June 1st saw plenty of boats leave Avatiu harbour for a local Rarotongan fishing competition. Everyone was excited as the last few weeks had shown great fishing with a handful of large marlin and plenty of yellowfin tuna.

Around mid-day came an eruption from the sea like a bomb had just gone off. The footprint left a house sized explosion of water in the air.
Split seconds later the Shimano Fishing New Zealand Tiagra 80w screamed into life-injecting pure adrenalin into the bloodstream. This sound mixed with eagre anticipation is a fisherman's dream, a feeling to rival any addicts favourite cocktail.

Standard procedure was thrown straight out the window as the bombs kept exploding and the line with a Pink/white Cruiser lure kept dissapearing.
As gold was starting to show on the bottom of the spool the Yamaha 130 pushed hard to turn and keep up with the mayhem ahead. Frantic winding allowed a small respite from the panicking moment. She eventually went down and a true battle begun.

After an hour the great blue arrived at the boat. It was clear...this was not an ordinary marlin fight. The size was staggering but still hard to tell quite how big. She didn't hang around for long, taking off in what would become a familiar pattern for the next few hours.

3 hours in and for the third time the wind on leader appeared, but no, the marlin wasn't giving up that easily. There is a reason these girls get so big, and oh boy did she dig in. After effortlessly tearing off 200 meters of line something changed. The fight was not the same. Line was now slowly trickling out no matter what the response was on the boat. The Leffler Custom Rods, rod was rainbowed into the water! This is where Cameron's fifteen years of experience came to the fore.

It has been felt before.

The marlin was dead. ****.

Instant sunset on the reel plus hands holding the spool and the line was still clicking out.
The only option was to hold the drum with every last piece of strength while rapidly dropping the drag lever and winding maximum pressure on the Tiagra before slamming the lever back to sunset.

Now the craziest part. The pressure required to 'surf' nearly half a tonne of dead weight to the surface from down deep can't be exaggerated. This is a process like water skiing. If you bring the boat forward the fish/object should rise to the surface. The poor rod was being tortured. The reel was overheating. The men were waiting for something to let go.

Tamahine went into idle forwards for a short while. Hands burning on the drum yet it was STILL ticking out. But it was enough. Just. Back into reverse and a couple of metres were gained...not much but a start. This became a 2 hour process but for Cameron and Brendan, time stood still. Unknown energy reserves were burnt through. Yet inch by inch, metre by metre progress was made. She was getting lighter. More line was coming in on each reverse. Could this be true? Could the battle of 3 lifetimes be won?

Finally, the dead marlin breached the surface. After 5 hours of fighting a gaff was stuck and ropes tied off.

It's a monster. A dinosaur even.

Help arrived shortly afterwards and 4 people were able to wrestle the giant billfish onto Tamahine for her last ocean voyage.

The Cook Islands Game Fishing Club was full of people and anticipation as Tamahine was reversed up to the weigh bridge. Pulling the giant carefully off the boat we got to see for the first time how big she actually was. The scales smashed through the previous record and the head was still on the boat!

472.6KG

Frantic calculations done on Google.

No way...

A 1041.9LB Blue Marlin.

A GRANDER. The Holy Grail. WOW.

The crowd went wild. Nothing will ever match the looks on Cameron and Brendan's faces. Shock, bewilderment, exhaustion, elation, relief but mostly disbelief.

After putting the Great Grandmother on a boat trailer, it was taken back to the harbour and dismantled into fillets for restaurants. Local families took the remaining head and frame leaving nothing to waste. Rarotonga is a very unique fishery. The economy and ever expanding tourism market heavily rely on the few local charters and fishermen to supply fresh fish. Without these catches Rarotonga would have to import from international corporations.

2019 will go down as a very special year for the Cook Islands and two men in particular. The personal quest is complete, the summit has been reached.

Cameron Thorp and Brendan Gardiner have landed a bloody grander! You beauty!!!

Written by Kieran Thorp