Neil Persson is twice the man the rest of us fishermen are.

Last week, Neil caught a 141-pound blue marlin with one hand. He is a triple amputee. Neil lost both legs and most of one arm 39 years ago in a war most of us are still trying to forget. nainoa
The retired 60-year-old CPA from Riverdale, Utah (a suburb of Ogden) likes to do new things.
“I want to experience whatever I can,” Neil said. “I’ve never been deep-sea fishing before and we were here. A friend back home in Ogden loves to fish and he hyped me up about it.”
The first obstacle Neil usually has to overcome when he attempts to do something is resistance from people who don’t want to bother or think he can’t.
“They say their insurance won’t cover that,” Neil said.
No problem for Bill Murtagh, skipper of Nainoa, and his crew Capt. Kenny Fogarty.
“We didn’t know how we were going to make it happen,” Bill said. “But we knew we were going to do our best.”
For days before the trip, Bill fretted on how to get Neil out of his wheelchair and into the boat, then how they would fight any fish they hooked. Fighting chairs are built with a footrest, and a fighting fisherman uses his feet as much as any part of his body.
“After Neil drove up – and he was driving – he wheeled himself out to the dock,” Bill said. “I told him that he was the expert in this situation and he should tell us what to do. Just that fast, he sort of rolled out of his wheelchair, slid down the ladder and was in the boat.”
Soon after leaving the dock at about 7:00 am, they hooked and lost an ono. That gave Neil a look at what he would be facing. He was impressed but still confident.
Neil had scheduled a half-day trip, but Bill was determined to stay out as long as it took to get him a fish.
At 10:30 am, the 141-pound blue marlin made the decision for them. It came in and wolfed down a trolling lure made by Bill’s son Nainoa, 10.
“I was amazed that we even got one on the line,“ Neil said. “We had to figure out how to fight it.
“I jumped into the fighting chair, but it’s not built for someone without legs,” Neil said. “We had to play it by ear and I sort of straddled one arm of the chair. Kenny supported the pole to make sure it didn’t get pulled overboard. I was holding the rod with my hook and it is only closed by rubber bands. That worked out pretty well. I never got close to losing the pole.”
The marlin turned out to be the perfect partner in the adventure, Bill said.
“This was the fish that was meant for him,” Bill said. “It didn’t go ballistic. It came up on the side of the boat pretty easily. He was able to lift the rod with his hook. And then reel on it a bit.”
Neil fought the fish on a bent-butt, two-speed 80 reel and used low gear a lot to maximize his strength.
“The marlin was just a little fellow,” Neil said. “But he was plenty enough for me. I couldn’t believe they were so strong.”
When Neil got the fish to the boat, Bill decided to keep it and get a picture as a trophy of this amazing experience.
“We usually release our blue marlin,” Bill said. “But if there ever was a special occasion, this was it.”
With the marlin aboard, they headed for the scales at Honokohau Harbor.
Now came the part Bill figured would be the toughest – getting Neil from the boat to the dock while low tide increased the difference and the difficulties.
Kenny and Bill stood on the swim step bending over to hold the boat at the dock.
“The next thing I knew, Neil had shimmied up our backs, over our heads and was sitting up on the dock,” Bill said.
When I asked Neil about it, he smiled and said “I’m kind of a monkey.”
As with most of Neil’s adventures over the last decade, his wife Eva was with him throughout the experience.
Eva said the two met about ten years ago online -- Yahoo Personals. The Internet tends to put potential suitors on an equal footing. The CPA and the massage therapist soon married and were celebrating their 10th anniversary here on this trip.
Eva said she wished she had taken a picture when Neil scampered up the backs of Kenny and Bill.
During the risky climb, Bill worried about what might have happened if Neil had slipped and fallen into the harbor.
Bill needn’t have worried.
The next day Neil Persson went snorkeling.

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