Posted 06/15/09

BIGGEST SAILFISH OF 2009? TAKE YOUR PICK. The biggest sailfish caught off Kona so far in 2009 weighed either 45 pounds or 95 pounds. Take your pick but only after you’ve read the stories.
    Bob Lebrun caught the 45-pounder while fishing with Jim Englehard and John Gross on Jim’s boat Finn-S.
    Bob got the strike at around 1:00 pm as Jim steered his 22-footer along the edge of an underwater canyon off Kealakekua Bay. The well-known site attracts a lot of fish because the current pushes against the canyon wall and forces deep nutrient-rich water to the surface.
    The nutrients generate a food chain that transfers up the food chain through plankton, fingerling fish, and aku to the big-game predators like tuna, marlin and, very occasionally, a stray sailfish.
    The fishermen didn’t know what they had hooked until Bob had brought the fish to the boat, Jim grabbed the bill “and the big sail flopped open,” Jim said.
    It was Jim’s first sailfish here, though he had caught many when he lived in California and trailered Finn-S down the coast into Mexican waters where sailfish are as common as flies.
    Jim fishes only small tackle. The 50-wide reel Bob fought this sailfish with is the biggest gear on Jim’s boat.
    The sailfish hit a purple Softhead ™, a popular choice for big blues and ahi, which makes it a very risky choice for light tackle.
    “I’ve lost a lot of big lures to big fish,” Jim said. “But I like the thrill of defeat. We always fish under-gunned for Kona, but I think heavy tackle would hurt me more than it would hurt the fish.”
    The Finn-S sailfish is the biggest one caught on rod and reel and weighed and photographed at The Charter Desk.
    Down the coastline, Ken Ford and Tyler Lauderbacker took Ken’s little 13-footer out to troll for ono.
    Ken is determined to catch an 80-pound ono to beat out the 79-pounder we currently have at the top of our Big-Fish List.
    They cruised the flat water along the 40-fathom line with two lines out. They trolled a heavy rig for big fish and a lighter one for smaller ones, and they hoped the fish would pick the right one.
    A frantic aku gave them their first clue that something dramatic was about to happen. The small skipjack tuna jumped in their wake, skipped along the surface toward them and tried to leap into the boat.
    Something big was chasing it.
    Just then, the reel on the lighter rod screamed with the weight of what they were certain was an ono. Immediately afterward, the bigger rod kicked into action.
    “Line was peeling off the big Penn International like there was no end,” Ken told me. “I was sure that was my first 100-pound ono.”
    They worked on the smaller rig first, figuring the fish on the big line would stay stuck, Ken said. Their first fish shook free, so they put all of their effort into bringing the bigger line in.
    When they got it to the boat, they were stunned to see a big sailfish. Ken said it weighed at least 90 pounds and maybe even 100.
    Everybody in Milolii got the chance to ooh and aah over the fish, but Ken decided it wasn’t worth hauling it all the way up the coast to the Charter Desk to get a certified weight.
With no official weight on a certified scale, Ken’s fish is just a good story. Only weighed-fish qualify for our Big-Fish List.
    “I’m not after fame and fortune,” Ken said. “I just thought other fishermen might like to know there are some big sailfish around.”
    And if you want to catch one, you might want to copy Ken’s methods. He says he was trolling with a plastic-headed “popper” lure made by Zutt’s of Kauai. The head was green and red and the skirt was blue and silver with a bit of pink.
    Note also that he was trolling just outside the opelu koa. Sailfish like to feed in packs. With their huge intimidating sails up they circle of baitfish and force them into tight balls of writhing frenzy.
    If an aku blunders on the scene, it is well-advised to get the heck out of there – even jumping into a passing boat if necessary.

BIGGEST AHI OF 2009? TAKE YOUR PICK. The biggest Kona ahi of 2009 is now either 210 pounds or 260 pounds, depending on your point of view.
    On Wednesday, Jeff Green of Las Vegas, Nevada, caught the 210-pound ahi while fishing aboard Hookele with Capt. Guy Terwilliger and crew Brad Damasco.
    Jeff’s 210 is the heaviest tuna caught on rod and reel and officially weighed and photographed at the Charter Desk scales in Honokohau Harbor.
    On an overnight trip to South Point, Nate McCasland boated an ahi that might have weighed as much as 260 pounds. Nate is a commercial fisherman who gilled and gutted the catch immediately to preserve the quality of the fish for the long trip back from the southernmost point in the US.
    Weighed on the commercial scales of Nate’s fish-buyer, the dressed-out tuna weighed 236 pounds. Nate caught the fish on a handline.
     Our Big-Fish List recognizes rod and reel catches only, which doesn’t diminish our awe over the truly remarkable catch in any way. We haven’t seen a 260-pound ahi (if it was that) since the 1970’s. The significance of the catch may be that the big ones may return someday – maybe even this year.
The Hookele’s 210-lb tuna hit a medium blue bullet lure on a blind strike as Guy steered the boat toward C-buoy. It was around 2:00 pm, soon after the low tide change.
“The strike caught everyone by surprise,” Guy said. “We never saw signs of anything – no birds, no bait, no tuna rolling.”
Blind strikes mean that the spring tuna run is ignoring the dolphin schools to look for baitfish closer to shore and around the FADs.
“They are showing up here and there now,” Guy said. “Not many of them and later than usual, but better late than never.”
The tuna was “a real toad,” Guy said. “Jeff took an hour and 15 minutes to get it up with an 80-wide reel loaded with100-pound-test-line.”
Last year, the Hookele’s two biggest tuna weighed 228 and 207. Neither was Guy’s biggest ever. He once caught a 258-pounder while fishing the same area aboard his skiff.
 Nate baited his gorilla ahi with a sardine and fought it up in 15 to 30 minutes.
Nate’s boat Ka Lae is a 24-foot Radon and this was his maiden voyage on it
He says he learned his skills from the Fishing Hawaii Style book series (aw, shucks) and practiced them on a succession of small boats. Born and raised at South Point, Nate has worked his way up from a 16-footer, to an 18-footer before getting his present “ride.”
Nate says he has never fished on a charterboat, but by a weird coincidence that was about to change.
“My girlfriend was listening to the radio and called in to win a fishing trip on a charterboat,” Nate said. “The boat is the Hookele.
No doubt Guy and Nate will have a lot to talk about.
“Having somebody else do the work will be a real treat for me,” Nate said. “I usually take two days to load up my boat and two days to clean up afterwards. When I come in from South Point with, say, 40 fish, my boat has palu everywhere -- even up in the depth recorder.”

