Deckman Ekolu Garso (left) and Captain Ross Elkins with their 743.2-pound blue marlin caught on Start Me Up Das It. This was last year’s top marlin. PHOTO BY DONNELL TATE.

LAHAINA — The 2021 blue marlin season started out slow with an unexpected run of big blues during March, with four over 500 pounds. The month started off with a 743.2, 641.5, 611.5 and a 530.2. There was a 525.0 in May and a 545.6 in June. The big girls took a break until August, when the last two big blues for the year came in at 705.9 and 579.5.

The Start Me Up Das It joined the 700-pound marlin club, and took top honors with the biggest marlin for 2021, with a 743.2-pound blue by Captain Ross Elkins and Deckman Ekolu Garso.

Ross was heading back in from the Palaoa Point Lighthouse off the southwest corner of Lanai on a six-hour charter. After getting no bites, he was just trying to catch a mahi mahi trolling on the way home. About 120-fathoms off Black Manele, they had a strike on the short rigger Steve Elkins Diamond Back Junior Popsicle lure.

The marlin ran out 600 yards, stripping half-a-spool of 100-test line off the 80-class reel, as it continued to thrash across the surface for at least ten minutes.

Ross had the boat in hard reverse as he chased after the marlin for a solid 45 minutes before finally catching up to it. The fish was straight up and down about 200 yards deep.

Ross was pretty much “Dead Boat” with the marlin pulling a little line. After a few minutes, the fish wasn’t showing any movement. They were in a stalemate, so Ekolu moved the rod to the port side stern holder.

With Ekolu sitting on the rail, he started to “Portuguese pull” as he slowly gained line, a half-a-crank at a time. About 20 minutes later, they finally saw double line. The marlin popped up belly first and dead.

Ekolu grabbed the line and pulled it to the boat. He dragged the fish to the stern door and held on. They didn’t even have to use the fly-gaff to haul it aboard.

This is the largest charter boat marlin for Ross and Ekolu and the biggest for Lahaina Harbor since May 2018.

The Rascal, chartered out of Maalaea Harbor, joined the 700 pound marlin club and weighed the second-largest fish of the year with a 705.9-pound blue by 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 they 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 deep, taking them into the Dacron backing.

Kamal was ahead of the marlin as it came down-swell, and they were 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. 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 and getting back ahead of it.

An hour into the fight, they finally had the rubber band out of the water. The fish liked the rubber band distance and was settled in at that depth, as it crept out short pulls of line. The marlin pulled the rubber band on and off the spool several more times.

They slowly worked it up to leader as Chris grabbed the line. When the time was right, Chris held the marlin on the starboard side as Kamal secured their catch.