If you’ve been fishing long enough to stay calm when a giant marlin materializes in your baits, you may know that not all of them come barreling in as if launched from North Korea. Some of them are window shoppers and appear to match your trolling speed with ease — almost effortlessly — as they check out your offerings.
When you combine this visual with the astonishing bulk of the beast in your wake, it can resemble a lazy old elephant, out for a stroll.
Of course if you hook that monster, all hell will break loose and any interpretation of laziness will go right out the window — along with your calm — but for a short while, that’s what it can look like. Even if you’ve seen lots of big marlin, you may still wonder at this sight, and the incredible transformation that can happen in the blink of an eye.
Fun to watch, the “lazy” looking ones are usually not easy to hook. If they decide to sample your lure at all, they may do so like a mouse toying with a knot in the end of a piece of string. A really big mouse.
It’s always easier to hook a suicide fish than one just playing with the bait, but that doesn’t discount every single encounter with a BIG one from being awe inspiring. Even the saltiest of the old salts will agree that regardless of how long you’ve been fishing they all generate a shock of adrenaline.
If you get to a point where that doesn’t happen, call Dodo Mortuary. Your time is up.
No one knows for sure why some are aggressive and some are not. Most likely, marlin are no different than any other animal and a lazy one at noon might fire like a rocket at three.
Truly big marlin — those over 1,000 pounds — are called “granders” for obvious reasons, and are the Holy Grail of fishing. At least around here.
More “grander” blue marlin have been caught in Hawaii than any other single fishing hole on Earth. There have been 146 blue marlin caught in Hawaii that were documented to weigh 1,000 pounds – or more. Sometimes they weigh a lot more! The largest ever caught with rod and reel was 1,805 pounds, out of Kewalo Basin, Oahu.
In addition, granders have been caught in Hawaii during every month of the calendar year. The month with the most graders caught is July, with 22. The month with the second most graders is March, which boasts 20 blues over 1,000 pounds.
Another fun fact is that two of the three largest blues ever caught were landed in March — a 1,649 pounder caught off of Oahu in 1984 and a slightly more infamous 1,656 pound caught from Black Bart in 1991. March has also turned up six blues over 1,200 pounds.
Looking closer for trends, another pattern appeared: more granders were caught within a few days the New Moon — clearly more than during any other period.
Granders are the Holy Grail, but catching marlin over 500 pounders is a big deal. Fish over 500 have long been called “donkey’s in Hawaii, and fish in this class present a different game to anglers than catching “rats”, which are obviously smaller fish.
What is a “rat” and what is a “nice fish” can vary between anglers, skippers and crews, which gives them plenty of leeway to do what fisherman are known for the world over – stretching the truth.
Sticking with statistics to try and stay away from that stereotype, it is interesting that more than 50 “donkeys” have been caught in March and April — each year — during 2018 and again, in 2019. So many, in fact, that we lost count both years as we approached 60. As to why we lost count both years, we aren’t telling. There were just so many fish, it was confusing!
That’s not stretching the truth either.
You don’t have to wait for March or April to catch a “donkey” in Kona though. They too get caught in every month on the calendar. A number of boats have reported catching and releasing blues over 500 pounds so far this year, and it’s still only January!
The charter boat “Melee” reported the tag and release of a fish over 500 on Jan. 4, “Kraken” reported catching two “mid-rangers” on January 12, “Fire Hatt” let one go on Jan. 23 that they called 500 and “EZ Pickens” released one over 500 on Jan. 24.
Anglers are not just sitting around waiting for a “donkey” to show up, every few days. There are lots of “nice fish” getting caught, with boats like “Hooked Up” and “EZ Pickens” reporting catches of two, three or even four marlin a day!
So, granders are the Holy Grail, donkeys are a challenge day in and day out for even the most experienced anglers, but for those who just like to catch fish, Kona produces nice fish, day in and day out.
Now we have a new term for a class of fish: “mid-rangers.” With Hawaii marlin ranging in size from under 100 pounds to over 1,800 pounds, the definition of a “mid-ranger” may take a little more sorting out before it can be found in the Funk and Wagnall.
People always ask, “when is the best time to catch?” and the answer to that is simple:
The best time to catch fish in Kona is whenever you can get out there and go. And, you can’t catch em if you don’t go.
If you are after donkeys or granders, maybe target the new moon of whatever month you can get out fishing. If you can get out during the new moon of March or April, statistics say you may even have a better chance at finding that big one.
The new moon of March 2020 is on the 25th, splitting the prime months in half. With this in mind, it seemed logical to schedule a big fish tournament to start fishing March 27, just after the new moon, and right before the page turns to April.
Because anglers will be targeting those big fish that move easily like an elephant on a stroll, this “new” tournament is called the Lazy Marlin Hunt.
Of course it is. What else would you call it?
For more info on the Lazy Marlin Hunt log on here: https://konatournaments.com/.
To stay on top of all the action happening up and down the Kona Coast, just flick through the photos and videos on the Facebook page “Kona Marlin Report.” https://www.facebook.com/pg/konamarlinreport/posts/?ref=page_internal.