This event was the 5th seasons points tournament for the Hawaii and Waikiki Yacht Clubs and marks the midpoint of the season.  Were unfortunately only able to get 13 boats out to participate despite the certainty of a good fishing weekend (which was evidenced by a quick drive past the harbor at Kewalo Basin on Thursday where so many fish flags flying from the charter vessels that it looked like Armed Forces day).  While we knew the fishing was going to be good for the weekend, we just weren’t able to convince all of the fleet to get out there to the warm waters out West to raise a few pelagics.   

The weather has been kind to us lately, but we did have marginal wind and sea conditions for this one-day event. We did not have to restrict the fishing area because small craft advisories were not posted, but regardless of this, most of the boats went towards BO buoy and Waianae for the day. Some boats were able to find nets or other floating debris, but the main emphasis was on locating the Ahi off of Waianae because of the warm water showing on the sea surface temperature charts.

The first boat to return home was Tanda Manzi, but the President's Day tournament winner, Craig Mitchell, had nothing to report on board his skiff. However, shortly after Craig came in, boats began to display their wares. Blue Diamond returned home with three Mahimahi, two of which weighed 15 pounds. Their guests, Dennis Rowan and Mark Hinrichs from Bahia Cornithian Yacht Club in Newport Beach, California, were pleased with the results and Rick's fish finding ability, but these were fish that would not measure up on this day. Kuu Huapala came in next with two more nice Mahimahi, the largest at 20 pounds. This fish put them into the lead for a short moment, however, the word on the radio was that Dudley Worthy on the Kahuna Kai had a 200 pound Marlin on board. While awaiting the presence of the big Kahuna, Manawale'a, skippered by Lou Nagy, sneaked on home with a 13.5 pound Mahimahi. This was the first fish caught in a tournament this year by Jennifer Rubianes despite her good luck presence in winning the No Alibi/Spring fishing tournament couple of months ago with a 262 pound Marlin. .

At approximately 430 p.m., Dudley brought to the dock his reported and now anticipated catch. He had a couple on board who were visiting on Hawaii for their honeymoon and had decided to see what the ocean could offer to enhance their new marriage. Andrea Kozub, one of the honeymooners, had a great day her own right by catching a 31.5 pound Spearfish shortly after landing a nine pound Mahimahi. However, not to be out done, her new husband Chris climbed the ladder by landing a 214.5 pound Pacific Blue Marlin almost in front of the harbor and right near Manawalea and Alele II. It turned out to be a great honeymoon gift for the Kozubs, because their Marlin was good enough for first place.

A total of 33 fish were caught in the tournament, with 23 being weighed. The sail fleet remained especially good to our budget this year because once again they were unable to register any fish for the tournament. It should be noted that two sailboats did catch fish in the tournament, however, none of the fish they caught aboard the Miller’s 20/20 or Dave White’s Holokai were of sufficient size to count.

At the party afterwards, the Kahuna Kai gang were able to whoop it up in fine fashion, because the Marlin moved Dudley into third-place on the Hawaii Yacht Club season's points side, and also launched him into first place for on the Waikiki Yacht Club side. Not a bad day's work for Dudley and congratulations go to the honeymooners he had on-board.

It’s mid-season, so the following is the tally for the boats and angler’s seasons points thus far, and with five tournaments to go, the titles are deifnitely up for grabs:

Hawaii Yacht Club

Waikiki Yacht Club