Kona, Hawaii is among the greatest locations within the Pacific to focus on large blue marlin, so it was a logical vacation spot for Ian Keinath. The 37-year-old fly fisherman from Montana has been chasing marlin for the previous 16 years, with the final word purpose of touchdown an IGFA world-record blue marlin on the fly.
Keinath lastly obtained his likelihood on Sept. 11. He and 4 others ran offshore from Honokohau Harbor that morning aboard Keniath’s 40-foot Gamefisherman, Final Probability.
“It was the second day of my six-day journey, and it couldn’t have gone higher,” Keinath tells Outside Life. “We raised seven marlin that day, one was large at 700 kilos. I hooked a 175-pounder on fly, however solely had it on for about 30 seconds earlier than shedding it.
“However at about 3:30 p.m., simply earlier than we have been getting in for the day, Capt. Tracy Epstein noticed a pair of fish on our Omni sonar. He headed towards them to boost them up with trolling lures, then draw them near the boat so I may get a solid to one in all them with my fly rod.”
Picture courtesy Ian Keinath
That’s when an aggressive marlin rose up from the depths and trailed an extended trolling lure. Boat mate Kyle Vannatta teased the fish shut, and when the marlin charged the lure, Capt. Epstein put their boat into impartial so Keinath may solid an 8-inch, streamer to the fired-up fish.
The marlin struck. The fly line got here tight. However then the hook pulled freed from the blue. Keinath stripped in fly line quick to make one other solid to the fish. That triggered the marlin to show once more, cost the fly, and take it a second time.
The second hookset was higher, and it kicked off a dogged three-hour battle between the billfish and Keinath, who was utilizing a 12-weight Hardy Marksman fly rod and a Mako 9700 reel.
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“The blue went wild, making a collection of 5 leaping jumps throughout the first half-hour I had it hooked,” says Keinath, who lives in Kalispel, Montana. “Then it went deep.”
Over the subsequent hour, the fish would rise once more, make a number of extra jumps, after which dive again to the depths. Lastly, with Keinath placing most strain on the fish with a light-weight, 12-pound check tippet, he obtained the marlin near the boat, the place his boat crew tried gaffing it. However all three males missed the fish with their eight-foot-long gaffs. They simply glanced the marlin’s tail and despatched it diving deep once more.
“I’m stunned the chief didn’t break after the gaffs missed their mark,” Keinath says. “I actually didn’t assume we’d get the blue after that, as a result of the solar was beginning to go down.”
Picture courtesy Ian Keinath
And at that time, Keinath explains, the battle had reached a stalemate. He’d pushed his reel drag to most strain however couldn’t get the fish to return again up. To assist increase the fish to the floor, the captain eased their boat away from the marlin. When the fish obtained to the floor, Keinath labored it near the transom for one more likelihood at gaffing it.
“However close to the boat the fish went backwards and forwards on the stern, and I couldn’t get it positioned excellent for gaffing,” Keinath explains. “It saved switching ends. But it surely was fairly drained, and I lastly obtained its head up. That’s when Jarad Boshammer obtained the primary gaff into its facet.”
Immediately, Kyle Vannatta and Chip Van Mols hit the fish with two extra gaffs. Then the three males hauled the Pacific blue marlin up and into the boat.
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“All of us began screaming and slapping arms and backs,” says Keinath. “Then we headed again in as a result of the solar was setting, and we needed to get the fish weighed on licensed scales.”
Picture courtesy Ian Keinath
Again on shore, the marlin weighed 106 kilos 8 ounces. This tops the present IGFA 12-pound check tippet document for Pacific blue marlin, and it’s at the moment listed within the document ebook as “pending.” (The IGFA acknowledges each “line-class” data for standard deal with and “tippet-class” data for fly deal with.) The standing document, out of Costa Rica, weighed 104 kilos 2 ounces, and was caught in 2007 by Enrico Capozzi.
“I’ve now caught the Hawaiian billfish slam on fly,” says Keinath, who’s retired and spends most of his yr touring the world chasing fish. “It was a very long time coming, and it was an extended, 3-hour combat I gained’t overlook.”