Fuzzy got into the fighting chair and strapped in to fight the fish. The deck mate asked me to wind the reel on the right bait, which stayed in the rod holder on the right rail, so it didn’t get completely tangled up during the fight. Fuzzy did all of the work and I just reeled along when I could, enjoying his fight.
When Fuzzy got the fish to the back of the boat about 25 minutes later it jumped completely out of the water not 25 feet away! The mate saw that the marlin had actually swallowed both baits and was hooked in the mouth twice…and it was a “grander”, a 1,000 pound fish! A fish this size is the ultimate prize in black marlin fishing.
When it was at the back of the boat the crew cut Fuzzy’s line and moved me and my rod to the fighting chair. The fish got a second wind and it ran off again. It took me another 15 minutes to get it back to the boat, where it jumped again not 25 feet away. The mate cut the line and we had a father/son double Grander. The crew said that this was incredibly rare and that it was their first 1,000 pound fish of the season.