This happened to a friend of mine a few years back, he had guests on his boat doubled up on what he was sure were 2 decent sized halibut and after a short fight the fish started going seperate directions, well, fearing being spooled and being a long range capt. out of San Diego where they do this alot he decided to tie a buoy to 1 rod and finish fighting the other fish, after landing a nice sized butt he retrieved the buoyed rod and the guest proceeded in fighting and landing a 62 lb. king, true story.