Sports

Hawaiian Fisherman Dead After Being Impaled In The Chest By The Bill Of A Swordfish

#Fishing
by Last Updated

Captain Randy Llanes, 47, passed away last Friday after a tragic and freak accident in the Honokohau Harbor in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Capt. Llanes was a beloved fisherman and family man, and his loss is being mourned by friends and family all across the world. The incident occurred when Randy Llanes observed a 6-foot (3-foot body, 3-foot bill) swordfish swimming in Hawaii‘s Honokohau Harbor, a very rare and odd sight. The fish was lost and something was wrong, as swordfish typically stick to very deep waters and stay far offshore.

As any fisherman would do when thinking on his feet, Captain Llanes dove into the water with a speargun to take down the swordfish for dinner. Upon shooting the swordfish with his speargun the fish turned and bolted directly towards Captain Randy Llanes, impaling him in the chest with its 3-foot-long bill. He was unresponsive after being pulled from the water by onlookers, and taken to Kona Community Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

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Let me make this very clear: there is NO good way to die, especially not when the person who passed away was only 47-years-old and left behind a family. As someone with salt in their veins, sure, I’d rather die by being impaled by a swordfish than a slow death from cancer, but that’s not a choice I’ll ever make. My point being: save your ‘valar morghulis’ jokes for television.

KHON2 reports:

Responding to a 10:48 a.m. call, police learned that a swordfish had been observed in Honokohau Harbor and that fisherman Randy Llanes of Kailua-Kona had jumped into the water with a spear gun. The fish was then seen thrashing about, leaving a puncture wound to the man’s upper chest.
Hawaii County Fire Department personnel responded to the scene and attempted CPR. They took Llanes to Kona Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:30 a.m.
Acting Sgt. David Matsushima of the Kona patrol said that after the fish got hit with Llanes’ spear, “the fish got wrapped around a mooring anchor, came back and swam at him.”
The swordfish measured about 3 feet long, with a bill length of about 3 feet, and weighed about 40 pounds.
Dale Leverone, a friend of Llanes, called him “just a great local boy. A good attitude, good person, a help-anybody kind of guy. He had a heck of a lot of friends. It’s pretty sad, pretty tragic.
“Randy has been fishing all his life. He’s a pretty accomplished fisherman. He actually caught a 500-pound marlin yesterday out of his skiff.”
Leverone went on to say that Llanes “got married in the last few years, he’s got a son that’s about 5 … It’s just pretty shocking for the whole harbor.”
Swordfish are usually found in deeper water.
Sometimes during the daytime they swim near the surface. Experts say it’s very unusual for swordfish to be in shallow water, but as we saw Friday it does happen.
“There are two possible reasons,” said Director of The Waikiki Aquarium, Dr. Andrew Rossiter. “one maybe the fish was following a school of fish into the shallow water, the other reason is maybe the fish was injured in some way or somehow impaired.”
While there have been incidents between humans and swordfish in the past Dr. Rossiter says an incident like this one is rare.
“This is very, very unusual.” said Dr. Rossiter.”There have been a couple of cases documented in the past, but almost always it can be attributed to an unfortunate accident or the fish being injured.”

One thing is certain: that’s one hell of a way for a fisherman to go, even if it was deeply tragic.

A memorial was organized by his friends and family, and it took place in the Honokohau Harbor. There is also a memorial page that has been set up on Facebook where people can make donations to Randy’s wife and daughter:

If you’re curious to learn more about swordfish, one of the world’s most sought after game fish, you can peruse the wikipedia page here. The all-tackle world record for a swordfish caught on rod-and-reel is 1,182-pounds. It was caught on May 7th, 1953 in Iquique, Chile.

I’d like to extend a tip of the hat to Hawaiian News Now for being the first news outlet to report on this tragic story that took place last Friday:

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