From left, Capt. Chris Cole, Carsen Gay, Brandon Gay and Deckman Jake Atafua with their 392.5-pound blue marlin caught on Hinatea. PHOTO BY DONNELL TATE.

LAHAINA — The Hinatea boated a nice blue marlin for wahine angler Carsen Gay, weighing 392.5 pounds. She was fishing with Captain Chris Cole and Deckman Jake Atafua.

They were coming in after a six-hour charter, with no bites all day. As Chris got to the 100-fathom ledge off Kamaiki Point, Lanai, they raised a fish on the long rigger position.

The marlin went crazy jumping as it headed out past the long gone position and then turned back toward the long rigger spot. Jake started clearing the lines as Chris throttled ahead, with the fish still jumping back and forth across the surface, finally turning and headed into the distance.

The fish got them down 700 yards into the Dacron backing in a quick minute. As soon as Jake had the lines cleared, Chris started backing aggressively after it, finally getting the line loss stopped.

Once Jake put Carsen in the harness, she started grinding on her fish. Chris reversed after the marlin as much as he could as he watched Carsen crank in line. For the next five minutes, they were able to gain about 300 yards before they got straight up and down on it and ran into a stalemate.

At that point, it was all Carsen. She listened to Jake as he helped her with her technique. Chris started to plane the marlin, getting in front of it to change up the attack, doing 360s for at least ten minutes as Carsen hauled her fish up.

Before they realized it, they had the fish to double line and then leader. The marlin was digging down at leader, swimming away. Jake grabbed leader and didn’t let go. He walked the fish back and forth across the stern 4-5 times as he slowly pulled it up.

The marlin turned toward the boat; Chris angled the stern to cut it off as Jake pulled it to the surface off the starboard side. After only a 22-minute fight, they got it secured and hauled it over the rail.

It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, mentioned Carsen. She said that she has run 100 miles four times, and that was not as hard as bringing that fish in. “I was sweating like a man. I wanted to ‘Tap Out’ so bad, shouting ‘switch out’ several times,” she said.

“I felt like it was going to pull me over. Jake kept telling me to lean back, sit down, and don’t let the fish take control. My legs are sore, my arms are sore, everything hurts. It took every ounce of muscle I had to work the fish in.”

Carsen has never caught a fish deep-sea fishing, just a few trout, but nothing like this. She said, “It was exhilarating; that’s the only way to describe it.”

This is the largest blue marlin by a wahine angler since June 2019.