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100-plus Weight Angler Location Date
Ulua 134 lbs. Ka'eo Hunter Puna, Hawai'i 10/18/2020

It was just a normal Saturday afternoon on October 17th 2020, when my 7 year old son Karsen asked if we could go fishing. Quickly I checked the tides knowing it was gonna be a dark night with no moon, so I asked him if he would want to camp overnight to try and catch ulua. He said yes, but only if his cousin Kapena can come also. Thats when i called my brother Keone Hunter up and asked him if hed want to stay over with us. After asking where I planned on going and seeing the tide changes that night he was packing his things in a hurry. That afternoon about 3:30 we were at the spot. Water was flat and everything was in our favor for a good time. Set out the first pole and I hung our first live bait. Before even catching a second bait the hang bait pole was hooked up.. I grab my pole and fought the fish for a few minutes before he cut my main line off on a nearby reef. With our hopes up for the night the goal now was for the kids to have a good time and fill the bait bucket with live bait for the night. Fished for a few hours and waited for the tide change at about 10:30 that night. About 11pm baits were set and it was time to sleep, got a good little rest until about 1:30 am when my bell started making some noise. I jumped up to quickly grab my pole and didnt think much at the time because it didnt take alot of line. Keone was right beside me and ready with the gaff. We were just hoping for it to be an ulua since we had the kids with us. After about 5 minutes of a slow and steady fight we had our first chance to maybe see what it was. Gave it one last turn of the head i all i could see was a golden purple color of what looked like a 55gallon barrow floating in the water. That's when I went from thinking it was a shark to absolute scramble to not let this get away. Then Keone made sure to get the kids to wake up and video us while trying to gaff the monster. Finally had him gaffed but then the struggle began, we both knew now we had to pull him up the cliff. Inch by inch we both pulled our very hardest to bring him home. We had him in our sights and set another gaff threw the jaw for extra security see how our rope was struggling over the rocky edge. Pulled him over and quickly backed to to look at this thing in absolute amazement. I knew these fish get big but even i was surprised and couldnt believe it. All i could say was this thing get 150 lbs.... hahahaha. With no coolers or fish bags big enough we had no choice but to wait until morning to walk this thing out. Waiting for sunlight & unsure of how wed do it we just packed our things and very slowly made our way out. Made a few calls to my our parents and friends then arranged to get this thing weighed right away. Meet our local legend Duane Nakano in pahoa with his certified Big Island Casting Hui scale where this fished weight an amazing 134 lbs. Thanks to everyone involved, especially gaff man of the year (Keone Hunter) and our two little lucky charms Karsen & Kapena.



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