By Bryan Rose

We have reached the end of the 10th Annual Riviera Zane Grey Invitational Marlin Tournament and it was an exciting finish that went right past the lines out call with the Gambler fighting a fish that could have potentially put them over the top of the competition. As it happened the fish was not big enough to qualify and therefore change up the standings but it did ensure that they would win some money by taking the daily jackpot with 500 points for the day. Some teams picked at fish to make sure that they ended in the top three and took some money while other boats worked hard and finished with a bit of pride. Of the 14 boats entered in the tournament all but one managed to release at least one striped marlin and collect some points.

The picture of consistency was Team Bad Company who managed to boat four fish on each day of the competition for a total of 12 fish and 1200 points. They were the best team on the water and by converting several single hook-ups into multiples they nailed down the top spot.

The Good Karma had a single fish on the final day and none on day 2 but with five releases on the first day they were able to hold a spot in the top three throughout the tournament and finish out in second place.

C-Bandit caught at least one fish through each day and had a good finish with three fish on the final day to take the third spot in the standings.

The tournament started out on a windy Monday and the weather slowly got better though the fish didn’t want to come up and feed in the usual manner. Boats were forced to look in their wakes for fish coming into the spread rather than spotting the tailing marlin that west coast fishing is usually known for. As the weather got better the fishing slowed slightly with day one seeing 19 releases while day two only had a dozen and day three only accelerated back to a total of 18 stripes between the field.

The awards ceremony will be held tonight with the checks and prizes being handed out to all of the contestants. This was the second leg of the California Billfish Series here in the waters off Catalina Island. The final leg will be held starting with Sunday’s captains meeting for the Catalina Classic, the culmination of three weeks of hard fishing by some of the very best anglers on the west coast. A total breakdown of the boats and their catches can be found here on CatalinaTournaments.com along with photos from throughout the three days and full live coverage of the Mikelson Catalina Classic starting next Monday.

First Place - Bad Company - 1200 points - $26,775

Second Place - Good Karma - 600 points (9:24) - $12,495

Third Place - C-Bandit - 600 points (2:47) - $5,355

Fourth Place - Gambler - 600 points (3:17)

Fifth Place - Ohana - 400 points (Day 1)

Sixth Place - Club Ted - 300 points (Day 2)

Seventh Place - Ruckus - 300 points (1:39)

Eighth Place - Angel and the Bad Man - 300 points (2:53)

Ninth Place - Chaser - 200 points (1:51)

Tenth Place - Scrambler - 200 points (1:54)

Eleventh Place - Warrior - 100 points (Day 1)

Twelfth Place - After Midnight - 100 points (Day 2)

Thirteenth Place - Exta Sea - 100 points (1:26)

Fourteenth Place - Knot for Rent

Daily Day 1 - Good Karma - 500 points - $16,787

Daily Day 1 ($2000) - Bad Company - 400 points - $10,200

Daily Day 2 - Bad Company - 400 points - $26,987

Daily Day 3 - Gambler - 500 points - $26,987