Marlin Parker

Captain Marlin Parker is Kona marlin royalty. Named after the 1,002-pound world record blue his father, Captain George Parker, caught in 1954, he has become one of the best blue marlin captains in the Pacific. He runs Marlin Magic out of Kona, has landed a 1,400-pound blue that ranks in the top ten worldwide, and has won the World Cup, two Bisbee's Black and Blue titles, and seven Richard Boone Awards. His In The Spread Big Game Legends interview shares a lifetime of big blue expertise.

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Some captains grow into big game fishing. Marlin Parker was born into it, and he has the name to prove it. In November 1954, Kona captain George Parker landed a 1,002-pound blue marlin, the first Pacific blue grander ever caught in US waters and a new all-tackle world record. His son was born shortly after and named in honor of that fish. From that moment, Marlin Parker's path was set.

He grew up on the water with his father, and the fishing started early. At five years old, he was working the boat's controls while his parents took turns in the chair on a marlin over a thousand pounds. They lost that fish after hours of fighting, but Parker still remembers it like it was yesterday. He began chartering professionally in 1976, and only months after earning his captain's license he landed a 1,257-pound blue, at the time the largest ever weighed at Kailua-Kona on 80-pound class tackle. It was a sign of what was coming.

Today Marlin Parker is regarded as one of the best blue marlin captains in Kona, and in the world. He runs Marlin Magic out of Honokohau Harbor, and he has caught more big fish in Kona than almost any captain in the Pacific. His largest blue weighed an incredible 1,400 pounds and still ranks among the top ten Pacific blue marlin ever landed on rod and reel. His tournament record is just as remarkable, with wins including the 2002 World Cup and the Bisbee's Black and Blue in Los Cabos twice, in 2004 and 2016. He has taken the Richard Boone Award as top skipper at the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament seven times and the Henry Chee Award three times.

His experience reaches well beyond home. Parker has fished twelve seasons on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, twenty-five years in Mexico, and several more in Florida and Costa Rica. And like his father before him, he builds lures. Marlin Magic lures are known and fished worldwide, another way the Parker name shows up on grander marlin.

In his In The Spread Big Game Legends interview, Parker shares the knowledge of a lifetime spent chasing the biggest blue marlin on earth, carrying on a family legacy that helped define the sport in Kona. When a man named after a grander tells you how to catch one, you pay attention.