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Aloha from Honokohau Harbor in Kona, Hawaii, home of the prestigious Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series.
Capt. Jody Bright founded this series in 1987 after making a name for himself fishing professionally just about everywhere between Venezuela and Australia before settling down in Kona. For nearly 40 years, he nurtured it as the state’s preeminent big-game fishing competition.
Marlin magazine and its parent company, Bonnier LLC, acquired the HMTS from Bright on March 25 to strengthen The Marlin Group’s position as the world’s premier operator of international big-game fishing tournaments. Just two days later, I found myself at the Hawaii Big Game Fishing Club, shaking hands and meeting participants as they registered for the Lazy Marlin Hunt, the first of eight tournaments in the season-long series.
I was a malihini, a newcomer. Faces reflected a bit of skepticism over what this mainlander had in mind for their beloved tournaments, but I was bathed in a warm welcome nonetheless. Here, they call it the aloha spirit. As my wife and I found during our stay in the quaint waterfront town of Kailua-Kona, aloha is more than a catchphrase or a greeting. It is a way of life, a state of being. It is the giving and receiving of positive energy.
For anyone who has enthusiasm for big-game fishing, there is a lot of positive energy to receive in Kona.
Intellectually, I was well informed of Hawaii’s influence on the early developments of bluewater tackle and techniques. From venerable authors such as Rick Gaffney and the late Jim Rizzuto, I knew these fishing grounds were among the world’s best for blue marlin, striped marlin, spearfish and other species. That’s what drew us to the HMTS. This was our missing piece, a geographically strategic complement to the strong presence we already maintain in the Atlantic, the Caribbean and Central America. This series would expand our reach and solidify our position as a truly global enterprise.
Emotionally, however, I was not prepared for the awe that a little harbor on a Big Island could inspire. I started to better understand at about 6:15 a.m. on the first day of fishing, as colleague Lacey Hagler and I stood with Bright and tournament staffer Laura Dowsett near the weigh station. We were there to hand out TBF tags and information to participating teams as they checked in. As I prepared my camera to capture images of boats on their approach, a school of flying fish erupted from the water’s surface and took flight—inside the harbor!
Where I live in Pensacola, Florida, we run 40 miles before we find deep purple water and flying fish. Here in Kona, boats drop outriggers as they pass the harbor entrance buoys. Captains fish strong equatorial currents and eddies that flow as close as a mile offshore, sometimes closer.
As the first day of fishing was nearing its end, we gathered once again at the weigh station, prepared to greet returning boats and to check the tackle for those who called in release points. At 4 p.m., radio man Robbie Engelhard called, “Lines out.” A few minutes later, I asked Bright how much time we had before the first boats would arrive. He didn’t respond verbally. He pointed. And sure enough, a tournament boat was coming around the bend into the harbor. The crew had trolled their way in almost to the harbor buoys and were giving us the shaka sign at 4:10. I was incredulous.
Bright flipped a shaka back in reply, looked at me and said nonchalantly, “More granders have been caught right in front of the harbor than in any other one spot along the coast.” He shrugged and went back to his check-in duties.
It’s no secret that the fishing here is amazing. In 2024, HMTS tournaments fielded 162 boat entries that caught a series record of 437 marlin, of which 96 percent were tagged and released. The HMTS was the first tournament in Hawaii to pay a cash purse for tag-and-release, awarding more than $2.5 million in 2024, most of which was paid to teams with tag cards in their points total.
We didn’t see that pace of frenzy at the Lazy Marlin Hunt, which traditionally targets the large female blue marlin that frequent the Big Island’s shores each spring. In the week before the tournament, there was much excitement on the docks, thanks to a 1,076-pound blue marlin brought to the scales by the 38-foot Bertram Maverick just nine days before kickoff. Six days later, an 800-pounder that died during the fight was also weighed. Anticipation was high indeed as registration approached.
However, a highly unusual weather pattern settled in the day before registration. It brought stiff northerly winds that were not forecast by any weather service. The giant blue marlin caught leading up to the tournament were replaced by a large concentration of smaller fish. The fleet of 13 participating boats released 42 blues over three days of fishing, along with two stripeys. While several boats marked large marlin that would have eclipsed the tournament’s 400-pound minimum, no qualifying fish were weighed, and the lion’s share of the purse went unclaimed.
Angler Parke Berolzheimer, Capt. Bryan Toney and the crew of the 50-foot G&S Snafu earned the most points in the tournament as well as top cash prizes, thanks to seven blue-marlin releases and 1,155 points. Tantrum, a 41-foot G&S captained by Nick Durham, finished in second place with 990 points after Jeff Stafford released six blues and a striped marlin. Two boats, the Spencer 53 Five Star and Spencer 57 Marlin Magic, tied for third with five blue-marlin releases and 825 points. Bono Hauanio caught all five of Five Star’s fish for Capt. Carlton Taniyama, while Grady Mulbery did the same for Capt. Marlin Parker’s Marlin Magic.
At the awards ceremony, I circulated among the participants, hoping to have dulled my malihini luster just a little bit. And I gave Bright a hearty handshake to commemorate what he has built over 38 years and to thank him for entrusting The Marlin Group with the series’ future.
“I have been looking for the right successor for almost 10 years,” he told me. “I wanted to find an owner who could elevate this series through strong media and promotion, while also having the chops in the fishing world to continue the high level of competition the HMTS events have cultivated. The Marlin Group fits the bill perfectly.”
Nearly a week has passed since that conversation. I have returned to the Florida Panhandle, but my mind is still preoccupied with flying fish at the dock and the deep-purple color of the water just beyond the harbor entrance. I look forward to my return, in late June, for the Kona Kick Off. Join me. There is more than enough positive energy to go around.
