George "Marlin" Parker - IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame скачать в хорошем качестве

George "Marlin" Parker - IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame

George Parker 1911 - 2008 2005 Inductee Captain George Parker is a man of achievements. He was the first person in history to catch a 1,000 lb blue marlin by IGFA rules. He created a trolling lure that revolutionized billfishing. He was a driving force in the proper identification of Pacific billfishes. He was one of the fathers of Hawaiian charter fishing, the longest active skipper in Hawaii history, and he fished the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament (HIBT) more than any other captain. Responsible for numerous successful lifesaving efforts, he was honored in 1964 with the Coast Guard's Silver Life-Saving Medal for his heroic solo rescue of two men and their disabled sailboat from heavy surf during high winds. All this began in 1934, whenGeorge Parker relocated from California to Honolulu. After 11 years in the sugar industry he moved to Kona in 1945 and began chartering on the 50-foot Mona H. The renovation of the Kona Inn that same year spawned the modern billfish trolling lure. At the construction site Parker found scraps of shiny chrome tubing cut from towel rods. With the short chrome pieces, wooden dowels, red rubber inner tube strips for legs, and vinyl upholstery material for the skirt, Parker designed his simple yet novel lure, which looked and acted like those popular today. People were very skeptical, but not George. The first time he tried the lure he caught a 500 lb marlin just outside the harbor. And on November 13, 1954, while taking the Mona H. 160 miles from Kona to dry dock in Honolulu, Parker fought and landed his grander singlehandedly with no fighting chair, just a wide bench with three rod sockets. When he arrived in Oahu 50 hours later, he had the fish of a lifetime onboard -- nearly 15 feet long, 74 inches in girth, and 1,002 lb when it was weighed the following day. History had been made. Parker's catch electrified the sportfishing world, smashing the existing all-tackle world record and putting Hawaii on the map as abig-fish destination. And it wasn't long before everyone was making the "Parker bathroom fixture lures." However, the story of George Parker's record catch does not end there. An ichthyologist in Hawaii identified the fish as a blue marlin. When the claim was submitted to IGFA, the fish was identified as a black marlin, for the prevailing belief at the time was that blue marlin did not exist in the Pacific, and that all big Pacific marlin were either black or silver. One of these believers was Francesca LaMonte, American Museum of Natural History ichthyologist and IGFA Secretary. And so began Parker's greatest battle -- the fight to have his giant properly identified. He spent years doing his own research, compiling findings of scientists, measurements, notes, and legal briefs. He kept up an aggressive campaign, finally convincing the Association to re-examine its classification of billfish. Four-and-a-half years later the claim was accepted by IGFA, appearing in print for the first time -- as the all-tackle and 130-pound line class records for Pacific blue marlin -- in the 1960 World Record Marine Game Fisheslistings. Because of George Parker's perseverance, the blue marlin was accepted as a species indigenous to the Pacific Ocean, and Pacific marlins began to be classified as the species recognized today -- blue, black and striped. "The sea and I get along," Parker says. "It's been my friend all my life." He has taught dozens of captains their craft and thousands of anglers how to catch fish, he patented a hookless lure in 1973, he has been active in fisheries management issues and a staunch promoter of Hawaiian sport fishing for decades. And, even after plastic lures became popular, he continued to fish with his own invention. The Parker family fishing tradition that began 70 years ago continues to this day: sons Marlin (born shortly after George's catch and named in honor of the great fish) and Randy are well-known Kona captains and grander-catchers in their own right. For his pioneering role in angling history and for taking on the scientific fraternity -- and winning -- IGFA salutes Captain George Parker.