I had gotten my things packed for my day of sport fishing, just like any other time. The ride there was a blur of sleepiness and the occasional thumping as my head would drift off and hit the window. My best friend through high school (Cody) and his dad had invited us on this opportunity to celebrate our graduation. Once in Maalaea, Maui we boarded our boat for the day, the Strike Zone. After a few minutes of getting the rest of our stuff ready, we were off. We were trolling for only about 10 minutes befor the first strike hit. My dad immediately jumped out of his seat and grabbed the pole. After an agonizing 15 minutes, he reeled in his first ever Ono for about 30 pounds and around 3 1/2 feet. About an hour went by and i started to doze off. I awoke suddenly to the hissing of my line being taken hard. I strapped up and immediately grabbed the pole and set the hook in deep. I knew what I had was big, but I had no idea the ferocity of what was to follow. I could not budge the reel as the fish took off with my line for a good 400 yards. The captain (Jay) was quick on his toes and backed it up giving me some slack to play with. As I played catch up with this monster, i realized the enormity of it when he jumped about 200 feet from the boat. A giant blue marlin was what was on the other side of my pole. I became instantly nervous about my 130 pound test and set the drag. He plummeted straight down and under the boat. Jay quickly pulled forward as I started in the pattern of pulling up and reeling down. My adrenaline was pumping so hard I had not realized that an hour had already passed. My arms were no longer sore, but numb with excitement. I was slowly gaining ground when I heard the deck hand yell out Doubel line! This meant that he was only 20 feet under the boat. I grew anxious and began to reel frantically. I learned my lesson about conserving energy as he pulled away from the boat with my line for another 300 feet. I started to groan as I knew the fight was far from over. I began the motions again. Pull up. And reel down. This time when he yelled double line I was ready. I knew he was close but still far from gaffing range. He stayed about 40 feet under the boat for the next 30 minutes giving me no slack. I knew it was almost over when i heard them say She s hot! I tried hard to peer over the side to catch a glimpse, and saw something I will never forget. I looked into the water and saw a bright blue light moving about 20 feet under. I knew it was time. I started to reel with more force using my friend to help pull up on the rod and i reeled down. Finally after 1 hour and 50 minutes, he was in gaffing range. It took 4 gaffs and 8 men to pull him into the boat. We measured him then and there and I was in awe as this 14 foot Blue Marlin stared back at me. I was immediatlely overcome with emotion that is hard to explain. I felt like I had won a hard earned battle that nobody else had done. I tamed this beast and brought him to his mercy. Once back to shore, he was weighed in at 704.4 pounds. I had my picture taken for the Hawaii Fish and Game magazine and still to this day remember my encounter with my best enemy.

Sean Ambrose