From left, Joe Alonzo, Capt. Chris Cole and Deckman Jake Atafua with their 166-pound yellowfin tuna caught on Hinatea. PHOTO BY DONNELL TATE.

LAHAINA — The Hinatea boated a nice-sized “Allison” yellowfin tuna weighing 166.0 pounds for Joe Alonzo. He was fishing with Capt. Chris Cole and Deckman Jake Atafua.

They were coming in after fishing the backside of Lanai and were 150 fathoms southwest, off the Palaoa Point Lighthouse, when they ran into several dolphin schools scattered around the area.

Jake had just been talking to Joe about the tuna that the boats had been bringing in over the past few weeks.

As soon as Chris got in front of them, a little four-inch jet, running straight down the middle of the pattern on the fifth wave, got bit.

The 50-class reel started screaming off line, taking them 500 yards into the backing pretty fast, almost spooling them.

Jake called out, “That’s a real one!”

The tuna stopped its high-speed run for a few seconds and then started ripping off line again. It was hard to stop the fish on the light tackle they were using. Jake had the drag pushed to the button, putting around 25 pounds of pressure on it.

The fish started to plane up toward the surface on its run. As soon as Chris saw the opportunity, he reversed aggressively after it as much as he could for about ten minutes. The tuna headed deep, around 400 yards, before it stopped.

After that, Joe went to work, pumping and working the rod, getting lifted up in the chair a few times. He had fished Cabo before and had an idea on fighting a fish and working the rod. It was a tug of war, back and forth battle for Joe. He would get 100 feet, with the tuna taking 200 as it ran away.

In about 30 minutes, they had the fish close. Another ten minutes and they saw color, as Chris got up on top of it. The tuna was digging down as Chris circled on it. They were trying to figure out how to get it up without pulling the hook, breaking line or running it over.

It came close to the surface one more time, with them getting a good look at it and finally seeing how big it was. The tuna didn’t like the situation and went back down 50 yards. It then came back up, with them seeing deep color, before it headed back down another 50 yards.

Joe was starting to tire from the up and down tug of war. At that point, they were only able to get a few inches at a time. Chris was straight up on the fish as it corkscrewed clockwise off the stern. Jake was on the stern, pushing the line off the rail as the tuna continued to circle and dig deep.

Chris was trying to anticipate the tuna’s moves as it got close to leader. They didn’t even want to try to grab the leader until they knew what the fish was up to. There was a lot of waiting and anticipation on bringing the fish up.

Chris finally maneuvered the boat in front of it. He came off the helm, grabbed the leader and babied the tuna upward, hand-over-hand to the port side. He knew what he had with the tackle and how big the fish was.

Once it was close, he grabbed a long stick gaff and reached deep, luckily sticking it under the chin. Jake helped to secure the tuna, and they both hauled it over the rail. This is the largest ahi since 2018 for Lahaina Harbor.