KAPAA — Curtis Matsumura of Lihue had the biggest catch of the Garden Island Trollers fishing tournament, which wrapped up Saturday evening at Lihi Park on the Waikaea Stream canal. “He landed a 581-pound marlin,” said Jolene Spence, tournament director.
KAPAA — Curtis Matsumura of Lihue had the biggest catch of the Garden Island Trollers fishing tournament, which wrapped up Saturday evening at Lihi Park on the Waikaea Stream canal.
“He landed a 581-pound marlin,” said Jolene Spence, tournament director. “Not only was it the biggest fish, he hooked up early. I think it was around 6 a.m., but it took him more than three hours to land it. There were social media postings all over, showing the fish hanging out of his truck and all.”
In addition to the marlin which claimed the largest fish category, Matsumura also pulled in an ono which topped 17 pounds, and a 23.2-pound aku aboard the DOD.
Eric Cortez topped the marlin division on a 140-pound catch from the Mahie, his radio call coming in conservative at an estimated 90 pounds. Robbie Correa, aboard Mapuana II, took the runner-up purse with a fish weighing in at 124.4 pounds from his collection that included an ahi (116.4 pounds), aku (20.2 pounds) and ono (35.8 pounds).
Top ahi honors belonged to Shane Niau aboard Teia Lei, who landed a pair of ahi, the heaviest winning the class at 225.2 pounds. Albert Kaui Jr. aboard Kekoa filled in the runner-up spot with an ahi, one of two he snared, that weighed in at 204 pounds.
Chad Tabuchi topped the ono division with a fish weighing in at 33.4 pounds, caught aboard Mari Ann. Runner-up honors belonged to Stephen Koehne, who came up with a 32-pounder aboard Kanai K.
Top honors in the mahimahi division went to Barry Brun and the 29-pounder caught aboard Imua. Brun also landed a heavyweight ahi that tipped the scale at 224.8 pounds.
Sonny Sakahara, fishing aboard the Moloa‘a I, also snared two fish — an ahi (103.8 pounds) and mahimahi. His mahi claimed the runner-up spot with a 15-pound reading.
Kekilla McCullen, fishing aboard Brandy Ann, rounded out the category winners with a 21.6-pound ahi in the others division. McCullen pulled out a collection of five fish, including ono that topped the scales at 17.6, 17.8, and 19.2 pounds, and an ahi that crossed at 83.8 pounds in addition to the ahi.
All anglers were treated to an awards luncheon at the Garden Island Trollers pavilion at Lihi Park Sunday.
