b'Exciting New Springtime Event!S pring is the time of year were seeing a push of large tunas,featured within the Marine Industries yellowfin especially, migrating off the Palm Beaches. TheseAssociation Member Picnic, offering trophy fish are being caught more frequently and this tourna- a family-friendly weigh station environment. ment offers an exciting format to target them. The inagural tourn- The Picnic is a paid ticketed event which ment is set to run May 5th through the 10th.Teams are eligibleincludes food, entertainment and kids ac-to declare and fish on 3 of the 6 allotted days. Thistivities. We encourage WPBFCmembersnew tournament focuses on offering ato attend the Picnic and watch the live unique product to participants withtuna weigh-in!an increased level of convenience and The goal remains to produce a fun flexibility to navigate weather. & reasonably priced tournament thatSpecies eligible for the $10,000 tunastimulates the local marine & fishing prize are yellowfin, bluefin, bigeye andindustry, helps promote Palm Beach blackfin tuna. The minimum weight forCounty and the sponsoring partners, a fish that qualifies for this award is 40ultimately benefiting the marine lbs. The single heaviest eligible tunaconservation & educational efforts of the wins the cash prize! If no eligibleWPBFC and its charitable foundation. tuna is caught, the prize money rolls"People signing up to fish have shared their over to next years payout. stories about losing big tunas offshore, mostlyThis tournament idea struck whenbecause they\'re fishing ligher tackle Hunter Simpson and Team Cowboyfor other species.It\'s surprising how caught a 141 lb. yellowfin in last years al- many local anglers have had an inter-ready popular Blackfin Blitz. Hunter saidaction with a trophy tuna.Let\'s hope Hunter Simpson they hooked the fish,they beef up their tackle and land a good one in the tournament!" in 90 of water on a sar- said WPBFC President Tom \'Buzz\' Bzura.dine, and it pulled us out to 500. Though it was not an eligible species that year, it was a crowd pleaser at the Sailfish Marina docks at sunset as patrons watched the weigh in.Because the Blackfin Blitz was so popular, we incorporated it into the PB Tuna Tournament. Saturday, May 10th, is designated the Blackfin Blitz day of the tournament. This fishing day is free to WPBFC members with cash prizes for The top 3 single heaviest blackfins (both adult & junior anglers). The weigh station for the Blitz is THANK YOU!Presenting sponsor of the Palm Beach Tuna Tournament,S.A.L.T.Y. & Kid\'s Fishing Days programsT ighTL inesM agazine- s pring2025 15'