It only took one.
It only took one.
In the final hour of the Kona Throw Down, Mike Kehoe pulled a rabbit out of a hat aboard the Sea Genie II, landing the only qualifying marlin over 400 pounds of the three-day tournament.
Kehoe’s fish tipped the scales at 571 pounds and completely rearranged the leaderboard, while also saving the big fish aspect of the tournament.
Sea Genie II walked away with $155,106 of the $283,000 total available purse. A little less than half of that — $76,500 — came from the base purse. Having the biggest marlin of the tourney also helped.
Kehoe had the magic touch Thursday. He also tagged and released two smaller marlin before landing the big winner. In all, 24 fish were tagged in the tournament, all coming before the 571-pound “big mamma.”
There’s no break in the action for Kona anglers. The Skins Marlin Derby. — one of the most unique big marlin competitions in the world — will fish July 10-12. Patterned after the golf format, the base purse is available each fishing day to the largest marlin weighing 500 pounds or more. If no one catches a marlin of that size, the day’s purse rolls over and is added to the next day’s purse.
All tournaments in the Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series are open to the public and anyone can enter, regardless of their fishing experience. For more information on the Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series, visit konatournaments.com