Kona Fishing Chronicles big/little fishing stories.

Medusa Victors Wahine Tournament
“Pointless Sisters” winning Wahine team on Medusa

Each week we bring you the biggest fishing story of the week. But every fishing adventure is the biggest story of the week to the fishermen who lived it. So this week, we’ll look at some of the “biggest little” stories of the week.

Here’s what I mean. The biggest story of the week happened on Saturday as 438 competitors on 70 boats competed in the 20th edition of the Huggo’s Wahine Fishing Tournament. The winning “Pointless Sisters” team reeled in two blue marlin to edge out a similar catch of two blue marlin by the ladies on Raptor. The winner was the team that got their second fish before the other did.

While the tournament was going on, the biggest little story of the day happened on Bill Jardine’s boat Kakalina. Bill normally fishes in the Wahine Tournament but his usual wahine team — his daughters — elected to fish on another team this year. Bill went fishing anyway just to listen to the radio, keep track of the tournaments, and provide moral support for his offspring.

Kakalina Balbi
Balbi Brooks hard at work on Kakalina

As it happens, he did have a lady angler aboard. Long-time friend Balbi Brooks had come along to observe, listen in, and maybe pull in an ono or mahimahi. He headed south, specifically to stay out of the way of the tournament boats. As he crossed the 500-fathom line off Hookena, his short rigger line came crashing down. In 45 minutes, Balbi had the marlin to the boat with the finesse you might expect of a lifelong fisher girl.
Before releasing the fish, Bill determined its length with a special measuring tape designed to estimate weight. He was satisfied with a 275-pound estimate. Wouldn’t his deserter daughters be impressed!
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Beasts of the week (marlin weighing 500 pounds or more):

July 19: Blue marlin (507) Chris Hudson, Capt. Trevor Child, Maverick

July 19: Blue marlin (880) Carol Herren, Capt. Bruce Herren, Raptor

July 19: Blue marlin (637) Randall Aquino, Capt. Bomboy LLanes, Pamela

July 20: Blue marlin (502) Dustin Partika, Capt. Ryan Foster, Dojo

Tag and Release

July 19: Blue marlin (200) Olivia Beauchamp, Capt. Bruce Herren, Raptor

July 19: Blue marlin (225) Craig Lindner, Capt. Teddy Hoogs, Bwana

July 19: Blue marlin (200 and 225) Sean Weaver, Capt. John Bagwell, Silky

July 19: Blue marlin (150) Drew Carlton, Capt. Paul Carlton, Go Big

July 19: Blue marlin (340) Colen Settles, Capt. Kenny Fogarty, Makana Lani

July 19: Blue marlin (150 and 300) Unknown, Capt. Kenny Llanes, Vixen

July 19: Blue marlin (100) Unknown, Capt. Tim Hicks, Illusions

July 19: Blue marlin (200) Chris Howatt, Capt. Bryan Toney, Marlin Magic

July 19: Blue marlin (150) Travis Jackson, Capt. Tony Clark, Ihu Nui II

July 19: Spearfish (15) Vince Oliva, Capt. Neal Isaacs, Anxious

July 20: Blue marlin (350) Carol Herren, Capt. Bruce Herren, Raptor

July 21: Blue marlin (200) Darrin Amador, Capt. Al Gustavson, Topshape

July 21: Blue marlin (200) Anderson Reedy, Capt. James Dean, Blue Hawaii

July 21: Blue marlin (225) Scott Reedy, Capt. James Dean, Blue Hawaii

July 21: Blue marlin (175 and 175) Ben Cowan, Capt. Boyd DeCoito, Foxy Lady

July 22: Blue marlin (550) Max Olson, Capt. Steve Tarbill, Kona Concept

July 22: Blue marlin (150, 150, and 175) Mamalakis Family, Capt. Steve Epstein, Huntress

July 22: Blue marlin (200) Nolan Seenberg, Capt. James Dean, Blue Hawaii

July 22: Blue marlin (150) Patrick Slavin, (270) Mara Nichols, Capt. Marlin Parker, Marlin Magic II

July 22: Blue marlin (200) David Baureguard, Capt. Bobby Cherry, Cherry Pit II

July 22: Blue marlin (150, 175, 250) Nic Corbat, spearfish (25 and 30) Nic Corbat, Capt. Boyd DeCoito, Foxy Lady

July 22: Blue marlin (350) Carol Herren, Capt. Bruce Herren, Raptor

July 22: Blue marlin (190 and 200) Ed/Chris Mueller, Capt. McGrew Rice, Ihu Nui

July 22: Blue marlin (200) Eddie Ernst, Capt. Tim Hicks, Illusions

July 24: Blue marlin (150) Ariel Desogun, Capt. Andrew Peterson, High Noon

July 24: Blue marlin (250) Sidney Hutchinson, Capt. McGrew Rice, Ihu Nui

July 24: Blue marlin (225) Ben Mongrenson, Capt. Kenny Fogarty, Hula Girl

July 24: Blue marlin (175) Eileen Boyce, Capt. Al Gustavson, Topshape

July 25: Blue marlin (150) Charlene Taniyama, Capt. Carlton Taniyama, Five Star

July 25: Blue marlin (130) Diane Page, Capt. Chad Contessa, Bite Me I

July 25: Blue marlin (160) DeeDee Suesag, Capt. Chris Cawthon, Ohana

July 25: Blue marlin (180) Gabbie Lorell, Capt. Boyd DeCoito, Foxy Lady

July 25: Blue marlin (140) Laura Lane, Capt. Kevin Hibbard, Jr’s Hooker

July 25: Blue marlin (180) Arron Neiol, Capt. Jeff Heintz, LInda Sue IV

July 25: Blue marlin (285) Unknown, Capt. Mike Derego, Maggie Joe

July 25: Blue marlin (200) Unknown, Capt. Butch Losasso, Sea Dancer

July 25: Blue marlin (150) Jennifer Jean, (150) Lisa Barbas, Capt. Lance Gelman, Medusa

July 25: Blue marlin (230) Taylor Williams, Capt. Marlin Parker, Marlin Magic II

July 25: Blue marlin (150) Lahela Lau, (150) Olivia Beauchamp, Capt. Bruce Herren, Raptor

Notable

July 19: Ahi (153) Drew Carlton, Capt. Paul Carlton, Go Big

July 19: Ahi (220) Marc Rubenstein, Capt. Robert Hudson, Camelot

July 19: Ahi (167) Craig Lindner, Capt. Teddy Hoogs, Bwana

July 19: Ahi (161) Eddie Ernst, Capt. Mark Bartell, Spearfish

July 19: Ono (44) Stan Cantor, Paul Cantor, Silver Star

July 20: Ahi (207) Scott Maddox, Capt. James Dean, Blue Hawaii

July 20: Ahi (185) Akazawa, Kalena M

July 20: Ahi (160) Ben Sandstrom, Capt. Al Gustavson, Topshape

July 21: Ahi (164) Vince Tateham, Capt. Kenny LLanes, Vixen

July 21: Ahi (165.5) Myle McNaught, Capt. Kevin Hibbard, JR’s Hooker

July 21: Blue marlin (490) Rachel/Wes Cobb, Capt. Jim Wigzell, Go Get Em

July 23: Ahi (160) Craig Chambers, Capt. McGrew Rice, Ihu Nui

July 25: Ahi (220) Loel Wilson, Sean Kelly, Caristina