From left, Capt. Sean Hudson, Aaron Minor and Deckmen Jordan Fuertes and Brian Hernandez with their 477.6-pound marlin caught on Exact II. PHOTO BY DONNELL TATE.

LAHAINA — The Exact II brought in a nice 477.6-pound blue marlin by Aaron Minor. He was fishing with Capt. Sean Hudson and Deckmen Brian Hernandez and Jordan Fuertes.

Sean headed south out of the harbor, making an ono run toward Olowalu. Getting no bites in the area, he headed out deep toward the 100-fathom ledge. As soon as he got to the 70-fathom ledge, off the last cane field, they had a triple striper bite.

They got one weighing about 40 pounds. As Sean turned the boat around, the boys had the pattern set back up as they went back toward the spot. No sooner had they gotten there, they had a solid bite on the second wave lure.

Sean saw the strike. “It was insane,” he said. It left a huge hole in the water where the lure had been. The 130-class reel lit up as the fish took off. He could see its dorsal fin cutting through the water and tail kicking away at full speed through the pattern.

The marlin then went ballistic — the meanest show Sean had seen in a long time. It tail-walked away doing cartwheels and sideways snakes all over the surface, making a half-dozen amazing aerial displays for at least a couple of minutes. Brian and Jordan got the lines cleared quickly, as Sean got on it in hard reverse. He didn’t want to let it get much line out, keeping it from getting into the backing. It pulled maybe 300 yards.

The marlin would swim out toward the ledge, with Sean following after it. Then, when he would get close, it would turn and swim back inside, with Sean having to spin the boat and follow it in another direction.

Once he got the scope out of the line, he went straight up and down on it in about 15 minutes. Sean went down to check the drag. At that point, they had about 25 pounds on the fish. Sean pushed up the drag to the button, putting some heat on the fish, at 35 pounds of pressure. The rod was doubled over the stern as Aaron held on and cranked when he could.

Once Sean got back on top of the fish, they ran into a bit of a stalemate. Sean maneuvered ahead with the tight drag and watched the scope on the line come up.

Once he had a good angle, he reversed after it as Aaron cranked. They planed the fish for about 25 minutes.

As it came up to double line, it was still swimming, making big passes back and forth across the stern. Sean decided to leader the marlin. He had Brian on the helm with Jordan at gaff. This was the first marlin Sean had leadered in a long time.

At leader, the fish was lit up and swimming back and forth, being pretty cooperative. Brian idled the boat forward, one ahead, two ahead, as Sean slowly pulled it to the port corner.

After Jordan secured the fish, they had to haul it over to the starboard side railing to use the come along, having no fish door.