“Stop fishing, stop fishing, stop fishing,” rang out this afternoon and with those words the 48th running of the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament came to a close.
“Mahalo to the entire Kona community for extending such warmth and aloha to the international fishing community this week,” said HIBT founder Peter Fithian. “The water was a bit cockeyed because we rarely see sail fish here in Kona, but it was certainly another great tournament.”
The final day of this five-day tournament was filled with fish strikes as captains, crews and highly competitive teams scrambled to catch valuable tournament points. Early morning got off to a slow start, but as the morning heated up, so did the fish.
Three Sail fish, a rare catch in Kona waters, were among today’s tag and release bounty. In all, the tournament’s five-day total catch included 36 billfish – 35 of which were tagged and released – and two Ahi. The largest fish of the tournament, a 689-pound Pacific blue marlin, was boated by angler Haruo Kaneko of the winning Hilton Grand Vacation Fishing Club of Japan team.
Kaneko grabbed another two strikes today fishing aboard Lady Dee with Captain Allan Ayano. He brought in the largest Ahi, giving him bragging rights with the largest fish in both billfish and tuna tournament categories.
Kaneko caught all three fish, winning the prestigious tournament for his team. With his 139- pound Ahi caught today, Hilton Grand Vacations Fishing Club of Japan also won the Hawaii County Mayor’s Trophy for the highest number of tuna points scored in the tournament.
