Courtland Pang, Pearl City, Hawaii

Courtland is a lifelong resident of the State of Hawaii, residing on the Island of Oahu. He is a private boater who has been fishing the waters surrounding Oahu nearly his whole life. He began, like many, learning to fish off piers and reefs using a cane pole for anything that would bite, over 50 years ago. When he got some spinning gear he learned to cast plugs and spoons for kaku (barracuda) and papio (jacks). He became an avid skin diver and later a certified SCUBA diver, in pursuit of lobster and ulua (GT), while also taking other tasty reef fish. He also did some shorecasting for the ulua but found that the sitting and waiting did not suit him, so bought his first boat nearly 35 years ago.

The lure of bigger fish led him further and further offshore and to heavier and heavier tackle on a larger boat.  Today Courtland trolls heavy 130 class tackle like most other Hawaiian meat fishermen and targets the pelagics that frequent the offshore waters.  Over the years he has boated many  ahi (YFT over 100 lbs), blue marlin, ono (wahoo), mahimahi, natagi (striped marlin), hebi (short-nosed spearfish), and the smaller tuna (aku/skipjack, kawakawa, etc.).  When the pelagics are not in peak season, Courtland also fishes the deep bottom for the onaga, ehu, opakapaka and other snappers.  He's also spent many nights fishing mid-water for the akule (scad) and opelu (mackerel) using hand made damashi on sabiki type rigs, shallow bottom for weke-ula (goat fish) and other fish, and jigged cowry-type lures for tako (octopus).

In Courtland's time on the water he has had occasion to observe marlin behavior as they approached and attacked his lure spread.  When he several years ago read an article by Captain Fred Archer describing the dynamics of a marlin strike, Courtland realized that all his observations neatly fit into what Captain Archer described!  That led Courtland to seek more articles by Captain Archer in an effort to learn more and potentially improve his catch rate.  He soon learned about Captain Archer's books and SuperBars and, never one to pass up an opportunity to catch more, decided to buy some despite the prevailing local sentiment that spreader bars did not work in Hawaii.

When Courtland ran his first SuperBar, it got slammed by a shibi (YFT less than 100 lbs) and that was all the convincing it took to make Courtland a fan.  He bought more SuperBars and caught ono and mahimahi on them, along with the smaller tunas.  He found Captain Archer willing to help with hints and explanations, even while being no-nonsense in his teaching.  The success experienced using SuperBars to boat ono and mahimahi became complete when Courtland boated an ahi using a JT Special RuckusRaiser.  For most private boaters in Hawaii the ahi is the Holy Grail, even more than the marlin, so there can be no doubt about the effectiveness of SuperBars in Hawaii.  The other notable thing about that ahi was that it was caught using a circle hook in the trolled chasebait.  Courtland's open-mindedness to "new" things that Captain Archer long ago developed has helped open the door to more widespread use of both Archer SuperBars and c-hooks in Hawaii for offshore trolling.  The mutually beneficial relationship and friendship that had developed over the years between Courtland and Captain Fred was formalized with Courtland being honored to join the Archer Pro Staff.