916# Blue

[Bwana Bill]

is see a 916 came in this week outta lahaina







WTG cap'n Tim!

[LuckyLady]

Thats nuts what a catch! I couldn't imagine

Do you know any more details on it? Time it took to get in? Etc

These big blue creatures are my favorite!

Thanks for posting!

[Seth]

nice fish...Go HI

[Bwana Bill]

Originally Posted by LuckyLady

Do you know any more details on it? Time it took to get in? Etc

in the captain's own words........

(tough read being all one paragraph)

"we left kaho'olawe shoals with 3 mahi mahis in the fish bag. no one fishes the shoal area due to rough water, but there are fish there. i stayed a little late and was on a headin strait to lahaina harbor. dumb luck. i had a mom dad daughter and daughters fiance from colorado on board. they were stoked to have the 3 mahis. mom was up next in the chair and i told her we had a small chance for an ono on the way in, we run 5 lines short side corner, short side rigger with purple soft head, long corner, long rigger on starboard side. center rigger with a small purple softy. the short rigger goes off. mom gets in the chair. i thought it was an ono, i didnt see the fish bite. she didnt know she was hooked for 10 seconds or so. she came up to the surface and i swore she was 450 to 500. i said marlin, mom freaked out dropped the lever drag down to free spool gettin out of the chair. johnny bumped the drag back up just under strike, the chair did a 90 degree turn to the port. chair was still locked down, how we didnt lose the fish then i dont know. the 130 is still in the port side of the chair while johnny brings in the short corner. i see all dacron and little left of the spool. i back down hard port side and johnny starts bringing in the line. long corner and long rigger. starbrd side, go up in front of the bow. center shotgun is i dont frieakin know where. we get a couple hundred feet of dacron back and i go forward starboard to the last place i saw her jumping. i didnt watch her very much, i was watching the spool and getting trevor to bring in long corner and long rigger. once he had the 2 lines in, i turned strboard forward and go to the last place i saw her. we had a big loop in the line and trevor a football linebacker from mesa state gets in the chair, obviously. he gets plenty of line in and when i saw mono, i turned starboard to put her aft. for an hour in a half i backed on her slowly keeping the 130 line right off the swim step. after lookin at the gps, she had us backing down for almost 2 miles. it got to the point of where i couldnt back down at all. if i was forward she was taking line, kinda like dead weight but pulling. i still think its a 500 at most. i have rear deck controls and had it in neautral most of the time with me just adjusting to her direction keepin the line center to the boat. i would occasionally jump from the swim step to the controls. i was gently handlining her up to get a few inches at a time. i finally had johhny bump the controls while i was on the swim step. 30 minutes of this i saw her. i knew she was bigger than i thought tho when i felt the line as i was handlining. still no clue she was bigger than 600 now. i get to leader with no offense to johhny, i was on the controls trying to leader the fish at the same time. he just didnt have the wiring fish thing down and i felt i had a better grasp on it from the handline ahi jigging i did before. i took a couple wraps and she started going under the boat port side, johnny took a wrap to hold on to her while i bumped the boat forward. i had to have it in neautral just to get her up. i bumped her forward nicking her with the port wheel a bit. she came back port side with johhny so wide eyed in a tunnel. i grabbed the 700 momo and wired her till i had her bill. johhny on the spot had to fly gaffs in her right shoulder. johhny dropped the boat in neutral and i walked her over to stsrboard side to the fish door, she was still alive but not a lot of fight. 4 of us pulled her through the door fireman style of a 3 count then pull. her bill was as far as we could get forward and i tail wrapped a mooring line to her tail end and cleated it off on port stern cleat. i collapse on the deck happy to have a 600 or less marlin. we come in and tie the boat up. one of the other captains said something about being over 800 and i couldnt believe it. we get the fish wenched up and the measurements said it was close to if not a grander. i just melted when i heard that with many mixed emotions. we had her weighed in at 916.1. another well respected captsin told me later if she had something in her stomach and hadnt laid her eggs yet she would be a defineate grander. he said she was a grander before the spawn."

[LuckyLady]

Thanks for posting that up!

[Reelscreamer]

That is an awesome story had me on the edge of my couch the whole time I was reading it! That is one HOG of a fish! Great job on keeping your cool and landing such a fish of a lifetime!

[chumtini]

That be the boys over at Start Me Up. I fished with Rhino a few years back. What a fish!