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

Today Shell and Cathy joined my deckhand Keith and me for a full day charter.  Yesterday we caught a nice ahi in the porpoise school so our game plan was again to look for porpoise.  Shell and Cathy met us 30 minutes early at the boat…6am!  They were both really excited and wanted to get a jump on the action.  It was still dark but we left the harbor early and headed north.  About an hour out Keith and I saw a small mark (hopefully a marlin) on our sounder.  Usually a fish will rise to the lures pretty quick but we waited a few minutes with nothing showing.  Then a small blue marlin swirled on the stinger lure and missed it.  It came back three more times and we just couldn’t hook it.  Frustrated we continued on.  The water was starting to get rough, a good sign that the porpoise would be near.  We searched farther offshore and then I saw the tell-tale splash of a jumping porpoise.  We switched over to our ahi pattern and made passes on the school.  I saw a nice mark at 40 fathoms but no bite.  More boats started to arrive in the pile.  We made pass after pass and finally the long rigger came down hard!  Cathy jumped in the chair as line peeled off the reel.  Keith coached her on fighting the fish and cleared the lines.  Cathy did a great job and landed her first and biggest fish of her life in about 30 minutes!  Her ahi weighed 141lbs!  Unfortunately, Shell wasn’t feeling to good but he got to see her land a really nice fish.  We set up again and worked the porpoise school.  On our next pass I had mark at 40 fathoms and again the long rigger came down.  This time, line screamed off the reel even faster!  Cathy was still pretty tired from her fight and Shell was still a little quezzy so Keith jumped in the chair and started working on the fish.  This fish fought a lot harder than the first and Keith and I looked at each other and both agreed this was a big one.  Keith worked the fish like a pro and finally got it to leader in about 40 minutes.  Lucky for him this was also his biggest ahi he has ever landed which weighed a whopping 209lbs, beating his largest by 4 lbs!

Bob, Mark and his wife Amy of Kansas City, Missouri, fished with me today on a 3/4 day.  I decided again to go north since we had some luck that way the last few days and there was a good chance of finding the porpoise.  We worked our way up to the grounds and up the ledge without a bite.  I headed out into deeper water out towards the 1000 fathom line.  I was watching the lures when a dorsal popped up behind the stinger lure.  A small blue marlin charged in and ate the lure.  Mark was first up and got settled in the chair.  The marlin took a few nice jumps in the distance as Mark worked it closer to the boat.  As I grabbed the leader the blue came to life and gave us a good series of jumps around the boat before we let it go.  Marks blue marlin weighed about 100lbs.  We continued trolling south from the grounds and a friend of mine told me he had just found a big pile of porpoise just a few miles from our position.  We headed that way and as we entered the pile I had a mark on my sounder at 45 fathoms and 55 fathoms….ahi!  We trolled them for a few passes but no takers so I went to the greenstick.  On our second pass we all watched as a big ahi came halfway out of the water and ate one of our squids!  Amy jumped in the chair and with the assistance of Mark, landed her first ahi weighing 150lbs!

Alaska residents Patty and Jack joined me today.  They are both die-hard fishermen and have been coming to Kona for the past 3 years.  Today we headed out to look for porpoise since the big yellowfin tuna had been around the last few days.  We found a big pile right outside the harbor and the fish were there but really deep.  We trolled the porpoise for most of the day without a bite and the fish stayed deep.  It was getting late and on the way back we took a double mahimahi bite!  Patty got in the chair and Jack fought his fish out of the gunnel.  Their mahimahis weighed 15 and 20lbs!  When we got back I filleted their mahimahis for them to take back to Alaska!

Richard and Dorothy fish a few times a year with me.  Richard is one of the luckiest anglers I have ever fished with.  Today, he brought along his friend Alan and his wife Barbara for a half day fishing on the Lepika.  The marlin bite was spotty so I decided to fish north of the harbor where the bait was more likely to stack up.  We worked our way up to the Grounds and as we got near the top corner a big shortnose spearfish ate the stinger lure.  Barbara was up and she fought her first ever spearfish to the boat in under 15 minutes.  I estimated it at 40lbs!  We continued on and worked the area.  A freind of mine was nearby and called me to tell me he had a big porpoise school that might be holding ahi.  We headed that way and as we neared the school another shortnose spearfish attacked the stinger but came off.  We worked the porpoise school but didn’t have much luck.  Another group of porpoise joined in from the north and my friends had a good pass on this new school.  They took a double strike from 2 big ahi that would end up weighing 187 and 95lbs!  I made a pass on the porpoise near them and marked a fish at 45 fathoms.  The short rigger bait got bit and line started to peel off the reel.  Alan was up and got in the chair.  I thought it was a big ahi at first but the fish quickly gave up and made its way to the boat.  It ended up being  areally big aku (skipjack tuna) that weighed 27lbs!  It is so far the largest aku caught by the kona fleet this year.  There is a good chance it will remain the biggest aku caught until the end of the year.  We left the porpoise school and worked our way back to the harbor.  On our way we would miss 4 striped marlin and a spearfish!  UGH!  The fish are here and it should only get better as the moon gets bigger!

My wife Melissa joined me today along with Fisher, Kai, Marina and our good friend Keith for the Valentines tournament benefiting Hospice of Kona.  48 teams entered the tournament each with their own strategy of where to go and what to fish for.  The prize money was split equally between all four flag fish (mahimahi, ono, ahi and marlin).  The blue marlin bite had been slow and since we thought everyone was going to fish for them we would go ono fishing.  We ran south…far south to Pebble Beach and started trolling.  The swell was big and the nearshore water was green, not good for ono.  As we passed Milolii the water began to clear and we hoped we would find a big ono.  We trolled further on to Kauna Point and still no bite.  It was getting late so we headed back and as we again passed Milolii the short bait took off.  Melissa got in the chair and made quick work of a 15lb ono!  Not big enough to win the tournament but we got one.  My good friend Dave and Aina won with a 42lb ono.