From left, deckman Sam Thies, Capt. Fuzzy Alboro and Steve Clements with their 475.5-pound blue marlin. PHOTO BY DONNELL TATE.

LAHAINA – A week after finally getting back in the water, The Die Hard 2 boated a 475.5-pound blue marlin for Steve Clements. He was fishing with Capt. Fuzzy Alboro and deckman Sam Thies.

They were coming around the Palaoa Point Lighthouse, 150 fathoms off the southwest corner of Lanai, when they had a strike on the short corner position.

Fuzzy headed to the deck as the marlin ripped out 500 yards of 120-test line off an 80-class reel. It made several jumps and then disappeared. Once Fuzzy got the lines cleared, Sam started reversing the boat after the fish.

Sam was in and out of idle reverse as Fuzzy started pushing up the drag lever to try and slow the marlin. Steve was not gaining any line, so Fuzzy put the reel into low gear and continued to slowly push up the drag past the strike button. The rod was bowed over the stern with the fish easily pulling off line.

Finally, they stopped the marlin’s run after a 30-minute stalemate and started to gain some line. Sam continued to reverse after the fish. They had it close to the boat, about 20 yards past double line, in about 15 minutes, as it swam away back and forth across the stern. There were several smaller male marlin swimming around the female during the fight.

Over the next five minutes, they were able to crank the marlin up to double line a couple of times, with it pulling 5-10 feet off the rod as it dug down. Sam maneuvered the boat to keep the fish behind the stern as it continued to swim back and forth in its zone just past double line. It kept pulling short zips of line almost at will, with the drag as high as it would go.

At one point, the marlin swam out 20 feet past double line and turned up the port side of the boat. Sam had to throttle the boat forward to get up to it, and then spin the stern around to get it back behind the boat. Finally, the fish seemed exhausted as it slowed its back and forth movement.

As they got the double line on the reel, the marlin turned up the port side. It then dug down and swam under the corner to the starboard side. As Sam idled the boat forward, Fuzzy reached out, grabbed the leader with one hand and pulled, sticking the fly-gaff with the other. Sam came off the bridge and followed it up with another gaff to secure the fish.