“So the day was not looking good in that one of the folks coming was late. About 5:50 or so his son shows up and said that his father broke his leg the day before and could not come. But the son, Ben, was coming. So we headed off with the full moon setting over Lana’i.
Just about half mile from the harbor Capt. Denny said he could hear a noise, not that I could, so he had Ross the 1st mate go down to take a look. The noise was from the fan belt on one of the engines, I was thinking oh no, we are headed back in. Capt. Denny went down and fixed the belt.
Back on track over to the south side of Lana’i. Some of the waves started to get big and I was not feeling great but Ross took us over all the equipment and how to sit the chair. He was great in taking his time so we could understand. The sun was up and the mountains of west Maui appeared out of the normal clouds that are over it this time of year, what a view. So Ross give us our pole numbers and we sat back to enjoy the best blue ocean in the world.
“We had motored around back and forth across the coast of Lana’i for a few hours. Ross was adjusting the #3 pole which was my wife’s. He yelled out “fish on” and called her number. My wife Patti was a little afraid to come down from the upper deck as it was a little rough. I headed down and Ross got me all setup. I was more like a bull in a glass store but he helped me get into the chair and the fight was on. I saw the fish jump as I was coming down from above and knew that it was the biggest fish I had ever had on a line. The fish ran the line out for some time and Capt. Denny was doing a great job with the boat. As Ross helped me lock up I started to reel him in. My arm was getting tried after 10 minutes or so and that was the time that Ross locked me to the chair and pole. This helped a lot but I was pulling to hard and a few times pulled the pole out of the base. Ross helped me the whole way. I reeled and reeled, getting more tired as I went but Capt. Denny drove the boat just right to give me a break.
After about a half hour we had two lines and the fish on the side of the boat. They both got the fish alongside and into the boat. We fished the rest of the day without a bite but the day was beautiful. We got back to shore and the guys on shore said that the fish was not a blue marlin but a black marlin. They said that one had not been caught in 12 years. So that was very cool for me.
Capt. Denny and Ross [Start me Up Charters] did an outstanding job and anytime I am back in Maui I will be going out with them. Thanks for all your help in setting this all up for my wife and I, the whole trip was outstanding from start to finish.
Thanks,
Harold K.
Bennett, Co.
