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Marlin Mania! (several pictures included)


Tyler Holm

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I was on my honeymoon for 2 weeks in Hawaii and had the opportunity to spend 1 day atop the mighty waters off the coast of Kona (West side of the Big Island). My wife and I chartered a half day trip through Bite Me Sport Fishing. Awesome boat… 2 leather couches, TV, VCR, all the latest and greatest fishing equip, bathroom, bunk beds, even a nice place for my wife to suntan.

Funny thing.. I called the guy the day before our trip and he had to let me go because he was busy trying to get a marlin in the boat. Instant blood rush. He called back and said they had the best day on the water of the season. I was excited, but hoping it wasn’t going to be one of those “You should have been here yesterday” deals.

Here was our lure selection. 530# mono leaders on these things. The reels had 415# test mono. We’re talking big gear here. Most lures were 12 - 18" long.

lures.jpg

Captain Mike took great care of us, and even let me navigate a bit.

ty_mike.jpg

About 2 hours into our trip we had our first hookup. It was about a 150# blue marlin (estimated by “Deck Hand” Jon). He slashed at the surface lure 3 times before connecting, then proceeded to strip about 30 yards of drag before getting loose.

An hour later all heck broke loose. A Marlin came out of nowhere and slammed one of the lures. Within seconds, another giant Blue Marlin crushed another one of our lures. We had ourselves a double. There was chaos on the deck as we rushed towards the rods. And then it jumped! BIG FISH, BIG FISH, is what I remember hearing in a frantic uproar. I saw this enormous Blue Marlin surface and proceed to “tail dance” its way across the surface. Both Jon and Captain Mike agreed it was around 700 pounds; trouble was that we didn’t know which fish was on which rod.

I got positioned in the fighting chair and was handed the rod. HOLY SMOKES the fight was on. Soon afterwards the fish on the other rod simply got off, but we didn’t know if I was fighting the monster 700# fish, or a smaller one. After a few minutes it became apparent that the 700 pounder got away, but I really didn’t care at this point as I was doing all I could do, just to keep at bay with whatever was at the end of my line.

I gave it my all for about 20 minutes before we could see what it was. Turns out, it was a decent Marlin. As the fish approached the boat, “Deck Hand” Jon did a great job of coaching me and preparing me for the release of this bugger. My wife Michelle was snapping pictures throughout the entire fight. Jon said I would be the one to tag the fish, just prior to the release. As the fish approached the boat, apparently it was hooked deeply in the eye with the trailer hook so Jon made the decision to harvest the fish as he claimed it would not have survived that injury.

Here’s a couple pictures of the Marlin as its being wrangled into the boat

close1.jpg

close2.jpg

Fish Details:

113.5 pounds

86” long

Caught in 9000 FOW 10 miles off the coast of Kona, HI

"Deck Hand" Jon and I

jon_ty_marlin2.jpg

It was a heafy load

ty_marlin1.jpg

ty_marlin2.jpg

I got to raise the Marlin flag!

marlin_flag.jpg

Simply put, it was the time of my LIFE!

Special Thanks to Mike, Jon, and Brian at Bite Me Sport Fishing.

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Tyler,

Congratulations on your Marriage, may you, and your bride, have many happy fishing years ahead of you.

What an awesome Marlin experience!

Wedding...$15,000

Honeymoon...$3,000

Cost of new life together...national budget. grin.gif

New bride taking pictures of your fishing adventure(on your honeymoon...priceless)!

Congratulations again Tyler!

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Congrats to you Tyler and Michelle on your new life together.Looks like you had a great time fishing.Those Marlin are one awesome fighting fish for sure.

Now that bad part is you will want to go again as it gets in your blood.I have went fishing those beasts 5 times and want to go again.

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Kona Rocks! I spent part of my recent honeymoon there. it's a beautiful place and you made a great choice. Congrats on some great fish and even more congrats on finding a life mate!

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The coolest part of the whole story is that you went fishing on your honeymoon!!!!

