Meeting my first mate Sue and her husband Steve at Planet Fitness during my first week in Kona in the fall of 2022 was such an amazing sequence of events. I was there for two months, and it could not have started any better. I found fishing buddies and they were good at it too!
It would make my fishing dreams come the following week catching a 350lb+ marlin pictured above getting weighed at the harbor. I remember it like it happened yesterday and it was the largest fish caught on Captain Toms’s boat Honu Hua “at the time”.
They broke my heart in the Summer of 2024 with a 550lb+ marlin giving me reason to keep going back. Look at the size of that marlin!!
Back to my fish story! Sue picked me up at crack ass so we could leave the docks at 6 AM. I walked up to the boat and Sue introduced me to Captain Tom, Aunt Tootsie, and Uncle Bobby.
(Uncle/Aunt is a Hawaiian term of respect when introducing someone older than you).
The first thing I said was that it was a dream to catch a marlin and watch it jump while reeling it in and holy shit, did I ever! The first thing I remember reeling her in is seeing her jump, I said to the crew, look at that Marlin jump way over there and the unanimous reply was;
“That’s your fish dumbass, REEL”.
It took me about 90 minutes to reel her in and we have some great videos below. I was not handing off the rod and had to crank with two hands at times. We laughed a lot as the marlin made it to the boat and took off a few times with me yelling at her the whole time.
First things first, I caught a Mahi Mahi right off the hop in the first video! So awesome tasting too! After that, all hell broke loose with my marlin madness! Enjoy!!
What a fricken’ beauty marlin and Captain Tom! Reach out to fish if you are in Kona! Tell him NorthAmerican Darrell sent you as he will share some of our fun timesm guaranteed!
We went to Captain Toms and smoked her in an old shack behind his house making the best tasting fish jerky! It was marinated for days and hung on hooks four hours!!
Here are some videos and pictures from another trip with other awesome peeps! The laughs and cruising are almost as fun as the catch, every single trip. We landed a double marlin, two on hook at the same time which was total mayhem for about 15 minutes!!
I was able to reel mine in, but we lost the other one. Rookies, LOL!
If your planning on being in Kona and would like to meet Captain Tom and first mate Sue for an amazing and cost effective fishing experience, send me an email or a WhatsApp message from the homepage, I can work out the logistics. Hell yeah!!
I catch myself saying that the marlin was 350lbs, busted! 338 is the official weight and saved that paper too!
The picture of Captain Tom pointing to the hole in his shirt was my marlin nearly taking him out, so close! That is his favorite fishing shirt and wore it the next two times we went out for a good laugh.
On the right you will see Tom and his families process to smoke the marlin and package the marlin. I cannot remember how much pound they sell if for but took a couple pounds home as is so amazing!
I love this fishing story and will tell it again and again … that 37lb marlin, fought like a bitch, LOL!