From left, Greg & Shannin Lambert and Ashley & Dominic Astrella with their marlin that won Lahaina Yacht Club’s Wahine Fishing Tournament.

LAHAINA – The Hukio won Lahaina Yacht Club’s Wahine Fishing Tournament with a 181.2-pound blue marlin by Shannin Lambert and Ashley Astrella.

They were fishing with Shannin’s husband, Capt. Greg Lambert, and Ashley’s husband, Dominic Astrella.

Greg had been fishing the JJ-Buoy on the backside of Kahoolawe and was trolling the two-mile ledge down the north side as he headed back toward Maui. Greg had put a 20 dollar bill on one of the rods for good luck. About 20 minutes later, they got a strike on the long gone position.

The marlin took a couple-hundred yards of 100-test line pretty quick. Greg didn’t have much line on the spool, getting them into the Dacron backing before he knew it.

They cleared the other lines, put the rods into the cabin (since it was only a 20-foot boat) and got things situated.

Greg got Shannin in the chair as Dominic turned her to the starboard side where the fish was running. The marlin finally showed itself and put on a good show jumping, tail-walking and shaking its head. Greg turned the boat toward the fish and started chasing after it as fast as the single 150 Yamaha outboard would go.

Greg followed the line for a couple of minutes, with the line getting really small on the spool. He bumped up the drag quite a bit on the 80-class reel, trying to slow the marlin’s run. Once he got a better angle on the fish, with it starting to go behind the boat, he began to reverse after it and gain some line.

Shannin was in the chair for the first few minutes, with Ashley taking over the rest of the fight. At one point, as the marlin got closer and Greg could see color, he had Shannin drive the boat as he worked the deck. The fish wasn’t quite ready to come in and took off on a short run.

Shannin had the boat idle ahead, then neutral, trying to keep the marlin behind the boat. The fish came up off the starboard side a few minutes later. Greg took a couple of wraps on the leader and pulled it in. He grabbed a stick gaff with his other hand and stuck the fish.

As Greg was pulling the marlin up, the gaff ripped out. It started to dig down, but he couldn’t get the wraps off his glove to let it go, because the leader had cinched down on his glove. He mentioned, “It was a little scary.”

Greg had to just manhandle the leader and fish until he could take the gaff and stick it again. Dominic reached down and grabbed the bill, and they hauled it into the boat, ending the 15-minute fight. This was Greg’s first marlin on his boat.