CONSTANT ACTION ON ANXIOUS. At times last week the blue marlin bite was as good as it has ever been at any time in history. That’s an easy claim to justify when you are aboard a boat that is constantly hooked up and fighting marlin after marlin from the start of the trip right up to the finish.
    Cindy and Adam Rech, a honeymooning couple from California, chartered the Anxious with Capt. Neal Isaacs because they had been told big-game fishing is the thing to do when you come to Kona. They had also been told that a half-day was plenty of time to do it, Neal said.
    “Whoever told them that was correct,” Neal said. “An hour into the trip we hooked up in 200 fathoms off the Caves.”
    Cindi fought an estimated 500-pound blue marlin, her first big-game fish ever, to the boat in about 25 minutes.
    “We tagged the fish but could not revive her,” Neal said. “The fish had spent most of the 25-minute fight in the air and didn’t have enough left to survive.”
    Cindi’s catch would turn out to weigh 571 pounds, but the day was just beginning.
    “Twenty-five minutes later, at 85 fathoms off Red Hill, Adam got his chance at a big fish,” Neal said. “The fish put up an aerial show for 20 minutes, but this time we tagged it and successfully released it. We estimated it at 500 pounds or more.”
    Their half-day trip was now nearly half over, but more action was still to come.
    Adam had three more shots at marlin. A marlin estimated at 600 pounds or more jumped all over and then jumped off. The same happened for a 450-pounder and a 250-pounder.
    “Just to top off their half-day trip, Cindi hooked up one more time and we tagged a 250-pound blue just inside VV-Buoy,” Neal said.
    “Six shots and three blue marlin in a half day,” Neal said. “Two catches over 500 pounds. Not bad fishing.”
    Neal’s only regret, if the Anxious had experienced the same luck in the Hawaii Big Game Fishing Club Rock ‘N Reel Tournament a few days before, they would have pocketed $20,000.

JAY HAWK WINS  STATE SHOOTOUT. In an odd twist of fate, Kona entrants boated the two biggest fish in the statewide Black, Blue and Striped Marlin Shootout last Saturday, but a Maui boat copped the state title.
     Of the eleven competing teams from Kona, six entered only the Big Island section of the competition.
    On Strong Persuader with Capt. Shane O’Brien, Sue Stoltzman boated a 241.5-pound blue to top all anglers. Sue and Shane had to settle for the Big Island money, $4,675, only because they had skipped the statewide entry level.
    On Marlin Magic, Captains Jason Holtz and Marlin Parker boated a 180-pound blue, the second largest fish of the event. They, too, had skipped the statewide part of the competition, but won $990 in an optional entry level.
    That left the state title wide open for the Maui boat Jay Hawk with a 170.5-pound blue. Skipper Steve Shultz hooked the winning fish early in the day on a double strike at JJ-Buoy. Big surprise – one fish of the double was an ahi weighing over 100 pounds while the other was the winning blue,
    They say big marlin follow big tuna. Since the 100-pound ahi was way too big for the 170.5-pound blue to eat, chances are its much bigger mate was either too slow to grab the lure or too busy noshing on another big tuna.
    The Jay Hawk’s catch paid $4,250 for biggest in the state and another $2,975 as Maui champs for a total of $7,225.
     The Maui boat Privateer with Jim Oldenberg caught a 159-pound blue to take home $540 as the second largest Maui fish.
      Tournament chairman Jeff Kahl skippers the Maui boat Piper, but fished Kona waters for the day. Jeff’s team caught a 175-pound blue early in the day but released it because he figured it was too small to be competitive.                  Piper also released a 100-pound striped marlin and a 25-pound spearfish to record his second three-billfish slam in 27 years as a captain.
         “We release every fish we can and didn’t think a 175-pounder would hold up for the title,” Jeff said.
         The tournament had originally been scheduled for May but Jeff decided to switch it to June because marlin fishing was slow preceding the scheduled date.
      Jeff says the second Saturday in June worked out so well that it will become the permanent date for the event.

EARLY BITE ON HIGH NOON: BIGGEST STRIPED MARLIN OF 2009. Skipper Dee Bradford had just finished giving Andrew Kocisky instructions on how to fight a fish when he immediately got tested on what he had learned.
    “He was still in the fighting chair when I saw the marlin come up on the lure,” Dee said. “The line came down from the outrigger and we were hooked up.”
    In fact, he was hooked up to a 117.5-pound striped marlin – the biggest stripe caught here so far this year.
    The fish hit as Dee’s boat High Noon crossed the 500-fathom line off the south end of Kaiwi Point.
    Andrew fought it to the boat in about 20 minutes on 130-pound gear.  
    When Dee pulled the fish up to the boat with the leader, he saw the long bill and high dorsal and figured it might be a big stripe rather than a blue. He had tagged a number of blues early in the week and decided to take this one to grab the striped marlin lead.
    The new list-leader hit a Marlin Magic Baby Ruckus lure with root-beer colored head and matching skirts. It’s a combo Dee has had a lot of luck with over the years.
     The fish was a surprise because striped marlin season is just about over by now, Dee said, and a much bigger fish usually holds the striped marlin lead at this time of year.
     “It seems like the fish has been out of phase all of this year so far,” Dee said. “I had my best blue marlin fishing in January with three blues over 500 pounds. The ono turned up much later than usual and are really only beginning to hit well.”
      Dee says he usually starts every trip off by trolling ono lane off Kaiwi Point and generally picks up one or two before heading offshore for marlin. The day he caught the 117.5 pound striped marlin, he had already caught an ono right off Kaiwi.

BILLFISHER II AND CAMELOT SCORE BIG FISH. Mark June 10 on your calendars so you can go back and research “big-fish” conditions. At around mid-day, the Billfisher II hooked a 730.5-pound blue marlin and the Camelot a 514-pounder.
    Howard Whitcomb, skipper of the Billfisher II, said his big marlin hit while they were trolling in 800 fathoms straight out of Kaiwi Point. They had left the harbor at 10:00 am on the second four-hour charter of the day. (Their first runs from 5:30 am until 9:30 am to catch the fish unawares and the competition still in bed.)
     The fish gobbled a chrome jethead lure at about 1:00 pm. Teenager Riley Martin battled it for the next two hours, aided by his dad.
     Capt. Erik Drahos, the Billfisher II’s crew, did his best to keep shorten the fight by grabbing the leader whenever he came within reach.
     “Erik had to let go five times,” Howard said. “The fish wouldn’t quit.”
     Howard thinks the hot fishing of late may be due to the hot weather.
     He says the weatherman has already reported nine days with air temperatures of 90 or more.
     Warming sea temperatures are only part of the formula. If you are a believer in moon phases, the fishing action came four days after the full moon. The fish struck an hour or two after the low tide change for the day.
     By contrast, the year’s first grander came on the day of the full moon and hit near the top of the high tide change.
     Don’t fret if none of that makes sense. Fishing seldom does.
     With the Billfisher II’s dawn to dusk schedule, Howard and Erik can fit three “half-day” trips into one day. Tell that to your favorite math teacher.
     On Camelot, Capt. Robert Hudson and crew Mark Schubert found their 514-pounder in 200 fathoms off Kaiwi Point about an hour before, which puts it right on the low-tide change.
     Their fish grabbed a bullet-shaped “Baby Blue” lure, a rather small mouthful for such a big fish.
      The hook point found a mortal spot, the fish gave up in about 15 minutes, and they boated it in another 15.
     Mark keeps track of the tide changes on his I-Phone.
     “In addition to the tides, the I-Phone also tells you how fast the water is moving,” Robert said. “We’ve been getting our best bites when the water has been moving fastest.”

