‘Ride of a lifetime’: Pahoa man reels in massive marlin off his kayak

KONA (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hanapaa! A lengthy ride out at sea was worth it for one Pahoa man who reeled in an impressive catch — off his kayak.

Jason Freitas says a massive marlin took him for the “ride of a lifetime” off South Kona.

The black marlin weighed about 250 pounds.

Freitas said it took almost 4 hours to reel the big fish in because it dragged him for miles, at speeds up to 7 mph.

Freitas said he was trying to “catch some ahi or ono” when he heard a “big splash” behind him.

“I turned and looked and I seen one marlin jumping but none of my poles were going off or anything,” Freitas recalled. “So I kind of just looked at it, grabbed my pole, reeled it in and I watched the slack of my line slowly come across toward the fish that hooked onto it.”

He said the catch was at the top of his bucket list since starting kayak fishing a year ago.

To celebrate his first marlin, Freitas said he blessed his loved ones with a dinner and smoked about 100 pounds of it for family and friends.

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