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Tyler,

As a part of your wedding party, CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU AND MICHELLE!! Great fish too!!! I'll be waiting for the hundreds of stories to come. Now that you have hit the ocean fishing scene, we will have to plan a trip to Alaska to battle King salmon and Halibut. That was the fishing trip of my life. I know dad wants to go back in the worst way... maybe we could shoot for something next summer?

Davo

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Congratulations on all accounts Tyler, Great Pictures, you got to do on your honeymoon I couldn't. We honeymooned in Hawaii as well, but the day I was going to go out the boats weren't leaving port due to weather. So I told my wife we need to go back on our 5 or 10 yr anniversary so I can go fishing...

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Tyler:

Very cool! Nice fish. I did some reef fishing on mine and it was a blast. You get the big-fish award tho.

Joel

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Congrats Tyler, on the fish and um...........the wife to!!! grin.gif Just kidding, I agree with boilerguy the best thing is that you got to go fishing on your honeymoon, she sounds like a keeper also!!! grin.gif Again awesome fish for sure!!!

Perchjr

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Man, I'm green with envy! Sounds like a blast.

I'm curious, how much for a day of fishing like that? I understand if you don't want to provide this info, but I'm thinking about a similar trip for my wife and me and I'd like to fish for a day on the trip. How much can I expect to pay for an outing like that?

I was up on the NE side of Australia a couple months ago and they wanted anywhere from 2K to 3.5K for that type of outing. I passed. Coulda gone on a trip with dozens of other people chasing baramundi and some other smaller fish, but I decided big game fish or nothin'. Unfortunately, the final word was nothin'.

Anyway, congrats on the wife and the great trip. Did I mention that I'm really, really jealous (of the fishing, that is)?

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Davo,

You wouldn't have to twist my arm the least little bit to get me up to Alaska. Lets book it! Tell Joe I'm in.

Scoot,

A half day of fishing cost $375 to charter an entire 40' boat to yourslef. After tax and tip, it was $450 for 4 hours of fishing. Share trips were much cheaper, but when there's 6 of you sharing a boat what are the odds that you'll be the one who gets to fight the fish.

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Very nice Tyler!!! Good thing that big one got away, otherwise your wife could've caught one bigger than yours!!!

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well looks like you had a good time then, i bet your glad that you got out of there before that big earthquake hit huh?

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Yes its a nice fish.. and call me sick.. but my fave part of the whole thing is Tyler with his shirt off and shorts and the "deck hand" with a winter cap on... cracks me up!

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Fish Details:

113.5 pounds

86” long

Caught in 9000 FOW 10 miles off the coast of Kona, HI

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She looks a little bigger than that. I got my first blue last week in Cabo, est. 175 released. Slowest marlin fishing I've seen down there in a few years of trying. Usually we manage to average about a striper (marlin) a day, but we were shut down cold for 3 days before breaking out on the 4th day with 2 stripers and the blue. Also some dorado and tuna, but we mostly troll marlin. Quite a thrill, ain't they:)

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Traveler, they are probably holding out for me in March. smile.gif

Sorry to hear bout the slow fishing. We finally nailed down our dates. Do you have a spring trip planned yet? Maybe we could hit it at the same time and share a boat to get me on the water more than one day. I'll be there the last week of March first week of April.

By the way nice fish Tyler!

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Cheffrey; wish I could swing another southern jaunt in the spring, but I'm pretty locked into the fall time frame now; I'm going to keep at it till I beat my dads 350 lb. blue, and they're only there in Aug. thru Oct. You should hit some stripers, hopefully. Are you going back to Cabo? Know who you'll fish with?

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Traveler,

I'll be heading back to Cabo and will likely join up with the pisces fleet this time around. I would love to hit it in the late summer but I would never be able to pry myself away from work during that time frame plus the family time share is the last week in March. Stripers have always been good while we are down there. 190 is our tops, last year I started getting into the shorefishing from the resort we stay at. That can be just as fun with the sierra's hitting the way they did last year.

Keep us informed on your trips and good luck with that 350+.

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