NOW’S THE TIME. This is the time of year when you not only have your best chance for a shot at a blue marlin but for multiple shots on any day.
    Last week several boats scored with as many as four marlin in a single trip.
    Skipper Ryan Foster hosted Texas ranchers Winn and Peter Breedan aboard Dojo for a trip with five blue marlin strikes and four fish released. The fish ranged form 180 to 325 pounds, which means they were most likely males escorting one or more ladies. (Marlin under 300 pounds are most likely males and marlin over 300 are almost certainly females).
Ryan says he caught all of his fish “down south.”
    Skipper Jeff Heintz had also caught four marlin a few days before.
     Pete and Lola Rygwalski of Worland, Wyoming, had chartered Jeff’s Linda Sue III specifically to fulfill their live-long dream of catching a marlin.
     That’s usually the kiss of death. Sometimes, the more you want it the less likely lady luck will smile on your efforts.
     Lola’s luck prevailed, however, and her husband Pete boated blue marlin weighing 247, 172 and 108 and a striped marlin weighing 85.
     Jeff says all of the action came in 600 fathoms between the harbor and VV-buoy.
     The Rygwalskis packed up the striped marlin to take home for a giant Wyoming style barbecue.

SMALL BOAT CATCHES BIG FISH. Ken Ford of Ocean Veiw Estates fishes offshore in the most modest of sea craft. He operates a 13-foot skiff powered by a 15-horse, hand-steered outboard motor, which he launches at Milolii.
     Mostly, he and his buddy Jeff “Mud Shark” Bartley troll for ono. In good weather, they head out to UU-Buoy to jig for ahi and bigeye tuna. While jigging, they often deploy a floater with a baited line in hopes of catching a really big tuna.
     That was the plan one day last week, except that they got more ambitious than usually.
     While they were catching aku, a big mahimahi snatched an aku, mouthed it a bit and spit it back out.
     “We really wanted to catch that mahimahi,” Ken said. “The next time I pulled up an aku – a really lively one – I hooked it to the floater, tossed it out and let it swim down. Right away, it started swimming hard like it was being chased by a shark.”
     Ken took his eyes off the floater for a second while he decided where to try next, and when he looked back, the little black buoy was gone.
     “The dark color makes it hard to see, but the next time we saw it, there was no doubt,” Ken said.
     The floater had bounced back up to the surface about a hundred yards away – and it was being towed by a 250-pound marlin tail-dancing across the surface “going 50 miles per hour,” Ken said.
     Ken and Mud Shark chased the buoy, caught up with it, and then started a tug-of-war.
     The marlin spun the little boat around like a top as the two fishermen hung onto the line.
     The aggressive billfish eventually wore itself out pulling the boat around and came to the surface exhausted.
     “The circle hook was picture perfect, hooked in the lip at the base of the bill,” Ken said. “We were never going to lose that fish.”
     The next battle was getting it back to shore – and then trying to find someone who would believe the story.

TRIPLE THREAT 11-YEAR-OLD. Zac Wigzell, 11, holds a junior world record for shortbill spearfish. Last week, he added the state novice 65-pound wrestling championship to his list of awards, says his proud granddad, Terry Wigzell.
    Sometime between wrestling with fish and other pre-teens, he learned the technique of molding polyester resin fishing lures.
    After he popped his first plastic lure head out of a rubber mold, he polished it, skirted it, and then began pressuring his dad, Capt. Chuck Wigzell to try it out on Chuck’s boat Hooked Up.
    Zac came along on the charter, of course, perhaps just to make sure his dad was doing it right.
    Chuck ran the pretty little lure on the stinger. Fifteen minutes out of the harbor, a 150-pound marlin lunched the lure and verified that the kid really does know how to make lures.
    What’s next for the accomplished kid? Well, junior high school for one.

BOTTOM FISH NEWS. Jason Shively and Keoni Erger hold the lead in the opakapaka category on our Big-Fish List. They caught their huge 17-pound snapper “down south,” Jason said, while fishing the bottom along the 75-fathom line. They baited it with a strip of fresh ika caught from one of the squid they hooked the night before while ika-shibi fishing.
    But I tossed in that update partly to sugarcoat a bitter pill.
    The National Marine Fisheries Service has determined that the limit for deep water fish of commercial importance is close and they will close the bottom fishery from July 6 through August 31. The closure effects opakapaka, onaga, ehu, kalekale, lehi, gindai and hapuupuu.

OHANA TOURNAMENT RESULTS.
On June 6, the Ohana Boat Trailers 9th annual Four-flag Fishing Tournament attracted a field of 53 trailered boats.
    The small craft left Honokohau harbor at 5:30 am in hopes of winning all or part of the $6,275 prize money.
    At the end of the day, Harry Mederios was named grand champion. His team on Hookum boated a 35 pound ono and a 54.5-pound striped marlin to win a Penn 130VSX fishing reel.
    The first-place flag winners:
    Ono, 44.5-pounds, Tammy O, captained by Edgar Okada, $2,651.
    Mahimahi, 10.5-pounds Holohlo, captain by Robert Oswald, $971.
    Marlin, 340.5-pounds, Ody, captained by Rob Carter, $2,651.
    No qualifying ahi were caught.
    Second-place flag fish prizes went to:
    Ono, 43-pounds, Puniwailani, captain Max Cabulizan.
Marlin, 146 pounds, Kai Koa, captain Earl Regidor.
    Third place:
    Ono, 40.5 pounds, Lawaia O Hawaii, captain Walter Gray.
    Marlin, 108 pounds, Ody, captain Rob Carter.
Catch results courtesy of Tootsie Timm.
   
