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

Today was Tom’s last day.  The big blue marlin just haven’t shown up yet in the numbers we thought would be here during the full moon phase of April.  Only two boats of the entire fleet saw big blue marlin today.  There was also a good flurry of small striped marlin and spearfish today but we were after big fish.  So given the choice, Tom decided to stick to the big tuna and troll for marlin as we searched for the porpoise.  Early in the day we caught a mahimahi and shortly after missed a short nose spearfish.  There was a nice porpoise school a few miles away in the opposite direction we were headed so we high speed trolled to it.  On the way we hooked another mahimahi.  When we arrived to the school there were ahi rolling everywhere.  Without anymore live bait from the previous day we set up the greenstick and got bit instantly.  For the next 2 hours we caught 3 nice ahi from 84-90lbs. 

Word quickly got out about the porpoise school and twelve more boats showed up to try their luck.  With so much pressure on the school we decided to leave and troll for marlin.  Again, Tom’s luck ran out and the big blue marlin will have to wait until next year!  His 3 days of fishing totaled 6 ahi from 80lbs-106lbs and 2 mahimahi.

Tom was back for more action.  We still had a few live baits from yesterday so we decided to look for the porpoise school again and try for some big ahis.  Boats were spread out looking for the porpoise early in the morning so we found a spot between them all and started searching.  We lucked out and found a really small pile of maybe 30 porpoise.  After a few passes it wasn’t looking good.  We didn’t mark any fish on the sounder.  Then on the outside part of the school we saw an ahi jump chasing bait fish.  We cleared our lines and set up a live bait in front of the school.  It didn’t take long and we were bit.  Tom fought this 90lb ahi to the boat in about 15 minutes. 

We didn’t see many more fish in the school so we left it in search of a big blue marlin.  On our way back we missed a spearfish but the big blue marlin had eluded us.  More on day 3 coming up!

Tom is back to fish Kona.  Last year, Tom fished with me for three days and caught 2 really nice ahi on his last day of fishing.  This year he’s back to try and catch something that weighs more than him.  He timed his trip to coincide with the April full moon when our big blue marlin show up.  Well, this April we have yet to see any monster blues so we headed out to the deep in search of big yellowfin tuna.  Since we had caught 2 nice ahi on live bait a few days prior, I got up on the water at 2:30am and caught us some live bait for the day.  Tom arrived at the boat at around 6:15am and we were on our way.  Again we lucked out and found a school of porpoise loaded with big ahi.  Our first bait in the water got bit right away.  Tom had a nice 106lb ahi to the boat in a few minutes.  The third drop on the porpoise resulted in another ahi that went 90lbs.  

The porpoise school spread out for miles making it difficult to locate fish so we called it quits and headed home.  We’ll have to try for a bigger one tomorrow!  Day 2 coming up….

Since we did so well a few days prior landing 4 nice ahi, my dad and I decided to try the school again.  Anticipating a lot of pressure from commercial fishermen and other charter boats we changed tactics and brought live bait with us.  Our plan worked out perfect!  When we spotted the porpoise school there were several boats already there.  We set up just in front of the pile and saw an ahi jump clear out of the water a few yards behind us.  I bridled the live bait and sent it back a few yards behind the boat but before I could even let it back 20 yards the line took off and we were hooked up to what would be my father’s largest ahi he had ever landed.  In about 30 minutes he had a nice 181lb-er to leader.  The next few hours yielded the same results.  The next three baits we dropped back were eaten immediately by hungry ahi.  We landed another ahi which weighed about 95lbs and unfortunately I broke another nice ahi off on the leader that looked around 130lbs.  There’s a lot of nice fish in the school right now and the fishing should continue to be great right thru summer.