2009 Hana Pa'a Shootout

The 1st Annual Hana Pa‘a Shootout was held on April 18, 2009 at the Keehi Boat Harbor. This tournament is a “Winner Take All” format, so this year the boat with the Largest Fish was awarded $17,700.00 in cash.

“I noticed many offshore tournaments were getting smaller,” observed Tournament Organizer Reid Yamashita, “so we wanted to create a tournament that would draw a larger crowd. The basic premise of the Hana Pa‘a Shootout is to ‘give back’ to the fishing community. The entry fee is minimal with a 100% return of the prize money. And with the addition of some awesome prizes, participants get back more than they put in.”

This year, the Largest Fish was a marlin caught by the Kristen S. of Kaneohe. Here is the story in Capt. Dean Sakamoto’s own words:

It was a beautiful morning with clear skies and no wind. I was thankful the weather had changed from the high winds and rain we had in the months before. On board the Kristen S. were Lance Matsubara, Andy Mau, Todd Motonaga, and myself.

As we made our way to the starting line it was impressive to see 59 boats waiting for the shotgun start. At 6:30 am we were off with boats racing in all directions. I had decided to start trolling as soon as we got to the 40 fathom ledge in hopes of catching an ono. After trolling for some time, I realized that my plan had backfired as we approached HH buoy without a single bite.

The buoy looked like the starting line all over again as I counted 21 boats already fishing there. I decided to bypass the buoy and head out to the 1500 fathom ledge. The next thing I knew we were 22 miles out and still nothing. Suddenly I saw the outrigger bend and waited for the reel to start screaming. As we reeled the fish in we thought it was a small ono, but were soon disappointed to see it was a barracuda. Who would ever think of catching a barracuda at 22 miles?

The day progressed with us running on the 1500 all the way to Barbers Point without a bite. It was now 12 noon and we decided to run to the Waianae pinnacle. After working the area for another 2-1/2 hours, we were desperate and needed to make the right decision. We decided to run in toward Kahe Power Plant and run back to BO Buoy on the thousand fathom ledge. After 9 hours of fishing we were feeling depressed and resorted to praying for a bite. At that moment, the outrigger came crashing down and soon we had a 20 lb. Mahimahi in the boat. Now we felt a lot better even though we knew it wasn’t large enough to win.

We then proceeded to the BO and made 2 passes to no avail. I told the crew I was going back to HH buoy and it would be close to stop fishing when we got there. There were shibi there so we could secure with the tournament base and at least try to catch dinner.

We started on our way and luckily came up on an open school. We set up to bait the fish but they disappeared before we could get a pass. With just over an hour to fish, we reset the lures as we proceeded to HH. Lance was letting the corner out and decided to run it a little further. The next thing I knew Lance and Andy were yelling and, to my astonishment, I looked back and saw the corner pole bent over with line smoking out of the reel. Suddenly, I saw the back of a marlin break out of the water! I thought, “It’s a small one but I’ll take it.” All of a sudden the marlin erupted out of the water and danced across the transom! At this point we realized it was a big one. I immediately called in our Hook-up as Todd and Lance cleared lines and Andy jumped on the reel. I couldn’t believe this was happening; it was 4:06pm and we were fighting a big marlin that could be the winning fish. After fighting the stubborn fish for 45 minutes, we finally brought it to leader and subdued it with a bang stick. In 2 good pulls we had the fish in the boat and we all celebrated with high fives and cheers. I then ran up to the bridge and excitedly called in our fish at a modest 300 pounds.

It was now 4:56 pm with 4 minutes left until “Stop Fishing.” We had to cross the Keehi head buoy before 6:00 pm in order for our fish to qualify; it was no “do or die” so we had to go! As every minute passed we got more nervous as we tried to calculate our time and distance. Lance and Andy were actually sitting on the bow to help the boat plane better to get more speed! We were extremely happy with smiles from ear to ear all the way in, although we were still worried that we were cutting it too close. After 45 minutes we could finally see the head buoy and crossed it at 5:50 pm. Yes! We made it! As we pulled up to the scale we were happy to see a lot friends waiting to see our fish. It was quite overwhelming. The fish was hoisted onto the scale and we waited in anticipation for the official weight. Uncle Larry called out the weight at 529.6 lbs! We all congratulated each other and celebrated as I couldn’t believe this was happening. My crew deserves the credit for this fish as I could never have done it without them.

I’d like to thank Hana Pa‘a Fishing Co., especially Reid Yamashita for all his hard work in coordinating an excellent tournament and for all his help and advice.

LARGEST FISH- $17,700 CASH PRIZE
Kristen S. (Captain Dean Sakamoto)

MARLIN
1. Kristen S. 529.6 lb.
2. Wild Bunch 313.7

MAHI
1. Yoshimi N. 41.0
2. Shari I. 37.9

ONO
1. Kekahi 36.9
2. Kekahi 31.9

Thanks to our sponsors: Shimano, Penn, Da Kine, Primo Beer, Corrosion Technologies, Island Rodwrap, Fishing Rods of Hawaii, McCully Bike, B&E Petroleum, Shane Hamamoto, Paradise Beverages, Haleiwa Joes, POP Fishing & Marine, Renny Muraoka Lures, Sh-Bite Lures, Matsu Lures, Leroy Lures, Polukai Lures, Futa Lures, Keehi Boat Club, Service Printers, Donald Freitas