Match Made in Heaven: Old Man and the Sea

This town’s greatest charter captain hasn’t caught a fish in years. He no longer feels comfortable on a boat and, in fact, has trouble getting around in his house.

But it’s understandable. George S. Parker is 91. He lives on a small estate in the verdant hills above Kailua Bay and watches over a refreshingly blue ocean he once plied with a passion unrivaled by any of today’s much younger captains.

Parker, in his day, provided thrills of a lifetime to anyone who stepped aboard his boat, and they, in turn, provided him with a sea of precious memories.

“I was fishing for over 50 years,” he recalls, “and as I look back, one of the biggest things outside of catching fish, as much as I love the sea and the excitement, was the chance I had to meet wonderful people from all over the world. Without going through a secretary, you’re able to talk with them face to face while you’re waiting for a fish to strike.”

Parker once took Jimmy Hoffa aboard his beloved yacht, the Mona H. He remembers the leader of the Teamsters union as a “little Napoleon, drunk with power,” but nice enough to offer valuable advice.

Recalls the captain, “When he left the boat he said, ‘Remember captain, there’s only one way to live in this world. You’ve got to live by the golden rule. You’ve got to do unto others before they do unto you.’ ”

Parker laughs and his blue eyes sparkle as he tells the story, but then the laughter recedes and the eyes reveal a trace of sadness, perhaps in the knowledge that such recollections are of a time long past.

Still, they’re fond memories and the captain at least is fortunate, at his age, to be able to recall his many great experiences as though they happened yesterday.

Among others to have fished on the Mona H were Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda and Tennessee Ernie Ford.

“He was so damn lucky,” Parker says of Ford, the late country-western entertainer. “He caught a marlin every time he fished with me. And he used to talk about it on his shows. He’d say, ‘Go to Kona, fish with George Parker.... ‘ “

It should be mentioned that the man who helped pioneer sportfishing on the big island of Hawaii--with such contemporaries as Henry Chee, Charlie Machado and Tacks Waldron--caught the world’s first certified Pacific blue marlin.

It was a grand specimen weighing 1,002 pounds, a beast he battled for nearly four hours, well into darkness. The catch, in 1954, was the highlight of his angling life and it put Kona in the spotlight as never before.

“But more on that later,” the captain barks, when pressed for details. “I’d like to cover a few other things first.”

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Born in San Diego in 1910, Parker was introduced to fishing by his father off Point Loma. He worked as a lifeguard in Del Mar, at a nearby bank and as a spokesman for Ford Motor Company.

Then came the Great Depression. Jobs were scarce, “and I couldn’t get out of there fast enough,” Parker recalls. In 1935, he rolled his Model A onto a ship and left for a tropical paradise he would forever call home.

“All the people were so nice and the weather was good, and the mountains and the greenery and the beaches ... it was too much for me,” the captain says. “My God, I thought this place was heaven.”

Heaven had its realities, though. Parker worked first at an auto dealership, then on a sugar plantation, which he enjoyed until a promotion took him from the fields to an office. Still, life was good. Warm breezes greeted him each morning as he made his way from his apartment, in a lush valley overlooking Honolulu, to a city that, back then, had a hometown feel.

Then came the shattering day that led to U.S. involvement in World War II. On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, in with the breezes came Japanese warplanes, flying low in the sky.

“We got up and saw the smoke rising from the ships that were being torpedoed and at the same time we heard these planes coming in from the mountainside, right out of the sun,” Parker recalls.

“We turned on the radio and Web Edwards was trying to convince the people of Hawaii that this was no joke: We were under attack by the Japanese. He said, ‘This is your friend Web Edwards. I wouldn’t lie to you. This is the real McCoy--we’re under attack.’ I’ll remember those words forever.”

After the war, Parker quit his office job and bought a commercial fishing boat. A group of businessmen asked him to take them on a five-day sportfishing trip to the big island and back--a turning point in his life.