OFFSHORE AMAZONS SPOIL FOR A FIGHT. Big blue marlin are all feisty females.  Well-equipped for a fight, it’s no stretch to call them “Amazons.” And they have the scars to warrant the war-like name.
      On Thursday, the Marlin Magic battled two big blues, one of which turned out to have an 18-inch long gash in its forehead. When skipper Jason Holtz dug around in the wound, he discovered the spear from the nose of a shortbill spearfish.
     It had been broken off right at the nostrils, Jason said. Big blues chow down on their smaller cousins (call them cannibals, too) but this time the snack struck back.
     The tactic worked for the shortbill – now a “no-bill.”  It got away.  In the past, when we’ve seen spears broken off in blue marlin, we’ve found the rest of the spearfish in the marlin’s belly.
     Jason and crew Brian Toney hosted the Curlin family for a full-day charter.  Their first hook-up turned out to be a girl fight.  Carma Curlin, 21, fought a 500-pounder to the boat in about 15 minutes.  Jason and Brian released it after working for five minutes to revive it to look for another fight.
     An hour or so later, Carma’s brother James, 13, hooked a 545-pound blue.  After James beat this one in a short fight, too, the Curlins decided to keep it as a trophy of an extremely unusual day.
     “This was one of the really ugly ones with lots of scars,” Jason said.
     That’s no compliment for a lady, unless she lives by the sword and has a bad temper.
     Yes, it was the first fish for each of the siblings, but it was almost as unusual for Jason and Brian.  Not many skippers can claim a one-day catch of two blues weighing more than 500 pounds each. 
     Marlin Magic found the action south of Red Hill. Jason had heard that a big fish had been caught and lost there the day before.  Both Curlin fish came up while the Marlin Magic trolled Umi Koa, a historically successful marlin hotspot. Each hit a Marlin Magic brand lure – one a Ruckus and the other a Plunger.
     Jason hooked both fish soon after talking with me by boat phone so I’m taking credit for the good luck. As yet, no one has trademarked an “Amazing  Amazon Lure” so I’m staking claim to it right here and right now.

BITE ME THREE BEATS THIRD BIGGEST MARLIN OF 2009.  Thirteen is a lucky number for Captain Dave Bensco and his crew Jimmy Jeffries. Especially when it has a nine in front of it, as in 913.
     But the day did not start off lucky for Dave, Jimmy and his party.  They trolled out to F-buoy, tried unsuccessfully to catch fish around the FAD and were heading back to port empty.
     From his vantage point on the bridge, Dave saw Jimmy free-spool the reel and asked what was happening.  Jimmy had seen what he thought was a spearfish and was letting line out rapidly to make the lure drop down deeper.  When you then advance the lever, the lure darts back up, which often teases a fish into striking.
     But instead of seeing a spearfish jump, a blue marlin had taken the chrome funnel-head jet lure and rocketed into the air about 150 yards away. 
     Over the next hour and forty minutes, the marlin went through three anglers, each taking a turn on the rod and reel.  All were novices with no experience working with a bucket seat harness in a fighting chair. 
     Fortunately, the “Lucky 13” fish cooperated by staying up on the surface and not trying to empty the spool with long runs. 
     Dave had just replaced the Amilon-T line on the new Shimano rod and reel, and the effort paid off by providing a big margin for novice error.
     When the marlin was close, however, it started a series of switchbacks -- swimming right, then left, over and over.  Perfect gear or not, the repetitive switchbacks can defeat you by working the hook back and forth until it opens a hole big enough to let the marlin shake free.
     But the marlin tired before it could shuck the hook.  By now, the Bite Me 3 crew knew they had the biggest marlin of Dave’s seven-year career – maybe even a grander -- and decided to find out how big.  With a “short length” of 132, it was long enough, but the 18.5-inch tail girth suggested it was less about 850 pounds.     
     The true weight split the difference but it was still a personal record for Dave and Jimmy.

Posted 06/22/09

KONA IKI JOUSTING MATCH. With all of the formidable-looking armament bristling from the sides and gunnels of a typical big-game boat, it’s inevitable that some aggressive big fish will accept the challenge for a joust.
     In the Kona Iki Trollers Invitational Tournament, Miles Nakahara and Lance Furuuchi battled just such a combative giant. In a duel between the bill of a 745-pound blue marlin and the metal outrigger on their boat Puamana II, the outrigger lost.
     Miles and Lance prevailed and took home the tournament title.
     The fish hit at 9:00 am as the Puamana II pair trolled in from the deep where they had been trying for ahi and otadu. They were heading for C-buoy to catch a baitfish when the marlin interrupted their plans.
     The fish had ignored the big marlin poppers close to the boat and sucked in a small lure on the outrigger. Then it headed straight down into the depths. Small lure, deep dive – must be an ahi, the two veteran fishermen assumed.
     So they sat there “talking story” and casually bringing in the lines. After all, an ahi only dives down until the water gets too cold – say 200 yards or so below. So you just wait out the dive.
     The easy-going scene changed quickly when they realized the line was still running out and nearly half a mile of it had peeled off.
     Lance took over the fight, and the fish revealed its true blue colors. It raced to the surface and jumped in the distance.
     At first sight, Miles and Lance guessed it at 400 pounds – big, but a size they had managed easily before in many decades of fishing.
     “When we were younger, 400 pounds was nothing,” says Miles, 58.
     They got it to leader in about an hour and a half, but the fish felt very heavy as they tried to pull it up to gaff. That’s when the aggressive fish decided to “crash the outrigger,” Miles said.
     “It’s all crooked now and I have to figure out how to straighten it,” Miles said.
     When they finally got the marlin under control, they tried to pull it into the boat. After three tries with much-needed stops for rest, they quit trying.
     “We thought we were just getting old,” Miles said.
     Besides, he had just repainted the boat and got it “all cherried-out,” Miles said. No sense tearing up the new paint. Even when he is catching ahi, he does his best to keep the gaff points away from the glossy new finish.
     So they towed it back to port and got help pulling it up on the ramp. Laid out in front of them, they got their first sense of how big it was. Their fish was the biggest in the tournament by far.
     Miles has to repaint the scars and straighten out the rigger, but he took home about $2,500 in fishing tackle prizes to ease the pain.
     Team Duck Soup (Butch Chee and Bruce Berard) took second in the KIT Invitational with a 235-pound blue marlin.
     Team Rod Bender (Kerwin and Heather Masunaga) finished third with a 203-pound blue and first in the total weight marlin category. The Masunagas caught three blue marlin totalling 366.5 pounds.
     Team Pearly D (Firpo Debina and BJ Bagges) took fourth with a 187-pound blue and won the total weight ono division with 29.5 pounds
     Team Rosanna (Jimmy Hamora) won the total weight ahi division with 272 pounds.
     No team caught a qualifying mahimahi.
     The Kona Iki Trollers events are sponsored by Queen K Tesoro. The next KIT event is the Wahine Tournament, July 11. For more details and sign-up information, visit www.KonaIkiTrollers,com.

