Start Me Up Sportfishing Charters

Great experience with Timster and Ryan. A lot of fun and learned a lot plus got to take home some great fish. Would highly recommend this company!

What a pleasure to fish with Start Me Up Sport Fishing. Tim Putnam flat out know’s how to fish. He and Derek made our experience everything you could ask for. They put us on fish and worked incredibly hard the entire time to make it easy for us to enjoy the trip. I would encourage anyone to book the longest trip possible. The day lasted the entirety of our booked experience and more. From the time we stepped on the boat until our return arrival at the dock they kept us on the water fishing. We showed up at the dock early in the morning and Tim and Derek were ready to greet us and leave the dock. They were well prepared and had a plan in place for a successful day. They provided us all the information we needed to be informed, aware, and safe. Safety was never a concern as their knowledge of the water, boat, and fishing was always in control. The boat was clean and even with the nonstop fishing action, they maintained cleanliness and safety on the deck. Once we returned to the dock, they cleaned and prepared the fish as we asked, making it easy to cook on our own. There is nothing more rewarding than providing delicious fish to the family to enjoy. They provided more fish than we could have needed for our week vacation and more. Throughout the entire day they were personable, enjoyable, funny, and just all around great people. We will without a doubt be fishing and making more memories with Tim and Derek in the future. Thanks again Tim and Derek for making my first ocean fishing experience one I will always remember. I’ll see you at the dock again some day!

Shared 8 hour sport fishing charter with Timster and Derek was awesome! We caught 21 mahis and a shark that was tagged and released. I think booking the 8 hour charter is the way to go. We had plenty of time to fish the school of mahis (I caught 5) and troll for bigger fish also. Timster and Derek were so helpful and fun, definitely veterans of their trade.

Our family fishing trim with Capt. Timster and Derick could not have been better. They took 6 of us out on a half day charter and were expert in the way they handled the novice anglers. Their total focus was to make everyone comfortable and to be sure we all had fun while catching the best Mahi I have ever eaten.
Timster even gave cooking tips to Jules who is an excellent chef. We used his method and the dinners came out excellent.
Derek was great with all of us with expert instruction and kept the hooks baited at all times.
Could not have been better!
Thanks
The Glasser Family

What an awesome trip, by far the best day I’ve had fishing and the best charter I’ve been on. Timster and Derek knew what they were doing and made the trip what it was. I wish that we could have gone on a longer trip, 8 hours almost wasn’t enough and it seems the longer you’re out there the better opportunity to catch some big ones! I’ll definitely be back

Timster and Derek took my friend & I out fishing for the first time. We both caught tons of fish it was awesome! Boat was clean & they were super helpful. 10/10 experience.

Went out with Timster and Derek, had the best experience! Highly recommended experience, a must do when visiting Maui!

My family did the 6 hour fishing trip with Captain Timster and Derek. We had an absolute blast! Captain Timster asked us to leave earlier (400 am) than what we had originally planned (500 am) to increase our chances of catching some fish. When the captain wants to leave early…you leave early and we are so thankful we did. He and Derek had went out the night before and caught live bait to use on our trip and that made allllll of the difference. We were able to get out before a lot of boats and caught 12 Mahi Mahi with the live bait. My husband, son (17) and daughter (15) took turns reeling them in. I sat up by Timster and took pictures and videos and had great conversation. Derek and Timster worked together like a well oiled machine baiting the hooks and juggling the lines when we got a fish on. Derek was awesome with the kids and knew exactly what he was doing getting the fish on the deck and into the cold bag. We ended our trip by catching a yellow fin tuna which was on my husbands bucket list. I can’t say enough good things about Captain Timster and Derek. I would go on another trip with them in a heartbeat!

Captain Tim and deck hand Ryan did an outstanding job on a recent 6 hour fishing trip. My friend Larry caught a beautiful ono. We would definitely recommend this charter for sport fishing on Maui.

We did the 4 hour private charter with Captain Timster and Derrick. A great time was had by all. We caught 3 Ono. They were very accommodating to my husband who is in a wheelchair. The atmosphere was fun, the crew was very informative and answered all my questions,
Would definitely book with them again.

My wife surprised me for my 60-year birthday party with a fishing charter with start me up, and we were lucky enough to get Timster as our captain. Timster is an awesome captain with 40 years of experience fishing Hawaiian waters. Well worth the expense. If you want to catch a lot of fish with a great experience, then fishing with Timster is a good choice on Start me up.

This was a disappointment. The crew made zero attempt to change fishing tactics and really try to catch fish. No change to lures or lines. They basically took the family on a $1000 4 hour whale watching trip. We wanted a fishing trip. Would not recommend to anyone. Captain Luca was not interested in fishing. He threw lines in the water and they just went in a couple of circles and pretended to troll. Matt was nice. Seems u have to get the right captain with this company. No pics to post since there was really no fishing

Timster and Derek were rockstars! Super-chill afternoon shared charter with four other great folks. No bites on the lines, but we got some great whale sightings, flying fish, and a wonderful afternoon on the ocean! They had a huge ice chest to put our food and drinks in, and were clear about what we needed to know! Timster's 40 years of experience meant I had nothing to worry about as far as the boating. Great personalities! If and when I come back to Maui, this is who I want to go fishing with! Highly recommend!

Definitely recommend chartering a trip with Captain Timster and his first mate Ryan bright and early this morning. Within minutes of reaching the fishing grounds, we had action and it didn’t let up until we had reeled in 13 mahi mahi! After that, they rigged up lines for us to try a different method and we caught 3 tuna! They were friendly, informative, and knew what they were doing!

Would absolutely recommend Start Me Up Sportfishing. We booked a 6 hour trip and it was awesome! We went in with realistic expectations and understand that not every fishing trip will be successful, but still a great time on the water with good friends and beautiful views!

Caught 2 Mahi Mahi and were lucky enough to catch a Marlin! Steve and Jamison changed lures a few times as we progressed into more shallow water—and back into deeper water to allow us the best chance at catching fish. After reeling in the Marlin we were nearing the end of our allotted time. Instead of just hurrying back to the harbor, Steve insisted on setting lines again and trolling back to the harbor. Enjoyed watching whales and dolphins right next to the boat. Thankful for the friendly crew and comfortable boat!

No fish at all. Absolutely no fish, an outrageous fishing experience. I took a boat trip for four hours. I was so bored that I fell asleep, and the sofa was not bad.

Pure hell and misery is the best way to describe our experience. They took us out 2/28/23 and it was absolutely horrible. 10-15 ft swells, 15-30 mph winds and gust up to 40-50 mph. Like others have stated they just tossed some lures out the back and drove around. Absolutely no skill was involved by these guys. I truly believe they took us in those conditions hoping we’d tell them to take us back in but we gutted it out for 5 hours before telling them to do so. I don’t even think the boat we were on was rated for those type of conditions. At one point the captain throttled down hard and the front of the boat nose dived 10-12 feet off the edge of a wave. Don’t use this company.

Had a lot of fun on a 6hr fishing trip with these guys! We caught several mahi mahi and a bunch of tuna. Captain Timster and Derek were very helpful and really know their stuff. We didn’t have any expectation of catch numbers. The 6 of us on the boat reeled in 5 mahi mahi and quite a few tunas. In the time spent traveling to the fishing areas, we listened to music, drank beer and enjoyed watching whales and dolphins. Great time and fun crew! Ask to see Derek’s picture from high school lol.