HONOLULU — A Hawaii tournament angler fought a 12-foot, half-ton marlin in the Pacific Ocean for more than four hours before she and her teammates got the monster fish out of the water — but she missed out on the glory and prize money.
HONOLULU — A Hawaii tournament angler fought a 12-foot, half-ton marlin in the Pacific Ocean for more than four hours before she and her teammates got the monster fish out of the water — but she missed out on the glory and prize money.
Molly Palmer, 28, would have needed to reel in the fish by herself in order for it to qualify as a valid catch, according to rules set by the International Game Fishing Association.
But her team helped her pull the massive marlin aboard — so all the Kailua-Kona angler got was a fish story.
Palmer told The Associated Press that her team wasn’t overly concerned about getting disqualified hauling the fish on deck, because they just wanted to land the big catch.
“I didn’t come here to set world records,” Palmer said. “I didn’t even really come here to win money. I came here to catch fish and that’s just what we were there to do.”
Palmer’s fish weighed in at 1,022.5 pounds, well over the record of 950 pounds for a woman using a 130-pound line, tournament organizer Jody Bright said.
Palmer said breaking the rules never crossed her mind.
Officials at the International Game Fishing Association were not immediately available late Wednesday.
Bright said most of the fish caught during the three-day tournament were released, while those that died would be sold.
Neal Isaacs, the boat’s captain, said the team knew the fish was big — but not necessarily that big — when they saw it jump.