03-11-2011, 06:15 AM
Well, the family made it on our trip for my mothers birthday this last week. 7 days in Kona Hawaii! Of course the first thing the guys did upon the trip being decided was to book a charter for a day. We went with Captain Jeff Rogers. He posts a monthly report on the Hawaii page. Unfortunately the weather was typical for Idaho, which means rough for Kona apparently. My one brother in law doesn't handle rough seas well at all unfortunately, but we still managed to get some fish landed before turning in for the day.
We started the morning spotting sea turtles in the harbor. Then after heading to the bottom fishing site the captain pulled out a small tuna from the day before that around here would be considered a decent catch (about 16 inches). He dropped it down and about 5 minute later it was fish on. I took the first fish and after about a 10 minute battle landed a Giant Trevally estimated to be about 20 lbs. We circled back and dropped the 2nd tuna off and almost immediately hooked up again. One of the brother in laws took that one and it was giving a better fight. About 10 minutes later we boated a 35 lb Amberjack. We circled one more time and dropped the 3rd tuna and after 2 minutes hooked up on something headed pretty fast for the horizon because it jerked the captain forward 2 steps before he got his footing solid enough to hand the rod off to my father. He then proceeded to take in 10 feet of line then lose 5-8 feet. This continued for quite a while. After just over 15 minutes he said he was pooped and handed off to my other brother in law (who needed the distraction d/t turning shades of green). We still hadn't even seen it yet! He fought it for about another 5 minutes before we saw a shadow. A few minutes later we had it on the surface. A white tip reef shark, about 5-6 feet long! We snapped a couple pics and the captain snapped the wire leader letting the shark bolt for the bottom. We then trolled for a while before heading in. On the way in we got a solid hit from a marlin, but it threw the hook before we could get a fighting belt on and grab the rod. Oh well, still a fun day and one I wouldn't mind doing again.
Pics posted in order fish were caught.
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We started the morning spotting sea turtles in the harbor. Then after heading to the bottom fishing site the captain pulled out a small tuna from the day before that around here would be considered a decent catch (about 16 inches). He dropped it down and about 5 minute later it was fish on. I took the first fish and after about a 10 minute battle landed a Giant Trevally estimated to be about 20 lbs. We circled back and dropped the 2nd tuna off and almost immediately hooked up again. One of the brother in laws took that one and it was giving a better fight. About 10 minutes later we boated a 35 lb Amberjack. We circled one more time and dropped the 3rd tuna and after 2 minutes hooked up on something headed pretty fast for the horizon because it jerked the captain forward 2 steps before he got his footing solid enough to hand the rod off to my father. He then proceeded to take in 10 feet of line then lose 5-8 feet. This continued for quite a while. After just over 15 minutes he said he was pooped and handed off to my other brother in law (who needed the distraction d/t turning shades of green). We still hadn't even seen it yet! He fought it for about another 5 minutes before we saw a shadow. A few minutes later we had it on the surface. A white tip reef shark, about 5-6 feet long! We snapped a couple pics and the captain snapped the wire leader letting the shark bolt for the bottom. We then trolled for a while before heading in. On the way in we got a solid hit from a marlin, but it threw the hook before we could get a fighting belt on and grab the rod. Oh well, still a fun day and one I wouldn't mind doing again.
Pics posted in order fish were caught.
[signature]
