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

After the great day we had yesterday up on the Grounds we decided to leave early and do exactly the same thing – live bait.  Mark and Mike met me at the harbor at 6:15am and we blasted out before the sun peeked over the volcano.  On our first pass on the ledge we had a nice blue marlin about 200lbs eat the short rigger and come off.  UGH!  After watching the blue harass the bait without any real interest in eating it we went to the ledge and caught two live baits.  Again, we got bit pretty quick!  This time, Mike was first up.  He strapped in the chair and fought his blue marlin to the boat in about 15 minutes.  After taking a few pictures boatside, we safely released his estimated 180lb blue marlin.  Back to the ledge we went to get more baits.  Mike and Mark did an amazing job catching these fragile baits without ripping their jaws off or killing them.  We baited two more baits and headed off the ledge.  It took a little longer this time but we hooked up again to another blue marlin.  Mark was up and got into the chair.  His blue took out a lot of line right off the bite and we chased it hard with the boat.  He fought his second blue marlin of the trip in under 25 minutes.  We estimated his blue at 190lbs!  Unfortunately, this would be the last trip of their vacation on the Lepika.  As I am writing this, I had to cancel their third day due to 25 knot winds.

Mark and Mike of Petaluma, CA were back to fish with me again this year.  Last year, Mike’s goal was to catch a fish heavier than his own weight…we’ll leave it at over 200lbs, per Mark.  On that trip, we didn’t beat that goal but we did catch he and Mike two nice ahis that weighed 107lbs and 108lbs.  This year, Mark booked me for 3 days in search of his elusive monster.  I headed to the “Grounds” north of the airport.  The striped and blue marlin had been biting pretty good up there so our chances were promising.  On our way up, we hooked a small striped marlin on the stinger and Mark jumped in the chair and made quick work of his 40lb stripey.  It wasn’t the monster he wanted but we were on the board!  I continued to work the ledge without any bites and other boats in the area also reported the same results.  There was a lot of bait fish feeding in the area so I decided to show the fish something different and live bait.  We quickly caught two perfect oioi (frigate mackerel) and bridled them up.  It didn’t take long!  A small blue marlin rushed in and ate one of the baits.  Mike was up and fought his 90lb blue marlin to the boat in about 10 minutes.  We ran back onto the ledge and caught two more baits and sent them back.  Again, it didn’t take long!  A nice blue marlin swirled on the long bait and missed it.  It rushed forward to the short bait just a few yards behind the boat and we all watched as it pushed water trying to eat the frightened bait on the surface.  This was the one Mark was waiting for!  The marlin peeled out 300 yards of line putting on an unbelievable aerial show behind the boat.  We backed down hard on the fish trying to keep it close.  Mark fought the fish for about 25 minutes before we safely released it behind the boat.  We estimated it at 250lbs!

After a great day yesterday, we had high hopes for today.  Victor did not join us today since he had an afternoon flight home so it was just Rob.  The current had slowed so instead of heading south we went north towards the airport.  Our first bite came early in the day when a nice short nose spearfish yanked down the long rigger and never came back for a second look.  Unfortunately this would not be the only fish we miss today.  Soon after we found a nice porpoise school but the fsih were really deep so decided to go back to trolling the ledge.  Just outside the 1000 fathom line we missed either a nice stripey or a small blue marlin.  This time of year the fish tend to cluster in small areas so we continued to work a 2 square mile area around where we missed this fish.  On our next pass just a quarter mile away from the spot we took a double striped marlin bite.  Rob got in the chair and started fighting the first fish.  We had two nice stripeys jumping all around the boat.  One of them eventually came off and we successfully released the other.  I got set up again and we continued pounding the area.  Shortly after we caught a small mahimahi which went into the cooler for dinner.  The fish are definitely starting to show up more and more and should only get better as the full moon gets closer.  Lots of action today but not many to the boat unfortunately but all-in-all it was a great day!

Last year I had the privilege of fishing with Rob and Dave from Fin-Nor tackle company.  I tested one of their 130lb class reels for them last season and was very impressed by it’s quality and durability on big fish.  Since then, I have upgraded all of my reels to Fin-Nor.  Rob was joined by one of their sales reps Victor and booked two consecutive days.  We wanted to see just how strong their new Fin-Nor 30w handled.  The fishing has been really good lately for striped marlin and short nose spearfish – so it was perfect for running smaller gear like the 30w.  On our first day we headed south and immediately ran into a small porpoise school right in front of the harbor.  Our first pass yielded nothing and my sounder didn’t show any fish down deep so we continued on.  About one mile away was a bigger pile of porpoise and on our first pass again, my sounder showed nothing below.  Frustrated, I turned to make our second pass when the long rigger came slamming down with the screaming run that could only mean ahi!  The Fin-Nor 30w handled the run – no problem.  Victor was first up so he strapped into the fighting chair and got to work.  We were at close to 300yds of line out before the fish slowed.  Victor did a great job and landed his largest ahi in about 35 minutes that weighed 131lbs!  We ran back to the porpoise school but again we didn’t see anymore fish so we went back to trolling.  Later in the day, on the 700 fathom line the Fin-Nor 30w would be tested again as a nice blue marlin blew up on the short rigger.  The blue made a long run straight away and then came up jumping alongside the boat leaving only half the spool.  The Fin Nor held up great once again and the drag remained smooth and steady.  Rob got to work on the fish as we took the belly out of the line.  We backed down hard trying to regain line and in about 20 minutes Rob landed his first blue marlin that we released and estimated at 200lbs!

I had to cancel the last three charters due to weather.  In Kona, we are lucky enough to have four massive volcanoes that block the tradewinds.  It can be blowing 20-25mph on the Hilo side of the island and our waters will be as flat as a lake.  The last few days however the wind blew straight out of the north at 20mph and it just made difficult and unpleasant to fish.  John Rainey fishes every year with me and today we got a small window of calm water so we decided to give it a try.  The fishing wasn’t great but we did manage to get a nice short nose spearfish for dinner that weighed about 25lbs!