Angler Rick Shedore on board the Lightspeed, captained by Rob Ellyn, battled two different species of marlin to win the 31st Big Island Marlin Tournament this week. ADVERTISING Angler Rick Shedore on board the Lightspeed, captained by Rob Ellyn, battled
Angler Rick Shedore on board the Lightspeed, captained by Rob Ellyn, battled two different species of marlin to win the 31st Big Island Marlin Tournament this week.
Shedore caught a 620-pound black marlin on the first day of the three-day event. On the final day of the contest, Ellyn pulled a rabbit out of his hat with one-hour remaining and found Shedore a 594.5-pound blue marlin. The combined weight of the two marlin won first place earnings totaling $163,140.
The two marlin beat a big 670-pound blue marlin caught by Scott Brickell. Fishing on board the Huntress, captained by “Stymie” Epstein, Brickell caught the fiesty marlin at 9:48 a.m. after an hour and a half battle on the first day of the event. It was the biggest fish of the tournament and held the first place position until the last hour. The marlin ended up winning the second place earnings, totaling $29,700.
Anglers Mike Shimamoto and Mike Ferris, on the Five Star, captained by Carlton Taniyama, tagged and released a total of three blue marlin, winning them third place earnings totaling $13,284.
Twenty-one boats fished the annual tournament and 24 blue marlin and one black marlin were caught overall. Three fish were kept, and 22 fish were tagged and released, assisting in blue marlin research.
Congrats to all involved. I would love to be more detailed with this story but the information came in just before press time. Look for more about black marlin catches in Kona next week.
300 blues and counting
Congratulations to Carol Hinkle-Herren, who on Aug. 8, caught her 300th blue marlin fishing the gorgeous blue waters of West Hawaii.
Our hats go off to her. Catching 300 blue marlin is certainly an impressive feat for any big-game angler. Carol caught her first blue marlin on July 14, 2011, and as of this writing, she has a total of 305 blue marlin under her belt.
Carol has caught blue marlin ranging from 30 to 880 pounds, and amazingly, out of the 305, only nine fish were kept. The other 296 were released.
Kona is home to some of the world’s finest female anglers, and Carol is certainly one of them. Crossing the 300 blue marlin mark adds to her already remarkable fishing resume that includes catching 124 blue marlin in a single season, which she accomplished in 2015.
While the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) doesn’t have an award for anglers that have caught the most fish of an individual species in a single year, Carol’s 124 blue marlin is a world record for the most recorded blue marlin caught by a female angler in a single year using IGFA rules.
Carol’s numbers almost doubled the previous record by female angler, Denise Wishney, who caught and released 74 blue marlin in 2002. Wishney achieved this by fishing different seasonal marlin hot spots around the globe. Carol caught all her fish off the rich waters of West Hawaii.
Carol fishes on board the Raptor, a beautiful 54-foot Spencer, owned and operated by her husband Capt. Bruce Herren and crewed by KJ Robison and Bevan Beauchamp.
Carol humbly credits her angling achievements to her husband and his boat handling skills. She also credits longtime world angler Pat Brian (Custom Rods) of Austin, Texas for giving her pointers and for showing her particular marlin fishing techniques.
What makes her an exceptional angler is her self-confidence — a critical factor for any angler. As Carol puts it, “you can’t challenge fish five or six times your size without a lot of self-confidence.”
Carol’s confidence also comes from experience. The best way to learn how to catch big fish is to fish for them.
I asked Carol what her thoughts were on her memorable angling achievements, and she said two things.
“First, I am lucky my husband, Bruce, and crews, especially KJ and Bevan, supported me every time we set a goal and started working towards it,” she said. “Second, I’m blessed to have worked so hard to achieve each goal, and there’s nothing like the feeling when your grandchildren look at a picture of you sitting on your largest blue marlin and say, ‘That’s my Coco!’”
Carol wasn’t the only one who had an epic year in 2015. Her husband, Bruce, captaining the Raptor, caught an additional 22 blue marlin for a total of 146 blue marlin in a single season. An incredible year for the Kona captain and believed to be the most blue marlin caught in a single season by any Kona captain. Quite an achievement!
Jim Rizzuto would have appreciated this
Jim Rizzuto used to fish on the Raptor with Bruce and Carol, and they were good friends. One day, Jim, the ever-curious lure maker, brought along a fancy Brazilian “Naja” lure made by Antonio Amaral.
Amaral invented a new style of skirting that vastly differs from traditional Hawaiian lures. The “Naja” had been red hot catching blue marlin in other parts of the world, so Jim was curious to see how the “Naja” would do off Kona.
Well, the “Naja” didn’t do so well, and after two or three fishing trips, it ended up in a drawer.
On the morning of Jim’s beautiful service and memorial at sea, the Raptor went fishing, and out came the “Naja” in memory of Jim.
As fate would have it, an hour and a half later, a 500-pound blue marlin crashed the “Naja.” After a fierce 25 minute battle, the fish was alongside of the boat and released. The captain said he had “chicken skin” on his arms after it was all over.
And I’m sure Jim was smiling too.
Later that day, as Jim’s ashes slowly faded into a deep blue sea, so did the “Naja.”
Congrats and Shout Outs
• To Norman Passos for catching a 86.5 pound tombo (albacore) last week on the Kaui Hai with crew member Ed Kihara. The Hawaiian state record tombo is 89.2 pounds. Passos now has the biggest tombo of the year.
• To Martin Timm of Big Island Fighting Stix for catching a 730-pound blue marlin on Aug. 19. Timm and his friends caught the fish on a 26-foot center console after a two hour battle.
