Hawaiian Angler Poses With Blue Marlin He Caught In A Tiny Kayak After Getting Dragged Around Five Miles Offshore In Epic Battle

Hawaiian Angler Poses With Blue Marlin He Caught In A Tiny Kayak

iStockphoto / PeJo29


  • A picture has surfaced of a contractor in Kona, Hawaii posting with a 200+ pound Blue Marlin he caught miles offshore while fishing in a kayak
  • Catching any fish at all from a kayak is challenging, as is catching an incredibly powerful billfish, which makes this one of the coolest catches of the year so far
  • Read more articles on BroBible right here

Kayak fishing is one of the most challenging types of fishing there is. And there are a LOT of elements that can make it even tougher. But the reward for kayak fishing is so sweet that many anglers get addicted to it, myself included.

One of the biggest differences between kayak fishing and fishing on a boat or standing on land is the fish can just pull you around if it’s strong enough. This can be mitigated by a sea anchor or paddles for maneuvering but when you are fighting a billfish like a 200+ pound Blue Marlin in Hawaii you’re basically a ragdoll out there getting dragged around. Your best hope is tiring the fish out enough that you can reel it up to the kayak and release it or subdue it before the fish dies from exhaustion because the dead weight falling towards the ocean floor might break your tackle.

This image below popped up on the /r/fishing Subreddit with the title “This guy is a contractor working for my friend. He just caught this fish from the canoe he is standing in front of. A legend.” I did a deep dive into very single Hawaii-based fishing account I follow on Instagram, I searched Twitter, and the recent news. There’s nothing about this guy’s name but in the Reddit comments we learn some more about this fish.

Guy Lands Blue Marlin While Kayak Fishing 5 Miles Offshore During Epic Battle In Kona, Hawaii

If that Reddit post isn’t loading for you (it should unless your ad blocker is blocking it), you can find the post right here and a direct link to the image here.

Such an epic picture.

Where Was This Blue Marlin Caught While Kayak Fishing?

So, assuming the Reddit comments from the guy who posted this (/u/RangerJack420) aren’t all smoke and mirrors here’s what we know:

Kayak fishing for Blue Marlin isn’t something that can be attempted everywhere. An angler will need to get to deep water and that often means rough season. But the post on Reddit says this kayak fisherman went out offshore even though there was a small craft advisory in place.

He says this was in Kona, Hawaii which is one of the global billfish hotspots this time of year. Also, people immediately questioned why he kept the Blue Marlin. In Florida, virtually every billfish aside from Swordfish is released. The same is mostly true in Costa Rica and Panama but that’s not the case everywhere. Blue Marlin are harvested every day in Hawaii and the meat is often distributed amongst neighbors and helps feed the locals.

This fish weighed 207 pounds which isn’t that massive when you take into consideration that the IGFA All-Tackle World Record for Pacific Blue Marlin is 1,376 pounds. That fish was caught by angler Jay de Beaubien and it was ALSO landed in Kona, Hawaii (back in 1982 off Kaaiwi Point). Hawaii is also a global destination for ‘Grander Marlin‘ weighing over 1,000 pounds. Several are caught there every year.

However, this guy was fishing from a kayak or ‘canoe’ as they’re often called locally. He would’ve been getting pulled around by that fish and it would’ve felt like he was completely out of control. I’ve caught medium-sized snook from a kayak that felt like I was fighting a 500+ pound fish. He must have felt like he was reeling in a Mac Truck on the highway. And there are four fishing rods there so we have no idea which one he used to catch this fish or what he was using to hook the Blue Marlin.

What is the biggest marlin ever caught while kayak fishing?

I mentioned above there are only so many places on the planet where an intrepid angler could go kayak fishing for marlin. Theoretically, you could toss a kayak on a boat and do it anywhere that Blue Marlin and Black Marlin (and White Marlin) are found but the ideal conditions to look for is water that gets really deep really fast. If there are nearby volcanoes then you are probably in the right place.

The Pacific Coasts of Costa Rica and Panama offers some of the hottest marlin fishing on the planet. Tropic Star Lodge in Panama near the Zane Grey Reef holds more fishing world records than any other lodge in the world. Panama’s Hannibal Bank is another global destination for red-hot billfish fishing.

Back in 2018, a man by the name of Adam Fisk was kayak fishing out of the Los Buzos Kayak Fishing Lodge in Panama. He landed the largest marlin ever caught from a kayak. His kayak fishing world record fish was a 450-pound Black Marlin that he hooked up with the fish in water that was only 120-feet deep and after a 4.5-hour battle he caught the fish in water that was 3,000-feet deep.

Here are highlights from that kayak fishing world record battle with the Black Marlin:

If you are ever looking to catch big fish from a kayak there’s no better place to start than the Los Buzos Kayak Fishing Lodge in Panama. I’ve never been myself but have followed their success for years. I studied abroad in Panama City, Panama back in college and always look for reasons to go back to that incredible country (fishing, hiking, surfing, rain forest, nightlife, wildlife, etc) and Los Buzos is high on my list.