TERMINATOR TOPS WEEK. In a week packed with blue marlin weighing 100 to 350 pounds, the crew of the Terminator stuck its head above the crowd with a marlin estimated at 650 pounds.
     Skipper Scott Kadooka, Gilbert Damasco and Nelson Domingues were on a holo holo trip to catch fish for a bunch of graduation parties.
     They were definitely on the right track when they reached the Top Corner of the Grounds and caught a mahimahi. Scott was filleting the tasty fish when the big marlin jumped on a Bomboy Scarface lure.
     As lowest man on the totem pole, Nelson had to fight it. He brought it to the boat in about a half hour. They pulled it aboard, measured the tail stump at 16-3/4 inches and estimated it at 650. That’ll have to do because they did not weigh it.
     But the day was only just beginning. They continued fishing from bird pile to bird pile as they worked their way to OTEC Buoy. At the FAD, they ignored the rough water and caught a spearfish and nine mahimahi up to 40 pounds.
     Happy graduation to all who got to share in the Terminator’s bounty – and to everyone who didn’t, too.

BITE ME SLAM? In a good year of tuna fishing, the ahi arrive off Kauai for Mother’s Day and reach Kona in time to celebrate Father’s Day.
     Sometimes they get stuck off Oahu and don’t jump the channel to the Big Island. It’s too soon to tell, but the tuna bite was definitely on last week.
    The big run, however, is still to come. Most boats had to be content with one ahi.
     Bite Me 3 caught a pair on the way to scoring a four flagfish slam for the day.
     Capt. Dave Bensko and crew Jimmy Jeffries hosted the Struttman Family (Todd, Joe and Andy) for the morning half. The lucky Struttmans boated ahi weighing 192- and 165-pounds while also catching five ono and three mahimahi.
     With three flags already flying, Dave and Jimmy headed offshore for the second trip looking for a marlin to complete an ahi, mahi, ono, marlin “sweep.” Their share-charter party included Dominic Wallace, Mike Drum and Gary Scriven. The threesome did the deed by completing the cycle with a 200-pound blue marlin, which they tagged and released.
     If you want to share in the Bite Me catches, note that the company has now officially opened their fish market in Honokohau Harbor.
     The yellowfins in the present tuna run are scaling below the 200-pound mark. Bigger fish generally get here in July and August.
     Expect some of the biggest “yellows” to be caught at night while ika-shibi fishermen are trying for bigeye tuna, broadbill swordfish and albacore. All have already showed up in the night bite.
     The biggest of the bigeye tuna are among the biggest ever seen here. On Saturday, Alan Henriques and Brian Andrade weighed a bigeye that might have topped the state record before it was gilled and gutted. It weighed 207 dressed out for market, so it was probably 228 pounds or more whole. For records, we don’t go by guesses – only the actual weight of the fish at the scales.

WHERE DO THE ONO GO? Ono strike trolled lures with abandon, then they abandon the game and shut down their feeding for hours on end. Where do they go?
     Perhaps they head down into the depths to fill up on the big schools of fish hanging out near the bottom.
      Okay. That sounds absurd.
      Or does it?
     On several occasions, while cleaning ono I have found yellow tangs in their bellies. I wrote about this once and heard from a marine biologist who disputed the idea that ono were catching live tangs by feeding along the bottom. He suggested that the tangs might have been the discards from an aquarium fish collector.
     But not so fast.
     Last week, kayaker Devin Hallingstad caught a 25-pound ono. When he opened its belly, he found a foot-long parrotfish, neatly sliced into three pieces.
     Parrotfish are coral grazers, which is about as close to the bottom as any bottomfish can feed.
     The parrotfish was fresh, meaning the ono had just recently chopped it up and swallowed it.
     Devin caught the ono at noon on a live opelu he was fishing at the surface. Obviously, the ono was happy to feed all up and down the water column depending on whim and opportunity.
     Devin runs a trailing hook along the side of his live bait to thwart the ono’s inclination to chop the back half off the fish and escape.

FIVE STAR WINS ROCK ‘N REEL 2009.  Team Five Star tagged and released six blue marlin and boated a 119-pound yellowfin tuna to win the Hawaii Big Game Fishing Club’s 2009 Rock ‘N Reel Hawaiian Open tournament.  Captain Carlton Taniyama’s galaxy of veteran tournament fishermen amassed 1,345 points to earn $19,215. 
     Five Star angler Mike Shimamoto caught the 119-pound ahi and won a Penn 50 reel and custom rod for boating
 the heaviest ahi of the event.
     Team Five Star also won a Penn 80 reel and custom rod for tagging the most fish. 
     Team Kila Kila, with Capt. Teddy Hoogs, tagged four blues to take second place and $7,960.
     Team Billfisher II boated the largest blue marlin of the tournament, 561.5 pounds, added more points for a tagged blue, and placed third.  With the bonus money for catching the tourney’s top fish, Captain Howard Whitcomb’s gang garnered $13,535.
     In addition to the prize money, Billfisher II angler Zach Hasse also won a Penn 130 reel and Custom rod. 
     Capt. Terry Adams steered Team Visions into fourth with three blue marlin (all tagged) and a 104-pound ahi.  Visions scored $3,165. 
     The event features a wide-range of entry levels including daily options. Team JR’s Hooker with skipper Kevin Hibbard won $5,035 with two tagged blues on the second day to win that day’s $300 and $600 options.
     Angler Eric Clark fished on Team Anxious with Capt. Neal Isaacs and boated the event’s biggest ono.  His 32.5 pounder earned him a Penn 30 reel and custom rod.
     The field of 26 boats (four fewer than last year) started off strongly on the first day with 18 blues, two of which were boated while the other 16 were tagged and released.  In addition to the Billfisher II’s 561.5-pounder, Team Renegade with Capt. Lloyd Potter boated a 324-pound blue.  Good action continued on the second day as the fleet tagged 20 more blues.
      The two-day catch list also included four tagged spearfish, one tagged striped marlin, one ono, and a non-qualifying 274-pound blue below the 300-pound minimum weight.  The fish was foul-hooked and came up dead.
     “The tournament went well,” said tournament chairman Neal Isaacs.  “It always helps to have the fish cooperating. Catching 39 blue marlin in two days is why Kona is the blue marlin capital of the Pacific.

