January 7, 2021—It’s with a heavy heart that we announce well-known Hawaii Captain Chris Sheeder has passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer, according to a public Facebook post from his brother. Sheeder’s love for the water began at the young age of 11 when he took his first offshore trip out of Kona. This eventually led him to become a leader in refining techniques for catching billfish on the fly. He accumulated a career billfish tally of more than 35,000.

Sheeder worked his way up the ladder, from mate and then to captain. And throughout his time in the fishing circuit, Sheeder was always ready to give back to the community and share what he had learned himself.

This is best summed up in his own words when InTheBite interviewed him a few years back.

“I don’t feel like I’m in the sportfishing business, I’m in the dream fulfillment business. It might sound cheesy, but fishing is a great way of enriching other people’s lives. It’s been my avenue to making lifetime memories. How can you touch other people’s lives? Take them fishing. Lots of people think about a day spent together for a long, long time.”

Read more about Captain Chris Sheeder’s career here.