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The blue marlin capital of the US has produced a third grander within in eight months. With three granders in such short order, we have to wonder if the upcoming marlin season will turn out to be the greatest year in history for big marlin. I am betting it will be!
Capt. James Bach, skippering Maverick, a 38’ Bertram, with his excellent deckhand Tiger Hundley, welcomed Alaskan, Ben Sterett and his family aboard for a true marlin hunt on March 19, 2025. Ben was wearing his dad’s lucky hat, and boy did it produce!
Capt. Bach first targeted the marlin-rich grounds off Hookena, where a week before they had raised an 800-pound beauty for a light tackle enthusiast. That fish gave everyone a good look at her huge stature and silver sides as she nudged around their pitch bait before kicking off into the deep.
As Maverick passed world-famous Red Hill, a 500-pound blue marlin inhaled their dark blue Tantrum Jetpack, skirted with blue, silver and pink flash. The JetPack is made to produce “black smoke”, which has drawn all three granders over the past eight months. This was a fish of a lifetime but proved to be just a warmup!
Soon they were off Honaunau where they found a school of ahi of the perfect size for a big marlin but the school moved away from the pinging of their omni. Just as they were about to leave, Capt. Bach saw a huge mark, just 20 feet under the surface, and the hair on his arms stood up. Before they could sing out, the same big blue JetPack on the long rigger was crushed by a true giant, which launched a series of full-body jumps for several minutes before settling in to fight. With 700 yards of line in the water already, Bach was backing down and praying the giant wouldn’t dive. Her aerial displays had taken them into 300 fathoms, and that often means sharks would soon arrive.
Big Ben Sterett gained back the Spectra backing and had a few wraps of Amilan 130 on the spool, when the big gal exploded out of the water again in another series of acrobatics. Sadly, this awesome display of bravado was fatal. She wrapped her tail in the 500 Momoi Xtra Hard leader and soon sank.
Capt. Bach and Tiger read the situation perfectly and set about the grueling chore of hydroplaning her up to the boat, inch-by-inch, and Ben was only too happy to allow them that chore. Four and half hours of hard work finally saw this huge fish boated. The cell towers were heating up and the long trip back to the harbor was filled with laughter, and hearty congratulations from near and far for Kona’s latest grander – a 1,076-pound beauty.
