| Hawaii Fishing News article
These guys go out in such small boats with huge Penn 130's in the rod holders.....incredible!!!
I gotta get a picture of these boats next time down at the harbor!
This was from the Dec issue.
Aloha, Pete
Dear Chuck,
Here is the 178 lb. ah’i that my friend Justin Kurtz and I caught on August 3rd. We caught it while trolling in the morning off the North Shore of Kaua’i. It ended up being quite a battle.
For the first half hour of the fight, I could get no line on it. It just kept running, and we were worried that it might spool us (we were using 9/0 reel with 80 lb. test line). While I was holding the rod, trying to muster some strength and catch my breath, we heard a snap as the top 4 inches of the rod broke off. We just looked at each other and knew we had to catch this fish.
About two minutes later, the next eyelet popped off the rod, and then the next and the next until we were down to the last one. That’s when Justin threw the gloves on and began handlining. He was giving it his all and getting about one inch with each pull. He could feel the line stretching. We knew we had one big fish!
After a half hour of pulling with everything he had, Justin got to the leader and it was “go” time! As the ah’i was circling on the way up, our adrenaline was pumping as the fish got close. I got a good gaff right in the fish’s head.
We couldn’t bring the fish in the boat, though, because Justin’s 14 ft. (that he built) was taking on too much water. The gas cans were almost floating out of the back of the boat. So he gunned the engine to flush the water out while I held the fish against the side of the boat so that it’s head was towards the bow. The boat was taking on more water! We were on the verge of losing the boat or the fish or both. For one brief second (the key word “brief”), we considered letting go of the fish to save the boat but we just couldn’t.
Finally Justin stopped the boat and lifted the fish out of the water by himself. I grabbed the fish’s tail, and we threw it into the boat. I jumped onto it, gave it a few good clubs then started bailing water like no other.
Once the fish was in the boat and the water was out, we gave each other a huge hug. We did it!
We had a big party that night, and for the next few weeks we were still on a high from catching the ah’i. Everyone we knew was enjoying that ah’i. It was definitely the fish of our lives.
Aloha,
Brad smith and Capt. Justing Kurtz
North Shore, Kaua’i
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Just one more Kona longboard ale and a sunset to die for..........it just does'nt get any better!
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