Out" took heaviest wahoo honors with a 47.6 pounds last November during the popular Smackdown Series. PHOTO CREDIT: Kent Krebeck.
Team “Cash Out” took heaviest wahoo honors with a 47.6 pounds last November during the popular Smackdown Series. PHOTO CREDIT: Kent Krebeck.

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]hasing wahoo in November has become an annual ritual in Bimini with anglers competing for bragging rights and thousands of dollars in cash and prizes. The Bimini Big Game Club Resort and Marina, has hosted the popular Wahoo Smackdown Tournament series for many seasons and is now adding new species categories, youth and women’s divisions and an open bounty of $1,000 for anyone breaking the current IGFA all tackle Bahamas record for a wahoo (155-pounds).

Wahoo Smackdown VII is scheduled for November 12-14. In addition to a cash prize for a record wahoo catch, Tournament Director Misty Wells said women are being encouraged to participate, and she will waive the entry fee for the first all-women team to register—a tournament first.

Last November, the Wahoo Smackdown tournament attracted a record 29 boats. Team “Cash Out” took heaviest fish honors with 47.6 pounds. Heaviest five fish over two days trophy went to team “Fishin A Loan”, and Heaviest Fish (First Day) winners were team “Snow Cone’s Revenge.”

Early bird entries through the end of September for Smackdown VII are $1,350.00 per boat (a 10-percent discount).

To register, visit the Bimini Big Game Website or call Tournament Director Misty Wells at (970) 708-7997.

Currently, $10,000 cash prizes are guaranteed, however, that number, according to Wells, will increase with an increase in boat entries.

 

Big Game Divers to host Great Hammerhead Weeks dive encounters

Bimini Blue Dive Boat[dropcap]B[/dropcap]imini Big Game Club Divers is designating four weeks—from December to March—as “Great Hammerhead Weeks” for divers to have a bucket list opportunity to get up close and personal with these elegant creatures.

The endangered and elusive great hammerhead—the second largest predatory shark in the ocean— will be returning to the sand banks off of Bimini starting in December 2015.

Great hammerhead encounters are considered the pinnacle of shark diving in the Bahamas, and Bimini is one of only two places in the world where you will find a congregation of these elusive animals, which can grow to 20 feet or more.

Considered “shark diving central”, Bimini has more species of sharks closer to the docks than anywhere else in the Bahamas. According to the Bimini Biological Field Station, the great hammerhead shark joins 12 other species of sharks found in the shallow water off Bimini. These species include lemon, Caribbean reef, tiger, blacktip, nurse, bull, blacknose, Atlantic/Caribbean sharpnose, mako, spiny dogfish and bigeye thresher and smooth hound.

Bimini Big Game Divers will operate two great hammerhead dives daily for designated weeks of December 11-18, 2015, January 1-8, February 5-12 and March 8-18, 2016. For reservations and booking information contact the Big Game Dive Shop at http://biggameclubbimini.com/scuba-diving/ | dive@biggameclubbimini.com.

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