From left, Ken Kidd, deckman Josh Boulds and Capt. Timster with their 413.6-pound marlin caught on Start Me Up. PHOTO BY DONNELL TATE.

LAHAINA – After almost seven weeks of small male blue marlin under 250 pounds showing up in the daily catch, The Start Me Up finally weighed in a nice female of 413.6 pounds by Ken Kidd. He was fishing with Capt. Timster and deckman Josh Boulds.

They were on a morning four-hour charter, with Timster running out to the southeast ledge off Kamaiki, Lanai. When he reached the 150-fathom marks, he turned left, heading down the ledge toward the LA-Buoy marks off Olowalu.

It was just about time to head back to the harbor, so Timster turned the boat around, Lanai side of the LA marks, and headed back down the ledge toward town. They raised the marlin first on the short corner position. Josh saw the fish bill-whack the lure, and was ready to free-spool it, when it dropped back and grabbed the long gone lure.

The marlin took the 80-test line at a pretty good speed but never showed itself. For several seconds, Timster didn’t know what they had. About 3-4 minutes into the fight, the marlin finally showed itself, going ballistic around 350 yards out.

The marlin was tail-walking and greyhounding all across the surface, cutting back and forth in every direction, clearing the water multiple times. The aerial acrobatics went on for at least a minute, staying on the surface once it finally settled down.

With Ken hooked up in the chair, Timster was super aggressive after the marlin. Timster reversed the boat straight up to the fish as Ken cranked in the line. Timster slowed the attack as they got closer to it.

They had the marlin to double line in about 15 minutes. Josh grabbed the double line off the port corner and started to hand-line it in. The fish dug in a little bit as it cut across to the starboard side.

Josh, hand over hand, pulled the marlin to leader. For the most part, it was pretty calm, mentioned Josh. The marlin was tired from all the acrobatics at the strike.

It was real easy at leader, Josh said, and let him take wraps and pull it to the boat, with Timster securing their catch in only 18 minutes. It was a lot easier than some of the smaller 150-pound blues he had leadered.