The Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series is currently in its “Seventh Inning Stretch” after running five tournaments between June 23 and July 15.
In 2017, California angler Rick Shedder earned headlines as top angler in the series by turning in scorecards with points fishing from a number of boats including J.R.’s Hooker, Lightspeed and Bwana.
So far this summer, defending champ Shedore has been on a tear, but this time all his points have been tallied on one boat, Lightspeed. Shedore came in second at the 2018 Firecracker, weighing a 667-pound blue. He ratcheted up the pressure on the other anglers at the Kona Throw Down, where he tagged nine blues and weighed an ahi at 113 pounds.
Rob McCarthy, owner of Lightspeed, was lead off and clean-up batter through the first round of tourneys, tagging five more blues. McCarthy tagged two at the Kick Off and three at the Lure Makers Challenge. Capt. Carlton Taniyama even got a blue marlin tag in as angler, at the Kick Off — all on Lightspeed.
If you haven’t been around the fishing scene in Kona this summer, this might sound like outstanding action — and it was — but it was even hotter on board “Bwana”.
Owner Craig Lindner tagged a total of 13 blues, starting at the Firecracker and running through the Skins. Randy and Lisa Parker took over angling duties at the Lure Makers Challenge, with Randy tagging one and Lisa tagging two. Lisa also weighed a 124-pound ahi.
Lindner currently leads the angler division with 3250 points with Capt. Teddy Hoogs at the wheel of Bwana, with Randy Parker and Carl Shepherd on the deck.
Capt. Rob Ellyn’s Lightspeed is currently enjoying top boat position of the series with 4330.5 points, from the angling duo of Shedore and McCarthy, and an assist by Capt. Taniyama. Travis Ota has been in charge of the deck.
Lightspeed has picked up right at $225,000 in purse from Firecracker and Throw Down winnings.
Strong Persuader was the big winner at the Skins, raking in $327,000. Capt. Shane “Big Time” O’Brien lead angler Guy Arrington to a 683-pound blue, good for three skins and all the biggest marlin, biggest marlin of the day, most points overall and some hefty dailies.
Five Star walked off with almost all the marbles at the Lure Makers. Mike Parris and Mike Shimamoto teamed up for 11 blues tagged, earning $88,000-plus.
Rod Bender took home over $47,000, with the most points at the Kick Off with local girl Heather Masunaga filling in as angler for owner Steve Spina when he couldn’t be fishing. Obviously he had his priorities mixed up.
With fishing like this, participation and excitement has been running high. A total available purse of $1.4 million has also grabbed the attention of the teams, and the daily competition has been fierce. Almost every fishing day a pair or three boats got hot, tagging 3-5 blues a day, tit-for-tat, one boat answering the other boat’s catch within minutes. It’s all been great fun.
There are two more tourneys left in the series, and the fishing did not stop with the recent string of tournaments. Just days after the Lure Makers, Pursuit — the defending champion at the tourney — had a great day, tagging seven blues in one day. On the same day, Lepika tagged six and Go Get Em tagged five.
Three granders — fish weighing over 1,000 pounds — have been weighed now in Hawaii this summer. Two were from Kauai and one on Oahu. It is only a matter of time before it’s Kona’s turn, right?
August is traditionally one of, if not the best month, so it could be that the best fishing of 2018 is yet to come along the Kona Coast.
To enter either of the remaining two events, the 32nd BIMT or It’s a Wrap tourney, go to konatournaments.com/events/.