MONKEY BIZ II TAKES KONA’S FIRST GRANDER OF 2009. A father/son trip on Monkey Biz II was the ticket to Kona’s first grander of 2009.
     Ryan O’Halloran crews for Capt. Chip Van Mols on the classy 38-foot Bertram. Ryan’s dad, Tim, of Santa Cruz, Calif, is visiting Kona and came along to handle angling duties last Friday.
     The luck of the Irish seemed to have stayed ashore as the O’Hallorans pulled lures all day with no action. At quitting time, Chip turned Monkey Biz II toward shore after trolling the 1,000-fathom line.
     By 3:45, Monkey Biz II had reached the 800 when they got a ‘mercy’ strike, Chip said. The big fish ignored all of the magnum marlin lures in the wake and sucked in a 9-inch blue bullet lure trailing at the back of the wake on the “stinger” line.
     When Chip saw the fish jump, he knew it would top 800 pounds, but by how much?
     Tim, an experienced blue water fisherman, went right to work and got the fish close in about 15 minutes. The fish was still “green,” which posed a dilemma. If they tried to gaff it right then, they could count on a tough battle behind the boat. On the other hand, if they didn’t chance it, the marlin might dive into the depths, die and leave them with a prolonged struggle to raise its half-ton bulk to the surface.           They went for it and paid the price. Two days later, Ryan and Chip were still store from their tug-of-war with the gaff ropes.
      “I wasn’t really thinking ‘grander’ until we hauled it aboard and saw its girth,” Chip said. “We were so close to the harbor that I didn’t bother measuring it and went right in.”
      As the gang watched the big fish lifted out of the boat, Chip realized it might be a grander and whispered to Ryan “Watch this, dude. I think we have a very good chance here.”
      The Charter Desk scale flashed 1,064 pounds, making it the largest weighed here since March 25, 2008 when the Integrity weighed a 1, 251-pounder.
     The blue was Chip’s second grander. He worked his first in 1994 when he crewed for Capt. Jerome Judd on Jun Ken Po.
     All in all, it was a good week for big fish.
     “It’s that time of year. The day we caught the 1,064, the Ihu Nui missed a huge one that came in on the stinger right about where we caught ours,” Chip said. “Like a submarine, it was up periscope -- here I come. But it didn’t stick.”
     Wes and Kemp Murakami had started the week with an 827.5-pound blue with an enormous amount of stamina.
      The Murakamis hooked their fish at 8:15 am and fought it for five and a half hours, according to Debbie Murakami. The big marlin eventually outfought the duo on their 18-foot skiff Shyla.
     “Towards the end, they were assisted by Capt. Kevin Nakamaru on the charter boat Northern Lights,” Debbie said.
      For your how-to notes, the Murakamis hooked their fish six miles off Red Hill on “the cutest little six-inch jet lure,” Debbie said.

NAINOA, 10, BOATS OMILU, 21.5  What the grander is to the blue marlin fisherman, the 21-pounder is to the youngster who whips for bluefin trevally.
     Nainoa Murtagh, 10, caught a 21.5-pound bluefin in Keauhou Bay to takeover the omilu slot on our Big-Fish List.
     Nainoa is the son of Capt. Bill Murtagh, skipper of the charterboat Nainoa.
     Like most of the bays, inlets and harbors around the islands, Keauhou is visited daily by a big school of akule. These big-eyed scads seek shelter in the harbors during the day and go offshore at night to feed under the cover of darkness.
       Last Sunday morning while the youngster was aboard the boat, he saw a school of akule swimming together in a tightly packed ball. He brought out one of his ready rod-and-reel outfits setup for akule, cast to the school and began hooking the baitfish. But he had difficulty bringing them in because a school of hungry omilu grabbed the hooked fish almost as soon as he dragged one from the relative safety of the bait ball.
        When Nainoa finally managed to snake a bait past the predators, he switched to a bigger setup up that he also had ready for action. He transferred the bait to a circle hook, cast it back toward the school and held the line in his fingers so he could feel a strike.
      The big omilu hit immediately, snatched the line from his fingers, swallowed the bait and put up a ten-minute fight.
        “I could see it fighting on its side about two feet above the bottom,” Nainoa said. “It was bright blue and silver.”
         When he got it aboard, and they realized how big it was, the Murtaghs took it to the Charter Desk for an official weight.
        Nainoa gave “Uncle Jim” some tackle notes for your how-to file.
      “I caught the akule on a green minnow strip rigged with red and green beads,” Nainoa said. “I used a long 4-pound test leader so the akule couldn’t see it. For the omilu, I used a size 24 circle hook and 55-pound test Power Pro braided line on a 950 Penn spinning reel.”
      As you can see, the kid is already a pro.

WHY MAHIMAHI LIKE “FLOATERS”  No one really knows why mahimahi like to gather around buoys, flotsam and jetsam. But skipper Jeff Heintz knows how to get them to gather around his boat Linda Sue III.
     Early in the week, Jeff came across a floating section of discarded net surrounded by hundreds of mahimahi.
     The big school was perfect for John Hoxmeir and his sons Charlie, 24, Alex, 22 and Joe, 18. The family is from Fort Collins, Colorado, and wanted lots of action rather than spending the day trying for the chance at a big marlin.
     The three boys were celebrating their recent graduations from college, junior college and highs school, respectively, Jeff said.
     A mahimahi may not have been as good as a diploma most days, but on this trip the only thing better than one mahimahi was two, then three, then four and finally almost more than you can count.
     After Jeff found the floater, he began chumming with sardines and cut up pieces of aku. The mahimahi liked the chum so much they fell in love with the Linda Sue III.
     “They left the floater and followed us for almost four miles, with a lot of screaming from the Hoxmeirs and my crew,” Jeff said.
     When it was time to head back to port with their catch packed in ice, they raced away and left the big mahimahi school behind to find another floating feeding station.

KONA IKI TROLLERS TOURNEY RESULTS.
The Kona Iki Trollers fishing club kicked off its 2009 season with the two-day Manuahi Tournament on May 16 and 17. Though it was a slow two days of fishing, the few lucky boats with qualifying fish all won jackpot prizes. Herb and Henry Naito and took home first place with a 125-pound marlin. Captain Cody Maeda and Angler Brad Ariel took home second place with a 45-pound ono. Captain Kerwin Masunaga and angler Heather Masunaga took home third place with a 44-pound striped marlin.

 
“The Kona Iki Trollers is a family-oriented organization and the goal of our fishing club is to promote fellowship,” says club spokesperson Lisa Nahoopii. The club is sponsored by a generous donation from Captain Al Gustavson (Goose’s Edge, Queen K Tesoro, Honalo Shell and Waimea Shell). For more information, club rules and entry forms please visit our website at www.konaikitrollers.com.”

