Visitors from El Paso, Texas, Paul and Kathleen Coleman and Bill and Lara Randag chartered the Anxious for a day's fishing. The ladies wanted to see whales, the guys wanted to catch the "big blue marlin" that Kona is famous for. As luck would have it, the ladies would catch the first fish. Lara fought a feisty 25 pound bull mahimahi in the first 20 minutes of fishing.
A few minutes later, the guys spotted the whales, just the opposite of what was planned. Typical. Then, just as we were beginning to pull the lures in and call it a day, we had a ferocious strike on the center rigger and Paul was fighting his first billfish. Eight minutes later, a 33 pound spearfish was in the boat.
As we were taking pictures of the nice catch, another boat was weighing in a 523 pound blue marlin. After seeing the marlin, the guys had to give it another try, so they booked the Anxious for the next day to try for the trophy fish and it was decided the girls would relax and go shopping.
This turned out to be a great decision. Around 11:00 am the next day, the purple softhead lure on the long corner rod disappeared in a swirl of white water and the big blue marlin they were looking for began its aerial show right behind the boat. Bill jumped in the chair and the fight was on. Paul had his video camera running immediately and captured some great shots of the jumping marlin. An hour and 30 minutes later, several bottles of water, and a sore back, Bill had his marlin along side the Anxious and the big blue was his.
The wives had got word that the big blue was on board, cut their shopping trip short and were on hand to watch the scales top out at 656 pounds. A great angling job and a great fish! Plans are being made for their return trip so Paul can do the catching and Bill do the videoing. Congratulations on three nice fish and two whale sightings. Not a bad weekend in Kona.
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