100-plus Weight Angler Location Date Ulua 101.6 lbs. Mikah Tomono Puna, Hawai'i 11/25/2020 A few days before Thanksgiving my buddy Orion invited me for an overnight fishing trip. I hadn't fished for a while, so I packed some gear and we set out the next morning. We rolled up to the spot we wanted to fish, but it was taken and so were our backup spots. After the disappointment of not getting the spots we had in mind, we decided to post up and camp for the night. The next morning we felt defeated but somehow made up our minds that we would go in search of another spot. We weren't very prepared for another night, and only had a little shrimp and ika left for bait. We got to a nice spot and secured a few live baits and even a few Mu. That immediately made us hopeful and grateful. One of the baits I caught was a small Moana that I decided to hang bait. After dark, the Moana was still alive. Our bait selection was limited so I slid it down one of the poles I had casted earlier. There were some decent tides that night with a high at about 1:00am. Around midnight I woke up from a deep sleep to Orion and Arlo screaming, Wake up!! big strike!! Grab the cutters!!" I could hear my Torium peeling line and remembered that was the pole I had slid the Moana down. When I got to the pole it was still ripping violently and I was half asleep. When I picked up the pole I could feel my line rubbing briefly on the reef. I let out some more line and it got clear somehow. After about 10 minutes of a clean fight, the fish started to go far to the right near a reef I had seen during the day. I felt the line start to rub again. At that point I put everything I had into boosting him out of the rocks. I had lost too many big strikes in the past and didnt want to make the same mistakes. The line cleared and I began gaining line. Right when we finally started to see color, my 80# test got stuck down in the rocks right in front of us. I free spooled and got the fish to float up to the surface but it was just out of reach for the gaff. Arlo immediately offered to jump in the water and grab the fish. I had a feeling the swell would push it back towards us, and it did. Orion got a perfect gaff shot right in the mouth. When we got the fish on the rocks it was a moment of pure excitement and disbelief. We were in awe of such a magnificent fish. The fish then spit out a 5lb lobster and some of its other stomach contents. We were tripping. The next morning while we jacked up our poles, we all gave thanks to the spot and each other for such a memorable trip. Right as Arlo was bringing up his dead akule that he had slid, an omilu came up and grabbed it. One last blessing! We did a quick beach clean up to the spot and headed home for Thanksgiving with memories that will last a lifetime.