HILO, Hawaii (KHON2) — For Brandon Gonsalves, what started as just a regular fishing day out of Hilo Harbor became something much more memorable very quickly.
Gonsalves set out his lines at around 6 a.m., and just 30 minutes later felt something big grab on.
“I thought it was an ahi,” Gonsalves said. “And then I saw the Marlin jumping and I thought, ‘uh oh… that’s a big one.’”
Gonsalves called over his brother and nephew over to help him out, and they spent the next six hours pulling the marlin out of the water. At first, it wasn’t something that he was too excited about.
“This time of year we’re fishing for ahis,” Gonsalves said. “When you hook a big marlin it kind of ruins your day, you gotta deal with it when you come in.”
But when Gonsalves realized just how big this marlin really was, his attitude quickly changed.
“It went down and the tides were pulling it up like inch by inch,” he said. “And once we saw it come up to the surface it was like, wow, that thing… it’s a grander. You know it’s huge.”
For fishermen, a grander is a catch that weighs in over 1,000 pounds. This particular marlin just met that threshold.
Gonsalves, the captain of the ship Kelsea G, had only accomplished this twice before. One was unofficial, and the other was all the way back in 2002.
But this fish meant more to Gonsalves than just the weight. He explained that it was his late father’s lure that caught it, and this was now the fourth major catch he had made with it, adding sentiment to it.
Gonsalves sold the marlin shortly after to a poke restaurant, and hopes to enjoy some great tasting smoked marlin soon.