Sovereign Blue Marlin Classic 2024

A total of 31 boats fished which included 118 anglers made up of 96 men, 11 ladies, 7 juniors and 4 small fry fished the Sovereign Blue Marlin Classic.

We believe this is possibly the biggest Blue Marlin Classic in its history of 45 years!

Saturday’s shot gun start off North Mole was an impressive sight with all boats dressing up for the sail past to take the salute from Commodore Timms before lining up to race to the Rottnest Trench.

The weather on Saturday and Sunday was as good as it gets with a strong warm 2-3 knot current from the north reaching up to 25.2’C and light winds but Monday saw a westerly change with rough conditions and only 5 boats fishing in the challenging waters.

A total of 13 marlin were raised over Saturday and Sunday, 12 hooked and 2 tagged which were unfortunately disqualified as being hooked outside of fishing times and caught and tagged incorrectly.

Other species caught included Tuna, Yellowtail Kingfish, Dolphin fish and sharks.

Section Prizes Awarded were:

• Most Meritorious Capture – Life of Riley -180kg Blue Marlin hooked and tagged after lines out.
• Weigh Masters Award – Anteros -Nicco Grobler – Hooked 2 Blue Marlin, tagged one with wrong tag and lost 2nd fish at boat.
• Incident Trophy – Alistair Manifold – New engine to fish!
• Champion Male Angler – Brian Arnett on Rock n Roll.
• Champion Female Angler – Tracy Blackwell on Freedom
• Highest Point Scoring Team and Boat Overall and Boat under 8.5m – Rock n Roll
• Champion Club – FSC – Rock n Roll
• Champion Boat Over 8.5m – C Wirthy
• Champion Junior – Brodie Blaxwell
• Heaviest Game Fish Other than Marlin – Tiger Shark – Rodney Staggard
• Highest Point Scoring Yellow Tail Kingfish – Rhys Wirth
• Highest Point Scoring Tuna – Rhys Wirth

Crew nights at the Rottnest Island Golf Club were well attended with skippers sharing stories and tips and sponsors being promoted. This year’s generous sponsorship exceeded all expectations and was instrumental to the tournaments success and ability to keep the registration prices down and prize pool attractive. In particular FSC members – Sovereign Water Sealing Specialist coming back onboard as major naming rights sponsor.

Presentation night was held on the deck at FSC with over 100 anglers, friends and family enjoying the night, further show casing FSC premier facilities and membership benefits to all.

The success of this year’s event has been driven from a dedicated committee consisting Brian Arnett, Mark Riche, Phil Volich, John Oglivie, Andrew Robinson and Johnno Wroth, which since 2022 has focused on rebuilding the FSC Game Fishing Section and WA’s longest running bluewater tournament, the Blue Marlin Classic.

FSC Board’s continued support and along with staff support in particular Alex Guillon and Katherine Orton has ensured that 2024 season and events has run seamlessly and we look forward to even more boats in 2025 Blue marlin Classic.

Johnno Wroth
Captain.

A huge thanks to our amazing sponsor Sovereign Water Sealing Specialists.

Credits Photo – Team “Life of Riley”  with a Blue Marlin hooked just after lines out!