Marlin drags kayak fisherman 11 miles across ocean in epic battle

California angler Kei Vang was fishing in the Pacific Ocean in early August when he made the kayak trip of a lifetime. Fishing from a 12-foot, 9-inch pedal-drive kayak, Vang hooked a giant striped marlin and fought the fish for more than five hours. By the time he grabbed the leader and cut the line to release the fish, the marlin had dragged him about 11 miles from where he first hooked it.

Catch, who made a Facebook post about the catch, tells Outdoor living that he and two friends had left Dana Point in Southern California and headed out to sea in their kayaks around 6 a.m. on August 3. They were planning to fish for tuna. Vang said August is usually a good month for tuna on the West Coast, and they headed to a deep-water canyon where he had caught them late last summer. After pedaling their kayaks about six miles out to the spot, they began trolling live sardine baits with heavy tackle.

“There were no baitfish, not even any birds,” Vang said. “We trolled for a couple of hours with our heavy gear and saw nothing. We were in about 600 feet of water.”

The anglers continued trolling in their sit-on-top kayaks, and Vang says they were about eight miles out from Dana Point by 10 a.m. That’s when he decided to switch to a lighter rod and a slightly smaller reel with 50-pound braid and a 30-pound leader.

Just 10 minutes later he heard a big splash behind him. When he looked back he saw a marlin jumping and trying to throw the hook. His rod was already bent double.

“The marlin immediately jumped about eight times and ran away,” Vang says. “It took almost the entire 350 meters of line on my reel. I had to tighten my drag and chase the fish to get line. I kicked as fast as I could and was close to the marlin again in about 10 minutes.”

He didn’t stay near the fish for long, though. Over the next five hours, the marlin dragged Vang and his Hobie Outback more than 10 miles across the Pacific. His friends stayed with him the entire time.

Read more: How long does it take for a swordfish to recover after being caught and released?

“They never left my side,” Vang says of his fishing buddies. “They made sure I was safe and okay. The marlin just kept dragging me.”

Vang and his friends tracked their location using GPS units mounted on their kayaks. He says they had extra batteries for backup power, along with VHF radios and other safety equipment.

The marlin finally began to tire after about five hours of fighting, when it began to circle under Vang’s kayak. He and his friends were about 20 miles from shore when he pulled the fish close to his kayak and grabbed the leader, and the three anglers finally got a good look at the swordfish.

“For a while we thought it was a blue marlin … but then looking at our pictures and videos, we now think it was a striped marlin,” said Vang, who estimates the fish weighed about 200 pounds. “It was about the same length as my Hobie [which is nearly 13 feet long]and there was no way we were going to mess it up and take it home. It was now after 4pm, so we decided to cut my line and free the fish.”

The three fishermen paddled back to shore for a few hours, but as evening approached, Vang’s GPS estimated it would take another eight or nine hours to get back to Dana Point. So they called another friend with a motorboat, who met them around the 10-mile mark and gave them a ride, towing their kayaks back to shore.

Read more: Fishermen try to catch a swordfish while it is flying. That is almost unheard of

“Every kayak fisherman’s dream is to catch a big fish and have his picture taken holding it up next to his yak,” Vang says. “That wasn’t possible with my marlin. But I might have a replica made, which might be better than a picture.”