A total of 23 teams caught 41 fish in last weekend’s opener of the Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series, aptly named the Kona Kick Off.
Of the fish caught, 24 were blue marlin — a very encouraging catch rate — considering the slow start to the series last year.
Tenacity and perseverance paid off for Capt. Kerwin Masunaga on the boat Rod Bender, who led his team to four tagged marlin and a 107.5-pound ahi. Kerwin’s daughter, Heather, performed all of the angling duties while his brother, Brent, pulled leader. Longtime cohort, Dennis Ida — the man, the myth, the legend — backed Brent up on the deck.
Rod Bender is no stranger to the winners circle in the HMTS, as they were series champions in 2016. Steve Spina shares angling duties with Heather throughout the season, but missed the season opener this year.
“May be good luck for him to just stay home this season,” Heather said while holding back a laugh. “We got this!”
She has good reason to be happy, as Rod Bender earned $47,604 with their four marlin, all tagged and released alive, back into the ocean.
There is not much chance of Spina staying home though. He is busy clearing his calendar and plans to be here starting this weekend for the next three legs of the series, with the next leg kicking off Friday night with the final registration and team meeting for the 31st annual Firecracker Open Big Game Tournament.
The Firecracker fishes Saturday and Sunday and then Monday is registration and briefing for the Kona Throw Down, which competes through Thursday.
The following day, the 31st annual Skins Marlin Derby rounds out a mini-marathon of nine fishing days in a 10-day stretch.
When combined with an international tournament running on July 4, about $2 million dollars in purse are up for grabs during this stretch of events.
As for the Kick Off tournament, tight on the heels of the Masunaga clan was another local group led by Capt. Paul Cantor on Silver Star. They tagged three blues and had one more, which came unhooked, that could have been large enough to weigh.
That fish could have changed everything, but then again, it wouldn’t be a fishing tournament if there wasn’t at least one story about the big one that got away. Silver Star tallied $7,776 in prize money, so the escape of the big one was felt right in the pocket.
The largest ahi of the tournament went to Billy Flowers, fishing on High Noon. The ahi scaled out at 147.5 pounds. The largest ono was a 37.5-pounder boated by Joe Marsh on Honey, a new boat on the tournament trail this summer. The biggest mahimahi was a 38-pounder caught right outside the harbor, just before the “stop fishing” call by radio control. Brad Pickens subdued this fish from his boat EZ Pickens.
The Kona Kick Off was a four flags event that scored marlin, ahi, mahi and ono. It is the only tourney like that in the series.
The Firecracker Open scores marlin and ahi, and then it gets into serious marlin fishing only with the Kona Throw Down and the Skins Marlin Derby.
Kona is known for being one of, if not the best places on earth to catch really big marlin, and has booked more blue marlin over 1,000 pounds than any other fishing hole. The Throw Down and the Skins rewards anglers for big marlin primarily.
For a full list of catches and results from the Kona Kick Off, log on to konatournaments.com.
All of the tournaments of the HMTS are open to any interested anglers, and no prior experience is required. Kona has a large and world renowned professional charter fleet, and crews that teach novice anglers to catch giant fish every day.
For entry forms and more information on actually entering a competition and getting in on the fun, click konatournaments.com/events or call Captain Jody Bright at 557-0908.