MEDIA RELEASE

The producers of the $1 Million Dollar Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series have teamed with the Fuel Dock facility at Honokohau Harbor and their fuel provider – HFN Hawaii Petroleum – to schedule a new series of monthly fishing tournaments for locals and visitors alike.

There will be one new tournament each month through May.

The first will be simple “local style” competitions where the largest fish of any species (100 pounds or better) will take 70 percent of the purse – and $1,000 in free fuel.

“Although marlin in excess of 1,000 pounds have been caught in Kona waters every calendar month of the year, fishing in winter months can be at the mercy of weather more than summer with it’s usual trade winds. For this reason, if trolling is slow in the first two tournaments, a great ulua angler with a fish over 100 pounds can win the purse and the fuel,” said Jody Bright, president and founder of Tropidilla Productions, LLC.

The new tournaments will be ‘jungle rules’ so any line class is OK, and fish can even be fought from a rod in a holder, but all fish must be caught by boat, and brought to the scale in that boat. Rod and reel only.

In March, the Kona Classic tournament returns to the schedule.

“With the Classic in June and part of the Marlin Tournament Series, the original four flags format was under utilized, and the ono and mahi categories rarely entered. March is better for the Kona Classic because it is start of spring, and all four flag fish are around. We also don’t want the skiff fishermen to feel ‘out gunned’ by the big charter boats, as can be the case during the summer marlin series,” Bright said.

The April event will be an Ono Only tournament, where the skiff fishermen may actually hold an advantage due to more time spent in ono lane throughout the year.

May is scheduled to field the first All Ahi tournament, with tuna the only qualifying species.

June will see the regular schedule of competitions in the Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series.

In 2011 the HMTS generated a total available purse of $1,035,070. The Series saw 167 teams catch 182 marlin.

“We can’t see any reason to mess with that schedule,” Bright said.
The Fuel Dock Fishing Series will return in October with the “Monster Mash” tournament on the weekend closest to Halloween.

November will see the Fuel Dock Series “Tournament of Champions” where all winners of the previous tournaments will be invited to compete in a championship competition.

During the first six tournaments, the winners will each receive $1,000 in free fuel. The team winning the Tournament of Champions will receive an additional $3,000 in free fuel.

The 2012 tournament schedule is:

Biggest Fish Over 100 lbs — Feb. 25-26

Kona Classic — March 24-25

Ono Only Tournament — April 21-22

Ahi OnlyTournament — May 26-27

HAWAII MARLIN TOURNAMENT SERIES

Kona Kick Off — June 23-24

Firecracker Open — June 30-July 1

Skins Marlin Derby — July 6-8

HMT Series Championship — July 13-15

Big Island Marlin Tournament — Aug. 18-20

September Challenge — Sept. 21-23

FALL SESSION – FUEL DOCK FISHING SERIES

Halloween Monster Mash — Oct. 27-28

Fuel Dock Series Tournament of Champions — Nov. 17-18

Tropidilla Productions LLC was founded in 1987 by Capt. Jody Bright in response to angling clients lack of satisfaction with the tournaments being operated in Kona, at that time.

Bright sought out – and listened to – input from the top big game anglers, skippers and crews around the world in relation to tournament formats and rules. Bright also incorporated what he felt where the best aspects of tournaments he had participated in around the world.

The Big Island Marlin Tournament was the first to pay cash for marlin Tagged and Release, a practice that is now an element in 90 percent of the cash awarded in The Series.

In 2001 a sister company was born and the national TV series “Pacific Expeditions” was born. The primary purpose was to provide TV coverage of the Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series across the country.

The TV audience grew as OLN – the Outdoor Life Network — expanded distribution from 35 million TV house holds to 78 million. OLN re-branded as the powerhouse now known as VERSUS Network – a part of the NBC Sports family.

As the TV audience grew, so did the Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series, and 167 teams caught/tagged and released 182 marlin in 2011, while competing for $1,035,070 in cash and various prizes.

With the addition of the Fuel Dock Fishing Series, Tropidilla becomes the only big game tournament company in the world to operate virtually year round, giving testament to the unique fishing opportunities of Kona.