This year’s tournament champion and recipient of the HIBT Governor’s Trophy was Japan's Kona Game Fishing Club-Kusatsu, finishing with 2,129 points. Fishing aboard Kila Kila, captained by long-time Kona skipper Teddy Hoogs, the team earned an additional 300 points on Friday, rounding out a week of fishing consistently and putting points on the scoreboard daily. By 8:30 a.m., angler Hiroyuki Murakami had tagged an estimated 200-pound Pacific blue marlin.
But the story of the day, and the tournament, went to the team Out Of The Blue, from Waianae, Oahu. Fishing aboard the Miss Mojo, captained by Tio Kearney, angler Ted Morikawa boated a whopping 779-pound Pacific blue marlin on Friday, earning his team second place in this year’s competition. "I’ve been fishing in the HIBT for three years, and I guess you could say three’s a charm," Morikawa said. "Captain Kearney encouraged us to fish on live bait. We set up the bait, trolled for a bit and bingo!" With the largest fish caught all week, Out Of The Blue finished with 1,479 points.
Boyd DeCoito, captain of the 46-foot Foxy Lady, won the tournament’s coveted Henry Chee Award, which goes to the charter boat captain on whose vessel the most number of billfish points have been scored.
"I have been fishing HIBT since I was about 12 years old," DeCoito said. "So you could say I grew up with this tournament. This week I knew I wanted to fish south in an area called Uniform. It performed for us all week long. We had great teams fishing with us who relied on our experience and knowledge."
"Mahalo to the entire Big Island community for extending such warmth, and aloha to the international fishing community this week," said tournament founder Peter Fithian. "Twenty-eight teams out of 31 scored points, and we are happy about that. It was certainly another great tournament."
Next year’s event is scheduled for July 24 to July 30, with fishing days from July 25 to July 29.
| Daily Catch (Friday -- Day Five, final) |
|---|
| Eight Pacific blue marlin tagged and released |
| One Pacific blue marlin weighed |
| Two Short nose spearfish tagged and released |
| HIBT Week Total |
| 38 Pacific blue marlin tagged and released |
| Eight Pacific blue marlin weighed |
| Three striped marlin tagged and released |
| 13 shortnose spearfish tagged and released |
| One sailfish |
| Two ahi (yellowfin tuna) boated |
| Final Team Standings |
| Place, Team, Points |
| 1 Kona Game Fishing Club-Kusatsu, Japan, 2,129 |
| 2 Out Of The Blue Fishing Club, Hawaii, 1,479 |
| 3 Laguna Niguel Billfish Club No. 2, California, 1,300 |
| 4 Olympian Dream Fishing Club, Japan, 1,298 |
| 5 Hilton Grand Vacations Fishing Club, Japan, 1,258 |
| 6 Game Fishing Club of South Australia, 1,100 |
| 7 Bay of Islands Swordfish Club No. 1, New Zealand, 989 |
| 8 Aussie Invaders, Australia, 950 |
| 9 Malibu Marlin Club, California, 890 |
| 10 Team KGFA-Korean Game Fishing Assn., 820 |
| Captain Standings |
| Place, Captain, Boat, Points |
| 1 Boyd DeCoito, Foxy Lady, 1,700 |
| 2 Tio Kearney, Miss Mojo, 1,629 |
| 3 Guy Terwilliger, Malolo, 1,489 |
| 4 Matt LoSasso, Last Chance, 1,429 |
| 5 Mike DeRego, Maggie Joe, 1,050 |
| 6 Jason Holtz, Marlin Magic, 1,008 |
| 7 Lance Gelman, Long Ranger, 1,000 |
| 8 Chuck Wilson, Fire Hatt, 990 |
| 9 Kevin Hibbard, JR’s Hooker, 927 |
| 10 Kevin Nakamaru, Northern Lights, 920 |
-- Kelly Burgess
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Photo: Out of the Blue angler Ted Morikawa hugs a 779-pound Pacific blue marlin, the largest fish boated in the 2010 Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament. Credit: HIBT