Lepika Sportfishing, Kailua Kona, HI 96740 • 808-960-0068

Today David, his son Zach and their family friend and local resident Bill joined me for a full day of fishing on the Lepika.  David and Zach fished a few years ago with me and we did really well on smaller tunas and some nice sized mahimahi.  The ahi bite has been incredible the last few days with blind strikes and ahi showing up in big numbers in the porpoise schools.  We left the harbor at about 6am and headed south.  We trolled for a few hours without a bite when I spotted some boats working a small porpoise school outside of us.  There were already six boats in the pile so I went right to the greenstick.  On my first pass I marked a nice ahi at 40 fathoms but it didn’t bite.  There was a lot of traffic and it was difficult to stay on the fish.  On our next pass I didn’t mark the fish but it looked like one just had to be there.  Everyone watched as I jigged the squids in and out of the water.  Then, out of nowhere a big ahi came flying out of the water and ate one of the squids!  It was the first greenstick bite any of them had ever seen and they were all really impressed by the height the ahi came out of the water!  Zach was first up and fought his biggest ahi ever to the boat in about 10 minutes!  It weighed 101lbs!  We ran back tot he front of the school to set back up but more and more boats were headed our way so I decided to leave it and look for another pile.  We traveled farther south outside Milolii but never found another school.  We worked our way back up to the harbor when a nice blue marlin piled on the short rigger!  This time David was up and buckled into the harness.  The blue headed for the horizon with a series of big jumps.  It was David’s first blue and he had a lot of line to retrieve.  The marlin stayed on top for most of the fight and gave us a great show at the back of the boat.  David got the fish to leader in about 15 minutes and we released it unharmed to fight another day!  I estimated the blue at 200lbs!

Today my friend Dave invited his fishing buddy Bobby along for a full day trip.  The ahi bite has been unbelievable recently so we started fishing close to the harbor.  In the last few days there have been some blind strikes (bites with no signs of tuna present).  We caught one yesterday in the blind so why not troll early in the day?  We ran to the 1000 fathom ledge and set up trolling.  I had the fourth line up and was just about to put the fifth out when the long rigger came slamming down!  Line peeled off the 130 Fin Nor and I looked back waiting for a marlin to come tailwalking across our wake.  It never did.  Instead, it dove for the bottom…a tell tale sign of an ahi!  Bobby had never fought a fish out of the fighting chair so this was a whole new experience for him.  We buckled him into the harness and he started to gain on the ahi.  By it’s initial run and difficult time it gave  Bobby, we estimated it to be “BIG”.  In about 20 minutes Bobby was able to get us the leader and we sank 2 gaffs into what we thought would be a 200lb ahi!  Bobby’s ahi would eventually scale out just shy of the 200lb mark at 192lbs!  We worked our way straight out looking for porpoise.  Several boats were also looking but couldn’t find them either.  About 2 hours later I saw a splash on the horizon then dolphins leaping everywhere…we had found them.  I made a turn out and made our first pass in front of them.  The stinger was the first rod to get bit then followed by the long rigger…a double strike!  Bobby got in the chair as Dave fought his fish out of the gunnel.  Dave’s fish was hooked at the top of it’s mouth and gave us a hard time on the leader but we eventually landed his 109lb ahi!  Bobby’s came up next…a bigger fish that scaled out at 153lbs!  We ran back to the front of the school and set-up the greenstick.  We worked the school for about three more hours before deciding to call it a day.  We trolled our way back to the harbor and to our surprise found another big porpoise school.  I decided to go right to the greenstick and after an hour of trying another big ahi pounced on one of our squids.  Again, Bobby was up and landed his third ahi of the day in about 10 minutes.  This ahi scaled out at 100lbs!  There was a lot of fish in this school and we continue to work it hard.  Unfortunately, we would miss the next three ahi bites!  UGH!  We ended the day with 4 nice ahi and missing another 3….the bite is ON!

