Last month marked the beginning of a three stage kayak fishing tournament called the Yak Attack held in Kona, the blue marlin capital of the world. The spring Yak Attack was set for May 2nd and 3rd and I was excited to get together with the Kona chapter of Team CKT. As I walked up the tarmac to the air plane I reflected on how this tournament has grown in the last few years. Last year featured the introduction of a pro division. This new division offers up $1000 dollars to the first place winner. The new format is more like a Pro Am, allowing non pros to compete against pros for the $1000 dollars if they choose too. Non pro anglers can still choose to enter the recreational division. This division features two kayak giveaways and lots of good prizes but no money. With $3000 dollars of cold hard cash at stake between the three Yak Attacks, it now is becoming feasible for mainland kayak anglers to travel to Hawaii to compete. I am sure these tournaments will continue grow bigger and there will be more cash as this beloved sport continues to grow.

As the plane landed in Kona my pulse began to quicken. Just outside of the airport the water quickly drops to 600 feet. Many a marlin are landed right here. Whenever fishing the Big Island you always have the thought of hooking into a marlin in the back of your mind. Out here in Kona anything is possible. Last year an amateur angler took the whole Yak Attack with a beautiful 53 pound sailfish. Once we got situated in Kona we hooked up with fellow Team CKT members and prepared the teams attack on the tournament. The team this year included Ben Wong from the popular "Let’s Go Fishing" TV show. We had to launch from an area that would have close access to a boat ramp or harbor. The team decided to hit the north Kohala coast. This area had easy access for the film escort boat.

The camp ground was located down a steep 4 wheel drive road that rumbled to the coast through old ranch lands. The coast line here is dominated by lava cliffs and rocks. Places to launch here are few and far. The camp ground launch provides a sliver of hope through the razor sharp rocks. This year we were really prepared and the camp ground was fully functioning with everything we needed. The first night, before the tournament we lit a bonfire and big and little Jesse paddled into the sunset. It was not long before the two returned with a fish and a story that all made us drool. It appeared they had happen upon a school of mackerel scads that were being whacked by all kinds of stuff. They quickly lost all their baits but landed a nice blue trevally with the last ballyhoo. We were treated to a succulent feast of steamed fish that evening while we got all rigged and ready for an early launch.

Before dawn we awoke and the team got ready to launch. Hardly being able to contain myself I headed out first with Micah right behind me. We get our baits in the water quickly. I was rigged for ono with steel leaders and tight drags. After 5 minutes of paddling in about 100 of water and still well before sun up, I took a monster double strike. The first strike was a very large ono (wahoo) that ripped out line like mad then came back at me full speed. As I was reeling in the slack my other line starts to rip out. Later on Micah reported what he thinks is a tuna jumping behind my boat. Whatever it was it went right back down and the ono circled the line. Long story short - I lost both fish. The ono cut off from the line wrap friction and the other fish came off in and that instant due to slack. It was a tough loss and my best strikes of the whole tournament.

Later in the day when the sun had risen I met up with Ben Wong on the water. There was a lot of fish activity and some of the kayak anglers had scored. He was able to get some water footage of Randy and shots of Shiloh also. Shiloh had scored a big ono that morning and little Jesse got some good fish to weigh in too. Mary was able to score a barracuda in the pro division. Not too bad for a first day of fishing. Competing two days in a row is tuff that's for sure. It takes a lot of determination and desire to paddle two days in a row. All of us were sore but still pushing it out on day two. I ended up doing a run with the current way up the coast to an ancient Hawaiian fishing village for day two. Again I didn't do so well but not for lack of trying. I did manage to catch a big 6 pound octopus that was very tasty on the dinner table. Randy, who was on the same run, was able to score a good eating uku. It was so crazy being in a kayak out in front of an ancient Hawaiian village that day. It really felt like I had gone back in time. Wow!

We had to race to get back to the weigh in station and that's where we again met up with our team mates and fellow anglers. Ben Wong was also there filming and everyone was having a great time. There was a lot of fish brought to the scales by the kayak anglers over this two day tournament. First place in the pro division went to Andy Cho and Second place went to CKT team member Shiloh for his big ono. As usual it was a lot of fun competing in Kona. There is still 2 more Yak Attacks this year (August 22 & 23 and November 21 & 22) You can get all the info at this web site. http://www.plentypupule.com/fishingtournament.htm Big Thanks to Kelly and Kate at PP Kayaks for their continued support and effort to grow the sport of kayak fishing. I was also very pleased that Hobie was also one of the sponsors for this event. Thank you Vince Console!!! Hobie makes the best kayaks in my book and we are happy to have them involved with this tournament. Below is the official score card from the event. Please feel free to call me if you have any questions or desires to fish a Kona Yak Attack

The format for the Pro Division is slightly different than the Recreational Class. The pro entrants get their combined weight of their largest inshore and largest offshore fish. If they are able to land one of each category they also receive a 10% bonus added to their two fish total. Recreational division participants can have the choice to enter either inshore or offshore species, or both.

Results - Inshore Species

1st was David Giff (Big Island) who landed a 39.6 lb Barracuda
2nd place went to Lance Bowman bringing in a 38.2 lb Ulua
3rd place was Keith Yamamoto with a 21 lb Barracuda
4th place went to Kahula Davis with a 15.8 lb Kahala
5th place went to Jesse Shim with a 14.6 lb Ulua (Team Coastal Kayak Tours)
6th place went to Robert Madrigal who caught a 13.6 lb Omilu
7th place was Chris Finch with a 13.4 lb Ulua
8th went to John Tarson with a 10.2 lb Omilu
9th went to Donald Bois with with a 9 lb Papio

Results - Offshore Species

1st went to Alexander Budge (Big Island) who landed a 39.8 lb Ono
2nd place was Steve Harris with a 35.5 lb Ono
3rd place went to Evan Obra bringing in a 31.6 lb Ono
4th place went to Burt Burgos with a 18.2 lb Ahi
5th place to Jesse Shim with a 15.8 lb Kawa Kawa (Team Coastal Kayak Tours)

Results – Division

Andy Cho (Big Island) took 1st with his 20 lb Ahi and 17.8 lb Kahala for a combined total of 41.58 lbs
2nd place went to Shiloh Oliberos bringing in a 24.2 lb Ono and 7.4 lb Uku for a combined total of 34.76 lbs (Team Coastal Kayak Tours)
3rd place was Steven Cho with a 20.2 lb Ahi and 10.4 lb Kahala for a combined total of 33.66 lbs
4th place went to John Whitman with a 20.4 lb Ono
5th place was Mary Melnick with an 8.8 lb Barracuda (Team Coastal Kayak Tours)
6th place was Justin Mendoza with a 4.8 lb Papio
7th place (unofficially) went to Boogie Elgas with a 6 lb Tako (Octopus). His catch was unofficial because it was not a fish species at all but we still let him weigh it in since it was an impressive Tako and looked like it would make a nice dinner. (Team Coastal Kayak Tours)