One hundred twenty seasoned anglers on 38 teams from around the globe were on the starting line as Day 1 of the 54th Annual Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament got underway at the Kailua Pier Monday.
As the legendary “Start fishing, start fishing, start fishing” opener rang out across the fleet of 14 U.S. teams from across the country, six teams from New Zealand, five teams from Japan and four teams each from Australia and China joined teams from New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, South Africa and Vanuatu took off across the Pacific Ocean in search of big game fish.
Fishing conditions were excellent and the Beijing Fishing Club was the first to radio in its hook up a mere 16 minutes into the tournament. Eight minutes later, Hilton Grand Vacations Fishing Club Ohana hooked up and so the morning went.
At 9:23 a.m., fishing aboard Maggie Joe, Game Fishing Club of South Australia hooked up and, in an excellent display of fishing skill, just 12 minutes later angler Ralph Czabayski had boated a 386-pound Pacific blue marlin. As the largest catch of the day, the marlin earned the team 615 valuable tournament points and placed them in the lead.
The pier was packed with eager spectators as anglers and deckhands dragged their catches ashore.
Two marlin were brought in by Chinese teams, but the fish did not meet the 300 pound requirement and did not count toward the team’s point totals.
To preserve the thrill of big game fishing for future generations, HIBT teams generally do not boat Pacific blue marlin under 300 pounds. Four teams tallied 600 points apiece to tie for second place: Laguna Nigel Billfish Club No. 2, Hilton Grand Vacations, Le Anglers Club and Old South Marlin Club East Coast No. 1.
Tonight at 6:30 p.m. the HIBT will host a science night at King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel ballroom. The presentation will be hosted by Stanford University marine biologist Randy Kochevar and will provide an overview of animal tagging reasearch and how it is being used to better understand the bilogy of highly migratory marine animals.
The HIBT continues through Friday, with weigh-ins daily at 4:30 p.m.