From left, Captain Billy Hodge, John Siroin and Deckman Jake Atafua with their blue marlin caught on Kai Mana. PHOTO BY DONNELL TATE.

LAHAINA — The Kai Mana boated a nice 331.8-pound blue marlin for John Siroin. He was fishing with Captain Billy Hodge and Deckman Jake Atafua.

They were heading out to the “Shaka” buoy off Manele Bay, Lanai, looking for mahi mahi. They were almost there when Billy saw a couple of mahi jumping out of the water. A few seconds later, he saw the head and bill of a marlin come out of the water as it tried to bill-whack the fish.

Jake already had a live opelu rigged up for the mahi at the buoy. Billy told him, “Change of plans; put out some lures.” Sure enough, they got lucky. About five minutes later, as they worked the buoy, they had a strike on the port side short rigger lure.

The 130-class reel started screaming off line. They only had three other lines in the water, so Jake got the pattern cleared pretty fast.

The marlin ran out 800 yards of mono, getting them into the Dacron backing before it started jumping.

Billy waited for the fish to stop its run before Jake moved the rod from the port side to the center rod holder, between the twin 425 HP outboards.

Jake had the drag setting beyond the strike button as he waited for Billy to back after the marlin.

Billy kept the boat idle speed ahead for the next hour. John had never caught anything bigger than a catfish, and Billy wanted to make sure to keep the line tight and pressure on the fish.

By the time they dragged the marlin to the boat, John was worn out from all the cranking.

Once they got the marlin to leader, then Billy took the boat out of gear. The fish started doing circles under the boat. Jake moved the rod to the starboard side holder, stood out on the swim step and leadered the line away from the outboards as it circled.

He had to keep a keen eye on the line and the engines. Every time the marlin made a circle, Jake would take a couple of wraps. After about 3-4 times, he had it close enough off the starboard side, that Billy could secure it.

The fish was ready to come up at that point. Once secured, the next problem was getting it into the boat. There was only a 14-inch door on the starboard stern to drag the fish through.

First, they used the swell to lift the marlin onto the small swim step behind the outboards. The tail was sticking out two feet off the starboard side.

After catching their breath, they swung the tail around and squeezed the 300-pound fish through the door, up the starboard side walkway and between the center consol helm station.

This is the largest blue marlin for the new “Like Try Charters.”