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

My three children Fisher, Kai and Marina all attend Innovations Public Charter School here in Kona.  We invited a 6th grade student (Yuto) from their sister school in Tokushima, Japan to spend the weekend at our house to experience living in Hawaii.  We had plans to go surfing but the waves just weren’t big enough so the boys hopped on board the Lepika for a few hours of fishing at one of the nearby buoys.  We ran to VV buoy which had been holding some small skipjack tuna (aku) and ahi.  I didn’t see much surface activity but I did mark several nice piles of ahi deep so we pulled out the jigs.  Our first drop yielded nothing which led me to believe something big was also around the buoy…a shark?  Marlin?  On the next drop we started getting bit!  Yuto was first up and he fought his first ahi to the boat!  After a few more drops we got into more small ahi in the 10lb range…everyone got to pull in at least one ahi.  We also got to see what we believe was a big marlin ball-up the tuna around the buoy and start feeding.  Satisfied with our catch, we pulled the lines and ran back to the harbor to take Yuto to the beach for some body boarding!  On the way in we saw not one, but two huge manta rays swimming near the harbor.  It was the perfect ending to a fun few hours on the Lepika!  Hopefully the rest of his class will enjoy some fresh ahi fillets tomorrow!

It’s always good to have fresh bait on board just in case…sometimes the fish are on lures and sometimes they prefer the real thing.  My sons have been bugging me to go night fishing for a long time but I’ve been too busy with charters.  Finally, tonight we had a chance to go.  The weather was perfect and the moon was small.  We fish for Opelu which is a type of mackeral found in our waters.  Ono, mahimahi, ahi and blue marlin love these things and to not have some on board everyday is limiting what you can do to get on the fish.  The last few nights have been perfect for bait fishing so we left the harbor at around 7pm.  We turned the lights on (which attracts the opelu) and the school came to the boat pretty quick.  My oldest son, Fisher, started catching Opleu right away.  I was on the other side of the boat trying to get some hooked up which my youngest son Kai fought up to the boat.  The Opelu aren’t big but they fight pretty hard on the handlines that we use.  In a few hours we caught several dozen and called it a night.  The bait will be frozen to be used on future charters!

Wayne and Jim of Washington state joined me for a full day on the Lepika.  The ahi were biting in the porpoise school so we decided to look for them today.  We ran south pretty far and found a school all by ourselves.  There were fish there but it was hard to get them to bite.  We were persistent and  worked the pile for several hours before a nice ahi piled on one of our lures.  Wayne was in the chair and quickly worked his first ahi to the boat in about 20 minutes.  It weighed an impressive 139 1/2 lbs!  We continued to work the school and had a nother nice ahi blow up on one of our baits.  Jim was quick to get in the chair but after a few minutes the ahi came off!  UGH!  Again we reset our lines.  Shortly after, another fish exploded on our baits.  This time however, it was different.   The fish didn’t dive.  Instead, it swam off to the side and stuck it’s bill out of the water!  It was a small blue marlin, about 100lbs.  It stood on it’s tail and shook it’s head until the bait flew out of his mouth.  It came back again to try the bait and again, when I thought we had him hooked, it shook it’s head and threw the hook.  The marlin tried a third time to eat the bait but again the same result…no hook up!  Oh well!  That’s why they call it fishing!  Wayne and Jim were happy to get their ahi even though it obviously would have been able to get all the fish we had shots at.  There were only two other fish that came out of the school that day so we were fortunate to get one!

Greg and Jim fished with me for a full day.  We left the harbor at 6am and found a porpoise school outside of Keauhou.  The porpoise were scattered for about a mile so we trolled them without a bite.  I didn’t see any fish on the sounder so we headed south in search of better water.  Farther down the coast we found another pile and the fish were there.  I had some live bait in my livewell so we tried that first.  Ahi were rolling in front of the school but ignored our baits.  We continued to try for the next 6 hours without any luck.  Then, at 1pm the porpoise started to get more active.  I decided to change tactics and put up the greenstick.  On our first pass a nice ahi exploded on one of the squids.  Greg was up first and angled his fish to the boat in about 15 mintues.  His ahi weighed 101lbs!  We ran back to the porpoise and set up again.  About an hour later another ahi pounced on one of our squids.  Jim was up and strapped into the chair.  He landed his 118lb ahi in under 15 minutes!

John Morgan fished last year with me on a half day trip.  On that trip we fought a nice 400lb plus blue marlin for half an hour and missed 2 mahimahi – skunked!  This year, John chartered a full day which gave us a lot more time to find the fish.  We went south today and lucked out early in the day.  Just a few minutes out of the harbor we spotted a small porpoise pile working it’s way towards us.  We made a pass on the pod and marked a fish shallow.  I thought I was clear of the porpoise and started my turn back into the pile when an ahi engulfed the stinger lure.  This was John’s chance to get a nice fish.  He clipped himslef into the fighting chair and in a 20 minutes landed his first ahi.  We worked the school for the remainder of the day but weren’t able to get another bite.  Hopefully John returns next year to get a shot at a big blue marlin!