August 9, 2011 Kona Fish Report – Day 1 Bluewater Jon, Underwater Photographer

Jon Schwartz, is one of the best underwater saltwater photographers in the world.  He’s captured some unbelievable fish fighting photos both above and below the water line.  His photos have been featured on the cover of Saltwater Sportsman and many other saltwater magazines.  Our goal today was to get photos of big ahi leaping out of the water to grab the squids dangling off my greenstick rig as well as some cool underwater shots of fighting ahi.  We ran to the north looking fo rthe elusive North Porpoise School.  On our run out we found B Buoy which had broken off it’s mooring 25 miles south of Kona.  On our first pass we hooked a 15lb ahi which went in the box for sashimi.  On our next several passes we hooked several mahimahi (only landing one) and several more ahi in the 10-15lb range.  Although this was great action, we really wanted to get good photos of big ahi.  Jon decided to jump in the water and try to get photos of the mahimahi swarming around the buoy.  To help him get the shot I rigged a small ahi and sent it back behind the boat…mahimahi love to try and eat a wounded fish.  As Jon swam a few yards from the boat I dropped the small ahi in the water and started to drag it away.  As the line came tight something ate the ahi.  Jon was several yards away and couldn’t see it but I knew it was a shark.  I fought the shark to the leader and Jon moved in to get some photos.  He was at times no more than 3 feet away from a angry shark with a hook in it’s mouth but he got some really neat photos.  We decided to head offshore to look for porpoise.  We found a small pile not too far away but didn’t mark any fish in the pile.  I decided to make a long run 20 miles south to look for the southern school.  Off Pebble Beach we found them.  It looked great with birds and bait in the school but no ahi showedon the sounder.  Regardless, I tried the greenstick for several hours without any luck.  You can’t catch what isn’t there.  I was amazed at Jon’s persistence in getting the shot of an ahi leaping out of the water.  He stood at the back of the boat for almost 3 hours with his eye in the lense holding his 6lb camera focused on the dancing squids.  It was getting late so we high speed trolled 3 lures home at 12knots.  Off Kealakekua Bay the long corner reel screamed line as a 150lb blue marlin leaped out of the water.  Since Jon wanted photos, I had to reel the marlin in by myself as Jon got his dive gear and cameras ready.  I had the fish to leader on about 10 minutes.  Jon jumped in and got some awesome photos of the fish behind the boat while I leadered it to the surface.  The marlin still had it’s bright blue lines and black back.  Hopefully he will send me some photos so I can update this blog.  He will be fishing with me another 3 days in hopes of getting and aerial ahi bite.  More of Bluewater Jon in the next few days…