One afternoon, while fishing just off Olowalu, a charter boat picked up a strike on the long rigger position. The 14.0 class reel started screaming out line, with a 300-plus-pound marlin crashing the surface.

As the angler readied himself in the fighting chair, and the safety line was removed to move the rod to the chair, the wooden butt of the rod snapped off in the holder.

The rod, reel and fish headed for the deep. Seconds later, one of the 9.0 class reels that had a good-sized tuna rig on it went off.

The crew handed the angler the rod, and he began to fight the fish. As the angler got the marlin up to leader, they realized that they had snagged the 14.0 reel.

The tuna rig had gotten hooked on the crossbar of the reel and had dug the hook into the remaining line on the spool. The crew gaffed the 14.0 reel and got it back aboard the boat.

The captain put the 14.0 reel into the rod holder, worked the hook rig loose from the line on the spool, and they continued to fight the marlin on the 14.0 reel.

They fought the fish for about another ten minutes before finally losing it.

How about the two guys that hooked up to a nice-sized marlin, fighting it for around 20 minutes, when all of a sudden, the angler got pulled out of the chair and went overboard?

The angler, still hooked to the harness, fought the fish while his buddy helped him get back aboard the boat.

Back on board, the angler fought his marlin for another 30 minutes before losing the fish. That’s one way to cool down during the fight!

This one is about a couple of guys fishing aboard the captain’s Radon boat. They hooked into a very acrobatic marlin, which was putting a good bend in the rod as it went crazy across the surface.

The fighting chair was bolted to the center engine cover. With all the pressure the marlin was putting on the chair, it snapped off the hinges to the cover, sending the angler and chair over the stern.

The angler luckily got out of the harness safely and swam back to the boat, losing the hatch cover, rod, reel and marlin.

And speaking about chairs, a charter boat was going out for its final charter when they hooked into a big marlin.

As the angler was fighting the fish, the fighting chair began to lean to one side. The chair had to be propped up, so the angler could use the chair’s gimble.

Finally, the chair broke off at the deck, and the angler had to finish the fight standing up. They eventually landed the marlin, weighing in at 350 pounds.

Just because it’s in the boat doesn’t mean it will stay there.

One of the charter boats landed a nice, 300-plus-pound marlin. They pulled it through the stern door and cleared up the back deck.

A few minutes later, all of a sudden, the marlin started thrashing around on the deck, hitting the latch on the stern door and knocking it open.

It snaked itself backwards across the deck and out the stern door, swimming away into the depths.

The same thing happened this year, except it was a big ahi estimated to be 125 pounds.

They got the tuna in the boat, took out the gaff and unhooked the leader from the swivel. They even took photos holding the ahi tail-up in the stern corner.

After lying it back down on the deck, it came alive and flittered itself out the open stern door, taking the lure and leader with it.

But, when you’re lucky, you’re lucky – especially if you have the right lure.

A captain was running his favorite mahi bait, getting a strike and hooking a small mahi. As they were bringing in the mahi, a big blue marlin came in and took the mahi right off the hooks.

Within seconds, a spearfish came in and nailed the empty lure, ending up in the fish box.