Fujairah Offshore Fishing Tournament Champion 2014 Nets Big Prize

This year’s Fujairah International Marine Club (FIMC)’s Offshore Fishing Tournament 2014 landed a worthy winner; Team Hot Rod. The champion anglers, who claimed the competition top spot with 382 points by reeling in a total of 12 fish, secured a place at the Offshore World Championship Finals, which will be taking place in Costa Rica in April next year. There members will get to pit their rod and line skills against 50 of the world’s best fishermen.

Held under the patronage of H.H. Shiekh Saif Bin Hamad Bin Saif Al Sharqi, Chairman of FIMC and organised in collaboration with Palma Holding, a leading UAE-based real estate company, The Fujairah Offshore Fishing Tournament 2014 was held on October 17-18 at FIMC. The two-day tournament was the first Offshore World Championship qualifying event to take place in the Middle East and was held with the aim of both promoting sports fishing as an activity and highlighting Fujairah as being the ideal big game fishing destination.

“Everyone at FIMC extends their congratulations to Team Hot Rod who won this year’s Offshore Fishing Tournament, which took place off the fantastic Fujairah coast. The competition was fierce - a sign of the high level of skill employed by all contestants throughout the event, but ultimately there had to be one overall winner and the top place position was secured with Team Hot Rod impressive haul at 382 points” said Ahmed Ebrahim Al Blooshi, Managing Director of the Fujariah International Marine Sports Club. Team Ocean Active came in second place at 233 points, while Team Al Ghawwas came at third at 199.6 points.

“The sheer number and variety of fish caught by all competitors in the event has shown just what a superb location for sports fishing Fujairah is. We anticipate that this tournament will grow to be one of the leading big game fishing events in the region,” he added.

A total of 29 boats and 135 anglers registered for this year’s FIMC Offshore Fishing Tournament, which was conducted under the regulations established by the International Game Fish Association. An Award Ceremony, attended by H.H Sheikh Ahmed bin Saif Al Sharqi, took place yesterday, October 18, to recognize the efforts of all participants As a competition that was open for all, there were various categories for winning, including Best Lady Angler and Best Junior Angler; titles that this year went to Najla Naim from Team Ichiban and Tariq Derbas (11yrs old) from Team Extreme Derbas respectively. Highlighting the community aspect to the tournament, the total value of all edible fish that were caught collectively was auctioned at AED 3,000. Palma Holding multiplied the number by 10 donating a total of AED 30,000 to the UAE Red Crescent society for charitable distribution.

The biggest Dorado fish weighed in at 8 kgs and was caught by Team Go Fish, while the biggest Tuna fish was 11.3 kgs and was caught by Team Frosti. The biggest Amberjack fish was 26 kgs and was caught by the winners Team Hot Rod. A further category of Best Photo of a Sail Fish was taken by Team Ocean Active.

The FIMC Offshore Fishing Tournament proved a perfect blend of hard effort, good-natured rivalry and post-event celebrations. The competitors made an early start on the first day, arriving at the centre at 5:00am for briefings and boat readiness procedures. Following two days of extensive fishing, the competition culminated with an evening awards ceremony and barbeque.

“The Fujairah Offshore Fishing Tournament was characterised by friendly competition and the comradery that all anglers enjoy. We are planning that the contest will continue to grow over the years and become an established event that both promotes fishing sportsmanship and encourages the development of a big game fishing community in the UAE,” said Kareem Derbas, CEO and Co-Founding Partner of Palma Holding. “As a passionate angler myself, I can both vouch for the qualities of the sport as a hobby and for the first-class opportunities to indulge in it in Fujairah,” he added.

Emirate:  Fujairah

Date: Oct 20, 2014

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