Hilton Grand Vacations Fishing Club of Japan wins HIBT

"Stop fishing, stop fishing, stop fishing," rang out this afternoon and with those words the 48th running of the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament came to a close.

"Mahalo to the entire Kona community for extending such warmth and aloha to the international fishing community this week," said HIBT founder Peter Fithian. "The water was a bit cockeyed because we rarely see sailfish here in Kona, but it was certainly another great tournament."

The final day of this five-day tournament was filled with fish strikes as captains, crews and highly competitive teams scrambled to catch valuable tournament points. Early morning got off to a slow start, but as the morning heated up, so did the fish.

Three Sailfish, a rare catch in Kona waters, were among today's tag and release bounty. In all, the tournament's five-day total catch included 36 billfish - 35 of which were tagged and released - and two Ahi. The largest fish of the tournament, a 689-pound Pacific blue marlin, was boated by angler Haruo Kaneko of the winning Hilton Grand Vacation Fishing Club of Japan team.

Kaneko grabbed another two strikes today fishing aboard Lady Dee with Captain Allan Ayano. He brought in the largest Ahi, giving him bragging rights with the largest fish in both billfish and tuna tournament categories.

"We had a good boat every day and our team is so appreciative of the captains and their crew. All were very knowledgeable and very friendly. They know how to catch fish!" Kaneko noted by speaking through his English-speaking teammate Koichi Tadokoro. "I am coming back to Kona to fish in next year's HIBT - I promise."


Kaneko caught all three fish, winning the prestigious tournament for his team. With his 139- pound Ahi caught today, Hilton Grand Vacations Fishing Club of Japan also won the Hawaii County Mayor's Trophy for the highest number of tuna points scored in the tournament.


Top Captain
Chip VanMols, captain of the 38-foot Monkey Biz II, hooked the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament's coveted Henry Chee Award. The perpetual Henry Chee Award was established in 1965 to honor the charter boat captain upon whose vessel the most number of billfish points have been scored at HIBT. The award's namesake, a pioneer marlin fisherman who set an unprecedented number of gamefish catch records, helped establish the Kona coast as a world-famous fishing destination. This is VanMols first Henry Chee Award.

VanMols has been fishing in Kona for more than 20 years and during that time has participated in several HIBT. This year, VanMols' 17-year-old daughter Jada crewed for the first time with her dad. "Jada was my ace lure clearer and fish tagger. She worked alongside my full-time crewmember Matt Bell and the two of them were great. It was so special for me to fish an HIBT with my daughter." said VanMols. "I had other great captains chasing my points all day today. The award was only a fish away from any one of us. But, I'm happy, this year, it's me!"