BONEFISH ON THE FLY. No one has yet caught an oio to fill the bonefish spot on our Big-Fish List, which makes me even more envious of the recent luck Capt. Clay Ching has been having lately on Molokai.
      Clay guides reef-fishing parties and is in the process of locating good schools for his fly-fishing clients. Last week, Clay took advantage of perfect fly-fishing weather (no wind) and a minus tide to go scouting for good grounds and an opportunity to try out some new flies.
     Clay said he searched an area he had not fished before and found it “infested with bonefish.”
     “Everything was ‘green’ from the get-go with fish everywhere as soon as I stopped the boat and lifted up the engine,” Clay said. “I hooked and lost one after a short fight and then hooked and landed three bonefish in the six-pound size. On an 8-weight rod and reel it was an exhilarating experience to say the least. I thought I was in heaven.
     “I also saw some huge bonefish and some ulua there too,” Clay said. “For me the most priceless thing was finding the area. The fish were a bonus. Can't wait to get some clients on this place, they would love it.”
     If you want to get in on the Molokai bonefish action, call Clay at (808) 336-1870 or check out his website: http://www.hallelujahhoufishing.com. But don’t bring one of those big oio back here and try to slip it in on our Big-Fish List. Only fish caught in West Hawaii waters qualify.
      Does the fact that bonefish are swarming in the shallows on Molokai mean this is your best chance to catch one here now?
     Go check your favorite spot and find out.
  

ULUA ON TOP. You may think of ulua as bottomfish that prowl the reef at night scavenging for eels and octopi. They are usually hiding from the never-ending whizzing noise of boats trolling overhead.
    But in remote areas of the ulua’s domain, these giant trevally are known to chase baitfish on the surface. On Molokai, for example, you can cast for them from a drifting boat at the edge of the reef (turn off the engine) and watch them slam surface poppers.
    Which takes us to South Point and the bridge of Hooked Up.
    Skipper Chuck Wigzell and crew David Crawford were down there with a charter party on a two-day overnighter. The plan was to troll for ono until dark, anchor in the lee and start trolling again the next day.
    They turned the corner and worked the 40 and 50 fathom lines and caught more ono. Off Green Sands Beach, they spotted a flock of birds work over feeding fish about a quarter mile inside of them.
    They couldn’t be tuna – too shallow. Maybe a school of ono, but ono don’t usually feed in a coordinated school like that.
    Let’s go find out!!
    In they went, dragging their ono lures.
    A fish blasted one line and took it down into the depths. As Chuck slowed Hooked Up, the long corner lure sank deeper and then took off in the jaws of a second fish.
    Chucks anglers were now in pitched battles with two very stubborn fish. 
    No real surprise here. Both were ulua. One looked like it would go 45 or 50 and the other 75 or 80.
    Chuck suspected that the 75 or 80 pounder was the biggest of the year to date, but he wanted to save his cold storage for more ono.
    After posing for pictures and being pricked with tags, the two ulua went back home to puzzle over the strange phenomenon that interrupted their daily surface-feeding foray.
    Good thing they saved the cold storage. They ended the trip with 21 ono ranging up to 43 pounds spread out between Green Sands and Kauna Point.

SUNDOWNER CATCHES GRANDER? The old saying “You are what you eat,” goes when you weigh fish, too. Pay attention, or you may lose a lot of weight when you don’t want to.
    Last Thursday, Capt. Randy Llanes and his nephew Keoni Llanes pulled the charterboat Sundowner up to the Charter Desk scales with what might have been Kona’s first grander of 2009. Its measurements said it might “go.” With a “short length” (tip of lower jaw to fork of tail) of 143 inches, it was much longer than, say, the 131 – inch, 1,045-pound-blue Capt. Randy Parker caught here in 2001.
    On the other hand, the girth of its tail stump was 19.5-inches, which says it could have been as little as 950 pounds.
    As the crane attached to the scales raised the fish up for an official weight, Randy saw the scales flicker with a reading of “1,005.” And in that instant, he realized that no one had thought to tie the fish’s mouth shut.
    That’s when the bottom fell out on his “grander.” Gravity everted the marlin’s stomach and dumped 15 pounds or more of its contents onto the deck. A five-pound aku, the remains of a half-dozen opelu, the partially digested leftovers of a shoal of squid and maybe a gallon of stomach acid – all would have legitimately been part of the original weight if they were still part of the fish. But now the scale read just 990 pounds without them.
    Oh well. The Sundowner catch is still the biggest of the year to date and Randy’s biggest as a captain.
    What’s more, the fish was far bigger than their aspirations for the day. Randy and Keoni had gone out hoping to catch fish for a party. A 100-pounder, Randy said, would have been just enough.
    They trolled down the coastline to TT-buoy with no action and hoped to change their luck on the way back. The big marlin dialed in at 4:11 pm as they trolled in 450 fathoms off Red Hill (a landmark just south of Keauhou Bay).
    “It took the long corner lure,” Randy said. “I saw it come in, and explode on the lure. Then it took off on a 700-yard run.”
    Keoni battled it toe-to-toe for the next two hours. Randy says the battle took them 2-1/2 miles away from their starting point according to the track left on his GPS.
    At times, Keoni pushed the drag to as much as 68 pounds on the two-speed Shimano 130 reel, thereby preventing the battle from going far into the night. Amazingly, the 400-pound test Momoi leader held. The standard for marlin fishing here is a 530-pound test leader.
    The catch is a fitting start to what Randy calls a new chapter in his life. That includes a new son for Randy and his wife Rachel, the renewal of his charter fishing license, and a new boat.
    John and Debbie Hughes of Lake Havasu, Ariz, bought the Sundowner in January and installed Randy as captain.
    “They caught a lot of fish with me in the past and trusted me to run their boat,” Randy said. “I feel like I am starting fresh.”
    Randy’s 990-pound blue gives him bragging rights over his dad, retired fishing captain John Llanes, Sr.
    “Too bad my fish didn’t dump another five pounds,” Randy said magnanimously. “Then I would have tied my dad’s 985-pounder. His was also a grander. He didn’t lock the lower jaw either and a mahimahi and a big otadu dropped out.”
    Randy caught the fish on a “straight runner” lure he makes himself. He sells his lures exclusively through Pacific Rim Fishing Supplies in Honokohau Harbor. Stop by and ask Dave or Jill to show you what the winner looks like.

MORE.....

Courtesy of Lona Knight, Amber Hundall,and Wendy Marks.
the Charter Desk at Kona Marina, 808-329-5735. A complete list of 
March catches will appear in the May issue of Hawaii Fishing News.

