From left, Richard Klug, deckman Rob Cosgrove and Capt. Jonny Keiley with their 444.4-pound blue marlin. PHOTO BY DONNELL TATE.

LAHAINA – The Action boated a 444.4-pound blue marlin for Richard Klug. He was fishing with Capt. Jonny Keiley and deckman Rob Cosgrove. They were fishing 200 fathoms off Manele Bay, Lanai, when Rob saw a wave going against the wind behind the long rigger position. He shouted out, “long rigger!”

When the marlin popped up behind the lure, Rob teased it by cranking the rigger line down toward the rod and then free-spooling the line back to the top of the rigger. He did this three times.

Jonny could see the rubber band holding the line stretching each time the marlin grabbed the lure, but it didn’t break it. Finally, the fish hooked itself, turned and took off. The marlin ran straight away from the boat a couple hundred yards, pulling the 100-test line at a manageable speed, and then started jumping.

The marlin never got out a lot of line as Rob finished clearing the pattern. The fish stayed up on the surface, making it easy for them to chase. Jonny was real aggressive after it, getting the boat up on top of it in about 15 minutes.

It was about 300 feet deep at this point. From there, it was just a matter of working it up. The marlin was steadily swimming away from them, with Jonny maneuvering the boat at different angles to keep it straight off the stern.

Richard had the marlin to double line in a half hour. Without giving them a break, it took off again down 200 feet and settled into its stalemate spot.

They were having a hard time getting the marlin to come up as it swam casually away.

Rob pushed up the drag lever past the strike button, putting some more heat on the fish. Richard finally cranked the rubber band back on the spool, when suddenly, the marlin swam straight up to the surface about 200 feet away.

Jonny reversed the boat right up to the fish in a couple of minutes as Richard packed the spool. Rob almost grabbed the double line, but the marlin pulled the rubber band back into the water as it swam away.

The next time the double line came up, Rob grabbed the line on the port side, held on and turned the fish. The marlin swam up the port side, getting a little bit ahead of the boat. Jonny throttled the boat up to it.

It was coming in pretty easy for Richard as Rob grabbed the leader. He couldn’t get a wrap at first, but finally, a wrap, then another one.

The marlin came up and started head shaking and tail-walking around. Rob was “flying the kite” a couple of times, just holding on to what he had. Once it settled down, Rob got a good pull, then a double and held on.

The marlin was a couple of feet below the surface. As Jonny left the helm, Rob got one more pull, with Jonny securing their catch. “That was it, yea. That was pretty sweet,” said Jonny.

“One of the more fun ones at leader for me,” mentioned Rob.