BWANA TOPS HAWAII MARLIN TOURNAMENT SERIES

Hard-fought season-long competition in Kona

No one in the tournament-fishing universe would turn down the opportunity to start the Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series by catching a 942.5-pound blue marlin. Many people who spend their lives chasing marlin never even see a fish that large, simply because, at least in part, there are few individual fish swimming around in the ocean that reach that milestone.

Most male blue marlin stop growing when they get to be about 300 pounds or so and can live about 20 years, according to otolith dissections. About 85 percent of the male marlin caught in Hawaii are between 100 and 200 pounds. Female blue marlin weighing more than 1,000 pounds can live to be in their thirties. However, 80 percent of females tested from dock samples in 2013 were between 250 and 600 pounds. Back when all marlin were brought to the dock, the dearth of small females made many people think that marlin change sex when they reached about 250 pounds, but nature doesn't seem to agree.

The dramatic difference in size between male and female blue marlin is known as a sexual size dimorphism. This size dimorphism is not due to a sex change from male to female, but just a different growth pattern. Most marlin under 400 pounds are tagged and released in tournaments these days, so those age/growth ratio studies of old are even more important now.

All that fish biology is interesting enough, but it's actually a bit of a long-winded explanation as to why catching such a behemoth of a fish made lady angler Kathleen Wyatt ecstatic. Not only was it a fish of a lifetime, but the odds were slim that anyone would catch a larger one throughout the Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series. Plus, the series scores total points, so it would take six fish tagged to score more points than that one big one. Wyatt and her team aboard Sea Genie II could feel good about their early lead. In addition, they won the Lazy Marlin Hunt event with that fish and one other tagged.