After more than two months of competition, a winner has been crowned in the inaugural Reel First Responders Fishing Tournament.
The fire department team 3 Bs and a G, consisting of Gilbert Andrade, John Barco, Alika Bumatay and Jon Boteilho took home the trophy on Thursday, besting the police quartet of Aron Tomota, Adam Hanes, Willy Kimi III and Randall Aquino – who fished on Oct. 5 – of Team Sea Men.
Along with the trophy, the winning firefighters claimed bragging rights over their fellow first responders after the tournament’s conclusion.
“Obviously, they wish they were firefighters, but if you can’t be a firefighter, at least you’re a policeman,” joked Barco, sparking laughter among his teammates. “But in all seriousness, thank God we’re not on the mainland; these are our brothers and sisters that we work hand in hand with. We’re one team; firefighters and police, we all work together. Here, there’s no separation.”
The win was particularly special to the firefighters, who had one of their fallen teammates, Eric Hayashi: better known as Buta, in their minds.
“If you knew Buta in the department, he always had the best fishing stories,” said Bumatay. “He organized a lot of the fire department fishing tournaments; he was organizing this one when he passed. It’s nice having him along with us.”
Though neither team was able to land a fish during the final week’s fish off, 3Bs and a G claimed the title by virtue of their 1,000-point day that earned them a spot against their winning police counterpart, beating Team Sea Men’s 675 points.
After taking 77 anglers on the water over the course of the tournament, Capt. Al Gustavson reflected on the past two months, when he and his first mate John Bennett spent two days every week with a new team of first responders.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Gustavson. “Every team, police and fire department, was a lot of fun. Great guys; like they said, they’re family. To see their faces when they heard the rod go off: that was cool. They forgot everything they had to deal with, all the pressure that they see on the island, and it’s just about fishing.”
Gustavson hopes this year will be the first of many. He plans to run the tournament again next year.