Back in the old days, we could go out and do about any old thing at any old time — just because we felt like it. For instance, way back at the 10th Lahaina Jackpot tournament Capt. Bob Pipinich caught a big marlin early on the first day of fishing, weighed it, took an early lead and decided that he felt like not going back out fishing.
He and his team chose to spend the rest of the tournament defending their lead by drinking around the pool at the Pioneer Inn and at the Sly Mongoose Tavern. It worked. They won. Pip said it was a good thing too because even second place would not have paid enough to cover their bar bill.
Bob justified his decision to stay in by saying, “Truthfully, the fishing was pretty bad. The odds were infinitesimal that we would catch another fish, much less one larger. We cut fuel costs too. I made a professional decision calculated with solid math. It was not that we just wanted to party.”
Yeah, right.
Momi Sheehan did something similar in a recent tournament, but her reasoning is more believable. Momi was fishing in the inaugural Hawaii Big Game Fishing Club’s monthly Club House Shootout on Jan. 20. Her teammates were her husband Gary and their two dogs.
Early in the morning of this one day event, they were trolling ono lane, eyeing a rain squall heading their way. Gary decided to change tactics as well as directions, and turned offshore. Before he got to 100 fathoms where he planned to start changing out lures, one of them got bit. The screaming reel started the dogs to barking and Gary to yelling, so Momi climbed up on the bridge to drive and leave the melee with them.
“The marlin bit not only the ugliest lure I had out but probably the ugliest lure I own. It’s rigged for ono with smallish hooks and only about two feet of like 100 pound mono leader in front of the cabled hooks. I knew we had to take it really easy to catch a marlin with that set up, and that we were in for a battle.” The stage was set for some good old fashioned family fun.
And then came the rain.
In no time everyone was soaked to the bone, except the dogs. They were peering out of the small cabin, huddled up dry and warm, heads cocked watching their crazy humans.
If you have never been caught in a squall out at sea, you may be surprised at how cold you can get, especially when the wind is howling. The only good thing about that situation is that the rain can rinse the salt spray out of your eyes. You still have water in your eyes though, so it’s hard to see.
Tough conditions are a very common reason for losing fish. Making a mistake can be easier than getting it right. Kona fishers don’t have to deal with weather near as much as the rest of the world because the mountains block most of it. However, when bad weather does move in around here, it can generate some spectacular dialog.
When asked if he and his wife kept their cool during the deluge and spoke soft, soothing, supportive words to each other, Gary laughed and said, “Of course! Isn’t that what married couples do? Gosh, it was horrible. Must’ve rained for half of the time we fought that fish, which was just over an hour.”
When they finally got the fish to the boat, there was no pulling leader, because it was only about two feet long. When they gaffed the fish, the hooks did not fall out, however their strategy to baby the fish was correct because the light leader could’ve easily broken.
“You know, I picked up that lure at one of the Harbor Markets and it was rigged like that when I got it. I just never changed it.” Gary said, “It was so darn ugly, I guess in the back of my mind I thought nothing was going to eat it, but that doesn’t explain why I put it out. One of those fishing things I guess. Daring the fish is one way to try and get lucky.”
With the fish in the boat they raced to the harbor to weigh it, hoping to take an early lead and free up the room it was hogging in their little boat. Gary is one of the ringleaders of the popular Wee Guys tournament, where boats must be less than 23 feet long to enter. His boat, “Hei Mana” is a 21 foot force, and his marlin was indeed, hogging a lot of space.
The fish weighed in at 366.5 pounds and after it was scaled, it was loaded in a truck and whisked off to become jerky. After it was scaled, Momi loaded the dogs in her truck and whisked off to become warm. She went back home to take a hot shower, a more sensible reason to stay in than any given by Capt. Pipinich at the Lahaina tournament.
Momi was smarter too. Although a nice fish, a 366.5 pound marlin is no shoe in to win a tournament, especially in Kona. So she sent Gary back out to defend their tenuous lead, while she did her part, surfing the web for ideas on how to spend prize money.
Actually, Gary is pretty adamant about his decision to return fishing. “No way I was going to stay in. The fish was not big enough for that. If I’m going to defend a lead, I’m going to do it out fishing. If I stayed in and got beat, I’d always kick myself.”
That’s more believable than Capt. Pipinich’s reasoning, but there are differences. Pip was single and online shopping had yet to be invented. Unlike the Lahaina Jackpot, there was no second place in the Shootout. If Gary had stayed in and been knocked out of first place, he wouldn’t have to kick himself. Amazon might have handled that for him. Momi, of course, would have been soft spoken and supportive. It’s what married couples do.
The next HBGFC Club House Shootout tourney is Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021 and is open to all. For more information: https://www.hbgfc.org/the-club-house-shootout.html
