Today’s win went to the fish with seven Pacific blue marlin tagged and released. Laguna Niguel Billfish Club No. 2 and Port Villa Sport Fishing Club Vanuatu held on to their first and second place positions through Day 4 of the five-day Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament. Neither of these two teams added to their scores today. The Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club of Australia, fishing aboard Silky, tagged and released two Pacific blue marlin within 30 minutes to propel this team into third place on the HIBT leaderboard. “With 38 highly competitive teams from around the world scouring the famed waters of the Kona Coast in search of marlin, the win will be determined on Friday’s final day of fishing,” said HIBT Founder Peter Fithian.
Today’s win went to the fish with seven Pacific blue marlin tagged and released. Laguna Niguel Billfish Club No. 2 and Port Villa Sport Fishing Club Vanuatu held on to their first and second place positions through Day 4 of the five-day Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament. Neither of these two teams added to their scores today. The Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club of Australia, fishing aboard Silky, tagged and released two Pacific blue marlin within 30 minutes to propel this team into third place on the HIBT leaderboard. “With 38 highly competitive teams from around the world scouring the famed waters of the Kona Coast in search of marlin, the win will be determined on Friday’s final day of fishing,” said HIBT Founder Peter Fithian.
To maintain balance in the field, HIBT teams fish with a different boat each day of the tournament. The perpetual HIBT Henry Chee Memorial Award was devised to celebrate the world-class skills of Kona’s captains and crewmembers. Their points are also being tallied over the five days of tournament fishing right along with the anglers.
The charter boat upon which the anglers in the tournament have scored the highest number of Billfish points is honored with the Henry Chee Memorial Award. “Henry Chee was a remarkable captain who among others brought Kona’s legendary fishing grounds to the forefront,” said Fithian. At the close of HIBT Day Four, Lightspeed’s Captain Rob Ellyn holds the lead.
At the end of Day 4, all but 10 HIBT teams have already put points on the scoreboard with the final day of fishing coming up tomorrow.