No one had ever heard of blues that big. Timing Is Everything With the fishing community now talking about these giant blues, Fithian knew he needed to act fast to invite the world to come fish Kona. Relying on his experience with The Masters Golf Tournament in Georgia , Fithian came up with an idea to hold an international fishing tournament. Every civic organization from the Rotary to the Chamber of Commerce pitched in. But fishing is different from golf.
Spectators can follow the golfers around and watch the action.
One day he watched the US Coast Guard cutter in Kailua Bay and suddenly he got an idea on how to bring the tournament to non-participants. They fished for four days. Fithian had the marketing ability, the organizational skills, the connections in the community to bring the tournament off, but he knew he didn't have the fishing knowledge. So he turned to his old fishing friend Chee and the other Kona fishermen, who explained the importance of timing. They told this energetic community organizer that they would have done things differently.