The Weekly Fishing Line

Maui

The Valley Isle gets top honors this week with Start Me Up cleaning house on the Mahimahi.  Sunday was their best day, with 30 pieces brought to the scales ranging from 18 to 35 pounds.  They also got 2 Ono and a 21 pound Shibi to round out the day.  The rest of the week was productive as well, but highlights like Sunday were hard to beat.

Hinatea held their own throughout the week, with a couple of 5 Mahi days.  They also found a few Ono and released a Spearfish estimated at 45 pounds on the 28th.

Maui also was the place for the Spring Wahine tournament over the weekend.  Congratulations to the Absolute for their 46.8 pound Ono, Maui Jim for their 34.4 pound Mahimahi and the Hookela for their 33.6 pound Mahimahi which were the top three fish in the event. 

There is a report of an active floater out there which has brought in many of the fish, but many details are not known at this time.

Kauai

The Garden Isle gets second billing this week.  Kai Bear finally broke their Marlin bad luck streak by managing a 250 pound Blue at CK buoy on the 24th.  Recall they had a few great fish lost in the past couple of weeks.  Spending most of their time at CK, both Kai Bear and Grander managed to bring home a fair amount of Mahimahi and Ono as well.

Maka Hou found a nice net one day last week which was good for eight Mahimahi up to 40 pounds, but the rest of the week was find 'em where you can in the open schools.  4 trips produced 17 fish, the most notable being a 40 pound Kaku (Great Barracuda) on the 28th.  Lahela used most of the week for promotion and upgrading in preparation for the summer, but did fish on the 24th.  He lost a big fish on the 500 fathom line outside the harbor, but still managed three Mahimahi for a good day.

Oahu

Oahu has been a tough island to report lately, because with three boats inactive (Magic, Kuu Huapala and Sea Verse), we're only getting a few reports.  However, the fish are cooperating and Wild Bunch and Kamome continue to do well.  Captain Timmy on the Wild Bunch has been lamenting over a couple of lost Billfish lately, because of the four trips they ran this week, they lost four good fish after a bit of a fight.  They still ended up being in home some Mahimahi, though, and losing a few fish is just the way it goes.

Kamome only ran a few trips this week, too, with their highlight day a 7-piece Mahimahi trip on the 28th.  Other full day trips all produced at least one, and they have done very well at not getting skunked when fishing is slow. 

No Marlin have been reported as landed on Oahu, though several were hooked.

Kona

Billfish bite is still slow in Kona, but the other problem is they haven't had much benefit of the other fish to take up the slack.  We've had a few reports of a couple of Marlin in the 300 to 500 range, but for the number of boats out, it hasn't been that active.  Medusa released a couple of Spears at XX Buoy on the 26th and a Striper on the 29th, and Captain Steve also brought in 5 Ono on the 24th.  Grand Slam picked up Ono almost every day along with a few Mahimahi and Fish Wish managed an Ono early in the week. 

Pamela is still down, but Spellbound jumped back in the ring with new engines on the 30th an immediately got into a Stripe Marlin about 70 pounds, missing three more strikes (yes, captain Mike is happy). 

Kauai

The Garden Island gets the nod as top island this week, as our boats have been busy.  Lahela came off a great week with another strong showing, and in four trips they managed to land 20 Mahimahi, an Ono and a nice Striped Marlin.  Maka Hou only ran 3 trips this week but got into the Mahi as well, bringing home eleven along with 3 Ono.

Kai Bear and Grander have been hot still with 28 Mahimahi, a Spearfish and 3 Ono for 5 days of fishing.  Grander has had a small bad luck spell, as they broke off yet another Marlin estimated at 500 pounds or more, making for about the 4th time they've lost a great fish in the past few weeks.  Sure is good to see the action, though, and they're obviously doing a good job of finding and raising them.

Areas for the production in Kauai is on the ocean.  No joke, the open schools are everywhere.

Kona

I had to go with Kona second, not for Marlin production, but because Eclipse has been ridiculously hot on the Ahi recently.  With all fish ranging between 86 and 125 pounds, the early Ahi bite is looking very good.  He picked up eight of them in four trips.  Medusa drilled their share of Mahimahi this week, and more importantly, they've mostly all been thirty pounds or more.  On the 18th, they managed three of the greenbacks, topping out at 43 pounds. 

