The Tribune

THE sport fishing experience of a lifetime is coming to the historic Bimini Big Game Club Resort and Marina in April.

The billfish team tournament will not only will give anglers a shot at a $20,000 top cash prize but also a chance to fish with a pro football Hall of Fame player or NFL legend.

The Hall of Fame Players Classic Foundation, a registered non-profit, has officially opened registration for the two-day tournament scheduled for April 24-27, limited to just 22 boats.

This boat/team tournament is open for up to four registered anglers per boat. Each registered boat will include a NFL Hall of Fame great or NFL legend.

Participating players are soon to be announced, organisers say. Updates can be found on www.HOFBimini.com.

The catch and release only tournament, which will adhere to IGFA Tournament rules, will target all billfish species, including Blue Marlin, White Marlin, Sailfish, Spearfish and Swordfish.

Awards will be presented in the overall angler and team categories and additional awards will be given to the high point boat each day:

• Blue Marlin – 500 points

• White Marlin – 200 points

• Spearfish – 200 points

• Swordfish – 200 points

• Sailfish –100 points

Team prize money categories are:

• First Place – $20,000

• Second Place – $10,000

• Third Place – $5,000

The top two teams will also win free entry in the 2015 Billfish Tournament.

There will also be a Fun Fish Division, which will not count towards the overall billfish award(s) with first, second and third place team prizes.

“The NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame Players Classic Foundation Celebrity Billfish Invitational will be a one-of-a-kind billfish tournament combining hard driving bluewater action with a chance to fish with the best of the best from the NFL,” said a statement from the organisers.

Host to numerous major sport fishing tournaments for more than half a century, Bimini is a world-class fishing destination, ranked no 3 in the top 10 fisheries of the world by Sport Fishing Magazine.

Named after the Lucayan Indian word meaning “two islands”, North and South Bimini along with its smaller cays, have been an internationally known destination for generations of angling and diving enthusiasts.

Legendary angler and western novelist Zane Grey and his captain Tommy Gifford, recluse billionaire Howard Hughes and retailing genius turned scientist/naturalist Michael Lerner heard the call of Bimini.

Ernest Hemingway was an early apostle to the Bimini experience in the 1930s, where he drank, brawled and wrote his way through several fishing seasons, travelling back and forth between home in Key West and his beloved “Island in the Stream”.