1999 Firecracker Fishing Tournament Report

Fifty boats plied the waters off the Kona Coast during the recent Firecracker Open Marlin Tournament, tallying up an impressive 79 hook ups over the course of two days. The radio was a constantly abuzz with activity as skippers reported to Tournament Control the results of their hookups.

This is where the problem lay. The Firecracker Open is a marlin tournament and most of the bites were coming from the schools of Ahi that have invaded Kona waters over the course of the past couple of weeks. During the week prior to the tournament, large marlin up to 1040 pounds were coming in just about every day, but for some reason the marlin bite shut off and the Ahi bite turned on at just the wrong time.

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The excitement of heading to the start line

A total of just 5 marlin were qualified during last weekend’s event, and 4 of these were tagged and released. The only marlin to best the minimum weight requirement of 200 pounds was produced by Capt. Chip Van Mols and deckie Carlton Arai on Henry Potts’ “Rod Bender”. This event was the first big tournament for the team and Chris Potts lead the team to a win by angling a 307.5 pound Pacific Blue Marlin.

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The shotgun start is always exciting

Team “Rod Bender” was happy to take home the entire purse reserved for First Second and Third places, as it totaled and even $40,000.00. Going unclaimed was a larger chunk of change as not one fish was caught that qualified for any of the winnings ear marked for the fish in the daily categories, or largest marlin of the tournament. The total amount of potential prize money going unclaimed was $63,810.00. Anglers who had entered the daily categories were given the choice of taking a refund of the jackpot portion of their entry fee, or rolling the entry forward to the next tournament in the Kona Marlin Tournament Series, which is the Skins Marlin Derby.

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Scanning the horizon for clues to where the BIG ONE is

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Enjoying the calm water & scenery with one eye on the rod

The Skins gets underway this Thursday evening with registration and team briefing. Early register-ers can swing by the office of the Hawaii Conservation Association during office hours and sign up. After about 6:00 PM, headquarters will shift to the Hawaii Big Game Fishing Club House, where pupu’s, beverages and the team meeting will be found. Participation in the Series has expanded this year over the past few years, as has total available prize money. Jackpots are running about 20% higher this year, and there has been some $262,000.00 up for grabs so far this summer, as opposed to $222,000.00 at this date last year. If this trend continues, the Skins should see a field of about 22 boats compete for around $90,000.00 in prize money.

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The weigh scale was busy with Ahi, too bad Ahi didn't count

The Skins has the a scoring system unique to the world, that is facilitated by local waters’ ability to produce very large marlin. Total purse from the base entry fee is split evenly and made available for each of the three days of fishing. The largest marlin 500 pounds or better will take the “Skin” or daily purse. If only smaller marlin are caught, they will score points, but the “Skin” will roll forward and be added to that of the next day. If there is no marlin 500 pounds or better caught during all three days, the team with the most points will win all of the money.

Tag and released marlin count as 300 points, so letting fish go is a big part of the game. In addition to this structure, there are the usual optional entry levels for the largest marlin of each day, and of the tournament. The minimum size requirement for the optional categories is 300 pounds, which doubles as the tag and release maximum size.

All events are open to all interested anglers, and the tournament schedule posted on the pages of Sportfish Hawaii’s website contains additional information. For still more information contact Tropidilla Productions at (808) 325-7300 or (808) 331-1191 or email tropdil@aloha.net.

1999 Firecracker Open Marlin Tournament Report