KAPAA — Abby Harnack said she wanted to catch ono Saturday at the Wahine o Ke Kai fishing tournament coordinated by the Garden Island Trollers, which wrapped up the daylong outing with a weigh-in at Lihi Park in Kapaa.
“I was so excited,” Harnack said, piloting the pickup containing her catch of not one but five ono, with minutes to spare before the cutoff. “I wanted to catch ono so bad this morning.”
Harnack, fishing aboard the Aukaka skippered by Pono Pananganan, contended with traffic trying to get to Kapaa from the Port Allen Small Boat Harbor launch site.
“I was stressing while driving through Kukui Grove,” Harnack said. “But we made it!”
Harnack caught the first-place ono that weighed in at 26.8 pounds. Third-place honors went to Paulina Rita aboard Uilani, whose entry tipped the scale at 20 pounds.
The biggest fish belonged to the all-women team of Maile Palacio and Karen Gray, which soared into the top spot after their ahi settled the scales at 153 pounds. They had radioed in an estimate of 120 pounds.
“They’re going to get the cockeye award,” said Jolene Spence, a tournament captain for the Garden Island Trollers. “That’s 33 pounds off!”
In addition to the big ahi, the Palacio-Gray team took top honors in the aku category with heavyweights that weighed in at 25.2 pounds and 19.2 pounds. The Aukaka team edged out the Palacio-Gray team for runner-up honors by a mere 0.2 pounds with its 19.4-pound submission.
Runner-up in the ahi class belonged to Naturelee Garcia’s team aboard the Alayna Ann, who came in with a 115.2-pound entry. The No. 3 spot belonged to the Pohai crew, skippered by Justin Seto, which finished at 107.8 pounds.
Michael Oishi, Garden Island Trollers president, announced a sportsmanship award for the boat whose fish was disqualified after its wahine angler couldn’t finish cranking in the catch because she became ill, forcing a kane to land the catch.
“But they were honest about it,” Oishi said. “That’s what this tournament is about — sportsmanship and honesty.”
Results
Pohai-Justin Seto: Ahi 107.8, ono 15.4, aku 6.0
Alayna Ann – Naturelee Garcia: Ahi 115.2
Lady Jo – Abe Apilado: Ahi 153.0, barracuda 7.6, aku 25.2, 19.2
Play N Hooky – John Nakamura: Aku 6.6
Uilani – Paulina Rita: Ahi 81, ono 20
Moby Derek – Pono Pananganan: Ono 25.8, 17.2, 13.6, 12.6, 11.4, 9.6
Aukaka – Alapai Toulon: Kawakawa 10.8, ono 26.8, 12.2, aku 19.4, 17.8
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
Good sized fishes, must be fun to catch. All that fresh sashimi, can’t beat it. Good luck on the catch, our boat is still down for engine repairs.