Meanwhile, Fish Wish and Grand Slam have been getting their share of strikes, but have lost a couple of nice fish along the way.  Spellbound and Pamela remain on the hard with some work being done to their boats.

Anyone who loves fighting big tuna could benefit from a tip:  Charter on a boat that is willing to take you out for 10 hours or so, and head out to the Ahi which are about 20 miles out and down South a bit, usually in the porpoise schools and slightly into the wind line.  The Cross Seamount (South and West of the Big Island) has been very productive commercially and with presence of the warm water patches off the West coast, the production should hold for awhile.

Oahu

Wild Bunch remains in the driver's seat with a blistering week.  A couple of half day trips mixed into a week of 6 days fishing overall produced 27 Mahimahi, 2 Striped Marlin, an Ono, and three other Stripes that shook the hook.  Kamome climbed the ladder in production, starting the week warm and moving to hot by the weekend.  All told, they had 22 Mahimahi in 5 days of fishing, two of which were short trips.  They also lost a few more, landed an Ono, and had a rather large attack from a nuclear sub Marlin on Sunday.

Sea Verse picked up five Mahimahi in one trip before heading to dry-dock after picking up some unwanted cargo on the propeller, meanwhile, Magic and the Kuu remain out of service until everything is just right.

The bite on Oahu has been pretty much all over, but there has been some emphasis on the areas from Barber's to Maile Point. 

Maui

We only leave Maui for last this week because a non-Sportfish Hawaii boat claimed a 503 on Sunday and we'd hate to give TOO much credit to them!  Just kidding....congratulations to Piper and their crew for that great fish brought into Maalea harbor.  

Hinatea got their share of Mahimahi for the week, along with some nice Ono to 43 pounds, and a couple of Spearfish (one released and the other weighed at 42 pounds), and Start Me Up kept plugging away with a steady bite of Mahimahi as well.

Mild to moderate weather prevailed through the islands this week, and most of the fleet was able to fish quite regularly.   Kauai had the most active bite, followed by Oahu.  A few big fish came in on most of the islands, but Mahimahi have continued to dominate the action in most waters.   The presence of Aku all over and the increased presence of Spearfish tends to suggest we're going to be in for some good Marlin action in the coming weeks.

Kauai

Lahela had a great week of fishing, beginning with 6 Mahimahi and a Kahala (Amberjack) on the 11th, 12 Mahi on the 12th, 9 more on the 13th, and captain Scott's Friday was good for a 380 pound Blue and 6 more Mahimahi.  Kai Bear ran most every day with their lead boat, Grander, in Honolulu for some dry-dock work.   They lost an estimated 350 at leader Monday, then cleaned house on the Mahimahi for the rest of the week, with 7, 4, 6, 10, 4 and 3 coming in each successive day.

Meanwhile, Maka Hou ran four trips for the week, each one resulting in several Mahimahi.  The skippers reported fishing was good "wherever they could be found" and open schools continue to dominate the action.  Another 300 pounder was reported (not sure which boat), and we also heard of an estimated 800 pounder lost at leader.  Fish have been caught on bait and lures both.

Maui

Mahimahi bites in open schools have dominated Lahaina as well, but a couple of Billfish were reported.  Start Me Up picked up a 105 pound Blue, a 34 pound Spear, and 2 Mahimahi on the 16th to highlight a week that consisted of several greenbacks on most days.  Hinatea also had a week of sporadic Mahimahi action, and a 35 pound Spearfish also came home on the 12th.

We also did hear of a report from another boat, Desperado, picking up a 400 pound Blue, continuing to whet the appetites of the Maui anglers.  Maui boats remain booked solid through early May.

Oahu

Many Oahu boats were booked later in the week by a convention, so most trips were only 4 hours in length.  This generally is not good for production on Oahu, but since the open schools of fish are all over, skippers are making their time on the water count.  Wild Bunch found a net on the 11th out past BO buoy and picked up 4 Ahi averaging 95 pounds and nine Mahimahi.  The rest of the week, the net couldn't be found, so it was back to hunting for open schools.  Mahimahi packs of 4-6 each day were caught, and the week was capped off on Sunday with 3 Spearfish ranging 30-38 pounds along with 4 Mahimahi. 

