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BBC Trivia
What former BBC Mate is credited with the expression
It's Better in The Bahamas |
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 Greetings!
Welcome to our inaugural issue of The Teaser online. The new electronic format allows us to bring you the very latest information regarding the BBC.
We will continue to include the articles that you have come to enjoy like As the Propeller Turns ... , Abaco Update, Recipes from Robin and, most importantly, those articles that will help you enjoy the BBC experience.
This issue of The Teaser is full of valuable information and, with the new format, many helpful, 'clickable' links are built-in to the articles or are available in the 'Quick Links' box on the left.
Please continue to support our sponsors and advertisers whose unwavering support makes the annual Bahamas Billfish Championship series possible.
We hope you enjoy the spring issue of The Teaser and that you will use the tabs above and below to forward this issue to your friends.
Good Luck and Tight Lines!
Al Behrendt
Bahamas Billfish Championship |
With less than four weeks before the start of the 2009 Bahamas Billfish Championship the enthusiasm is building as we kick-off a new tournament schedule, return to Bimini after a fourteen year absence and travel to Cape Eleuthera for the very first time.
The BBC Steering Committee, the BBC staff, our sponsors, along with the management of the host resorts, have pulled out all the stops to ensure that our anglers, crew members and guests have an enjoyable experience during the tournament and in the evenings after a hard day on the water. The government of The Bahamas issued the BBC's tournament permits for the five legs in January along with the necessary decals that will be issued to participating teams during registration at each tournament. The addition of the Grand Slam Bonus is helping to fuel the excitement for BBC 2009. Simply put, 700 bonus points will be awarded to a team catching a sailfish, white marlin (or spearfish) and blue marlin during the tournament. Of course the Grand Slam Bonus is added into the team's overall score; however, the points are calculated into the daily score on the day the Grand Slam is achieved. This has many teams putting a new twist on their tournament strategy. Read More Let's Go Fishing ...
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Getting the Best Out of this
BBC Season
By Captain Skip Smith 
When I first wanted to fish the Pacific coast of Panama for the January to April 1982 season, I hired a Captain for local knowledge to guide me there. His name was Captain Peter Gunn, or 'Pedro Pistola' as we heard the locals call him along the way. He had made these trips numerous times and was a great teacher along with this wealth of knowledge.
At that time, The Hooker was a 1977 53' Hatteras with 12V71 TI's that would cruise at 17 knots burning only 60 gallons an hour. We had the boat loaded down with 13' Boston Whaler tender, extra fuel tanks, a second generator, extra freezers on deck and more (all the normal things now).
It was two weeks before Christmas of 1981 and we were ready to depart for Cozumel, then on to Roatan, San Andres and then to the Panama Canal. The weather would be rough, as December along the East coast of Central America would be very windy.
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Season Fishing Forecast for 2009:
Conditions Variable
By Mitchell A Roffer, Ph.D.
 While we have developed a standard method in investigating the ocean and atmospheric conditions for providing the annual fishing forecast for the entire Bahamas Billfish Championship (BBC) season, we have learned the limitations that some of the indicators provide. One of the limitations relates to the number and location of relatively large (> 30 miles in diameter) clockwise and counter-clockwise eddy features in the Bahamas region. Since we started this annual oceanographic challenge in 2003, we continue rely on our main working hypothesis which has proven correct the last six years. The hypothesis for forecasting the seasonal marlin fishing action stems from the location and geographic extent of the bluer and often warmer water that occurs from the Cat Island - San Salvador Island area where we presume that the marlin concentrate before spawning. We have been calling this water "blue marlin water." We assume that the marlin are associated with this water and the more "blue marlin water" that exists in the Abaco Islands and Eleuthera Island areas, the greater the marlin relative apparent abundance will be in these areas. This assumes that the temperature of the water is within the preferred temperature range of the marlin. Read the Complete Forecast ...
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Abaco Spring Update 
Welcome home to Abaco! As you may well imagine, the people of Abaco wish to extend not only their warmest welcome to the BBC tournament participants, but their deepest thanks for choosing to return to what is surely one of the most beautiful places in The Bahamas. Thanks and welcome will be the spirit that you will notice during your 2009 stay here--let's just hope the fish feel the same way... You will want to know what is new here at the "top of The Bahamas" and first on everyone's mind is the new airstrip at the Marsh Harbour Airport. As of this writing, there is no news; HOWEVER the main airstrip is completed. The finishing touches are on the way and include the taxiway, solar lighting, terminal improvements etc. These are what I believe they refer to as "punch list" items and are being addressed in an ongoing manner. Even in these challenging times progress is continuing. Read More ...
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Recipes from Robin
For a printer friendly copy of this recipe, Click Here |
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Dolphinfish Research Program 
Dolphin Tagging Study
Extends to Europe
The new European Dolphin Tagging study will attempt to start a tagging effort in the eastern Atlantic Ocean.
The project will seek to have dolphin tagged in the Atlantic and Mediterranean off the coast of Spain, eventually including the Canary Islands. One of the goals of this study is to see if any dolphinfish tagged in Eastern Atlantic waters can be recaptured in the Western Atlantic or Caribbean Sea.
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As the Propeller Turns ... 
Be sure to get your digital cameras out and be sure your designated photographer is familiar with the equipment and intimately familiar with the BBC rules regarding digital images ... The BBC welcomes XOJET as the sponsor of the opening night cocktail parties at the Bimini and Central Abaco Championships ... Team Miss Annie was the first to register for the 2009 BBC series ... Look for special discount coupons from John Bull in the tournament bags at the Bimini Championship ... In addition to our new electronic delivery of The Teaser, we have also launched BBC e-Update to keep everyone informed between issues of The Teaser. BBC e-Updates keep you apprised of tournament results, changes or additions to tournament schedules of events and even updates of Mitch Roffer's 2009 Season Forecast ... Look for the popular MarineMax Hospitality Pavilion on the lawn next to the Tipsy Seagull at the Central Abaco Championship ... Sam White of the World Billfish Series will be attending the first two BBC tournaments this spring ... The 2009 AH Riise BVI Billfish Tournament has been postponed until July 2010 ... Read More As the Propeller Turns ...
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