1999 Cockeyed Mayor's Fishing Tournament Report

A good turnout from anglers, boats, and fish was the name of the game over the weekend of August 21 and 22. Nineteen boats joined the Cockeyed Mayor’s tournament which was hosted by the Hawaii Yacht Club, number seven in a series of ten tournaments put on by the Hawaii and Waikiki Yacht Clubs. Five sailboats and fourteen power boats, one of which was not a member of either club, set out off Oahu’s South shore in search of finned creatures looking to join them for dinner and a party. Some boats were only able to fish one of the two days, while others invested as many of the 41 permissible hours of fishing time as they could squeeze in. Still others left Friday early to take full advantage of the relaxed starting requirement, a change that was made to accommodate those boats wishing to enter the Lanai Rendezvous Fishing Tournament in Manele Bay on August 20 and 21.

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Sea Verse and their 40 lb Mahi among others

Normal club rules allow departure at midnight Friday (which is in effect Saturday morning) and return by 5:00 Sunday. This provides 41 hours of potential fishing time, and though most boats use the extra hours for travel to get to the grounds they think will be most productive, fishing is permitted the entire way. In this tournament, we allowed boats to leave Friday and begin the tournament off-island. Fish weighed in the Lanai Rendezvous tournament would require a copy of the weight slip to show the weight for Saturday fish, and we used the honor system to ask skippers to exclude all fish caught on Friday.

On Saturday the 21st, Stinger’s Richard Ally (sail division) came home with a great story but nothing to show for it but a weary body. Early in the day toward BO buoy, he tied into a fish that he never saw but ripped off about 500 yards of line on his International 80. He worked the rod 45 minutes before losing what would probably have been a great fish, leaving him heartbroken.

Only two boats weighed in on Saturday, the optional day. Lee Severs on the Sea Verse III unloaded a 139 pound Marlin to give him the early lead, and Manawale’a dropped in with a 23.5 LB Spearfish to end day one with second place. Lou Nagy, skipper of Manawale’a, also had a great story at the bar, telling us about a bone-chilling experience whereby the fear of God was instilled in him and the crew. They described the dimensions of a fish that came into their pattern about 50 yards off the back of the boat, tailwalked with the lure wrapped around the bill, then left without even so much as getting hooked or taking the line off the outrigger.

The fish was estimated as longer than the width of their Bertram 38 wide body, so the consensus had the fish at about 14 feet or so. But it was the girth that amazed crew, however. They said the thickness of the fish was carried back almost to the anal fin, and it was approximately three feet top to bottom not including the dorsal fin. Using these estimates and plugging them into the standard formula, the fish calculated somewhere between 700 and 1200 pounds. To estimate the weight of a fish, simply square the girth in inches, multiply by the length from lower jaw to inner fork of the tail in inches, and divide by 800. In this case, a 14 foot fish less bill and tail bow would approximate 150 inches in length. The girth, using three foot top to bottom as a gauge approximates 70 inches. Using the formula, the math is simple: 70 x 70 x 150 = 735,000. Divide by 800 equals 918.75 pounds. If it was longer or fatter than estimated, it’s a grander for sure and another thing to tell the grandkids about one day.

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Papa and Ikaika with the winning catch

Stories of the ones that got away notwithstanding, with Saturday as an optional weigh-in day the two fish brought in were not really a true reflection of what the fleet had caught, and it would take Sunday’s tally to settle the score. And what a Sunday it was!

First to the scales Sunday was Hank Mulligan on Kolohe in the sail fleet. Hank, his wife Crispin and crew Tony Collins left early Sunday morning with the intention of heading to the Banks. The winds had picked up a bit from Saturday, however, so the seas weren’t as calm as they would have liked. Not wanting to spend the day getting completely thrashed, they cracked off the wind and set a nice beam reach course toward HH buoy. Before they got too much further, however, one of the lines began to peel with a fervor. No jumps and no visual on the fish led them to believe they had a shark on at first, but after an hour or so they saw what they had for the first time......a nice Marlin. Angler Crispin kept good pressure on the fish the whole fight, and after wrestling the fish onto the high gunwale boat, they tried everything they could to subdue the fish. Tony, having no bat within immediate grasp, began to punch the fish to calm it down, which amazingly worked, and they soon returned to the club with a 159.5 pound Marlin to their credit, good enough for first place in the sail division.

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The crew of Kolohe with their Marlin

Sailboats aren’t the easiest of platforms to fish from, so these skippers and crew do what they can, and usually do it quite well. But no matter what happens, there is always a sail and control lines (known as sheets and guys) to worry about, plus the rudder, and in this case, pitching seas. Normally we associate the ladies as being more prone to sickness in these conditions, but Crispin was the one able to maintain her composure as Hank and Tony began their oral assault, tossing their lunch, dinner and whatever else they had onto this fish as though it hadn’t been through enough trauma already. Perhaps it was the vessel motion, and perhaps it was the close quarters handling of the fish. We’re not sure, but forever we’ll remember the day that Kolohe fished only five hours to win a tournament by subduing their fish with punches and lunches.

Later in the day, the rest of the fleet came home. Most of the balance of the sail fleet remained fishless, but 20/20 added to their season’s points with a nice Mahimahi good for second place, and a ten pound Kawakawa.

In the power fleet, Blue Diamond returned with just skipper Rick Abille and his six-year old grandson Ikaika aboard, along with a few nice fish. Ikaika caught a couple of nice Aku, but the big strike, a 181 LB Pacific Blue Marlin, was handled by Papa (Ikaika’s nickname for Rick) and was ultimately good enough for first prize.

Nobody was able to unseat Sea Verse’s 139.5 pounder on Sunday to take over second, but Bob Goodman aboard Akele came home with a 119 pound Marlin which was good for third place and also the Cockeyed Mayor’s perpetual trophy, awarded to the Hawaii Yacht club member who lands the heaviest fish but also makes physical contact with the island of Molokai (anchor, tie up, swim ashore, etc.).

Other significant catches this weekend included a 40 pound Mahimahi and a 36 pound Ono on Sea Verse, who, by the way, added 326.5 pounds to his points total for the season. Kuu Huapala added 250.5 points to their total, Kahuna Kai added 214.5, and Blue Diamond added 202.5. Season’s points for the trophy is still up for grabs, though, with about ten boats all within reach of the title. We’ll be looking for some great competition in the last couple for the year, including the next tournament, the Ho’ole’a.

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Cockeyed Mayor's trophey winners