October 1999
Week of 10/25 - 10/31
Marlin still remain in the waters off the South shore of Oahu, but the numbers and size have dropped a bit. As you read in last week’s report from the Lahaina Jackpot in Maui, the winning fish was 307 pounds, and we haven’t seen anything get much bigger this week, either. Still, a few billfish are getting hooked pretty much every day, and one boat reported having eight Marlin bites out by BO buoy on one trip. The Ahi bite remains slow, with only one fish reported this week, a 130 pound blind strike shot out by BO buoy on Kamome. But fishing fans, do not despair! Sure the Marlin and Ahi are the biggies we always look for, and we’ll take ‘em when we can get ‘em, but this week the Mahimahi have remained the strongest fish. And just like last week, they have been BIG. We’ve seem frequent reports of anglers bringing in Mahi over 50 pounds, and both females and males over 40 pounds have been coming in very regularly. Kamome brought in three good sized Mahi on Sunday plus lost several others while enjoying the sport of it. Magic had hoisted a few out as well, with 8 of the big greenbacks on Wednesday. Wild Bunch enjoyed the week cruising in Maui, while Sea Verse is back to their overhaul after a brief playrun to Maui to fish the Lahaina Jackpot where they got a striped Marlin and 5 Mahimahi. Highlight of the week: Kamome got a nice sailfish on Tuesday in an area just off the airport, and while these fish certainly aren’t the reason we go fishing every day, consider the skipper, JR, mounted it himself because it was his first one ever. To date this year, less than five sailfish have come into the South shore waters (that we know about, anyway). Sea Verse got a pair several weeks ago, one came into the KBC tournament in early October, and this one on Kamome are the only ones in recent memory. Hawaii never has had a high concentration of these fish, so we love it when it happens! Look for the Mahimahi to remain large but elusive. The buoys early in the morning are good bets, but they also run in the open schools pretty heavy. We're finally taking a vacation, so we will not have a report for Wednesday, November 10th as we will hopefully be sipping wine and dining on fine cuisine in the Napa Valley. The next report will be posted on Wednesday, November 17th. |
Week of 10/18 - 10/24
This week’s report comes from the valley isle of Maui where the 1999 Lahaina Wahine and Open Jackpots were held. Sportfish Hawaii was in Maui cover the event, and since so many Oahu boats were in Lahaina anyway, it would seem somewhat unfounded to report on the Oahu South shore this week. Besides, there will come a day when everyone realizes as I do that the fishing is essentially the same on all the Hawaiian islands when converted to a boat for boat comparison based on effort, and thus, reading about Maui’s production will pretty much sum up what’s happened on Oahu. “Slow” would be the operative word when discussing Marlin productivity this week, and “gone” would be the word for Ahi. However, the Mahimahi and Ono were coming up strong, and the Mahimahi are BIG. The year ‘round average for the Mahi is about 20 pounds, but at present, the average is up around 30 pounds. Many fish are reaching the 50 pound plateau, and we’ve been seeing lots of fish coming in at 35 and 40. Hitting the FADS early has been a good way to harvest these greenbacks, but they’ve also been roaming around in the open in pairs. Both the Wahine tournament and the open tournament saw the majority of the boats headed for the North shore of Molokai. The weather was great and that’s where the big fish have mostly come from (at least three granders that I know of in the past few years). Thus, the bite seemed to have been happening between Kalaupapa and the Eastern side of the Pailolo channel, up to about 12 miles offshore. Yep, that’s a big area, but hey, it’s a big ocean. More specifically, plenty of big bites were taking place in a line between the east end of Molokai and FAD “N.” There were 6 Sportfish Hawaii boats on the open tournament. Offshore Hunter pulled in a total of 259 lbs while Sea Verse caught a total of 160.3 lbs and Magic brought in 2 marlins and a Mahi Mahi. A few Striped Marlin have been reported recently, so hopefully as the Ahi fade out, the double and triple striking action billfish will come along and take their place. Stay tuned! For a discussion on the areas covered in this report, click onto the Maui Fishing Grounds. For a complete report on the Lahaina Jackpot Tournament, click here. |
