2000 Keiki Fishing Tournament Report

2000 Keiki Fishing Tournament Report

Loads of young anglers attacked the waters outside Waikiki on Sunday the 16^th of January, welcoming in the new year with a bunch of fish, food and fun. Every year for the past twenty or so, the Hawaii and Waikiki Yacht Clubs open their doors and welcome every single youngster under the age of 17 who likes to have fun into the club. At no charge, they are placed onto a volunteer skipper’s boat, taken out to the reef areas just outside the harbor for a few hours, and when they return they are greeted with a warm weigh-in team who records the length and weight of every fish.

To open up the new century, a total of 109 kids entered the 2000 tournament, and 148 fish were caught. After the fish were recorded, a speedy team on the computer sorts and processes the data, and categories from heaviest to smallest to longest to most caught are tallied. And the entertainment for the kids doesn’t stop there. While the all-volunteer crew does their job with the weigh-ins and cleans up the Hawaii Yacht Club, the exuberant anglers are shuttled by boat to the Waikiki Yacht Club where they are greeted by another team of friendly volunteers that feed them with all kinds of goodies like hamburgers, hot dogs and ice cream.

Trading stories the whole time about the fish they caught, the boats they were on, and the neato turtles and dolphins that came by while they were fishing, the anglers further showed their love for the water by swimming and playing water games in the WYC pool. Meanwhile, Rocky Dunmire, one of Hawaii’s top DJ’s kept them further entertained with fascinating trivia about Star Trek, Dr. Spock, and past president’s known for eating the most ice cream.

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In order to make this wonderful annual event a success and keep it so the kids can play for free, it takes a huge cooperative effort requiring the assistance of some fifty volunteers from both yacht clubs, twenty to thirty boats whose skippers participate for free, and tremendous help from a group of super sponsors (including a substantial cash donation from Hilo Hattie). It’s a joy to be a part of each year, but the joy truly is in watching the kids have fun.

Like every other year, there was no complaining on the dock, and nobody was left out of the prize parade. As always, there were prizes for the biggest fish, smallest fish, most fish, most total poundage, and a whole bunch of other categories. Even the youngest angler of the event, Jake House (yes, my son), a mere 23 months old, participated, caught a fish, and won a special bamboo fishing rod for it.

Because it was a little windy out, the boats didn’t leave the dock until about 8:30 am. But because the winds were from the North, the lee side of the island had fairly calm seas, making for a very enjoyable time for everyone. A pod of spinner dolphins came right through the fleet at about 10:00 to provide many of the anglers with a great aerial show, contributing to the endless screams of delight. Stop fishing was called at 11:00, and within an hour, almost 150 fish were measured, weighed and recorded, and about 90% of them were released unharmed. Those that didn’t survive were given away to anyone who wanted to have some fresh fish for dinner.

The kids loved it. They knew these fish were caught for prizes, enjoyment, and some dinner, and they gathered around the docks to anxiously watch as more volunteers let the fish swim away. Once again, the whole experience of watching released fish swim and preserving those that didn’t had a positive impact on the kids as they were taught some valuable lessons about respect and not wasting precious resources.

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And the winners are:

Trophy and Prize Winners:

First Place: Allison Perry, 59.6 oz File fish caught on Sea Verse III, Captain Lee Severs
First Place (under 8 yrs old): Bullet Boyles, 27.6 oz Trigger fish caught on the On Strike, Captain Chris Boyles
Second Place: Collyn Fritz, 41.8 oz File fish caught on Sea Verse III, Captain Lee Severs
Third Place: Brian Walker, 41.5 oz Puffer fish, caught on Mowee, Captain Pat MacLane
Most Fish: Chanel Akaka, 9 fish, caught on Audie Too, Captain Art Burt
Highest Total Weight: Ella Flutey, 74.8 oz, caught on the ThreeDaughters, Captain Rebecca Gresham
Most Released Fish: Larinda Branco, 8 fish, caught on Alele II, Captain Al Bento
Longest Fish: Yubin Choi, 40” Stickfish, caught on Mowee, Captain Pat MacLane

Special Prize Winners:

Most Colorful: Wesley Perry, File fish, caught on Sea Verse III, Captain Lee Severs
Most Unusual: Dylan Ale, unidentified, caught on Eideen, Captain Ty Pryne
Smallest Fish: Gavin Victor, .5 oz Wrasse, caught on Ciao Bella, Captain Franciesca Valentine
Youngest angler: Jake House, 23 months, catching 1 small Wrasse on Mike’s Whaler, Captain Mike House

Notable Mentions also Winning Prizes for Heaviest Fish:

Skylar Fritz, 36.2 oz
Zane Flutey, 30 oz
Lindsey Machado, 15.5 oz
Ola Ganade, 3.4 oz
Kai Schade, 12.7 oz
Danielle Machado, 11.5 oz

Notable Mentions also Winning Prizes for Most Fish:

Shauna Rosa, 7 fish
Carina Thompson, 7 fish
Kailiponi McGee, 4 fish
Justin Jones, 4 fish
Joseph Bento, 4 fish
Sandra Kim, 3 fish
Keani Caetano, 3 fish
Jessica Victor, 3 fish

Mahalo to the tournament sponsors
(in alphabetical order):

Dreyer's Ice Cream
Frito Lay
Harbor Pub
HFM
Hilo Hattie
King Food
Magic Island Petroleum
McDonald's
Sports Authority
Star Bakery
West Marine

Mahalo to the all the skippers
(in alphabetical order):

AJ Beaver – Ty Pryne
Akele – Bob Goodman
Alele II – Al Bento
Audie Too – Art Burt
Blue Diamond – Rick Abille
Ciao Bella – Franciesco Valentini
Czechmate – Fred Kobasaikawa
Hale Lana – Bill and Junella
K- Boat – Derron Schade
Kidaly – Cort Haverly
Na Mahoe – George Machado
Manawale’a – Lou Nagy
Mike’s Whaler – Mike House
Mowee – Pat MacLane
Nautigal – Jim Markey
On Strike – Chris Boyles
Sea Nugget – Ed Lott
Sea Verse III – Lee Severs
Stinger – Richard Ally
Three Daughters – Rebecca Gresham
Tuia – Bunny Thomas
Young Machine – Rich Caetano
Wicked Wahine – Lyle Holden

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