From left, Deckman Chris Serra, Ron and Chris Kirkpatrick, and Capt. Kamal Pfeifle with their 705.9-pound blue marlin caught on Rascal. PHOTO BY DONNELL TATE.

MAALAEA — The Rascal, out of Maalaea Harbor, joined the 700-pound marlin club with a 705.9-pound blue by the father and son tag team of Ron and Chris Kirkpatrick. They were fishing with Captain Kamal Pfeifle and Deckman Chris Serra.

Kamal motored out of the harbor and headed toward the north corner of Kahoolawe. They were picking up some aku, and had one to the back of the boat but lost it. As Kamal throttled back up, Wham! The long corner lure took off.

The marlin ran out past the long rigger before it started jumping. It headed out and away off the starboard side for another 100 yards before it settled down. The marlin headed down, taking them into the Dacron backing.

When they noticed the Dacron starting to show, Kamal started to aggressively chase the fish. He wanted to stay close to the Dacron backing and try to keep it on the spool. The marlin turned and started swimming back toward them.

The wind and swell were coming up in the channel, with Kamal trying to play the fish as comfortable as he could for the charter. Kamal was ahead of the marlin as it came down swell, with Ron able to crank in three-quarters of the 130-test line onto the spool pretty quick.

At that point, the marlin decided to dig in, putting them into a stalemate as it turned and swam away. Kamal was either backing on the fish or spinning and chasing on it a few times, to get a better angle and get in front of it. He was trying to run parallel to the current, trying a lot of tricks to get the fish into calmer waters.

The marlin didn’t want to come up. It was down and dirty on them. Kamal drove away from it a couple of times, switching the angle, getting back ahead of it.

At one point, Kamal thought the fish had come off. They were getting line a lot faster and easier than he thought they should. The marlin was swimming down seas, so Kamal spun the boat ahead and positioned it in front of the fish. With it swimming with them, they worked it right to the boat.

An hour into the fight, they finally had the rubber band out of the water. At that point, they decided to switch out anglers, getting Chris in the chair for a short sprint to give his dad some time to rest and regroup. This fight wasn’t over yet.

The marlin was still swimming aggressively away from them. Kamal was maneuvering the boat all over the place, trying to switch angles to get the fish to come up. He decided to get behind the marlin and just follow her toward Lanai into calmer water.

The fish liked the rubber band distance and was settled in at that depth, as it crept out short pulls of line. Kamal kept the boat on the marlin, but they were getting to the point where they needed to put a little more heat on the fish.

Chris had the drag at the strike button most of the fight but pushed it onto the button, trying to keep the rubber band on the spool. The marlin pulled the rubber band on and off the spool several more times, with Chris putting the drag past the button at about 45 pounds of pressure.

They had the double line up once, but the marlin pulled it back out on a short burst. It came right back up to double line distance. They worked it up to leader as Chris grabbed the line. The fish took him across the stern a couple of times as it continued to play stubborn.

Chris held the wrap as Kamal idled forward, and then into neutral, allowing Chris to get another wrap and pull on the marlin. Kamal was working the starboard side deck controls with one hand and had the fly-gaff in the other waiting for a shot. They tried this maneuver several more times, with Chris getting wraps and pulls each time. When the time was right, Chris held the marlin on the starboard side as Kamal secured their catch.