August 24, 2011 Kona Fish Report – Big Blue Marlin For The Boys From Vegas!

Good friend Scott Craven hosted some clients from Las Vegas with me today.  Although we caught fish south of the harbor yesterday, reports were that the current was also good up north.  I took us up the the Grounds just outside the Kona Airport.  There was lots of bait jumping on the ledge so we decided to catch a small skipjack tuna and live bait.  We caught one pretty quick and sent it back.  Not long after the bait got real nervous and we saw something boil behind it.  We were bit!  We throttled forward and Kyle was in the chair.  By the looks of it I knew right away we hooked a shark.  In about 10 minutes Kyle angled a 6 foot galapagos shark to leader.  We took some quick photos and cut it loose.  We struggled for the next hour and a half to catch a bait.  Bait was jumping all around and we just couldn’t get one to bite.  Other boats in the area were having the same problem as well.  I decided to go to trolling lures.  After I got the spread set up I turned back into the top corner of the Grounds and as we passed the 300 fathom line a big blue marlin exploded on the short bait a few yards behind the boat.  Line was peeling off the 130lb class rod but the fish never showed itself.  As I franticly cleared lines it started a series of leaps more than 300yds out.  Kyle was up and strapped into the chair.  We were well into the dacron and had at least 400yards of line out by now.  I turned and chased the fish twice as Kyle cranked hard to gain line back.  The fish continued to jump and stayed on the surface most of the time.  We continued to back up hard on the fish and got it to the leader in about 20 minutes.  It was Kyle’s first blue marlin and it was a good one estimated at 500-550lbs!