From left, Capt. Ryno Fiedorowicz, Andrea Salazar, Dennis Smock and Capt. Brandon McKinley enjoyed a double marlin day on Start Me Up La Dat.

LAHAINA – The Start Me Up La Dat had a double marlin day, and also got into the 600-pound club, with a 603.3-pound blue for Andrea Salazar and a 276.6-pound blue for Dennis Smock. They were fishing with Captains Ryan "Ryno" Fiedorowicz and Brandon McKinley.

They were 3-4 miles north, off the west end of Kaho‘olawe Shoals coming back from the SO-Buoy, when Ryno saw a fish come up behind the long gone position. The marlin grabbed the lure and sounded, never taking more than 300 yards of the 100-test line.

Dennis worked his fish to the boat in about ten minutes. As he got it to within 50 yards of the boat, the marlin surfaced and went berserk. It tail-walked back and forth across the stern, making 3-4 big circles on top of the water, right behind the boat.

The marlin calmed down and sounded about 40-50 yards. Ryno reversed right up to it. Dennis stayed on his fish, and they were finally able to get the marlin’s head turned toward the boat. It came right up along the starboard side. It was a textbook leader and gaff, and then they pulled it aboard. Very easy fish after all that tail-walking activity at the end.

Brandon set up the pattern as they headed back toward Maui. No less than ten minutes later, just abeam off Twin Sands, they raised another fish. Brandon had just gotten on the bridge after setting up the pattern to check out the spread. He told Ryno, "There’s something behind the long gone."

Ryno looked back and saw a shadow behind the lure. The long gone rod was on the bridge, so he cranked the line down from the center rigger. Ryno was getting ready to pull the rod back to get the rubberband off the line, so he could freespool the lure back to the fish.

Ryno waited as he watched the shadow tracking behind the lure. From where Ryno had cranked the line down to, with the rubberband at the rod tip, he freespooled the lure backward right into the marlin’s mouth. Ryno locked up the reel and they were on.

The marlin went straight out off the stern, and then turned to the starboard side. It pulled about 400 yards of 100-test line before making a few jumps, then headed back toward them and disappeared. Brandon got Andrea settled into the chair.

Ryno started to reverse back to the last spot he had seen the fish enter the water. They still had three lines in the water as Ryno backed the boat through the pattern. Brandon was able to clear the lines that were up off the bow.

As Ryno got to the spot, the line started coming tight on the starboard side. He noticed that the line was going under the boat toward the port side. Ryno spun the boat around away from the line as it came tight on the port side.

The marlin came toward them underneath the boat and started jumping 200 yards off the port side. It stayed on the surface for another 100 yards, but didn’t take much line jumping abeam of them, then disappeared.

The marlin was down and dirty for the next 20 minutes as Andrea slowly lifted her fish toward the boat. As she got the fish close, within 15-20-yards, it was swimming down straight ahead of them. Ryno reversed toward it, pivoting the boat to react to how the marlin was turning back and forth.

Ryno maneuvered the boat in front of the fish and got its head turned. Andrea was able to crank her fish to double line. Brandon grabbed double line at the starboard corner and slowly lifted until he had the leader. The marlin was trying to dig in under the corner. Ryno told Brandon, "Don’t let go."

The marlin went under the boat, taking Brandon across to the port corner, then back to the starboard corner. He had to step around and on the first marlin as it lay across the stern in front of the chair. Ryno had the boat idle ahead as the marlin continued digging down. Ryno told Brandon, "Lock it up, man!"

Brandon started taking wraps when he could, slowly hauling the fish up one pull at a time. As the marlin got to the surface, Ryno left the helm and got a quick gaff into it. That was it. The back deck was a little crowded with two nice marlin taking up space.

This is the largest blue marlin for a wahine angler, and the fourth largest for the harbor so far this year. It is also the 13th largest blue marlin by a wahine angler since 1990 in Lahaina Harbor.

Start Me Up Sportfishing gave Andrea her trip for free for catching a marlin over 500 pounds. Start Me Up Sportfishing also donated $300 to the Autism Foundation, as part of their continuing charity donation program for a marlin caught over 500 pounds on one of their boats.