10th Annual Keiki Fishing Tournament

Nearly 300 children signed up for the 10th Annual Keiki Fishing Tournament at Kaunakakai Wharf July 13. Photo by Kalae Tangonan

There was a time when Robert Kalawe Jr. got so good a hooking the biggest fish that he wasn’t allowed to enter fishing tournaments on Molokai anymore. So he decided to open his own fishing tournament. The irony, however, is that he wasn’t allowed to participate even in his own tournament – it was only for the keiki.
“I used to watch all the kids and they used to enjoy all the action, so I created something for the kids to give back to the community,” said Kalawe, explaining he started the Annual Keiki Fishing Tournament back in 2011, but this year’s is the 10th edition because of a hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Almost 300 keiki signed for this year’s free tournament at Kaunakakai Wharf July 13. The wharf was as busy as it can get on Saturday, with barely a parking spot available along the entire length of the wharf. Keiki were walking up and down the road with a fishing pole in one hand and a bucked in the other. Things got really technical at the weighing station, where a fraction of an ounce could mean a win or a loss.
The high number of entries was unexpected by the organizers, who had to go up the mountains Saturday morning and cut another 75 bamboo poles for the tournament – the keiki are only allowed to use bamboo poles provided by the organization to keep it fair and even for everyone.
“We try to make sure every kid wins something,” Kalawe said. He wasn’t kidding. The large number of prizes available was enough for every kid to go home with something.
The main prize was a graphite Nitro Power ulua pole and a Penn spool worth a few hundred dollars. And there were more than a dozen other poles, several coolers, T-shirts, tackle boxes, bodyboards, snorkel sets, sand toys, fishing nets, water guns, frisbees, water bottles, flashlights, gift bags and many other ocean-related prizes.
“It’s all people donating from Molokai,” Kalawe said of the prizes distributed to the keiki. The yummy chili and the beverages were also donated. “We feed everybody after the tournament.”
For future events, Kalawe asked the community to step up and sponsor and help in any way possible, because this is an event made especially for the keiki, who not only have fun with the whole family, but also learn about the native fish, local culture, tidepools and even fishing regulations such as legal size of catch.
The tournament has long become a fixture on the island. Kalawe said some of the kids who participated in his earlier tournaments now have kids participating in the tournament.
Next year’s tournament will be held on the East End, he said.
“I move around because get some kids that live far and cannot get to the tournament, so I try to go other places where everybody get one chance to participate in the tournament,” Kalawe said.