No Alibi Tournament Report

Good weather, a couple of nice fish, great food, and a dicey ending was the theme for this year’s No Alibi/Spring Fishing Tournament held by the Hawaii and Waikiki Yacht Clubs. The fearless tournament organizer, your author, referred to the weather charts available on the website at www.sportfishhawaii.com before the tournament, and noticed the sea temperature was significantly warmer from the reef runway almost to Kaena Point, and running out about 25 miles along the whole coast. Making the astounding forecast and living vicariously through the at-sea fishermen, I predicted the winning fish and the most success would be derived from the Barber’s Point, BO Buoy and Power Plant areas, and even more astounding, made those predictions known the evening before the tournament.

All during the week prior to the tournament the weather was up and down, but then it dropped down to some great conditions for Saturday March 6th. A total of nineteen boats entered the tournament, five of which were in the sailing division. Given the economy here in this great land of Aloha, we were happy to get that many, and we think with the new format of joint efforts with Waikiki Yacht Club, it will only grow.

Saturday’s weigh in, which is always an optional day to record fish on the two day events, was very slow, with only two boats weighing in. 20/20 from the sailing division was the first to bring home the bacon. They were working the Penguin Banks on Saturday, but rather than spend the night on Molokai which some of the boats did, they returned home and posted an 11.5 lb Mahi Mahi angled by the great Bob Simpson.

Not to be outdone by a sailboat, Waikiki Yacht Club Fishing Chair Rick Abille skippered his 36’ Canaveral, Blue Diamond, into some producing waters, and brought home a pretty good load of fish. His best of the six fish was a 26.5 pound Spearfish angled by his wife Sherry. A couple of other Mahis, Ahis and Aku were also brought in, and it was a great day for the Abille group, getting on the season’s points board with 86.5 points. It was also fortuitous that he would only fish the one day, because his saved fuel would be needed later.

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34.5 lb Mahi caught on Kuu Huapala

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Saturday’s weigh in was a little wet at points, and weighmaster Jim Markey of Waikiki Yacht Club got a little damp as the squalls ran over our heads. Jim would have been fishing in the tournament on his Grand Banks, Nautigal, but his propeller is still out of whack so he decided to offer his time helping out with the weigh-ins.

Day two, Sunday, was slow to begin with, as I spent time at the club preparing for the boats and the events later on. While working in the office, a club member wandered in looking for the weigh-in sheets. When I asked about the need for the sheets, she nonchalantly indicated there was a boat out front that needed to weigh a fish. Curious, I immediately jumped up and found the boat wanting to weigh was Manawalea, skippered by Lou Nagy. They had a nice Marlin weighing in a 262 pounds, which was the eventual tournament winner. The fish was angled by Lou’s son, John, and they were fishing out in the waters I had predicted would be fruitful.

With first place probably sewn up on the power side with Manawalea’s Marlin, the battled turned to second and third. Susan Strong, aboard Art Burt’s Audie Too, took her stab at it by weighing a nice 18.5 lb Mahi Mahi, but Russell Reeves, visiting from Louisiana and chartering Kuu Huapala, weighed in a beautiful 34.5 lb female Mahi Mahi to take second place in the power division.

Meanwhile, the sailboat division was the unknown entity. 20/20, with their 11.5 points earned on day one, skulked into their slip undetected on day two with only a boat ride to show for their efforts on the Penguin Banks. That left Tiare, skippered by Doug Vann, wide open to win it if he could. We hadn’t heard from him until the end of the ride and the rumor was they had spent the night in Hale’O’Lono. As they hit the weigh scale, the boat was loaded with crew, cans, and food, but of course the suspense what finding out what they managed to catch. With team 20/20 looking on from a distance, Sherry Vann weighed in two nice Ulua, the largest at 23.5 pounds, vaulting team Tiare into the lead for the tournament. They also brought in a 13.5 pound Kaku angled by Willie Williams.

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All that should have been left was the post tournament party, which was hosted by WYC. Rick Abille and the Blue Diamond crew stayed in Sunday in order to prepare for the festivities, and they put up a great showing. Food and drink was delicious and plentiful, and a great time was had by everyone who participated. Rick even made sure there was a prize for every boat who attended the party, so anyone who missed out on a prize and great food is reminded that attendance is required for these things.

I start the last paragraph with "should" because it became clear after the party wound down that one of our boats hadn’t made it home. Our rules require a check in at the end if fish aren’t weighed, and as I went through the entries, one boat was unaccounted for. After checking with the group, we found that an EPRIB was deployed at about 4:00 pm by an unknown vessel. I called the Coast Guard and it became reasonably clear after a couple of calls that the boat they were working on was the missing boat from our tournament. At 21:00, I decided we should go out and get him rather than leave it to the Coast Guard, and Blue Diamond, who still had plenty of fuel as he only fished Saturday, was ready to go.

Five of us went out to the last known position of the EPIRB beacon, and we were finally able to locate the vessel at about 2:00 am Monday morning. The winds were about 15-18 knots and the seas about 4-6 feet, so it wasn’t overbearing conditions. The winds had been rising a bit through out the day and were up considerably on Monday, so we were glad to find him when we did and get a line off to him to tow him home. Many thanks and Aloha to Rick Abille, Paul Whitmire, Tommy Frietas, and the other guy (who I never did get a name from) for helping us get the distressed vessel. Thank God for EPIRBS and rules like the check in, because very so often, things like this do happen. More importantly, thank God for skippers like Rick, who cared enough to go get one of our brothers instead of leaving it entirely up to the Coast Guard. The Coasties do enough for us, and this is just another one of those reminders of what kokua is all about.

Final Results:
Nineteen boats declared intent to enter, paid and played.

Total Fish Caught:
2 Blue Marlin Released by Lyle Holden on board Wicked Wahine
1 Blue Marlin weighing 262 lbs
5 Mahi Mahi’s weighed, the largest at 34.5 lbs
2 Ahi’s weighed, largest at 14.5 lbs
1 Spearfish weighing 26.5 lbs
2 Uluas weighed, the largest at 23.5 lbs
1 Kaku (barracuda) weighed at 13.5 lbs
1 Small Aku weighed by a youngster and didn’t qualify

Winners - Power Division
First place was Lou Nagy on Manawalea with his 262lb Blue Marlin
Second Place was Glen Paxman on Kuu Huapala with the 34.5 lb Mahi Mahi
Third Place went to Rick Abille on Blue Diamond with the 26.5 lb Spear

Winners - Sail Division
First Place was Doug and Sherry Vann aboard Tiare with a 23.5 Ulua
Second went to Tony and Ellen Miller aboard 20/20 with an 11.5 lb Mahi Mahi
The sail fleet is still being kind to the budget as we didn’t have a third place award to give out.

The word is still getting out that our tournaments are open to everyone, so we still aren’t getting too many non-club member entrants. For a $20.00 entry in both power and sail divisions, anglers get a chance to win prizes of $150.00, $100.00 and $50.00, plus door prizes. Everyone who participates in the tournament gets free food on the last day, so if you are going fishing on the weekend, why not throw your name in the hat and get a little recognition for your efforts!

Next up is the Seniorita’s tournament, April 17 and 18. This is a fun Jackpot tournament where the ladies get to do all the rod and reel work. Hope to see you there!