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Sports Watch

By Bill Kwon

Tuesday, August 8, 2000

Kailua-Kona once
again luring anglers

A lot of people thought the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament was history when it was canceled last year, ending a 40-year run.

They were proven wrong.

The HIBT's alive and well as it celebrated a happy return with its 41st tournament last week in Kailua-Kona.

Without enough lead-in time, there were only 25 teams entered. A far cry from previous years. But Hawaii's most prestigious fishing tournament is back.

And the tradition continues.

Nobody could have been happier than HIBT founder Peter Fithian.

Fithian's comeback role was more laid back this year as he turned over the duties as tournament director to Sue Vermillion, perhaps the single most reason why the 2000 HIBT went off so well.

"We thought it was a huge success," said Vermillion. "We hope to bring it back to its old glory next year."

Plans call to limit next year's field to 50 teams, and there should be no problem reaching that quota, Vermillion said.

"Everybody said that they were all coming back."

That should include the 2000 HIBT champion with the improbable name of Indiana Jones Tokyo Fishing Club.

Without teams from Australia for the first time in years, it was a 1-2-3 sweep for teams from Japan.

The Pajaro Valley Gamefish Club of California, a perennial HIBT entry, placed fourth.

There were no "granders," or marlin weighing 1,000 pounds. The biggest two Pacific blue marlin boated were 361 and 343 pounds.

The HIBT and world record is 1,166 pounds caught on a 50-pound test line in the 1993 pro-am by Ray Hawkes of the Balboa (Calif.) Angling Club. The other grander was 1,062 pounds by Gill Kraemer of the Laguna Niguel (Calif.) Billfish Club in the 1986 HIBT.

Fithian likens a 1,000-pound catch to running a 4-minute mile because both feats, once thought impossible, occurred within years of each other in the early 1950s.

He still dreams that one day Kailua-Kona can brag of the biggest marlin ever caught.

The current record is a 1,500-pound black marlin caught off Peru by Alfred P. Glassell Jr. in 1954, the year Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute mile.

Bart Miller did boat a 1,600-pound Pacific blue marlin in Kona waters, but it wasn't recognized by the International Game Fish Association because of an irregularity in how it was caught.

SO, like the HIBT, whose tradition is continuing, Fithian's dream of a world record marlin is also very much alive.

The 2001 HIBT is already set for Aug. 11-18 with the pro-am scheduled for July 18-21.

"World records are important," said retired charter boat skipper George Parker, who caught a grander himself.

People like to go where world records are caught, Parker said. Plus, he says, for some reason, the Pacific blue marlin love the placid deep waters off the Kona Coast.

That has helped to put Kailua-Kona on the fishing map, Parker said.

"When I look back on 50 years of fishing, the thing that stands out is the HIBT," he said. "He (Fithian) deserves all the credit for that. I remember when he first talked about putting on a fishing tournament in Kona. I didn't think it would work."

With the HIBT helping tourism and the charter-fishing industry, the state finally built Honokahau Harbor after years of turning a deaf ear to the charter skippers.

Parker feels the state was embarrassed into building it.

"The HIBT put us on the map and Peter deserves the credit for it," Parker said.