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

The last three days of fishing for us has been incredible and I don’t believe could ever be duplicated!  On the 22nd we tagged a 400lb blue and caught two nice ahis with Tom.  Yesterday, in almost the same exact spot we tagged another 400lb blue and again caught two big ahis!  Today, went eerily the same…

Mike and Bev from Seattle have fished with me for over 3 years and today fished with some friends of mine Scott and Doug from Waimea.  We left the harbor a little later than I like and ran to the area I’ve been finding the blue marlin.  We set up trolling after running about 20 minutes.  We were about 2 miles fromm the spot I had hooked the last 2 400lbers when another big blue piled on the long corner bait just 15 yards behind the boat!  Scott and Doug were upstairs and almost jumped out of their seats as the water exploded behind the boat!  Mike jumped into the chair as the fished peeled off a few hundred yards of line and came up jumping some 200yds back.  We backed down hard on the fish as Mike bore down and got to cranking.  The fish was putting on a great show far behind the boat tailwalking all over the place!  Mike put the reel into low gear and got down and dirty with the fish which by now had dove down.  In about 20 minutes Mike had me to the leader as we took photos of the fish and released her in good condition to fight another day!  As we continued on we spotted a few boats working a nice size porpoise school.  I decided to go right to the greenstick and on our first pass a big ahi exploded on one of our squids!  Mike had somewhat recovered from his 20 minute battle with his first big blue marlin and got in the chair.  Mike made quick work of his first big ahi in about 10 minutes!  His ahi would scale out at 127 1/2lbs!  We packed the fish in ice and ran back to the school to try for another.  The school had spread out a bit and we didn’t see anymore fish for quite a while.  We stayed with them and at about 12pm the school came together and the fish were on the surface.  We lined up a good pass and again another big ahi inhaled one of our squids!  Mike was exhausted and gave the chair up to Scott.  Scott worked this fish over and got me to leader in about 15 minutes.  His ahi would weigh 128lbs!  We were now participants in yet another Ground Hog Day!  3 consecutive days of 400lb blues and 2 ahis!  We had to break out of it so we tried hard for a third ahi.  It was getting late and Scott had a prior engagement so we had to get back to the harbor early.  I decided to make the infamous “last pass” and as I turned to come back to the school another big ahi pounced on one of our squids!  We were on!  This time Doug was up and did an incredible job fighting this fish.  His fish would be the biggest of the three and scale out at 131lbs!  Ground Hog Day averted!!!

Never before have I ever imagined that I would have a Ground Hog day fishing in Kona!  Today was simply amazing and little did we know it would be exactly as my charter yesterday!

Jeff surprised his son Jeffrey with a full day trip on the Lepika for his 14th birthday.  The goal was to catch him anything so we headed back to where I had found fish yesterday.  As we trolled down the coast I was almost exactly in the same area I had tagged a 400lb blue the day before when a big dorsal popped up behind the long corner lure!  As I yelled to Jeff and Jeffrey to watch the fish disappeared for a moment and then showed itself again behind the lure and with one big burst ate it with its mouth wide open!  It was a nice fish and my instincts told me to get dad in the chair but 14yr old Jeffrey was already there and waiting so into the harness he went!  Line peeled off as the blue leaped back across the pattern before emptying a lot of line from our reel.  Jeff held his son in the chair as we backed down on the fish.  Jeffrey did an awesome job keeping the line tight and really paying attention to our directions.  He kept at it and nver gave up.  He fought his first ever blue marlin to the boat in 35 minutes!  We got some great pictures next to the boat before we released her safely!  As we continued along the coast we ran into a big porpoise school tat was spreade out for miles.  We trolled the school for a few hours withou any bites or marks and waited for the school to get together.  When they did, I went to the greenstick and after sometime trying we finally got our first ahi to explode out of the water!  This time Jeff was in the chair and work hard on this fish.  Ahi fight deep and Jeff had to really use his legs to lift this fish from the depths.  He landed his first ahi in about 15 minutes and it weighed 100lbs!  Again, we ran to the porpoise and deployed the greenstick.  We tried for about an hour when another big ahi crashed one of our squids.  Jeff was up again and fought his second ahi tot he boat in about 10 minutes!  His second ahi weighed 98 1/2lbs!  What a way to end a great day on the water for Jeffrey’s 14th birthday!

Tom, his son Dave and daughters Kristen and Sarah, fished with me today.  Tom has fished with me for the last 4 years and has caught a lot of ahi from 120-170lbs but his goal has always been to catch a fish bigger than himself.  Tom usually vacations in the Spring and charters me for about three days to better his chances of seeing quality fish.  Little did we know today would be the day his wish would come true!

We started early as usual and started trolling not far from the harbor.  The sun had just peeked over Hualalai volcano as we neared an area outside of Red Hill when a big dorsal surfaced behind the stinger lure running on my Fin Nor 80w.  It was a nice fish and we watched as it turned on the lure and got the hooks firmly set in its mouth.  Line was screaming off the reel as the fish took of for the horizon.  Tom knew the drill and got buckled intot he fighting chair.  We chased the fish hard and the lighter gear made it more difficult than the usual 130lb tackle we use.  Tom got to work and after 45 minutes got the leader to me.  We took some nice pictures alongside the boat and released her in good shape.  I estimated his fish at a solid 400lbs!  We worked the area more and it wasn’t more than an hour later that another 400lb blue erupted on the short rigger lure!  This time Dave was up and got into the chair.  The fish gave us some nice jumps way out there before racing back towards the boat.  Dave did a nice job fighting the fish but unfortunately the fish came unbuttoned just a few yards before we got to the leader.  We continued along the coast and ran into a nice porpoise school.  We trolled them for a while without any luck so I tried them on the greenstick.  We saw some ahi on the sounder but they wouldn’t bite right away.  Pass after pass we marked them on the screen when about two hours later a big ahi blew up on one of the squids!  Dave was up and got to work fighting his first big ahi.  He made quick work of it and got me the leader in about 15 minutes!  His ahi would weigh 105lbs!  We quickly reset and worked the school and it didn’t take long before another nice fish pounced on the squids!  This time Sarah was up and was a little hesitant getting into the chair.  She was surprised at the power of these fish and struggled at first but quickly got in the groove and got me to the leader.  Her ahi would weigh 141lbs!  What a day…a 400lb blue marlin and 2 nice ahis!  Tom has another day booked later this week so hopefully we can get him an even bigger blue marlin and who knows…maybe some more ahi!