The skippers' meeting on Wednesday night, in which the IGFA representative for Gran Canaria kicked off the evening with a talk on safety and good fishing practices, was the starting gun for the XIII Puerto Calero Big Game Fishing Tournament.
From 8 a.m. yesterday, everything seemed to herald an unparalleled first day.
The 59 registered boats, a record number for the event, had a splendid weather forecast ahead of them. This year's departure, established by the imaginary line between two buoys placed parallel to the Puerto Calero dike and just in front of its Tower, also added excitement to the event. A little more than two hours after the start, the boat Mizu announced that it was stuck to a blue marlin, the first of the day, and after almost an hour of fighting, decided to photograph it and release it.
After about 14 hours, the announcement of the second blue marlin bite was received. On this occasion, a boat from Fuerteventura, El Timbeque, was the one that gave the news, and minutes later, proceeded to take a picture of it and release it.
The big surprise came from the boat Escualo and its capture of a specimen of more than 200 kilograms. At the close of this edition, its arrival in Puerto Calero was still awaited. Tabaiba, at 14:27 hours, and Noalex, at 16:41 hours, communicated the bites and, minutes later, reported the respective losses, as did the boat Coralí.
Other catches that were known yesterday were those achieved by the Doradas de África del Mar and Mizu, and the Peto del Milugato.
While all this was happening in Altamar, everything on land was equally lively. Both fans and visitors who decided to spend the afternoon in Puerto Calero enjoyed the activities organized in the vicinity of the port area to make the wait for the catches much more entertaining.
Various brands of Canarian products offered free tastings to all attendees, who also had the opportunity to learn in much more detail about the products of Bertram Atlántico, sponsor of the event, and to get closer to the step-by-step creation of a sand sculpture, allegorical to the event.
The review of each day, until next Saturday the 3rd of the current month, can also be followed minute by minute on the website www.puertocalero.com, in the special section of the Fishing Contest.