Kailua Kona, Hawaii 8/18

[Shady]

I've seen three Blue Marlin in the past couple of days: one almost 700 lbs, one over 1,000 and one almost 200 lbs.

The bigger ones were caught by other people, but I did catch the 200 lber!

I totally did not expect to catch a Marlin on this trip, but it was absolutely awesome... Marlin are unbelievably huge, beautiful fish. The Marlin that I caught was successfully tagged and released. My wife got the fight on video, but until we get that up, here are a few pics.





And here is the grander we saw getting weighed on the way back in on our charter:



I also have a ton of cool video on the go pro from snorkeling. We'll work on putting together some of that when we get back.

Next stop, Kauai...

[ictalurus]

The color of that water is incredible. I'm not sure about fishing for something that can swim over 20mph and weighs more than I do. They are beautiful fish. I've seen some cool underwater videos of billfishes, and it seems like they can change their color depending on what they're doing. I haven't read up on it, so it could just be the light under the water, but it was neat to see.

[J.A. Veil]

Ryan -

Congratulations on catching a great fish in a beautiful place. When my family visited Hawaii a decade ago, I signed up for two half-day trips on two different islands. We did not have a single bite during either trip.

I did find it interesting that the mate started laying out the trolling spread before we had even left the harbor. The water is deep and clear nearby so you don't need to run far to get into productive water.

[DanMarino]

I went to Kona on the Big Island two years ago this week. It was a wonderful place. I could live there for sure.

[kevinfry]

My son caught a 300lb blue marlin while fishing for sailfish in Guatemala, fish was as long as the boat. No chair, no fighting belt. He was exhausted......but happy!

[chex]

Nice!!!!! Your next marlin should be from a kayak though

Enjoy paradise while you can.

[surfdog]

great! looks like it was a lot o fun

[Shady]

Pictures do not come close to do this place justice. I went snorkeling on a reef wall that went from 2 to 200 feet deep and could see all the way to the bottom.

I have no desire to wrestle a Marlin on a kayak. The "small" Marlin wooped my ass with a huge Avet reel fighting chair and and harness.

I was told that generally if you go out two miles, its one mile deep. Depth finders dont measure feet they measure fathoms (6 feet = 1 fathom). We were fishing in about 100-250 fathoms trolling on the top of the water at ridiculous speeds. Unbelievable experiences!

Tomorrow, we are taking a catamaran ocean and snorkeling tour here on the north shore of kauai and then a river kayaking trip wednesday.

[DanMarino]

There's supposed to be a river on one island that has been stocked with smallmouth bass! I can't remember which island it is though.

[MetroMan]

Nice!!!

[Shady]

Here's the video that my wife put together for me.
Check it out:

[chex]

Very cool... definitely not kayak territory out there.

Must have been really exciting. Biggest fish you've caught?

[Shady]

Biggest fish by a huge margin...It was awesome!

[tufnik]

Nothing like watchin' it on video. Great catch, and congrats! Now I bet you're ready to get back to some tamer fishing off the yak...lol....

[Shady]

Here's a little snorkeling with honu: