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

Jim and America of Northridge, Ca fished with me today.  I ran far offshore to a tsunami warning buoy in hopes of getting them into some light tackle action.  We arrived at the buoy around 8am.  It didn’t look too good but on our first pass we caught a nice mahimahi and a small ahi.  I saw several other mahimahi follow the one we hooked so I rigged my light tackle rods with strips of bait.  For the next several hours we caught 15 mahimahi from 10-15lbs.  On one of our passes near the buoy a big ono came up and ate Jim’s bait which had a light leader of only 80lb test.  I told him it would probably break the leader eventually but he fought the fish to leader in about 15 minutes.  Pretty amazing considering ono have razor sharp teeth.  This was Jim’s first ono and what an amazing way to catch it!  Jim and America also caught several small ahi in the 10-15lb range. 

Mike Miller of Chicago is a fly casting instructor and an avid fly tyer.  His luck in the saltwater hasn’t been very good but he decided to try his luck here in Kona on the Lepika.  We headed south to one of the nearshore buoys.  When we got there the skipjack tuna and ahi were jumping all around so Mike got his 8wt rod out.  For the next several hours Mike caught all the skipjack tuna and small ahi that he wanted.  He tied several different patterns and the ones that were most effective were smaller baitfish imitations with a lot of flash.

Daryl had to cut his trip short this time to fly back to California but we were able to get 4 solid days of fishing.  Last year Daryl fished 5 days with me and we spread the days out over a 8 day period.  He caught several nice ahi on that trip and a small blue marlin.  This time we fished 4 consecutive days.  On day one we didn’t even have all the lines out when a blue marlin about 150lbs jumped on the long rigger and quickly came off.  Shortly after, another blue marlin about the same size ate a small bullet running on the stinger.  This fish gave Daryl a hard time but he managed to fight it to the boat in about 15 minutes.  When I grabbed the leader, we saw that the fish was snagged in the dorsal which is why the marlin put up such a hard fight.  We trolled for another 3 hours without a bite when an estimated 300lb blue tried the long corner position.  The marlin knocked the lure off the rigger and quickly switched to the short rigger.  It put on a great show as Daryl and I watched this fish swirl and intimidate the lure.  The blue marlin are here to spawn and it appeared that this fish was more interested in chasing the lure out of it’s territory than actually eating it.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get a shot at this fish.  On the second day of fishing we again worked the same area we had found fish.  The fish had moved farther south and we wasted a few hours in the wrong spot.  We headed farther offshore and found a small porpoise school and went right to the greenstick.  On our first pass Daryl got to see a nice ahi blast one of the squids hanging in the air.  He jumped in the chair and landed a nice 120lb ahi.  On our next pass with the greenstick another ahi ate one of the squids and Daryl landed his second ahi that weighed 110lbs.  More boats started to join us in the school so we decided to troll.  On our way back to the harbor, Daryl landed 2 nice short nose spearfish.  Day 3 was a much different day.  We went to C buoy to live bait.  I had marked some big fish there but we didn’t get a bite.  The porpoise school was nearby so we headed that way.  There were fish in the pile but they were hanging deep in the school.  We tried the greenstick and dropping bait but none of them worked.  We ended day 3 without a fish in the boat.  On Daryl’s last day we trolled north of the harbor and were able tag and release a 200lb blue marlin.  The fish put on a great show jumping several times just a few yards from the back of the boat. 

Daryl’s four day total yielded 2 blue marlin from 150-200lbs, 2 ahi from 110-120lbs and 2 short nose spearfish.  He plans on making another trip out this winter or maybe next spring for more offshore action.

It’s been some time since my last report because I’ve been crewing for The Last Chance in the last three tournaments.  The blue marlin bite has been really good the last few days.  They’re in spawning mode and swarms of blue marlin both small and big are holding in localized areas.  If you are lucky enough to find them during the tide changes you’re gonna get climbed on!  The big yellowfin tuna have made the best showing in years.  Blind strikes are happening now and they’re holding on the ledges and in the porpoise.

In the Firecracker tournament (July 2-3) we had a slow start, tagging just one marlin and missing another on the first day.  On day 2 we waited until 12pm before our first bite and in the next 2 hours tagged another 2 blue marlin which put us tied for third place.  Luckily it was enough for us to make a few thousand dollars.

During the World Cup Blue Marlin Tournament (July 4th) we were in the right area but just missed running in front of the big girl that won the tournament.  We fished right out front the harbor and tagged a small 150lb blue.  About a mile south of our position, the Maui Jim caught the winning blue marlin that went a little over 700lbs.

July 6-7th we entered the Marlin Magic Tournament.  We had a great start and were tied for first on day one with 2 blue marlin tagged.  Day 2 we fished a little farther south trying to avoid the flotilla of boats fishing off of Honaunau and missed the morning flurry of bites just north of us.  We again waited until 12pm before we getting our first bite from a fiesty 200lb-er.  As we leadered the fish to the boat a small 90lb blue followed her to the boat.  As Ian, the other deckhand, held the fish alongside the boat I franticly tried to catch the small blue that was following.  It wasn’t interested and after over 5 minutes of trying we set the blue marlin free and they both disappeared.  Our next bite came at 3pm and we tagged our third blue marlin of the tournament and needed another to win.  At 3:30, thirty minutes from stop fishing, we had something eat the stinger position only to cut us off on the run.  After inspecting the line it appeared to have been an ono that broke us off.  Unfortunately for us, we lost by 2 tags in this tournament. 

The good news is that the fish are here and I will be fishing for the next 7 days with Darryl from Los Angeles.  Darryl fished last year with me for 4 days and is looking for more kona bluewater action!  M

This week I hosted Daniel Stokes, his father Darrell and his Uncle Mike during the 2011 Kona Kick Off Tournament.  There were 35 boats entered in the tournament.  There was also another small boat tournament being held with 130 boats entered so there was some serious boat traffic on the water.  We put our bets down on blue marlin and ahi since there was a pretty good bite for both species during the last few days.  Daniel and Uncle Mike fished day one and it was a test of patience for us.  We would end the day without a bite.  There were about 10 marlin tagged and released and a really nice 718lb-er weighed.  Not a great day by Kona standards but enough fish were around to keep everyone interested.  On day two Daniel and his father Darrell were ready for action.  Darrell used to fish commercially on the Hilo side of the Big Island and is used to rough water.  It was great to listen to his stories of wide open ono and ahi bites off of Pohoiki back in the day.  After yesterday’s disappointing results, we decided to head offshore in search of ahi.  No one caught an ahi on Saturday and all the daily bets rolled over to toda y.  I headed out to where I have been finding the porpoise school regularly.  It took several hours but near the end of the day we found a big pile full of birds and leaping porpoise.  On our first pass we took a strike on the long corner.  Daniel was up and strapped himself in the chair and fought our first 105lb ahi to the boat in about 15 minutes.  We ran back to the front of the school and set up.  Again the rigger came down and this time Darrell was up.  Darrell jumped in the chair and fought his 129lb ahi to the boat.  It was nice to have a seasoned pro on the rod even though he hadn’t caught an ahi for quite awhile.  With two nice ahi in the boat we continued to work the pile but didn’t mark any other fish on the sounder.  As the day went on we hoped no one else caught a bigger ahi.  With minutes left in the day we finally heard the words we wanted to hear, “Stop fishing”.  We finally could celebrate our win!