If you were 106 years old and still motoring along, the younger people of today might ask how you survived the Spanish Flu of 2018. The Hawaii Big Game Fishing Club survived the 1918 pandemic, but given the state of the economy during our current pandemic, one must wonder “how?”
The club is 106 years old, but none of the members from those days are here to say what they did. The Club is surviving the current pandemic, but like everyone and everything, it has had to adapt to “the new world order” which keeps changing. After months of pretty much being shut down, the club has been working on ways to return to offering members some fun things to do. A few projects are in the works.
A Harbor Market is being organized, with a target date of Dec. 12. A committee is working on revamping and relaunching the Club’s flagship tournament, an event that runs year round. The format is “four flags” style, with trophies and other prizes awarded at the Annual Meeting of Members, usually held in November. The goal is to re-launch the Four Flags event with a start date of December 1, 2020. A series of casual, one day competitions is also being designed, and may be offered as early as November of 2020.
The ever changing regulations have prevented some things from going off as usual though. The Club’s biggest tournament and fundraiser — the Rock n Reel Hawaiian Open — was canceled this past June, like most tournaments across Hawaii. A series of presentations and social gatherings were also planned for the past few months, but they became nigh on impossible to implement, and were ultimately postponed.
Going forward, activities will be made possible by a remote sign up system, accessible from either The Club website www.hbgfc.org or over the phone. A number of cell phone apps for fishing tournaments are being researched. One such app under consideration is being developed right here in Kona. Once all the research is complete, the website will be updated and schedules announced.
The Board of Directors have been meeting once a month, providing continuity in management of the business of The Club. Between private cash contributions and a government CARES Act grant, The Club remains on solid financial footing. The Board recently voted to hold the annual elections of officers and directors as usual, with the caveat that nominations and voting would all be done via email. Usually those elections are held at the Annual Meeting of Members, but the current limit of 10 people or less for social gatherings will not allow the meeting to take place. That doesn’t mean that the Club can’t continue to operate though. If you are currently a member, you will be notified soon. If you would like to join, log on to www.hbgfc.org.
No one knows how the Club survived the 2018 pandemic, but it will survive the one today in large part due to this thing called the internet, and a little luck.
Many of Kona’s top professional fishermen will be home from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico soon. Kona boys are in big demand as crew in the tournament circuit over there for a number of reasons, primarily because they have more experience in handling big fish at boat side than most guys from other fishing holes.
In years past, Kona crews have helped a number of teams win many millions of dollars at competitions in Cabo, and all around the world. The Bisbee’s Black and Blue tournament just ended, and it turned out 126 teams vying for an eye popping $4.6 million dollars in purse.
Yep, that is not a typo. One tournament purse totaling $4.6 million bucks. And guess what. The big fish were not impressed and simply refused to cooperate. As a result, with that much money on the line, more than one team got a bit too antsy and brought in fish that were too small claim to any of the purse at all, much less the entire $4.6 million.
Lots of small marlin were tagged and released and there was a tag and release division with just under $97,000.00 in the pot, but that total is only 1/47th of the total amount up for grabs. To digest that factoid, you may have to chew on it a while. Take your time.
Late in the final hour of the final day, another marlin was taken by a boat called “Survivor.” Sometimes boats have uncannily ironic names. Their fish too, was too small and claimed zero prize money. So in the end, tournament organizers have a huge job on their hands refunding more than $4.1 million dollars.
Some Kona boys were in the Cabo money though. At the tournament the week before, Kona resident Steve Kaiser was on a team that caught a 514 pound blue marlin for the win. They pocketed a cool $837,816.00.
Local skippers Kai Hoover and Boyd DeCoito scooped up at the earlier tournament too. They won an ahi daily with a fish that also took the largest tuna division. Their fish weighed 228 pounds, and won by just a scant three pounds. The total purse paid for those two tuna divisions was $138,760.00. Both of those fish showed that Kona boys are, indeed, good with big fish at boat side.
Kai Hoover said that fishing was real tough in Cabo this season and that they just had a little luck. Add “a little luck” to the list of things needed to survive, well, to survive just about