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COURTESY U.S. COAST GUARD
Jordon Ornellas and Abraham Apilado show off the 230-pound ahi that capsized a 14-foot boat but didn't get away. (Courtesy U.S. Coast Guard)
COURTESY U.S. COAST GUARD
A Coast Guard rescue swimmer reaches Anthony Wichman, 54, of Koloa, Kauai, after his boat capsized south of Port Allen.
A Kauai fisherman has quite a fish story to tell about the 230-pound ahi that capsized his boat, nearly drowned him, but didn’t get away this morning.
Anthony Wichman, 54, of Koloa, had just hooked the fish aboard his 14-foot Livingston boat, south of Port Allen when the boat turned over and his leg was caught in the fishing line.
Allen was dragged underwater but managed to free himself, get on top of the hull and use his cell phone to call his wife for help, the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard said it received the distress call at 7:41 a.m.
A Coast Guard helicopter rescue crew found him 10 miles southwest of Port Allen, sitting on the hull of his partially submerged boat.
Coast Guard crews and two of Wichman’s friends, who arrived to help salvage the boat, found that the ahi was still hooked on the fishing line attached to the boat.
“They were able to reel in the ahi, right the vessel and take it in tow back to Port Allen,” the Coast Guard said in a press release.
