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

Sorry fort the late report!  I have been in drydock for ten days doing routine maintenance on the Lepika.  We did the usual fresh bottom paint, buff and wax and valve adjustment on both Cummins engines.  In addition, we repainted all the non-skid surfaces around the entire boat including inside the cabin.  She is looking as clean as ever and ready for a busy Summer season!  We put her back in the water on Friday and went right into seven straight days of charters!  I’ve been having some camera issues but here’s what I have…

My mechanic, Sherwin Yamasaki and his uncle from Oahu got a nice ahi and short nose spearfish!

Vince and Vic fished two days with me and got into some ggod action and some fish to take home for dinner!  On our first day we live baited on the grounds and missed a nice blue marlin about 350lbs.  After getting another live bait we caught a big bull mahimahi that weighed about 35-40lbs!

Glenn, Dexter and Travis from Oahu flew over with their family for some R&R and a day of fishing with me.  Since we did so well on the spearfish yesterday, we decided to head out into the deep and try for them again.  We headed straight out of the harbor and worked our way towards the 2000 fathom line.  There was lots of flying fish and the signs were prime for spearfish and other predators.  It wasn’t long before I spotted a lone frigate bird circling far on the horizon.  The frigates typically follow porpoise so I got on the binoculars and scanned the water below the bird.  I stared in that direction for a long time and finally saw a porpoise jump.  I ran downstairs and switched over to some smaller bullets in hopes that there was some ahi swimming with the pod. I had just set out three bullets when the short bait fired off!  Travis was up and landed a nice 30lb ono!  As we approached the school was spread out far and wide chasing flying fish in all directions.  We trolled for about an hour and I finally saw an ahi jump with a flying fish firmly sticking out of it’s mouth.  The pod slowly came together and I put up the greenstick.  On our first pass, Travis was sitting with me up top and I told him, “watch right in here, this looks good on this pass…”  Moments later a nice ahi exploded on the squids!  All three of the guys saw the bite as the ahi left a big hole in the water.  Travis was up first and landed his first ahi in about 15 minutes.  His ahi would weigh 97lbs!  We set up again and worked the porpoise.  The pod started to spread out again and chase more flying fish and it was hard to locate the fish, if any in the school.  The porpoise started feeding pretty heavy on flyers just ahead of us and I pulled the squids right in the frenzy hoping an ahi was in there feeding too.  A big explosion signalled the bite and line ripped off the reel as Dexter got strapped into the harness.  Dexter worked hard fighting the fish and at one time almost got pulled in!  He fought his ahi to the boat in about 15 minutes.  It weighed 100lbs!  After a few photos we set up again and worked the pile.  Again the porpoise piled up a school of flying fish and started feeding.  I was able to get the squids in the frenzy and another big ahi blasted one of the squids!  Dexter was up again and clipped into the harness.  This fish gave him a much harder time than the first one but he made quick work of it.  Our third ahi of the day would weigh 140lbs!

Todd and his wife Teresa joined me for a full day on the Lepika.  The short nose spearfish have shown up in pretty good numbers lately so that was our target species today.  It seems like every boat out has been getting at least one bite from these small billfish.  We worked our way south of the harbor down the 1000 fathom line.  Outside of Keauhou we got our first bite from a nice sized spearfish on the long rigger.  This was Todd’s fishing trip so he was first up and quickly landed his first shortnose spearfish in about 10 minutes!  After taking some quick pictures alongside the boat we safely released it to fight another day!  It weighed about 35lbs.  We continued south and the current was perfect for some of the ledges off of Milolii, 30 miles south of the harbor.  We worked outside the village and hooked up to another nice spearfish.  Todd also reeled this one in, his second spear of the day!  It also weighed about 35lbs.  I reset the lines and as I went up to the flying bridge another spearfish inhaled the stinger lure.  This time Todd was using the head so Teresa jumped in the chair and brought her first spearfish to the boat in about 15 minutes.  As I leadered the fish closer to the boat we noticed the hook went into the corner of it’s mouth and out it’s eye.  It wasn’t going to make it so we all agreed to take it.  As we trolled back up to the harbor we had another spearfish bite that wouldn’t stick.  All in all it was a great day with two spearfish releases and one in the cooler for dinner.  Todd and Teresa just sent me this picture of some seared spearfish they made at their condo….Yum!

Yesterday, we had some unseasonably stormy weather but today started out without a cloud in the sky and flat water.  Mike and his wife Alyssa joined me for a 3/4 day charter.  Since we had some nice spearfish bites the day before we decided to head out into the deep and see if they were still around.  We left early and headed far past the ledge where we had trolled yesterday.  There were flying fish all around the area and it looked really good but the spearfish weren’t around.  We continued farther down the coast and ran into a small porpoise school.  I switched over to my ahi trolling pattern and made a pass in front the school.  As I came across the middle of the school a nice ahi inhaled the lure on the long corner position just 20 yards behind the boat!  It stalled out on the surface and I could see it’s big yellow sickles as it swam away on the surface.  It only took out about 10 yards of line by the time I had Mike strapped into the harness!  Usually, an ahi of this size will clear a quarter of the spool but this fish stayed REALLY close.  By the time I cleared two lines, Mike had the swivel almost to the rod tip.  I was shocked!  I knew it was a big fish but he had the leader to me in about 5 minutes!  Of all the ahi I have caught, I have never seen one come in that fast!  His ahi would scale out at 134 1/2 lbs!  On our next pass in the porpoise a nice spearfish decided to eat one of our lures which we quickly took pictures of and released!  It weighed about 35lbs!  Over all, it was a great day and we were back in the harbor at 12pm!

Jeff, Rick and their wives Carol and Jennifer, joined me for another day fishing Kona.  A few days ago, Jeff and Jennifer fished with me and we caught a nice ahi in the porpoise so today we decided to target spearfish while we searched in the deep.  Jeff and Rick are avid albacore fishermen from Oregon.  Jeff had been telling Rick about the greenstick so we were determined to find a porpoise school holding tuna.  We trolled far from the harbor but couldn’t get a spearfish bite.  The porpoise were even proving to be elusive and I was worried we wouldn’t find them.  As I scanned the horizon with the binoculars I saw a porpoise jump a few miles ahead.  As we neared the pile it looked pretty big and scattered everywhere chasing flying fish.  I didn’t mark any fish right away but I decided to put up the greenstick and give it a try.  It took a while but I finallly marked two fish holding deep in the school.  Finally, after several passes an ahi blew-up on one of the squids.  Jeff was up and landed his first ahi of his 2 day trip!  It weighed 131lbs, 25lbs bigger than the one Jennifer caught a few days prior!  It will be interesting to see which one they put on their wall!  The next day we awoke to some bad weather.  It stormed most of the night and rain clouds were on the horizon.  We decided to fish anyway and Rick caught a small mahimahi and ahi which they took home for dinner.  We also had two short-nose spearfish bites and missed them both.  One of them was over 45lbs!  The spearfish are definitely moving in!