From left, Capt. Jeremy Webb, Glenn Fisher Jr., Glenn Fisher and crewman Aaron Cecil with their 764.8-pound blue marlin caught on Kai Akua.

LAHAINA — The Kai Akua found themselves ten pounds shy, in the second place spot in the top marlin stats for the year, with a 764.8-pound blue by Glenn Fisher and his 15-year-old son, Glenn Jr. They were fishing with Capt. Jeremy Webb and crewman Aaron Cecil.

Jeremy was trolling outside the 100-fathom ledge as he passed Manele Bay on the south side of Lanai. As he watched the pattern, he saw the marlin as it came in on the short gone position. It swam right up behind the lure and engulfed it. It was a solid hook-up.

Jeremy kept the boat at trolling speed as Aaron started clearing lines. The marlin didn’t react at first. The forward motion of the boat was taking steady line off the spool. Jeremy began reversing the boat toward the fish. Glenn Jr. was in the chair first and was gaining line.

All of a sudden, the marlin made a huge leap almost abeam of them off the port side. It came greyhounding straight for them. Jeremy throttled the boat ahead to put some distance between them.

The marlin made two-dozen jumps at a 45-degree angle off to the side on a 500-yard run, putting a big bow of line across the surface. Jeremy turned the boat away from the fish to straighten out the line. With the 70-class reel and 80-test line, they had less than 100 yards left on the spool by the time they got things straight.

Glenn Jr. had enough, so Aaron got dad into the chair. With dad in the chair, Jeremy could be more aggressive with the fish. They started gaining line again. They had the marlin to double line in about 30 minutes, with it swimming steadily away from them.

Jeremy maneuvered the boat, trying to cut off the angle on the marlin. As he got parallel to the fish, it dug down and swung out away from the boat. As the marlin came back around, it tried to get under the side. Jeremy had to kick the boat away from it.

They were at a stalemate at double line for at least a half-hour. They could see it below showing color, swimming side to side. It was give-and-take, with the double line knot on and off the rod tip as the marlin dug down, taking 20-30 feet each time.

Once Jeremy had an angle on the fish, he reversed after it, with dad getting it back to double line. There was a lot of maneuvering on the marlin, spinning the stern left and right, but the fish wouldn’t pick a direction.

They had it close off the port corner, so Jeremy told Aaron to feel the line and give it a slight pull. As the marlin felt the extra pressure, it dug down again. Near the end of the half-hour, Jeremy noticed that the marlin wasn’t kicking its tail as much. That’s when he knew the fish was getting tired.

Jeremy got the boat parallel to the fish on the starboard side. It was straight down 40 feet, moving right along with them. As dad finally got the marlin to leader, Aaron was able to grab the swivel. He took one wrap, pulled, then another wrap, and pulled, slowly hauling the fish up.

Jeremy put the boat in neutral and came off the bridge. He grabbed the fly-gaff and secured their catch to end the two-hour fight.

The marlin was hooked right in the corner of the mouth. The line went through the mouth and out the other side. Just in front of the crimp on the hook-rig was some real bad chaff. Much more fight time and the marlin would have chewed through the line.