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

Dennis and Max took two days off to tour the island and were ready to fish.  They spent the last two days going to the volcano and looking for waterfalls on the Hilo side of the island.  We left the harbor a little later than usual because their alarm didn’t go off.  Oh well, it happens right?  Since we had a lot of bites south, we decided to head back down there.  Max caught a blue the last trip out so Dennis was first up.  About midday I ran right into the same areaI had fished the previous day.  In almost the same spot we caught our first blue marlin yesterday, another hungry fish was waiting.  The marlin ate the same lure on the long rigger and took off with a series of jumps.  Dennis strapped himself into the fighting chair and fought the fish to leader in about 20 minutes.  It was his first blue marlinand I estimated it at about 200lbs!  They are planning to come back for another fishing trip in a few months so hopefully we can get them soemthing even bigger!

Brad Hopkins and his 12 year old daughter Alex were in town to try their luck fishing Kona.  We left the harbor early and headed south.  I took us down the 500 fathom line towards Kealakekua Bay following the south current in hopes of running into some signs of bait and blue marlin.  Alex was first in the chair and as we passed Capt. Cook point I marked a big fish on the sounder at 40 fathoms.  I told Brad, “Watch back there!  That’s a nice fish…maybe it will come up and bite…”  Seconds went on and nothing.  Just when we were about to lose hope a big dorsal popped up behind the long rigger and snapped it down.  The fish looked around 400lbs but it quickly disappeared then piled on the last lure in the spread.  Line screamed out and as I was clipping Alex into the chair the hooks pulled out!  UGH!  Digusted we trolled on.  Shortly after, another mark on the sounder appeared and this fish was hungry.  It ate the long rigger like it was starving and it was hooked good.  Alex was in the chair and with a little help from dad fought her first 150lb blue marlin to the boat in about 15 minutes!  As the day went on we had 3 more shots at blue marlin roughly the same size and all of them came off!  That’s how it goes with blue marlin fishing sometimes!

Saturday I hosted Casey Hall and his brothers.  They were here in part to celebrate the passing of their father who brought them fishing in Kona several years ago.  Their fishing trip today coincided with the scattering of ashes of one of my good friends and a great fisherman Newton Leslie.  I asked Casey if it would be ok if we attended the ceremony in the mid morning near one of Newton’s favorite fishing spots, the 1000 fathom curve outside of Capt. Cook.  He had never been to an ash scattering ceremony “Hawaiian Style” so he was eager to take part in it.  At around 9am,  several boats carrying most of Newton’s friends and family arrived at the 1000 fathom line some 12 miles south of the harbor.  Newton’s mother Yvonne rode Newton’s boat and carried his ashes to the chosen spot.  As about 15 boats gathered around, a chorus sang as Newton’s ashes were spread into the water by his mother, his older brother Wes and his sister.  Flowers and leis were thrown into the water and in traditional manner several friends and family jumped in the water to have one last “swim” with Newton.  Thanks Casey for allowing me to take part in the ceremony and time out of our charter!  We fished the rest of the day and struggled.  Near the end of the day we were right out front the harbor and had a nice 300-400lb blue marlin eat the long rigger and drop back to the stinger only to come off.  That would be our only bite of the day.

On Sunday Aug 21st, ex Seattle Seahawk Center Rob Tobek fished with me along with his family.  Rob hosts the Outdoor Line on radio station 710am in Seatle.  We struggled all day without a bite.  Sometimes you try hard but the fish gods aren’t with ya!

Dennis and and his son Max fished on the Lepika with me today for day one of a two day charter.  Today we headed north and on our way to the Grounds we were happily interrupted by a 150lb blue marlin that ate the long rigger lure.  The marlin headed for the horizon in a series of big leaps throwing water in all directions.  Neither of them had ever caught a blue marlin and it was Max’s turn in the chair.  It was hard at first but Max started to let the bucket harness do the work for him and in about 10 minutes got the fish to leader.  After a few pictures we released the blue to fight another day.  We continued on out into the deep and found a big porpoise school.  We worked the school for about an hour and no marks appeared on my sounder indicating tuna.  We were about to give up when a nice ahi exploded on the stinger.  It was Dennis’s turn in the chair.  Dennis also had some difficulty letting the harness help him work the fish to the boat.  Once he got the hang of it he did just fine.  In about 45minutes the ahi was circling a few yards under the boat.  As the swivel popped to the surface I grabbed the leader and started to pull the ahi to the surface.  As I took my second series of wraps on the leader the hooks pulled out and we watched in disgust as a nice 150-160lb ahi swam back into the dark blue!  Oh well, sometimes it’s just not meant to be….UGH!

Erika and Scott from Salt Lake, UT fished with me today.  Scott used to be a flyfishing guide and wanted to try his luck in the salt.  We headed to OTEC buoy to try our luck on the 40-50lbers that had been holding there.  The water was rough on the way up but we finally arrived at the buoy to see fish jumping everywhere.  I went right to the greenstick and on our first pass we hooked a nice 30lber.  Several passes later resulted in two more ahi in the 40-50lb range.  Scott was amazed as he watched ahi blast the dangling squids.  The water started to get rough so we headed farther offshore to look for the north porpoise school.  About 2 hours later I saw a few frigate birds and they were over feeding porpoise.  On our first pass I marked an ahi at 40 fathoms but no bite.  I made a few more passes when the water exploded behind the longrigger.  Scott was in the chair and did a great job using his leverage to fight the ahi to the boat in 20 minutes.  It was his first ahi and it weighed 101lbs!