Well, we had an extra special event today! This was a day for Dharyl (aka BIG D). Here it goes….

Due to the Ghostwriter’s success yesterday morning, about half of the group was up at 2:30 am including Big D. The current was ripping and it was non-stop action for the wrong kind (sharks). Knife jigs and PL 68’s were being eaten full speed, yet Big D only watched. Loosing multiple jigs got old for most and many went back to bed or hung out in the galley, except for a few diehards like Kevin Shannon, yet Big D still just watched.

The current stopped and Kevin hooked a good one (his 3rd over 200!). Big D finally rose up and casually walked to get his jig rod.

On the third drop, something hit the lure, seemed small but then took an exceptional run smoking off over 500 yards of line. I’ll tell you why it’s exceptional and ridiculous later in the story. After a little over an hour (further explanation below), a huge sickled tuna was doing slow turns upward. Several gaffs were placed in it and were brought to the gate.

As it came in, the jig gently fell out of the fish having it’s welded ring pulled apart in a tug of war between man and beast. Dharyl’s quote as he looked at the parted distorted oblong ring was, “God’s will!”.

The personal best beast weighed in at 358#’s!

Ridiculous:

Is the way that Big D set’s his drags. I know many of you claim to fish heavy drag, but no one I’ve ever fished with fishes Big D drag. As stated before, his are all set to “S”, obviously for “S”tupid tight. I put a drag scale to it and it was set for 55.9 lbs! Also ridiculous is the way he pulls on fish. Big D holds the record on the RP for the shortest recorded fight of a 200 pounder non kamikaze (just over 5 minutes)

Exceptional:

To have a fish take 500 yards (the 250 pounder he caught a few days ago took 5 yards) is exceptional! To take Big D over an hour to land the fish is exceptional! To have a human pull apart a welded ring and still land the fish is exceptional! Dharyl has always taken care of me, my dad (Grant) and brother Glenn. I’m so happy that an exceptional angler caught an exceptional fish!

We also had good wahoo fishing to make up for the lack of tuna, with Vlade’s wahoo being the standout at 54 pounds.

Ghostwriter happily out

Shout outs:

Big D sends his love too his beautiful wife and family!

He also thanks his sponsors:

Phenix Hylux XH

Shimano Talica 50

IZOR LINE

JB Line One

Maui Jim

Glenn Hieshima