1999 World Cup - A Hawaii Perspective

worldcup1.jpg (85132 bytes)
The World Cup winners of Southern Exposure

  

Local fishing knowledge is something that cannot be discredited in the overall makeup of tournament fishing. While there are many tournaments around world that give anglers the opportunity to rub shoulders with the best, there is no event that pits the best anglers against each other in their own environments. That is, no event except the World Cup. Everyone who participates in this unique format tournament gets to do so on his or her own terms and on his or her own grounds, giving every skipper and angler a chance to display his or her skills to the world while giving them an opportunity to win an exhorbitant amount of money.

Hawaii's anglers gave it their best shot to win the 1999 World Cup by representing the state with 48 boats. Even Midway Island, way up at the far end of the Hawaiian island chain, put two boats into the pool, bringing tournament representation from these islands of paradise to almost half the fleet and leaving little doubt as to where most anglers prefer to go fishing when stakes like these are on the line. 
Because of time zone differences, the world goes fishing as the sleeping giant rests, waiting for the chance to attack and better all the fish that have been brought to the scales throughout the day. Then the world waits to find out what's going to happen in Hawaii, a torrid thought to any mortal because everyone knows when Hawaii goes fishing, anything can happen. The World Cup has been won in Hawaii three times, in 1990, 1992, and 1994, matched only by Medeira which won it three years in a row. The US Mainland has only been able to capture the title once (Freeport Texas, 1989), and thus, with a 400 pound minimum used to discourage the indiscriminate killing of Billfish around the world, the stage was set for a day to remember for one fortunate team.

billholt.jpg (45668 bytes)
1992 winner Bill Holt of Kona
 

This year, it wasn't meant to be for the Kama'aina, however, the United States as a country was able to prevail by landing the largest Blue Marlin in the world on July 4th. Bob and Rob Gallohon, fishing aboard their 50 foot custom Carolina sportfisher out of Pirate's Cove Marina at Oregon inlet, North Carolina, won the 15th annual World Cup by boating a 763 pound Atlantic Blue Marlin. The Gallohons were accompanied by skipper Charley Lock and his father George, charter boat skipper Vernon Barrington and his wife Karen, and two other good luck charms, Anne and Janet (sorry we couldn't get everybody's name).

The Gollahons, like Pirate’s Cove, are no strangers to big fish. A year earlier, in the 1998 Pirates Cove tournament, they came in second by 3 points with a blue Marlin weighing 973.5 pounds, just short of the magic Grander mark. So while they figured the chances of winning the World Cup might be remote, they never felt their chances were nil. But unlike Hawaii where the Marlin grounds are practically on the doorstep to the harbor, East coast anglers need to travel varying but considerable distances to catch Marlin. Places further North and South of Pirate’s Cove require trips of approximately 50 to 60 miles to the grounds, however, by East coast standards, Pirate’s Cove is lucky with "only" about a 38 mile trip to prime Marlin country.

Earlier on this fateful day, the 50 ft. Southern Exposure caught a Hammerhead shark that weighed about 300 pounds, and when their winning Marlin first took the live Yellowfin Tuna bait at about 2:45 p.m., they thought they might have had another shark on. According to Karen, the fish took a bit of line, but never jumped or gave the "normal" fight that has become characteristic of a Marlin. Not wanting to take any chances, angler Bob Gallohon fought the fish as any IGFA angler would, but it wasn't until the fish began to come near the boat that they were even able to identify it as a Blue Marlin. Even after it was identified, throughout the course of the fight, most of the crew on board really had no idea just how big their fish was, but as the fish came to the boat four or five times and the block and tackle was procured, the thought came across their minds that they had a potential contender.

konaparade.jpg (36338 bytes)
Kona gets ready to rumble

 The fish came to life near the back the boat a couple of times, and a good number of items such as a gaff, a bat, and visors went over the side as a result of the mele. The first gaff actually came untied, but Vernon already had the second gaff in by that point to keep the fish under control. It took approximately until 3:20 to get the gaff into the fish, and the fish finally came on board at approximately 3:50. Since most boats in the 50 ft. class don't have scales for fish estimated over 500 pounds, they calculated the weight by measuring the fish, and they figured they had beaten the only other reported fish in the tournament; a couple of mid 400 pounders caught in the Canary Islands. Although only 124" long, this fish had an extremely wide girth. Curiously, the bill was broken and had begun to heal, which was exactly the same thing that happened to a 807 pounder brought in only two days later. Were these Marlin jousting out there?

The fish was caught on a Penn International 130 two-speed reel with a Melton rod, and Ande 130 pound line. They used 400 pound monofilament leader which, although very common in Hawaii, is fairly rare for Marlin fishing on the East coast. Large crowds gathered around as they brought the beast back to the weigh scales, and cheers erupted as the official weight was announced. Whether the fish won or not, they said this was a special experience for Charley, because it was his first blue Marlin caught since earning his captain's license.

After the fish was weighed, the crew showered off, had some dinner, and went home. With 48 boats from Hawaii in the contest, they felt they had chance but by no means felt they had it in the bag. Most of the crew was staying with the Barringtons at their home, and Bob even went to bed before hearing the final news. Just after midnight, Rob called in tournament headquarters to check on the results, and managed to drive the rest of the crew crazy by speaking on the phone in a the methodical, business-like tone. At no time during the conversation with tournament control did Rob ever reveal they had won the tournament, but a small celebration certainly ensued after he hung up.

The prize of $113,000 dollars notwithstanding, everyone on board agreed this was one of their greatest days at sea and the feeling could best be summed up by the comments of Vernon Barrington who said: "I run two trips a day on my boat for charters and have been doing so for many years. Essentially, this was a day off for me and look at what happened. I tried not to show it, but I was nervous all evening as we waited for the rest of results to come in. This was one of the greatest moments of my entire life." Although he corrected himself a moment later and said "fishing life," the point was well taken.

The anglers of Hawaii are envious of the Southern Exposure crew and their tournament winning fish, but we all congratulate them on their great efforts in that the cup stayed in the country. Just watch out next year, because Hawaii’s going to bring it back!

Return to World Cup Marlin Report