There is no doubt Capt. Brian Speedy knows how to dead-bait fish – especially for white marlin. The team on the 76-foot Viking Yachts, Miss Victoria, ran away with Leg One of the series – the White Marlin Roundup – by out-scoring the second-place winner, Lai Day by more than double.
The team managed to boat two whites in the three-day Roundup, clinching their Day One daily with the tournament’s first boated white marlin, weighing in at 70.8 pounds. On Day Two, the Lai Day team boated the next white, knocking Speedy out for the largest white marlin just an hour or so into the fishing day.
The crew on the Miss Victoria put the tournament in their leader’s hands, knowing full-well that he would not be undone. Just one hour later, Miss Victoria had another white marlin folded up in the cockpit – weighed in at 98.8 pounds – which netted the team another daily. No other whites were weighed for the remainder of the tournament.
Leg Two – the Custom vs. Production Shootout – proved to be tough for the crew on Miss Victoria. Catching one blue marlin on Day One and one sailfish on Day Three put the team in 22nd place overall for that leg of the series, but they were still holding strong despite Capt. Randy Spike’s effort with his six blue marlin releases during the tournament on Free Spool.
Leg Three – the Abaco Beach Blue Marlin Tournament – kept the Miss Victoria‘s distance from past series winners Lo Que Sea far enough with six billfish releases, putting them ahead in the Diamond Series, and placing fourth overall in the last leg.
Miss Victoria emerged victorious with a total of 4,923 points. Lo Que Sea placed second with a total of 3,325 points, and Free Spool placed a respectable third with a total of 2,725 points for the series.
