The Weekly Fishing Line

Although there has been a slowdown in the Marlin production, we have seen a major shift to Mahimahi this week. We’re having a pretty nice run of the greenbacks, with some boats finding the open schools and floaters and working them hard on bait. Sea Verse, Magic and Kuu Huapala all reported a few days with double digit Mahi landings which has kept their customers in the action. "P" buoy and areas West have been pretty good producing areas.

Also proving the theory that great fish can happen any time in Hawaii was the Kuu Huapala on Monday the 26th. After trolling a few hours and producing only 2 Aku, the charters commented that since they were nearly back to the harbor the fishing was pretty much over. Skipper Jeff Crews, always the optimist, told the anglers that "the fishing is not over until the lines are in the boat," and was immediately proved right with a double Ahi strike, landing a 114 and a 120 pound Yellowfin.

Despite the relative asbsence of Marlin this week, I’d sure hate to bet against them at this point in time. Haleiwa, Kaneohe, and Maunalua Bay (between Diamond Head and Koko Head) all had reports of enormous schools of Aku, and since we know what the favorite food of the Marlin is, we wouldn’t be surprised if a couple of giant ones came in here soon. Russell on the Magic seems to think so too, because he’s been reported to be out about 50 miles from home on the Kaneohe side on a couple of trips, and since he isn’t going to burn that kind of fuel on trying to catch a rainbow runner, it’s pretty clear what he was looking for. We did have one boat in Maui report a monster (i.e. longer than the 13’ beam of his boat) coming unbuttoned after touching leader early in the week, and I am thinking that fish is a harbinger of things to come.

If you are a fisherman and not on the water this week, you either aren’t a fisherman or just an unlucky person. The Ahi are still running pretty hot in the range 110 pounds and up as high as the 180’s, and there are some good Marlin roaming around too. They’ve been all over, many of them nearshore, and finding birds has been helpful. Lots of Aku and Shibi nearshore and out at the FADS tells us the fishing should be good for awhile longer. Mahimahi have been unusually plentiful lately, too, with many boats finding structures and bringing in double digit landings. Kamome and the Kuu had a day of 19 and 17 Mahi as well, and Kamome’s load were all 25 pounds and up ranging to 40.

The Banks and the channel have been pretty fertile this past week, but the winds have access pretty tough for anyone who’s not used to it. Most guys have been staying out towards Barbers and Waianae because of it. Early in the week several Marlin and Tunas were out by P buoy and the South Tip of the banks, and Sea Verse got a nice 420 pounder off Nanakuli.

Highlight of the week: We got a report on Friday night that over 80 boats were working within a couple miles of the Pokai Bay harbor entrance. As people were flying over the area they thought some type of tournament or regatta was going on, but nope.......it was a bunch of anglers working on the Ahi. Some boats loaded up, too, but you know how the Holoholo fleet is....not too informative on what’s going on as far as the results.

Stay out there and keep at it. The winds are going to drop soon, so the fish will keep biting.

Kona has been going insane all week, and when we got there to cover the tournament going on, they had reports of the following fish coming in over the weekend: 1,048 Blue, 622 Blue, 540 Black, 463.5 Blue, 414 Blue, 388 blue, and at least 25 releases of Blues ranging from 100 to 300 in the World Billfish Challenge tournament. Sportfish Hawaii’s anglers got out fishing on Monday the 19th as well (and caught about 15 or so Yellowfins, Mahis and Rainbow Runners, plus a Spearfish) and the 1048 came in from an area we were working only moments before (the Vixen was the lucky boat this time around, as they and we were both live baiting yellowfin in the area).

It was a great week for Sportfish Hawaii’s fleet also, with every single boat in our Kona fleet having some pretty good success. Medusa caught a 540 lb Black with a first time female angler from New Zealand, Spellbound placed 5th in the tournament and also caught the 3rd largest fish in it (388 lb Blue), Grand Slam caught a nice 206 lb Blue on Saturday and also released another that was even larger), Pamela released an estimated 250 lb Blue one day but unfortunately lost 3 more the following day, Eclipse caught a non-qualifying 150 pound Ahi in the event, and Fish Wish was the boat that took us out on the day we got a plenitude of fish.

Enough Kona, this report is for Oahu. Sportfish Hawaii’s fleet has been doing well here, too. Sea Verse had a string of several days catching Marlin, as did Kamome and the Kuu. At the time of writing, I didn’t get any reports on Magic, but I did hear they were in on it too. The bites have been all over the place (Banks, the deeps returning from the Banks, out off Diamond Head, and out deep near the FADS, but we did hear that Waianae was very slow over the weekend.

Hot tip for next week.......keep fishing, because it’s not showing any signs of slowing down!

After having to apologize for this week’s report (i.e. bringing it in late like this), the fishing is certainly making up for it. The theme for this week is pretty simple: go fishing!!! If you live in Hawaii or are visiting, you better get on a boat and get out there, because it’s going off! One boat on the 7th reported a lost Marlin at the back of the boat plus 2 lost big yellowfins (sorry, it hurts the skippers too much to say who it happened to), but he did manage to land one Ahi at 145 lbs. All this action was at Kaena Point. Another boat got a few more Ahi, Mahi and Ono running all the way to Kaneohe and back, while yet a third got some Ahi out by HH buoy. That’s a pretty good spread right there for all those big fish.

There was a tournament over the weekend as well, but the weather was a little rough and not too many boats got into the event. Fishing rewarded those who did get in, and Kaneohe was a good producer over the weekend. Furthermore, there has been some warmer water near Barber’s point, so there’s a real good chance the Ahi and Marlin action will get even better in the coming week.

After a hiatus in the Marlin bite of late, the Banks produced a few good sized Blues for the charter fleet later in the week. Magic picked up a 435 pounder on July first out toward the South tip of the Banks, and we also heard reports of Striped Marlin activity and even a released sailfish out towards Kaena point on a Holoholo boat. Spearfish are hitting the lures pretty regularly still, and this has been one heck of a year for those fun billfish. No sign of the Spearfish bite slowing down anywhere in the state, really.

Yellowfin have been still running in some areas and some big ones have been coming in up to 180 pounds or so, but the big schools still just haven’t shown up in any huge numbers yet. Who knows if it is going to happen this year or not.

The Ono bite is still looking good along the 40 fathom ledges all over (Kahala Hilton, Ewa Pine Trees, some parts of the Banks, and even around by Hanauma Bay), and also, many boats are finding logs out in the deeper water where the Mahimahi are cruising underneath.

So, the bottom line here is big fish are a little scarce, but the smaller food fish are pretty plentiful......just gotta find them on any given day.