Week of 10/11 - 10/17
Determination and persistence was required last week to prevail. The fishing slowed considerably for some boats, but for those who were able to find the fish in the vast wilderness of flat ocean, the bounty was rewarding. I didn’t get many reports from the private boats, suggesting they may not have had such a great time of it, but the charter boats did pretty well. We had the American Dental Association convention in town and some of the Sportfish Hawaii boats were able to round up some fish for our visitors. Wild Bunch and Magic took some of our guests out on Tuesday which resulted in both boats sticking a good sized Ahi. Wild Bunch’s fish came in at about 130 and Magic’s was 150. Magic also had a Marlin bite that didn’t stick and a couple Mahi that did that day, and Russell caught his personal best sailfish on Thursday at 77 pounds. (note: Hawaii doesn’t get too many sailfish each year – usually less than a dozen). Friday was also pretty productive for the Magic as they got a 51 pound Ono less than an hour out of the harbor, 4 Mahimahi over 35 pounds by HH and other areas around the buoy, and 4 Aku as well. They also lost a nice sized Marlin coming home around the corner at Barber’s. Wild Bunch headed to Maui for the Lahaina Jackpot on Thursday and snagged a Mahimahi on the way, then fished the Wahine tournament on the weekend. Although they didn’t land any Billfish, they did have some exceptional bites, one of which was only 8 miles off the harbor and could potentially have been the tournament winner. Ah….such is fishing. Kuu Huapala had a Mahimahi week, and these fish are a pretty good size this time of year. If not for the Blue Marlin they got on Saturday, they would have caught nothing but Mahimahi all week. Most of them are in the 20 pound and up range, and many are in the 30’s and 40’s. These Mahi are fewer and further between and mostly blind strikes….kind of behaving like the Billfish sometimes do. In case you are wondering what happened to Sea Verse, Lee is still working on the boat’s interior, and should be running soon. So remember…..the fish are out there, just need to take the time to find them and get them to bite. Determination and perseverance…… |
Week of 10/4 - 10/10
There were bird piles everywhere last week, all filled with every species of fish known in Hawaii. From the areas between the HH and BO buoys to the Waianae FADS R and S, Ahi, Aku and Marlin were there. Getting them to bite was the problem, however, causing a full range of emotions for every skipper and crew that worked the area. From excitement to frustration, jubilation to depression, the fish toyed with anglers, but for the fortunate ones that were able to get them to bite, the memories were special. I had a similar experience on Kauai last week when I fished on the Kai Bear out of Port Allen and the Maka Hou II from Nawiliwili. One day we got a nice Marlin on light duty stand-up tackle plus a six-banger of 18-25 pound Aku, but the other day we didn’t get anything at all. Same conditions, same amount of birds, and the same effort produced happiness one day and frustration the other, but such is the name of the game in fishing. Back here on Oahu, a couple of our boats (Sea Verse and Wild Bunch) were not running because of repairs and maintenance, but those that did fish saw similar results as I did on Kauai. Found the birds, found the fish, hit ‘em one day, missed ‘em the next. Magic had three great days in a row, with a Marlin, a Spearfish and 6 Mahimahi over 20 pounds on Tuesday, followed by 8 Aku and a 112 lb Ahi the next, and 4 Ahi over 130 pounds plus 7 Mahimahi over 20 pounds on Thursday. Another boat reported catching a Marlin plus 2 Ahi at 150 and 180 pounds as well. Kuu Huapala has been finding, raising and striking the fish, too, but losing a couple here and there for a variety of reasons. While their landing highlight for the week was a 95 lb Ahi on Friday, they have been getting their charters in a position to fight some great fish. Finally, the Hawaii Yacht Club had a tournament over the weekend which was the last one for the 99 season (there’s fish here year round, but the season has to end somewhere so we can have an awards banquet). The fish and bird piles were still out there and a few smaller Marlin were caught, but one lucky boat (a sailboat, no less) managed to take home the big prize……a 481.5 lb Blue Marlin. |