×
×
homepage logo

Exact joins marlin leader board

By Staff | Feb 9, 2012

From left, Capt. Sam Thies, Rich Montgomery and Capt. Sal Tarantino with their 467.6-pound blue marlin.

LAHAINA – The Exact got their first big fish for the year on the board with a 467.6-pound blue marlin for Rich Montgomery. He was fishing with Captains Sal Tarantino and Sam Thies.

Sal headed the boat out of Lahaina toward Lanai. They were just coming up on the 100-fathom ledge between the LA-Buoy and Kamaiki Point, Lanai, on the southeast corner when they raised the fish. Sam had just finished the “FaFa” and turned around as the short rigger line came down.

The fish took the 100-test line slowly off the 80-class reel like an ono or spearfish. Sal started reversing the boat as Sam got one line cleared. All of a sudden, the fish started peeling off line.

A marlin started ripping up the surface. It was kicking up a lot of whitewater – body lunging and shaking its head so much they couldn’t get a good look at it – about 200 yards away.

Once the marlin settled down, it sounded. Sal continued backing toward the fish for about five minutes until he lost the angle. At that point, he started to plane it upward. Sal idled the boat forward, bringing the marlin up, and then quickly reversed the boat, with Rich gaining as much line as he could. They didn’t have that much pressure on the fish but just thumbed the spool.

They got the marlin to the surface in about 30 minutes. Sal idled the boat back to it, getting it to leader. It was lit-up neon blue, with it pulling a few short give-and-takes past the double line. Sam finally grabbed the leader.

The marlin turned away from the boat and dug down. Sam dumped the line, with the fish making a short, 50-yard run. They got it back to double line in about five minutes, with it repeating the 50-yard run. This went on another 4-6 times.

The second time to leader, the marlin was still not ready to cooperate, so Sam let it got again. A few minutes later, Sam got another shot at the leader off the starboard corner. The marlin was digging in a bit but manageable. Sam was able to pull it up and get it close enough for Sal to secure it.