Chilling at the Moose - 2015 Big Bang Open FINAL Scores, Trophies and Photos

[SpearMax]

The 2015 Big Bang Open was a solid success. In spite of nasty weather on day 2 for the west coast, thunderstorms everywhere, cold water upwellings and several boats out of commission this year, we managed to pull off one of the smoothest events I have been involved in as an organizer or as a contestant. Everything pretty well worked as planned from the two scales functioning properly to the delicious food to the glorious prize wall.

Our new venue at the Palm Beach Gardens Moose Lodge was fantastic for our second year there. The sponsors, the volunteers, the vendors, the charities, the contestants, the families - all pulled together and made this event simply great for another year. Thank you to everyone involved.

An outstanding feature of the Big Bang! Open is the superb number of prizes we have displayed on our prize wall. Sponsors appreciate having their prizes showcased like this for the crowd to see and touch.

We had a over 50 spearguns and around 20 pole spears for the contestants to choose from along with many other valuable booty treasures.

Our usual photographer Len Pepe (aka Gradyman) was unable to attend this year. I hired Kyle Darcy who took plenty of photos of the prizes and ceremony which I will start posting tomorrow.

Here are the trophy winners. Then below that are the scores which earn trips to the prize wall.

The Trophy Award Recipients:

TOURNAMENT CHAMPION

Chip Garber – 91.00 Aggregate Points

BEST BOAT

Chips Ahoy – 245.375 Combined Aggregate Points of Top Three Shooters

BEST FREEDIVER

David Lee – 71.625 Aggregate Points

BEST FEMALE DIVER

Kelly Schnute - 57.4375 Aggregate Points

BEST JUNIOR DIVER

David Lee – 71.625 Aggregate Points

LARGEST GROUPER

Jobert Williams – 35.25 Pounds Gutted Weight

LARGEST SNAPPER

Dylan Newman – 44.875 Pounds Gutted Weight

LARGEST HOGFISH OR FLOUNDER

Kevin Eaves Tied with Albert Sloan – 5.00 Pounds Gutted Weight

LARGEST SHEEPSHEAD OR TIGGERFISH

Heather Schaefer– 7.25 Pounds Gutted Weight

LARGEST AMBERJACK OR COBIA

Clint Scherb – 48.4375 Pounds Gutted Weight (Amberjack)

LARGEST WILD CARD FISH

Chip Garber – 37.50 Gutted Weight


Here are the Final Scores and trophies for the top 40 shooters:




Here are the Final Scores and trophies for the rest of the shooters:

[SpearMax]

There are two beneficiaries from the generosity of the BBO shooters who sent messages as follows:

FISHING FOR FAMILIES

Hello Tony,

I hope you are doing well and relaxing after another great tournament. I wanted to write and say thank you again for including us in the tournament this summer. We were able to deliver over 70 pounds of fish fillets to the Boca Helping Hands Soup kitchen which will provide over 200 meals of fresh fish to the patrons of the kitchen. Attached is a photo of our delivery. Thank you again and I look forward to working with you all again soon.

Sincerely,
Lucas Metropulos



FROM THE BIMINI SHARK LAB

"Great big thank you for all involved from the Foundation and Sharklab….and of course me too."

doc (Dr. Sonny Gruber)

"I think we ended up with approximately 250-280 lbs, maybe a little bit more. We put each piece of cut cuda in a bag and 6 bagged pieces in 1 large black bag. In the end, we had a total of 7 large black bags."

Hannah

[killer-mermaid]

It was a great tournament and we had a blast. Thank you for all the efforts in organizing the event. The Bbo 4 years ago was my first tournament and I have yet to find another tournament that comes close in the prize department.

[Squidhead]

I wasn't able to dive Friday and only had a chance to beach dive for a couple of hours on Saturday morning so my catch suffered, but thanks to the hard work from Tony and helpers it was great as usual! I already look forward to next years tournement!

[seadaze]

Thanks Tony for once again putting on a great tournament. We had a great time and even though our team didn't do as well as we hoped we all still got great prizes. Cant wait for next year

[SpearMax]

Sorry for the delay in photo posting. Here they are starting with the outdoor weigh-in area and the banquet/prizes area ready for Sunday action.

We had a record number of over 50 spearguns and 20 pole spears on the prize wall. The framed prize certificates were added later before the awards ceremony.

Kyle Darcy did the photography this year. Thank you Kyle!

[SpearMax]

Let's roll the fish! Captain Mike Newman and his son Dylan were first up.

The two scales and two computers performing the weigh-in worked perfectly.

Our super efficient data entry guys Scott Hurley and Jim McGrath rock.

Lucas Metropolis and his co-volunteers jumped in to help sling fish.

Of course the weigh-in team lead by Randy Docks did an excellent job all around - Thank you!

[SpearMax]

The flow of shooters weighing in fish increased as the morning advanced.

[SpearMax]

Sea conditions were tough for some people, especially for shooters on the west coast on Saturday.

[SpearMax]

One of the coolest things we do at the BBO is use the "Big Fish Display Bins" built by Spearboard member Dave Graham (aka Gcracker89) years ago.

[SpearMax]

Oh boy, there are alot more fish to be weighed.

[SpearMax]

Cheyenne Lee and her brothers came through the line. She has some Women's World Spearfishing Record action happening in her life this year.

[SpearMax]

As I mentioned above, two beneficiaries of the Big Bang Open are the "Bimini Shark Lab" represented by volunteer Hannah Medd and the charity for the poor called "Fishing for Families" lead by Lucas Metropolis. The generosity of the BBO contestants with their fish donations is very much appreciated.

[SpearMax]

The awards ceremony was fantastic. Awards, food, drink, and prizes galore!

[SpearMax]

The BBO trophies are first up after some delicious food served by the Moose Lodge staff.