Aug. 21 will be the 30th anniversary of my first monthly column for the Lahaina News. It appears below as it was first published in 1985.

The Lahaina News was owned by Bill Worth, editor and publisher, along with his wife, Nancy. I had been doing freelance music photography for the music column that Mike Warner wrote for a few years, and I convinced Bill that a fishing column would be a great addition to the paper. Thirty years later, I am still writing that column.

The headline was, “Broadbill top July boat at harbor; Ranger joins fleet.” It read:

(This week, we introduce a new monthly column to Lahaina News readers. We’re calling it “At The Harbor” and it’s written by Donnell A. Tate, commonly called Andy. Andy is a freelance photographer and writer who writes a similar column for the Hawaii Fishing News. Each month, “At The Harbor” will cover what’s going on with Lahaina’s fishing fleet. We hope you enjoy)

Although still feeling the effects of the United Airlines strike, Lahaina boats were kept busy enough in July to go out and catch some nice fish. The AERIAL charter boats, starting off with Captain Craig Forrest aboard AERIAL II, picked off three nice ono from 25 to 35 pounds, while AERIAL III nabbed a 28-pound spearfish with Captain Dave Russell and Captain Gary Bingham.

The SEAWOLF captured several mahi in the 25- to 30-pound range, an 80-pound whitetip shark and the sixth place marlin for July, a 420-pounder angled by Ron File and assisted by Captain Mike Murphy and crewman Mark Norris.

Top boat for July was the BROADBILL, with Captain Bill Fitzgerald and crewman Kerry McCormick helping to bring to scale a 640-pound blue marlin for angler Luis Carrillo. BROADBILL also landed three mahi and 20 ono in July, with the largest ono at 62 pounds.

FINEST KIND had a good month too, with a 33-pound and 43-pound mahi, half a dozen ono from 22 to 35 pounds, and some nice ahi. One ahi weighed 160 pounds, and two in the 150s were angled by Kevin Mass and Mike Allen, and a 127-pounder was angled by Mike Rosenbaum. Captain David Hudson and Captain Bill (BC) Crawford were helped out during the month by crewman Geoff Hudson.

HALCYON had three ono in the 20- to 30-pound range, several mahi and a 130-pound blue marlin with Captain Dave Rockett and crewman Shadow.

Captain Rick Medenwald and crewman Peter Wong aboard the HINATEA were looking good during the month, with several mahi in the 28- to 45-pound range, ono in the 25- to 40-pound range, and a half a dozen yellowfin tuna weighing from 115-162 pounds. Rich and Peter also picked off the third place marlin for July with a 513-pounder by Bill Tyers. They also landed a 161-pound and a 354-pound marlin in July. Cris (Cowboy) Clements assisted as crewman during the month.

The ISLANDER II boys, Captains Denny and Tim Putnam, had the #2 marlin in July, a 535-pounder angled by Mark Harvey of the Harvey Brothers fishing team of Mark, Bruce and Scott. Scott also landed a 40-pound ono during the charter.

JUDY ANN, with Captain George Gordon and crewmembers Bob Cahill and Kerry McCormick, landed a dozen ono during July, along with the fourth place marlin of 490 pounds captured by Mike Gamache.

That new boat at the harbor is the 53-foot RANGER, a Ray Hunt-designed sportfisher custom built by owner Pat Ballanger. For all you Bertram fans, Ray Hunt was responsible for the design work on the 31- and 35-foot Bertrams. RANGER is skippered by Captain Kurt Rose (of SUNRISE fame), with Captain Randy (RO) Orkish lending a hand as crewman.

RANGER had an impressive first month, with the fifth place marlin by Ron Carr weighing in at 427 pounds, a 200-pound blue marlin angled by Dan Brockman and a 150-pounder by John Fletcher. RANGER also picked off four ono in the 25- to 30-pound range, half a dozen mahi ranging from 25 to 35 pounds, plus a beautiful 55-pound bull angled by 12-year-old Warren Barnet.

Well, that wraps it up for the first “At the Harbor” column in the Lahaina News. Congratulations and Mahalo to all the captains, crews and booth personnel for surviving these tough months, and for doing a great job.

Until next month. Aloha, Donnell…