Kamome spent most of their week outside BO finding open schools of Mahimahi, catching between 2 and 7 each day.  A 46 pound Spearfish was also procured on the 15th along with 5 Mahimahi.  Sea Verse also joined the Mahimahi parade late in the week with three half day trips producing 3, 1 and 8 Mahimahi on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Magic is back in the water after an extensive drydock, and we'll see them out on the water after a few more in-water repairs are completed.  Kuu is also on the verge of completing their re-power.  Captain Pax decided to use the opportunity to re-do a host of other things, including re-wiring, which added considerably to the down time.

Kona

The big day of the week went to Eclipse, who managed four Ahi ranging from 90-125 pounds on the 13th.  Fish Wish had the heartbreak of the week, breaking the leader on a 600 plus pounder on Tuesday out by "F" buoy.  Captain Kent on the Fish Wish, however, was not to be denied completely, as he managed to bring home a 236 1/2 pounder off the grounds on the 14th, 3 Ono on the 15th, and a nice 36.5 pound Mahimahi on the 16th.  Each day also saw other action, but some of the fish just didn't cooperate.

Grand Slam ran a few trips for the week, some days stunning, others a little slow.  On the 12th, they produced a 100 pound Stripe, a 35 pound Spear and an Ono at 60 pounds!  Two days later, they found a huge net (maybe the one that was off Oahu a few days before) and loaded up on Mahimahi and Ono.  Larry described the fishing that day as amazing, and said they even began intentionally shaking off fish after awhile.  Meanwhile, Medusa had a 50 pound Stripe and a 60 pound Ono on successive days early in the week.  

Spellbound is almost back at it with their new Cummins engines, and Pamela is also about a week or 2 away with some work they're doing in drydock.  

Oahu

Three boats of the Sportfish Hawaii fleet have been running with the Kuu and Magic still down.  Sea Verse managed to get out a couple days during the week and landed 10 Mahimahi on the 6^th and another 8 on the 9^th.  Kamome continued their torrid pace with seventeen greenbacks on the 5^th (up to about 30 pounds), 15 more the next day up to 40 pounds, then took home 4 and 5 over the weekend during the Senoritas tournament.

Meanwhile, Wild Bunch had a few cancellations early in the week from the weather, but managed 11 Mahimahi on the 6^th up to 46 pounds, 11 more the next day up to 38 pounds, then slowed a bit for the tournament. 

Oahu fishing has been good all over, from Makapuu to P buoy to the open schools all over the front of the South shore.   No doubt the Mahimahi are making everyone happy, as the Marlin presence has been quite slow. 

Kona

I had to report Kona second, because even though they haven’t had the most fish, they did get a few good ones.  Pamela picked up a 553 lb Blue off the Pine Trees area (1000 fathoms) on the 3^rd, then picked up 3 Ahi ranging from 90 to 120 pounds the next day in a porpoise school on the North end of the grounds.  After a 31 pound Spear came home on the 5^th, Peter took the Pamela into drydock.

Medusa had a couple of good trips, with their highlights including a 160 pound Ahi in a porpoise school off the Grounds on the 4^th and a 50 pound Striper right out front of the harbor on the 9^th.  Grand Slam picked dup some Ono in the Ono lane on the 9^th, and Fish Wish got some Mahimahi, Spearfish, and a 20 pound Aku over a few trips in the week.

Eclipse only ran once, but it was good for a 30 pound Mahimahi on the 4^th, and Spellbound is in the yard installing their new Cummins “C” series engines that will complete the package on their major.

Maui

Hinatea led the charge on the Valley Isle this week with some nice fish.  On the 3^rd, they landed 2 Mahimahi, followed by a 501 lb Blue and a 25 pound Mahi on the 4^th.  Three more Mahimahi on the 5^th and 6^th came in, then they exploded for 6 more in the 10 to 24 pound range on the 7^th.  Great week for the Hinatea Gang.  Start Me Up also had a productive week, though they didn’t get any Marlin.  It was al Mahimahi, ranging from 15-30 pounds between K buoy and Lahaina most days. 

Kauai

Kauai had the toughest weather to deal with this week, but the trips that were run were very productive.  Kai Bear got 27 Aku and 3 Mahimahi on the 7^th, and 1-2 Mahimahi on all other trips they ran.  Maka Hou and Lahela only got out twice each, with the catch ranging from 2 to 7 Mahimahi each day out. 

The open schools of Mahimahi are out there on Kauai to Maui, and Kona skippers are reporting an excessive amount of bait lately and several large hookups were reported early in the new week.  Tune in next week for the latest!

 
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