KARACHI, Nov 17: The 18th TKO - The Karachi Offshore Sportfishing Tournament 2007 - organized by Agha’s Sportfishing was held recently in which 71 anglers - including a lady angler - on 23 boats locked horns and battled with various species of gamefish found in the Arabian Sea of the coast of Karachi.

The TKO winning fish was landed by champion angler Aamir Basrai, a 23.25 kg Cobia which he caught near Churna Island. An area which is called Dil-e-Ram by the locals. Angler Aamir Basrai also happens to hold a local angling record of being the youngest angler to land a Marlin in our offshore waters.

The tournament started at 7a.m. from Mubarrak Village, which is located 40 km on the ouskirts of Karachi, where all the participants had assembled before the break of dawn.Throughout the day, the sea was calm and the weather was sunny and hot. The competing teams started checking-in after 2.30p.m. with the last and final boat reporting at 4.30 p.m. after which the TKO Sportfishing Tournament was declared closed.

At 5 p.m. the winning anglers’ names were announced and a big number of people drove down from the city to witness the closing ceremony.

Five different species were caught during the event. There were a fair number of Mackerels followed by Cobia, Barracuda, Queenfish and Grouper. 2 other boats returned with MahiMahi but their catch were disqualified for reporting late.

The main fishing grounds covered by the anglers were Nancowry Shoal, Beauchamp Reef and the area between Churna Island and Hubco. Some boats ventured out near Kaio Island.

The TKO runner-up was angler Mazharuddin Qaym who boated a 12.5 kg Mackerel. 3rd position went to veteran angler Nadeem Azhar for landing a 10.75 kg Mackerel.

Other positions went to angler Zeeshan Paracha for catching a 8.75 kg Queenfish. Murtaza Ali for catching a 7.25 kg Grouper and angler Arman Wahab for catching a 5.5 kg Barracuda.

The next big fishing event of Agha’s Sportfishing is the PBT - Pakistan Billfish Tournament which is for the heavy-weight anglers and is mainly for Marlin and tuna. The event shall be held on the 25th of November.