From left, Bob Marshik, crew Ed Nevrivy and Capt. Mike Tappero with their 422.5-pound marlin.

LAHAINA — The Start Me Up Too joined the top marlin stats for the year with a 422.5-pound blue by Bob Marshik. He was fishing with Capt. Mike Tappero and crewman Ed Nevrivy.

Mike was heading back toward Maui after a morning charter. Right as he crossed over the 100-fathom ledge on the southeast corner off Kamaiki Point, Lanai, Ed spotted a marlin come up on the short corner lure. The fish didn’t even whack the lure but inhaled it in a split second.

The marlin ran out 400-450 yards of 130 test line, jumped twice, then tail-walked over to the port side, kicking up a wall of whitewater. Ed had the pattern cleared, but the long gone was still out as Mike began to reverse the boat after the fish. Ed got the long gone out of the way as Mike backed the boat past it.

Mike kept the boat in steady reverse, gaining line the entire way as he backing up to the fish. The marlin was down and swimming slowly away. About 30 minutes into the fight, they had it within 100 yards.

The marlin came back up and started jumping in a circle, then turned back toward the boat, putting a big bow in the line. Mike had to “floor” the boat ahead until the line came tight on the rod. This is when the marlin must have gotten twisted up in the leader and tail wrapped.

For the next 20 minutes of the fight, Mike was wondering why he couldn’t turn the fish. It was swimming away from them, going straight down on 50-to 100-yard runs at will. Mike reversed the boat after it each time, with Bob regaining line in a yo-yo, give-and-take effort. It made a couple of jumps close to the boat about 30-yards away, giving them a good look at it.

The marlin finally came up to double line straight down off the stern. Ed reached out and grabbed the line, putting a little more pressure on the fish. As soon as the marlin felt the extra pressure, it took off on another 50-yard run. It never made any more movement after that.

As Bob cranked it back up to double line five minutes later, they could see that it was tail-wrapped, all “bronzed out.” Ed pulled the marlin up off the port corner backward. It was dead. Mike left the helm and grabbed the gaff to secure their catch. They pulled it around to the stern and hauled it thorough the door.