Big Game Legends: Marlin Parker on Kona Granders, Part 1

Marlin Parker is named after a grander: his father George Parker's 1,002 pound Pacific blue marlin from November 1954, the all-tackle world record at the time and the first fish over 1,000 pounds landed in U.S. waters. In Part 1 of our Big Game Legends interview, I sat down with Marlin to talk about the fish, fleet and lures that built the fishery.

What is a grander, and how did Marlin Parker catch his first one?

A grander is a marlin over 1,000 pounds, the fish every big game crew is hunting. Marlin's first came on September 10, 1978: 1,257 pounds on 80 lb line, hooked in 80 to 100 fathoms off Kaiwi near the harbor, and at the time the largest marlin ever caught on the Big Island.

It ate a plain white lure running with the leader almost at the rod tip, on the way in so two passengers could make a booze cruise. The angler froze, and the rocks saved the spool.

Why do Kona captains troll lures instead of bait and switch?

Bait and switch raises a marlin on hookless teasers and pitches it a bait, and in Mexico, Central America and much of the Atlantic the fish take the switch readily. Kona went the other way. Lure fishing for big fish started there with Henry Chee's skipjack sized lures, and the calm leeward seas let crews run any head they want.

Marlin says Kona fish don't switch the way they do elsewhere, and lures cover about ten times the ground of live bait. He has lures with more than 100 blue marlin on one head.

When do the biggest blue marlin come through Kona?

Blue marlin are caught off Kona all year, but the biggest blue marlin come through from about April to August. Marlin ties that to spawning: the big females crews used to keep were full of eggs, and he believes the calm Kona seas help the eggs and sperm meet at the surface.

One season a longline crew told him big fish would hit the coast in three weeks. Within that window came a 23 hour fight and a 1,400 pounder in front of the harbor.

Inside the interview

• Deckhanding on his dad's 50 ft sampan and the old Kona fleet
• Heavy tackle in Australia, and why blues outfight blacks
• Getting in the water at dawn to check the chafe on the 23 hour fish
• Lure making with Steve Abreu, Joe Yee lures and Marlin Magic

Questions About Marlin Parker and Kona Granders

Where the story goes next

For the fish behind all of it, read how the blue marlin hunts, feeds and travels. His father tells the 1954 story himself in George Parker’s Big Game Legends interview.