CAPT. KEVIN NAKAMARU

BIO

Kevin Nakamaru was born and raised in Kona, Hawaii where his passion all of his life was fishing. He was hooked at an early age when his mom caught her first marlin when he was three years old. With his parents and three sisters he fished for tuna and marlin in their family boat in the calm waters off Kona. He caught his first marlin when he was nine and his first big tuna when he was ten.

 

After graduating from high school, Kevin attended college in Colorado where he tied flies and guided trout fishing on the famed San Juan River for trophy trout in New Mexico. During his summers he fished Kona, either working on charter boats or often fishing alone on his dad’s boat.

 
After graduating from Fort Lewis College with a degree in Fine Art, Kevin took a year to travel and fish, and to see some of the famed spots he had read about and dreamed of all his life. One of these spots was the Great Barrier Reef off of Australia’s Queensland coast. His luck was good when he got a job with Capt. Peter Wright on the Duyfken the following year. This was the opportunity of a lifetime for Kevin. It was a time when all of the base skills that he had learned could be polished by learning Peter’s world class techniques. Their most notable catches during the three seasons they fished together were black marlins weighing 1,210, 1,188, and 1,020 pounds. They won the Dunk Island Classic three years in a row, and in 1994 won or placed in every major tournament held in Queensland including winning the Lexus and Lizard Island tournaments.
 
Today Kevin spends most of his time in Kona charter fishing on the Northern Lights, traveling for two weeks at a time and raising his family with his Madeiran wife, Elizabete, and their two daughters Gabriella and Juliana.
 
The foundation for fishing that Kevin was given by his parents from such a young age has led him to numerous notable catches, including over twenty billfish and tuna world records and numerous tournament wins. His love of fishing and continued learning has kept him on the cutting edge of fishing. Kevin says, “I really enjoy the charter fishing here in Kona because there are so many talented captains and crews that it provides us with a great opportunity to learn from each other. I feel fortunate to have seen a lot of great fishing early in my life and am ready to face the biggest challenge ahead, raising my children.”
 

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