From left, Les Sherrill, Al Shannon, Marlin Tucker, Dylan Tucker and Capt. Tim Tucker with their winning 235.6-pound blue marlin. PHOTO BY DONNELL TATE.

LAHAINA – The Laura Lynn from Oahu won this year’s Lahaina Jackpot Fishing Tournament with a 235.6-pound blue marlin by 16-year-old Dylan Tucker. He was fishing with his dad, Capt. Tim Tucker,

brother Marlin, deckman Les Sherrill and Al “Diesel Doctor” Shannon.

They were fishing the backside of Kahoolawe, with the marlin coming in on the port side rigger; it knocked it down pretty hard but didn’t hook-up.

While Tim was setting the rigger back up, the center rigger came down.

The marlin started jumping away from them off the port corner, taking half-a-spool of 130-pound test line with 32 pounds of drag set on the reel. They got the rest of the pattern cleared and Dylan into the chair. Tim put the boat in neutral and let Dylan work his fish.

They had the marlin to the boat in about 25 minutes. With it within five feet of leader, Dylan just couldn’t raise it up as it dug in off the stern. The fish suddenly took off straight down and slightly away from the boat on a 100-

yard run.

As Dylan worked the marlin closer to the boat, with it getting straight up and down, Tim bumped the boat one

engine ahead to make sure it didn’t get underneath them. It took Dylan about ten minutes to crank the marlin back to leader.

When Les finally grabbed leader on the port side, he hand-over-hand pulled it to the surface pretty fast. Tim was able to set the fly-gaff into the marlin. Les leaned over and grabbed the bill. Right then and there, the fish turned bright blue and started thrashing around. “It was like a rodeo,” mentioned Tim. “The marlin went wild, like a bucking bronco.”

Tim got a second six-foot hand gaff into the fish, with the handle getting bent in the fiasco. Les held on to the bill the entire time. He was not going to let the fish go. He was also able to subdue the marlin.

Al opened the stern door, with Tim and Les pulling the lit-up marlin around the port side to the door. They were a little worried that it might start thrashing around again as they hauled it aboard.

Al is a luck charm, mentioned Tim. He has fished with him three different times on Maui, winning the 2006 Lahaina Jackpot as the angler, the 2007 Halloween Shootout as the angler, and this year’s 2017 Lahaina Jackpot Tournament. Al also won the 2014 Lahaina Jackpot Tournament as the angler while fishing aboard the Top Gun.