Inaugural Hit and Miss Trophy November 6, 2010

 The three boats headed off from Malakal Harbour at around 8.30am (a little late as is local custom) for the designated fishing grounds of Ulong, some 45 minutes away on a beautiful sunny morning with a light breeze.
The combatants' teams were:

1. Kaleb (C), Francis and Richard
2. Casmire (C), Victor, Dave, and Sam
3. Ben (C), Sem and Brian

 Smooth seas greeted us and allowed full speed motoring to the island passage whereby Kaleb headed to the South West to an area that had produced GTs the week before and I headed South East directly to the fringing reef and Casmire followed, stopping at a well known GT hangout on a large sandbank.

The fishing began a little quietly as we drifted over the shallows, hoping for an early fish. Nothing much happened for the first 20 minutes as the three of us worked surface poppers targeting Red Bass, BFT and GTs. Finally after what seemed an eternity, Brian hooked up and landed a nice little GT,

Brian's first GT in Palau. A quick pic and she was on her way

A couple of minutes later Sem hooked up on another juvenile GT and it was looking like we were in for a good day!

Beautiful Palaun waters and a lure that was almost swallowed by this GT.                                                       Pic: Brian Glass

Next up both Brian and Sem landed a pair of Blue Finned Trevallies, with Brian's eventually being credited as the biggest of the day.

The winner of the Blue Fin Trevally category - a solid 4.5kg specimen

Sem with a good sized BFT taken from the shallows                                   Pic: Brian Glass

Eventually I managed to catch my only fish of the day, a small Red Bass.

Big Lure - Small Fish. Red Bass of about 3.5kg                                         Pic: Brian Glass

11.30 came along and we decided to have lunch and a quick swim due to the stifling temperatures and lack of breeze. It was to be the end of our fish catching as we didn't manage to land any fish after lunch despite a couple of notable Hits and Misses. The afternoon saw us fishing in crystal clear water with little of no wind, we could see just about every fish on the reef and they were particularly wary. We had had a tough day with little to show for it but we figured that the other boats would be suffering from the same problems, and so it was.

We hit the beach for the 4pm "weigh in" to determine the biggest fish in each of the categories. The results were:
Biggest GT: Richard (team Kaleb)
Biggest Barracuda: Richard (team Kaleb)
Biggest Red Bass: Sam (team Casmire)
Biggest Nannygai: team Casmire
Biggest Blue Fin Trevally: Brian (team Ben)

Biggest fish overall: Richard 15kg GT
Most Fish: team Casmire
Trophy Winner: Team Kaleb

Winners are Grinners! Franics, Kaleb and Richard soaking up the glory!                                                             Pic: Brian Glass

Close Runners-up, Sam, Casmire, Dave and Victor                                                                                       Pic: Brian Glass

Probable winner of the "most beer consumed" prize, Sem, Brian and Ben

All in all another great day on the water. Provisional plans have been made for the second H&M trophy in late February/early March 2011.
Congratulations to all category winners and the overall trophy winners - team Kaleb!