08-20-2003, 11:53 PM
Kona Hawaii fishing report – August 20, 2003
Kona’s reputation for BIG blue marlin continues. Another “Grander” (3rd this year) was caught last week and another one just shy of 1000 lbs. was landed the week before. You might be wishing you were on the charter that caught one of these beasts but neither one was caught by a charter boat. The first beast weighing in at 983 lbs. was hooked up by a small boat with just one guy on board. He had been commercial fishing all night for Yellowfin tuna and was on his way home in the morning when the marlin struck. Realizing it was too big to handle alone, he called for help and another commercial fisherman jumped on board to help out. They landed the fish in just under an hour. The next Kona beast weighed in at 1065 lbs. and was also caught by small boat commercial fishermen on their way home from an all night tuna trip. This one took 3 hours and 20 minutes to land. The big blues (over 500 lbs.) are coming in at a rate of about 1 per day. Most of the blues are running in the 150 to 250 lb. range.
The summer yellowfin tuna bite seems a little slow compared to last year with the daytime catch totals staying at about 4 per day. The nighttime commercial catch of yellowfin and albacore has been pretty good lately.
The spearfish bite is back on and is the most common catch while trolling lately. Most are tagged and released but if you’re looking for some food fish, spearfish is your best shot. They are delicious! The ono are supposed to be in peak season right now but they seem to be the most rare catch lately.
The catch rate for those trolling all day remains well below 50% but the bottom fishing bite has finally picked up with amberjack to over 100 lbs, almaco jack, giant trevally, gray snapper and a wide variety of sharks hitting the baits without much waiting time for a bite. This is by far the hottest fishery for those wanting action instead of a boat ride.
See `ya on the water ,
Capt. Jeff Rogers ,
http://FISHinKONA.com
[signature]
Kona’s reputation for BIG blue marlin continues. Another “Grander” (3rd this year) was caught last week and another one just shy of 1000 lbs. was landed the week before. You might be wishing you were on the charter that caught one of these beasts but neither one was caught by a charter boat. The first beast weighing in at 983 lbs. was hooked up by a small boat with just one guy on board. He had been commercial fishing all night for Yellowfin tuna and was on his way home in the morning when the marlin struck. Realizing it was too big to handle alone, he called for help and another commercial fisherman jumped on board to help out. They landed the fish in just under an hour. The next Kona beast weighed in at 1065 lbs. and was also caught by small boat commercial fishermen on their way home from an all night tuna trip. This one took 3 hours and 20 minutes to land. The big blues (over 500 lbs.) are coming in at a rate of about 1 per day. Most of the blues are running in the 150 to 250 lb. range.
The summer yellowfin tuna bite seems a little slow compared to last year with the daytime catch totals staying at about 4 per day. The nighttime commercial catch of yellowfin and albacore has been pretty good lately.
The spearfish bite is back on and is the most common catch while trolling lately. Most are tagged and released but if you’re looking for some food fish, spearfish is your best shot. They are delicious! The ono are supposed to be in peak season right now but they seem to be the most rare catch lately.
The catch rate for those trolling all day remains well below 50% but the bottom fishing bite has finally picked up with amberjack to over 100 lbs, almaco jack, giant trevally, gray snapper and a wide variety of sharks hitting the baits without much waiting time for a bite. This is by far the hottest fishery for those wanting action instead of a boat ride.
See `ya on the water ,
Capt. Jeff Rogers ,
http://FISHinKONA.com
[signature]