The Weekly Fishing Line

Magic has a streak, and the fish keep rolling in.  So goes the fishing here on Oahu this past week.  Magic had a streak whereby they caught one or two Blues every single day during the course of the week, a record that extends back quite a few days.  As soon as it’s broken, we’ll report the final tally of how many days they’ve been running (you know how streaks are…..shouldn’t talk about them too much or they get ruined).

In addition to Magic, we’ve been getting reports from all over the island of the Marlin that continue to roam the area.  The Kau and Ahi bite has dropped, but there has been no shortage of the big Billfish.  Again, the locations have been consistent….the South shore buoys from HH to V, the corner at Barber’s point, out a few miles, plus a few other spots on the inside here and there.

Maui and Kona charter guys have also stayed hot.  Start Me Up in Maui got a nice 569 on Thursday, while the Fish Wish in Kona had a 526 on Monday.  Great fish coming in on great boats.

Sorry the report this week is a little short and not too detailed…..I’m a co-chair on organizing the 13^th annual Ho’ole’a Fishing tournament on Oahu this weekend and I haven’t had the opportunity to spend the time talking with all the usual skippers and finding out the details.  We have 55 paid entries into the tournament thus far, and if the weather drops down (has a good chance as it’s been a little windy this week), we’ll get 70.  So, I’ve been a little busy getting this thing squared away.

Bottom line is the fishing is still hot for the big Blues, so get out there and keep the lines in the water!  Good luck to everyone in the Ho'ole'a Fishing Tournament this weekend.

I don’t know if fishing could get much better than it has been for the past few weeks, but we can sure hope.  Still no signs of it slowing down at all, with reports coming in from all over about big Marlin, Tuna, Mahimahi and Ono.  On the South shore of Oahu, the buoys on the 500 and 1000 fathom lines have continued to be productive.   Everything from “P” buoy at the tip of the Banks to the “V” buoy off Kaena Point has been consistently producing big fish, and a few spotted areas in between have also been producing. 

The charter fleet continues to produce good numbers of fish.  Following up on their amazing runs last week, Magic again got into a 660.5 pounder on the 17^th, then got another Marlin and two Ahis at 185 and 140 pounds on Sunday.  Kamome went to Waianae and got an Ono on the return along the ledge, but also had a gigantic Marlin strike that unfortunately didn’t stick.  Sea Verse took a few days off then scored in the Cockeyed Mayor’s tournament by placing second with a nice Marlin and also significantly adding to their totals for season’s points with three Aku, three Mahimahi, and two Ono.  One Mahi was forty pounds and one of the Onos was thirty-six. 

An 18 foot Holoholo (private-not a charter) boat got a couple nice Marlin at “R” buoy last week, the largest at 625 lbs, and we got another report from someone getting seven Marlin strikes off “V” buoy a couple days back.   

A tournament held over the weekend at Hawaii Yacht Club produced six Marlin, one of which even came in on a sailboat only a few miles outside Diamond Head!  Several boats brought in hundreds of pounds of fish, mostly from multiple hookups of Mahimahi and Ono, and one boat even managed a 23.5 pound Kahala (amberjack), which is pretty rare while trolling.  

Highlight of the week:  The one that got away.  Proving again that fishing in Hawaii is heart-stopping and raises excitement to levels of mortal fear, the private vessel Manawale’a had a strike out by the HH pinnacles that invoked the fear of God into the crew.  Skipper Lou Nagy, a credible source of information, told us about the dimensions of a fish that came into their pattern about 50 yards off the back of the boat, tailwalked with the lure wrapped around the bill, then left without even so much as getting hooked or taking the line off the outrigger.  The fish was estimated as longer than the width of their Bertram 38 wide body, so the consensus had the fish at about 14 feet or so.  But it was the girth that amazed crew, however.  They said the thickness of the fish was carried back almost to the anal fin, and it was approximately three feet top to bottom not including the dorsal fin.  Using these estimates and plugging them into the standard formula, the fish calculated somewhere between 700 and 1200 pounds, possibly more.  

Well it just keeps going.......this week wasn’t fishing week here on the South shore of Oahu.....it was catching week.  The charter fleet and the private guys alike went out and caught consistent runs of Ahi, Marlin, a few Mahimahi, and some Ono, improving everyone’s odds of the clean sweep.  The Aku have been slowing a little, but the Ahi and Marlin continue to dominate the line screamers, and while nobody has come home yet reporting the sweep, we figure it has either happened or will happen pretty quick.

The 500 and 1000 fathom lines running from P Buoy all the way into Waianae have been hot.  BO buoy and the surrounding area have been extremely productive as well, with catches, releases (and losses) running rampant.  Sea Verse got things going in the week with a nice 150 pound Ahi and followed up a couple days later with a 350 lb Blue Marlin.  Kuu Huapala spent the week busy, too, with a few Blues and a Striped Marlin down past BO Buoy.  Magic got some nice Ahi early in the week, and had a double Ahi plus a Blue on the 9th, then had a couple of days in a row where they got into some monsters.  On the 11th they lost a big fish off the back of the boat, and then on the 12th, they landed one in excess of 700 pounds.  The official weight was tough to figure out, because it broke one of the other boat’s scales.  They were then able to wrestle it onto another scale that wasn’t tall enough, but the weight came in over 500 pounds with the bill resting on the table.

On the weekend, the holoholo guys got into the act as well.  3 miles past BO buoy, one boat reported losing an estimated 400 pound Marlin off the back of the boat after a 90 minute fight, meanwhile a group of boats off the Kaneohe side chased an unreal pile of birds toward Molokai and ended up landing some exceptional Ahi catches.  One boat landed seven fish between 130 and 150 pounds, then got into an estimated 400 plus pound Marlin 28 miles out.  Since it was getting dark and they were still a long way from home, they wisely broke off the fish rather than spend a few hours trying to wrestle the beast.

Kona and Maui have also been pretty hot lately, with boats reporting the Marlin as “thick.”   

Magic has had an especially productive week, hooking into several Marlin many days in a row. And on the 5th, they had seven Marlin strikes. Kamome and Kuu Huapala have been hitting Marlin prety frequently, and the Kuu managed a double on Friday the 8th in the form of a 232 lb Blue and a 111 lb Stripe. They also got a few good sized Ahi to about 120 lbs. early in the week. We also got a report of one vessel catching a 600 pound fish that took some seven hours to land on Friday the 8th.

So with all this production, the question must turn to where they all are. Well, my friends, the answer is "out on the water." As is often the case when the Marlin start showing up in numbers, they’re everywhere. Banks, P buoy, BO, HH, Kaneohe side, Waianae, Kaena Point, in close, out far, you name it. The trick is spending the time looking for the signs and reacting appropriately. Many are blind hits, but many are circling the Aku schools.

The best part is, the bait is still all around the island, and fishing looks to remain pretty good for awhile.