Over $465,000.00 at Stake in First Leg of the IGT Mexico Series
The 2007 International Gamefish Tournaments, El Cid Mazatlan Billfish Classic was a phenomenal success, with winners in more categories than ever before! The teams competed for a chance at prize money exceeding $465,000.000. Record numbers of billfish were released each day, with 106 on day one, 134 on day two, and 51 on day three, for a whopping total of 291 releases. An all time Tournament record both in total and by individual boat. All of the prize money was awarded for released fish since there was not a single fish brought to the scales that met the Tournament’s 225 pound minimum weight required. There were plenty of big blue marlin around the week before the Tournament but they seemed to disappear at the first days shot gun start. The tournament was comprised of over 140 anglers. For the second year in a row, first place went to Ronald Tegland’s Team Tenacious, which released a total of 29 marlin and sailfish.
Team Tenacious, with team captain Ron Tegland in the center, repeats as first place winner in the 2007 IGT El Cid Mazatlan Billfish Classic with 29 released billfish. Their first place win qualifies the team to advance to the 2008 $250,000.00 guaranteed Grand Championship.
The C-Bandit team, team captain Bill McWethy Jr. on the right, took second place in the 2007 IGT El Cid Mazatlan Billfish Classic with 28 released billfish, just one release behind the Tenacious. The teams second place finish also qualifies the team to advance to the 2008 $250,000.00 guaranteed Grand Championship.
William McWethy Jr. and his team on C-Bandit placed second with 28 releases, and Ed Gatlin’s team on Sea Esta earned a close third place with 27 releases. The dailies went to Young Lady, Team Captain, Alonzo Franco, with 14 releases on day one, C-Bandit led with 13 on day two, and John Martin and Team Wildcatter broke a tie in the last minute with their 8th release on day three. In the Miscellaneous division prize money went to Ned Wallace on the Tiger Spirit with a 109 lb. Yellowfin Tuna and Lad Ziegler on the boat Sha-Rae with a 47 lb. Dorado. A newcomer to the Mazatlan tournament, Ted Smith on Hooked Up, utilized his total of seven (7) released billfish to catapult to first place in World Billfish Series rankings, making him the overall point’s leader in the Pacific Division. The competition was very exciting and full of drama since the first place scoring changed back and forth over 12 times during the event and was not decided until the very end of the third day. It was a horse race all the way to the finish. Every boat entered in the tournament caught large numbers of billfish. We wish to thank all the participants of the 2007 El Cid Mazatlan Billfish Classic and we are looking forward to seeing you all again in the IGT 2008 El Cid Mazatlan Billfish Classic and the other IGT 2008 Mexico Series Tournaments.
IGT is proud to announce the first two qualifiers from this year’s Mazatlan Billfish Classic in the Guaranteed $250,000 IGT Grand Championship, winner take-all, which will be held on December 10th thru 13th, 2008. Our Championship made for TV event will be held in Puerto Los Cabos, B.C.S. The first two teams, the first and second place finishers, are Team Tenacious, Captained by Ron Tegland and Team C-Bandit, Captained by Bill McWethy Jr. These two teams will be competing, with NO entry fee, for $250,000.00 in prize money. In addition we will be adding ten more winners from our 2008 Tournament schedule and we will include the 2008 World Billfish Series Grand Champion for a total of only 13 teams competing for the $250,000.00.
Information about the IGT Mexico Tournament Series can be obtained by calling 714-259-4899 or on our web site at www.igtournaments.com.
