Billfish Weight Angler Location Date Marlin, black 1,205 lbs LEI ALOHA Red Hill, Hawai'i 07/19/80 On July 19, 1980, Bill Bronsteme, Brad Bronsteme and Frank Didonna joined Capt. Jim Hunter and crewman Fred Thibault on the Kona charter boat LEI ALOHA. Around noon, they hooked a 1,205-lb black marlin and fought the fish for 121/2 hours before boating it around 1 a.m. The black is believed to be the largest ever caught in the northern hemisphere and was taken on 80-lb test line. Nearly 29 years later, Capt. Jim Hunter wrote, "I give credit to Fed who showed much tenacity during the long battle with this huge fish. I was at the cockpit controls as Fred pulled leader on this grander. It was a dark night and the huge marlin was just a few feet away when it became visible under our deck lighting. I will never forget seeing that fish suddenly appear out of that ink-black sea. After I put the gaff in and subdued the fish, we found it would not fit through our tuna door. We towed the fish back to Kailua Pier, arriving at about 1 a.m. There was a large crowd of friends to greet us and we didn't realize this was a black marlin until it was hoisted out of the water."