One afternoon, while fishing just off Olowalu, a charter boat picks up a strike on the long rigger position. The 14.0 class reel starts screaming out line with a 300-plus-pound marlin crashing the surface. As the angler readies himself in the fighting chair, and the safety line is removed to move the rod to the chair, the wooden butt of the rod snaps off in the holder.

The rod, reel and fish head for the deep. Seconds later, one of the 9.0 class reels that had a good-sized tuna rig on it goes off. The crew hands the angler the rod and begins to fight the fish. As the angler gets the marlin up to leader, they realize that they had snagged the 14.0 reel.

The tuna rig had gotten hooked on the cross bar of the reel and had dug the hook into the remaining line on the spool. The crew gaffs the 14.0 reel and gets it back aboard the boat. The captain puts the 14.0 reel into the rod holder, works the hook rig loose from the line on the spool and they continue to fight the marlin on the 14.0 reel. They fight the fish for about another ten minutes before finally losing it.

How about the two guys that hook up to a nice-sized marlin, fighting it for around 20 minutes, when all of a sudden, the angler gets pulled out of the chair and goes overboard. The angler, still hooked to the harness, fights the fish while his buddy helps him get back aboard the boat.

Back on board, the angler fights 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 hook into a very acrobatic marlin that is putting a good bend in the rod as it goes crazy across the surface.

The fighting chair is bolted to the center engine cover. With all the pressure the marlin was putting on the chair, it snaps off the hinges to the cover, sending the angler and chair over the stern. The angler luckily gets out of the harness safely and swims back to the boat, losing the hatch cover, rod, reel and marlin.

And speaking about chairs, this charter boat is going out for its final charter when they hook into a big marlin. As the angler is fighting the fish, the fighting chair begins to lean to one side until the chair has to be propped up, so the angler can still use the chair’s gimble.

Finally, the chair breaks off at the deck, and the angler has to finish the fight standing up. They do eventually land 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 lands a nice 300-plus-pound marlin. They pull it through the stern door and clear up the back deck. A few minutes later, all of a sudden the marlin starts thrashing around on the deck, hitting the latch on the stern door, knocking it open. It snaked itself backwards across the deck and out the stern door, swimming away into the depths.

The same thing happened on another charter, 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 up by the tail in the stern corner for the crew’s Facebook page. 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.

This 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 comes in and takes the mahi right off the hooks.

Within seconds, a spearfish comes in and nails the empty lure, ending up in the fish box.