Kea Kai does the Pesky Tournament

For those of you that do not know the Southern California Marlin circuit there are a number of money tournaments and than there are the others like the Master Angler Billfish Tournament and the Los Pescadores Billfish tournament. The later being the funnest tournament on the coast with a variety of personalities running amuck having the times of their lives. You have the Bounder as the tournament boat with Randy Wood and Andy Crean dishing out the the radio chatter and confirming catches. If you haven't done this one you surely should and you leave all the stress at the door its all about having fun.
Our team has fished in it several times and we always have a ball but still try to get the fish to the boat for the annual bagel on the bill release. This year they added the Olympics theme where any angler had to wear the full toga and head dress while fighting the fish.
I was fortunate enough to hook a couple fish and wear the garb for the duration and we had one fish fall off at the leader with a quick release format and we had another fish eat a bait and let him go after about 20 minutes. Both fish were caught on a 870XC with 20 lb MoiMoi line and a 7040C Xnergy Accurate rod. Its amazing how the light, smaller set ups make the whole experience that much more enjoyable. I really believe as anglers catch on that smaller is better and definitely more comfortable, anglers will be scaling down their tackle.
As this Marlin season starts winding down I feel very fortunate to be part of the Kea Kai team and friends with jock, he is a great guy who is the best at what he does and really cares about the resources future.
I look forward to many more tournaments with Jock, Dave, and Charlie sharing those moments that are future memories for those years we can no longer do it.
Tomorrow I am off to NZ for some jigging for kingies than off to the Barrier reef for the Big Black Marlins. I should have some good stories for you in the next week or so.
Until than may all your lines be tight ones.

Ben