We started right out front this morning searching for pods of porpoise since the schools have been holding plenty of big ahi over 100lbs.  It didn’t take long before we spotted a big pile working it’s way in deep water.  There were already three boats trolling the school so I immediately went to the greenstick hoping we could fool some tunas into biting.  On our third pass a big ahi launched clear out of the water and inhaled one of the flying squids!  It was one of the highest leaps I’ve ever seen on a greenstick bite…an easy 7-8 feet out of the water!  Tory was up first and steadily worked the fish to the boat.  In about 15 minutes he landed his first ever ahi to the boat…it weighed 135 1/2 lbs!  We quickly set-up again and worked the school.  There were a lot of boats and it was difficult to make good passes.  The porpoise would spread out making it difficult to locate the fish.  About an hour later another ahi blew up on one of the squids, but this time the fish came off…UGH!  We re-set and worked the school for a few ore hours but couldn’t get another bite.  We decided to leave and troll back towards the harbor.  About 2 miles away from the school the long rigger came slamming down!  The fish never jumped but instead went deep.  This time Mike was in the chair and he settled down for a hard fight.  He took his time and got his fish to leader in about 15minutes…his ahi would scale out at 118lbs!

On Joseph’s 2nd day we struggled to get a bite.  It was just one of those days you dread but they do happen unfortunately.  On Joeseph’s third and last day fishing we were determined to get’em!  I started close to the harbor and headed far south to the ledge off Hookena, some 25 miles down the coast.  At about 9am we were on the 500 fathom line when a 200lb blue charged in and took a swipe at the short bait.  The small blue made some big jumps right behind the boat only to come off about 20 seconds later!  UGH!  Although he missed seeing the bote, Joeseph was stoked just to get a chance to see a blue that close!  The fish were here so I continued to work a 2 mile area around this spot.  Shortly after, another blue crashed the long corner lure as Joseph was staring back at the pattern.  I didn’t see the bite but it left a nice hole in the water.  I had Joseph crank the lure back into position and I watched as a big dark shadow streaked back across the wash and inhaled the lure with it’s head half out of the water.  Line slowly peeled off the reel as it does with most big blues.  I clipped Joseph into the harness and as I cleared the first lure the fish figured it out and heade for the horizon with a series of huge jumps!  Joseph got to work as I backed down hard on the fish.  In about 20 minutes we had the exhausted blue to the boat for a clean release!  I estimated the blue at 400lbs!   Unfortunately, neither of us were able to get pics of this fish!  Ugh!  We reset and started working out way back towards the harbor.  There had been some blind strike ahi bites lately so were were hoping to get one on our way up.  Off of Keauhou our hopes became reality as I watched an ahi explode on the stinger and then another on the long rigger.  We missed the one on the long rigger but Joseph settled down for a long fight with this ahi.  He got the fish to leader in about 15 minutes but the fish was making big circles under the boat making really tough to leader.  I had the leader twice and had to let it go.  On the third try I saw why…we had snagged the ahi in the eye and didn’t have control of the front of the fish which allowed it to dig down into the water.  30 minutes later I decided it’s now or never and just held onto the leader as it made crazy runs under the boat.  I was able to pop it’s head up and get a good gaff shot and secured it!  The fish was bigger than we had initially thought and scaled out at 159 1/2 lbs!  What a way to end a three day trip!

The porpoise schools have been holding lots of big ahi if you know where to find them.  Today was the first of Joseph’s three days he booked with me.  He was joined today with his daughters best friend Michaela.  I decided to head far offshore to look for porpoise because I had been catching some nice fish out of this school lately.  The water was pretty calm inshore which meant we would have to look far outside our normal range for the school.  We were 27 miles out when we finally spotted the frigate birds high above the school.  It was getting rougher so we decided to troll the school first.  I didn’t mark any fish in the pile and after we finished our third pass the porpoise spread out for miles.  It’s much better to have them traveling in a tight pile so we elected to stay on the troll.  It was about three hours later when we finally got a bite on the long corner!  Joseph got in the chair and landed his first big ahi in about 15 minutes!  Persistence paid off!