Sports

Tuesday, January 30th, 2007

Marlin Samaritans to the Rescue!

I was out on a charter one morning, trolling down to a designated waypoint to do some bottom fishing. I got a call on the VHF radio from fellow fisherman Matt Yamashita, who was out fishing on his little 15’ runabout along with his sister Tammy and fellow angler Tocatta Spearman.

Matt indicated that they had been hooked up to a marlin for the past half-hour and that they needed help landing the fish. It turned out that we were only a few miles away, so we cleared lines and made our way to them. As we approached the LIYA KAI- on a perfectly flat day I might add- I could see that Tocatta was having difficulty trying to pull in the fish while sitting on the end of a floppy ice chest. We rafted up, and I had one of the guys on my boat jump over to Matt’s boat to drive. Then we transferred Matt, Tocatta and the rod to my boat. After some brief instructions on what we were going to do (this was Matt’s very first marlin), we proceeded to work the fish closer so that we could welcome it aboard the HALLELUJAH HOU. After several minutes of hand- lining, we were able to successfully dispatch the fish, take some nice pictures and then deposit the beautiful striped marlin in the fishbox on my boat. We had just enough ice to chill the fish, and it fit with room to spare in the fishbox.

We ended up transporting the fish for the rest of the afternoon, and we then brought it to my home for the cleaning lessons, as well. It was delicious.

Congratulations on your first marlin, Matt and Tocatta, and mahalo for allowing me to help you land your first billfish.

No sooner had my client and I finished bagging the marlin when I spotted my good friend Santos Pico aboard his 18’ flat-bottomed boat, fishing solo. He was hooked up to a big fish and was having some difficulty trying to drive the boat and fight the fish at the same time. Well, it was HALLELUJAH HOU to the rescue again; we did an “instant replay.” We were soon alongside Santos’ boat and one of the guys from my boat transferred to his flat-bottom to assist him with the feisty fish that had almost spooled his 12/0 reel. We watched from a comfortable distance as the two guys went at it and marveled at how the fish went airborne so many times, so close to the boat. A few times, Santos had to stand up and lift the rod over the top of his center console as the fish tail-walked alongside and around his boat. He tried everything to keep the fish from breaking the line on the side of the boat.

After more than a dozen frantic leaps and bounds, they finally drew the fish close enough to subdue it and tiredly pulled the fish into the boat. We pulled alongside again, took some pictures and repositioned the day’s second marlin in the boat so that Santos could make a high-speed run back home with the fish balanced in the back of the boat. The guys aboard my boat were stoked because they got to see two marlin landed, even though they weren’t on the reel.

What a day! I guess we now qualify as the “Marlin Samaritans of Molokai!”

We did finally get to the designated waypoint, albeit a little late. We loaded up on some bottom fish that provided my clients with a great dinner, so they had a successful and productive day of fishing off Molokai.

It was, in all, a slow month for big fish around here, but at least there’s some action for those who happen to be in the right place at the right time.

Till next month, tight lines and blessings.

Via Hawaii Fishing News