Story by Mike House with facts and information supplied by Mike Nelson

“OVER $300,000 in prize money for ten days of fishing”

The second annual World Billfish Challenge, part of the World Billfish Series, took place in Kona July 9 – 19, 2000 with anglers participating from both the US Mainland and Japan.  Consisting of three separate events, the WBC features a Light Tackle Division (20,30,and 50 lb. Line classes), Heavy Tackle Division to 130 pound gear, and a total release event designed to benefit The Billfish Foundation. 

Originally conceived by Kailua’s (Oahu) Mike Nelson, 1999 was the first year for the WBC, and it has been well received in the fishing arena since inception.  The quality of the banquets, reception, and overall handling of the event has made believers of skeptics, and participants out of sideline watchers.  The WBC is not an inexpensive tournament to enter, and Nelson saw substantial growth in participation over 1999.

In the light tackle division, there was a total purse of $78,000 available, along with a PENN 130 STW rod and reel combination.  Anticipation and enthusiasm were peaking with the start fishing call on July 10.   It is always difficult to match tackle and the fish in Hawaii.  Sometimes people drag small fish to their death using heavy tackle in anticipation of a large fish, and as was the case in the light tackle division, large fish can wreak havod on the lighter gear.  Though anglers had several chances, some massive Marlin attacked and destroyed most everything laid out before them. 

In the end, the total purse of $78,000.00 in prize money went unpaid at the end of the light tackle division.  1999’s heavy tackle winner, Mike Vidal,  said “we had it, the $78,000.00 in our hands, several times but just couldn’t make it stick”  Other teams reported similar woes, and many reported fish coming into the pattern several times and failing to even take a bait. 

In all, twelve strikes and eight lost hook ups were called to the radio, with no fish being landed or released.  John Whitcomb, a first time participant from Florida fishing on the Anxious with Neal Isaacs said, “So what do you do? That’s fishing! We came from Florida just to fish this tournament then go on to Maui for vacation. I didn’t catch a marlin, saw a lot of fish, but won most of the goody prizes of every night from Ande Line, Penn Fishing rods and clothing given away each night.  I know my luck was there, I just missed the fish, but we had a great time and we’ll be back”.

Such were the comments for the light tackle event.  The consensus is Nelson runs a good enough of a tournament to want to fish in them…..even if mother nature refuses to give up her quarry.  And almost as if Nelson had a back-up plan to handle the lack of fish situation, most of the anglers elected to forego a refund and roll their entries into the heavy tackle division.

After a lay day on Thursday, the start call for the heavy tackle division began Friday the 14^th.  With a total purse of $ 248,600 (in part thanks to the rolled over entry fees from the light tackle division), the anglers of Hawaii and beyond hit the ocean with a vengeance. 

In addition to the huge purse, there were several other prizes on the line, including Ande Line, Penn 50 STW, 80 STW, 130 STW rod and reel combos, and some liquor courtesy of Captain Morgan’s Rum and Seagram’s.  In addition, the WBC Heavy Tackle tournament is a points earning tournament for the World Billfish Series, filmed for ESPN to be aired September 9 and 16, 2000.

Day 1, Friday, proved to be an exciting start as 25 teams charged for their chance to win it big.  Honolulu skipper Captain Mike De Rego and his team on Maggie Joe, struck first and released the first marlin of the tournament.  Soon afterward, team DoJo, with another Honolulu charter skipper, Russell Tanaka of the Oahu boat Magic, hooked up.  The fish was a keeper, and soon Dojo led the field with a 411 pound Pacific Blue Marlin.  Hoping it would hold on for at least the day, the crew hoped for their payoff of $20,000 for being the largest captured Marlin of the day. 

By the end of the first day both Dojo and Maggie Joe held with payouts for that day in daily prizes of $7,000 to Do Jo and $6,700.00 to Maggie Joe.  But the big news was the roll over of daily categories of $36,000 making day two daily purses worth over $100,000.00.

Day two began with Maggie Joe hooking up again with another release (turned out to be the only tag of the day paying out $9,900.00), but with the rest of the field blanked, the daily purses had to roll again into day three.  Though some might say slow fishing makes for bored anglers, the tension that built for day three was so thick it couldn’t be cut with a filet knife.

Day three, Sunday, started off with the radio ablaze with a series of hookups called in.  Several fish were lost, some even at the end of the fight much to the chagrin of the teams, and when the final horn went off, Captain Billy Ross’s Eclipse team with angler Michael Contreras weighed in a 352 pound Blue Marlin to take the largest of the day.  Marlin Parker’s team aboard Marlin Magic, the Warvid Anglers, had the first tag of the day, meaning it would take two tags from someone else to unseat their command of the huge payout.  Captain Gene Vanderhock aboard Sea Genie II followed with a single tag, and shortly afterward, Team Civil from Japan aboard Renegade tagged a fish. 

Strategy always plays an important role in tournaments like these, and entering all categories sometimes means a big expense.  Sometimes, though, it means a big payoff.  There was only one team of the three tagging a fish on the final day that had entered all categories.  That team was Warvid on Marlin Magic, and they took home a payday of just over $101,000.00.  The Eclipse team had the largest fish of the day, which could have taken it all, but they hadn’t entered all the categories and thus Marlin Magic claimed a fine prize.  Not all was lost for Eclipse, though, because their Marlin came in second for overall largest fish captured.

The Heavy Tackle tournament paid out over $140,000 for released Marlin and another $128,000 in prize money for captured fish, making it one of the richest three-day tournaments in the world.  It also established a new record pay out for tag and release, something that even East coast anglers seemed amazed to hear.

The final event of the WBC was The Billfish Foundation Hawaii shootout.   This event, featuring a total release format, allows teams to accumulate points based on total tags deployed.  With anglers participating from New York, Florida, California, Texas and Hawaii, the final winner was Mr. Fred Marlof who fished aboard Northern Lights with Captain Kevin Nakamura.  The team won over $10,000 for their released Marlin estimated at over 400 lbs.  Marlof went on to fish in the Hawaiian International Billfish Association (HIBA) events held in Kona to complete his vacation. 

According to tournament director Mike Nelson, the WBC Hawaii is expanding in 2001 with an additional tournament and expanded World Billfish Series point’s coverage in Hawaii.  The World Billfish Challenge – Kona will be held July 9 – 20, 2001 with a schedule change placing the total release tournament in between the Light and Heavy tournaments.  The estimated purse for 2001 is $500,000.00, according to Nelson. 

Following the World Billfish Challenge – Kona in July will be the World Billfish Challenge Ko’Olina which will take place August 16 –19, 2001.  The new event will feature Ahi and Marlin as the targeted species, with IGFA rules for Marlin and Jungle rules for Ahi.  The estimated purse for 2001 is $100,000.00.  The event will be the first major annual international fishing competition staged at the new Ko Olina Resort and Marina.  It will be filmed for ESPN and also be an official event of the World billfish Series.

For more information contact Sportfish Hawaii or Mike Nelson of Ocean Sports Productions. Mike@wbchawaii.com or phone 808-254-3474.