From left, Capt. Fuzzy Alboro, Deckman Andy Payne and Brad Marquardt with their 353-pound marlin caught on Die Hard 2. PHOTO BY DONNELL TATE.

LAHAINA – The Die Hard 2 brought another blue marlin to the scales, this one weighing 353.0 pounds by Brad Marquardt. He was fishing with Capt. Fuzzy Alboro and Deckman Andy Payne.

They left the NASA Buoy and were trolling the backside of Lanai, getting a strike in 200 fathoms off the Palaoa Point Lighthouse. The marlin hit the long gone lure hard, running off the 100-test line about 100 yards before it started jumping.

After a few jumps, the marlin took off away from the boat just below the surface for another 100 yards, making one more series of jumps. The fish continued to run, taking them into the Dacron backing 400 yards away.

At that point, the marlin splashed around on the surface, windshield wiper head shaking, kicking up a lot of whitewater.

Fuzzy didn’t think the fish was that big as he reversed aggressively after it.

Andy had Brad in the bucket harness and the reel in low gear. Fuzzy said, “The fish is so small; why should we worry about breaking line? Andy kept pushing up the drag.”

Fuzzy backed after the marlin for about 20 minutes before he got up on top of it. Andy got Brad into a rhythm, drop and crank, pull up, standard routine as he horsed the fish up. Fuzzy stayed on it, in and out of gear, spinning on the fish as needed over the next 20 minutes.

The marlin came up off the starboard side pretty tired. As Andy leadered the fish to the boat, Fuzzy said, “This thing is bigger than I thought.” Fuzzy got the fish secured without any problems.

Fuzzy said it was one of the easiest fish he has had to the boat in a long time. “Pretty simple; nothing difficult. Everything went so smooth and easy. It was actually too easy,” he said.

Nevertheless, he was the happiest guy ever as the marlin lay on the deck.