When most kids

return to school in the fall, they'll have stories of vacations they went

on and parties they went to during their summer vacation.

Jordan Powers

will have a whopper of a tale to tell. Powers, a rising sophomore at Starr's

Mill High School, recently went to Hawaii and caught a 650-pound blue

marlin.

Powers and

his family went to the town of Kailua Kona on the island of Hawaii earler

this month. He and his father chartered a boat, "Reel Class,"

which was captained by Gus Sellers. The boat left around 7 a.m. to troll

south along the west coast of the island, following the steep shelves

of the Pacific Ocean. Powers and his dad started with six lures and after

two hours were about to head out to an area known for its bait fishing.

Suddenly, the crew spotted a blue marlin.

Powers got

in the chair and battled the fish for over an hour and a half.

Sellers claimed

the fish was a "smart one" and had to move back and forth, as

well as make many violent maneuvers to keep the fish on the line. Some

of these maneuvers caused a leak in the drive coupling, which made the

boat take on a lot of water. They eventually brought the marlin beside

the boat and realized that it had fresh gaff wounds and a large prop cut,

most likely from a recent brush with capture.

"I didn't

think it was that big when it was 100 yards out," said Powers. "When

it came closer, I relaized how huge it was."

Sellers and

his mate gaffed it and lost two bats while striking it on its head. They

eventually got the fish on deck. The marlin weighed 650 pounds, 10 pounds

more than the captain's personal record of 640 pounds.

"It was

the longest two hours of my life," Powers said. "I was just

exhausted and my arm kept cramping up while I was catching it. It was

a great experience, though, a once in a lifetime opportunity."

After making

repairs, they had an hour and a half left with the boat. Powers landed

a another blue marlin, this one approximately 200 pounds. He battled it

for 20 minutes and tagged the fish, but the marlin shed the hook. If the

fish is caught, the information will go to scientific research on marlin

habits and the Powers family will be notified of its capture.

One or two

1,000-pounders are caught off Kona every year, locals say. The record

for a captured blue marlin is 1,800 pounds.

Powers has

been fishing all of his life, but this was only the second time that he

had been deep sea fishing. He was not nearly as successful his first time

out, but now he can't wait to go back out again. Powers is a natural athlete

and has played football, baseball and wrestled for Starr's Mill.

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