The stunningly blue waters off Kona were calm, whereas those off Honolulu were rough. Parker remembers the first day’s catch down to the numbers: three marlin, 20 ono (wahoo), 20 mahi-mahi and 16 ulua (trevally).

“By the time I got back to Honolulu, my boat was full and I had a picture taken, which ran on the front page of the Honolulu Advertiser, and that really started things for me,” the captain recalls. “I said, ‘I’m going back to Kona as soon as I can, and whoever wants to fish with me can fly over there first.’ ”

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The big marlin struck when Parker least expected it. He had enjoyed a fine season chartering the Mona H for $60 a day. Now it was November and the boat was en route to Oahu for off-season repairs. Parker had forgotten about the two lures he had in the water as he was crossing the Molokai Channel between Maui and Oahu. His mind was on the military maneuvers underway in the distance.

Suddenly, the reel screamed and line flew from its spool. Parker ran to the wheelhouse to pull back on the throttle, “And as I did so I saw this huge fish come up ahead of my boat going away from me in the same direction--and that fish was still pulling line out,” Parker recalls. “He had already passed me up and was way up ahead of my boat. I said, ‘Oh, my God.’ ”

Parker had none of the cutting-edge technology today’s anglers enjoy. His 50-foot boat had a top cruising speed of only 10 knots. His reel had only one speed and a spool that had come close to buckling under the pressure of fish much less powerful than this one. His fighting chair was a wooden bench.

Because he was alone and had to act as both pilot and fisherman, the odds were even greater against him. As if this weren’t enough, he now found himself in the middle of the military maneuvers. An aircraft carrier and a destroyer seemed to be bearing down on the Mona H. Airplanes were flying to and from the carrier.

Parker was sweating profusely and struggling to maintain his composure.

“I was scared,” he says. “Then I noticed that a chopper had taken off from the carrier. He came over and hung over and looked down on me. The pilot ... I could see him looking down at me and laughing. He hung over me and it was wonderful because the downdraft was cool and felt so good.”

Eventually, a friend arrived from Honolulu and took the controls. By this time, the billfish had tired considerably. It was worked first into shallow water, to prevent it from diving, and ultimately to the stern.

The “grander” was towed into Honolulu, where it measured 15 feet and had a girth of 74 inches.

“It caused quite a stir,” Parker recalls. “I got telegrams from all over the world.”

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At that time, it was widely believed there were no blue marlin in the Pacific. Just as all billfish were once referred to simply as swordfish, all large marlin were classified as black marlin and often referred to as silver marlin, because they looked silver in the water.

But there were those who suspected a difference. Black marlin had non-retractable pectoral fins and Atlantic blues had retractable fins. Most of the marlin off Kona, as well as many of those off Australia and New Zealand, had fins that retracted.

It was Parker, after his monumental catch, who led the lobbying effort to gain a classification distinct from Atlantic blue marlin. The effort was eventually successful. Parker had an all-tackle world record and the world had Pacific blue marlin. Since Kona’s tranquil waters had the biggest blues, the city became a top destination for big-game fishermen.

In 1959, Peter Fithian, as manager of the Kona Inn, started the Hawaiian International Billfish tournament in hopes that it would showcase the wonderful fishing available so close to shore. It did that and more: The tournament became one of the most prestigious fishing contests in the world and recently concluded its 43rd year.

In 1971, Honokohau Marina opened, providing shelter for a growing fleet. Today, the charter fleet is about 70 vessels strong and has accounted for more big blues than fleets from anywhere else.

Since 1960, at least 62 Pacific blue marlin have topped the magical 1,000-pound mark, among them the all-tackle world record, a 1,376-pounder caught in 1982. Only a dozen or so active skippers have logged a grander and far fewer have done it twice.

Marlin Parker of Marlin’s Magic is one of those. So is Randy Parker of the Huntress. As two of Kona’s greatest charter captains, they’re looking more like their father every day.

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FISH REPORT: DAY IN SPORTS