April/May/June  Beasts 
(billfish over 500 pounds)
See also the beasts in the tag report

Apr. 10: Blue marlin (940) Parke Berolzheimer, Capt. Marlin Parker, Marlin Magic II
Apr. 18: Blue marlin (764.5) Jack Sampson, Capt. Gus Sellers, High Flier
Apr. 19: Blue marlin (517) Tracy Leverone, Capt. Dale Leverone, Sea Strike
Apr. 23: Blue marlin (990) Keoni Llanes, Capt. Randy Llanes, Sundowner
May 2: Blue marlin (550) Hayes & Crocker, Capt. Bill Murtagh, Nainoa
May 9: Blue marlin (574) Henry Potts, Capt. Chip Van Mols, Monkey Biz II
May 10: Blue marlin (530) Henry Potts, Capt. Chip Van Mols, Monkey Biz
May 12: Blue marlin (664.5) David Law, Capt. Mcgrew Rice, Ihu Nui
May 12: Blue marlin (644) Don Wasson, Capt. Ruben Rubio, Lehuanani
May 14: Thresher shark (563) Matthew Bowman, Capt. Mitch Lattof, Salty Dog
May 27: Blue marlin (913) Josh Kishlock & Peter Nishino, Capt. Dave Bensko, Bite Me 3
May 27: Blue marlin (604.5) Matt Parker, Capt. Kerwin Masunaga, Rodbender
May 28: Blue marlin (545.5) James Curlin, Capt. Jason Holtz, Marlin Magic (13 yrs old)
May 31: Blue marlin (827.5) Wes and Kemp Murakami, Shyla
June 5: Blue marlin (1,064) Tim O’Halloran, Capt. Chip Van Mols, Monkey Biz II
June 6: Blue marlin (579) Capt. Sandy Contessa, Eagles Nest
June 10: Blue marlin (514) Garrett Breitbart, Capt. Robert Hudson, Camelot
June 10: Blue marlin (730.5) Riley Martin, Capt. Howard Whitcomb, Billfisher II.
June 14: Blue marlin (650 est) Nelson Domingues, Capt. Scott Kadooka, Terminator
June 20: Blue marlin (561.5) Zack Haase, Capt. Howard Whitcomb, Billfisher II
June 23: Blue marlin (611.5) Lauren Miller, Capt. Mitch Lattof, Salty Dog
June 24: Blue marlin (642.5) Bryan Watterson & Blake Palma, 
	Capt. Vinny Maggio. Marlin Grando
June 24: Blue marlin (571.5) Cindy Rech, Capt. Neal Isaacs, Anxious
 
 
April/May/June Notable Catches

Apr. 1: Ahi (144) Shane Deluz, Shawn Ferreira, Kamaha’o
Apr. 1: Mako (168) Rick Webb, Capt. Kenton Geer, High Noon
Apr. 1: Mahimahi (32 fish to 25 pounds), ono (12 fish to 25 punds) Rex Crosland, 
 	Capt. Bill Casey, Pacific Blue
Apr. 2: Mahimahi (22 fish to 30 pounds) Monte Brown, ono (four fish to 35 pounds) 
	Robby Brown, Capt. McGrew Rice, Ihu Nui
Apr. 3: Blue marlin (187) Todd Reid, Capt. Robert Hudson, Camelot
Apr. 4: Blue marlin (247.5) Michael Jordan, Capt. Lael Wilson, Linda Sue III
Apr. 4: Hapuupuu (27.5) Travis Reese, Capt. Rick Reger, Intrepid
Apr. 4: Blue marlin (152.5) Stuart Jones, Brian Wargo, Bite Me 2
Apr. 4: Spearfish (54.5) Ellie Speirs, (45.5) Gary Speirs, 
	Capt. Teddy Hoogs, Kila Kila
Apr. 5: Mahimahi (six fish to 35 pounds), shibi (five fish to 30 pounds) Unknown, 
	Capt. Ricky Reger, Intrepid
Apr. 6: Mahimahi (six fish to 38 pounds) Wally Pits, 
	Capt. Chuck Wigzell, Hooked Up
Apr. 6: Black marlin (180.5) Brian Courchesner, Capt. Brian Wargo, 
	Bite Me 2 (Biggest of the yr)
Apr. 7: Ahi (108) Calvin Bledsoe, Capt. Russell Nitta, Lepika
Apr. 7: Mahimahi (six fish to 50 pounds) Unknown, 
	Capt. Marlin Parker, Marlin Magic II
Apr. 7: Mahimahi (six fish to 40 pounds), shibi (ten fish to 20 pounds) Unknown, 
	Capt. Chuck Wigzell, Hooked Up
Apr. 7: Mahimahi (twelve fish to 50 pounds) Gary Speirs, 
	Capt. Teddy Hoogs, Kila Kila
Apr. 8: Spearfish (47.5) Lene Semberlund, Capt. Wayne Knight, Playtime 
Apr. 8: Big-eye tuna (134) Mike Domish, Capt. Dave Bensko, Bite Me 3
Apr. 8: Ono (50.5) Bob Meadow, Capt. Kent Mongreig, Fish Wish
Apr. 8: Bigeye tuna (223) Michael Ayosa, Capt. Kevin Hiney, Bite Me 
Apr. 8: Big-eye tuna (209.5) Ron Brown, Capt. Kevin Hiney, Bite Me 2
Apr. 8: Big-eye tuna (139) Chris Lennon, ahi (123) Jesus Santoyo, 
	Capt. James Dean, Blue Hawaii
Apr. 8: Big-eye tuna (100 and 135) John Hill, Capt. Kenton Geer, High Noon
Apr. 8: Big-eye tuna (134) Parke Berolzheimer, 
	Capt. Marlin Parker, Marlin Magic II
Apr. 8: Big-eye tuna (164) Luke Mertz & Kyle Beach, Capt. Ricky Reger, Intrepid
Apr. 9: Ahi (128.5 and 144.5) Capt. Russell Nitta, Lepika
Apr. 9: Ahi (118 and 120) Unknown, Capt. Will Lazenby, Golden Dragon
Apr. 9: Big-eye tuna (46, 62, and 66.5) Dan Crisp, Capt. Brian Wargo, Bite Me 2
Apr. 10: Uku (34) Warren Reaves, Kayak
Apr. 10: Blue marlin (455.5) Mark Nicolaides, Capt. Chip Van Mols, Monkey Biz II
Apr. 11: Omilu (5) Paul Petrill, caught from shore 
Apr. 12: Ahi (147) Carol Hinkle, Capt. Bruce Herren, Raven
Apr. 14: Ahi (123) Bill Vergara, Capt. Lloyd Potter, Renegade
Apr. 14: Ahi (117) Sam Carver, Capt. Teddy Hoogs, Kila Kila
Apr. 14: Hapuupuu (31 and 50) Namahoe Soo, Capt. Jason Shively, AnyAny
Apr. 15: Ahi (142) Richard Gospic, Capt. Russell Nitta, Lepika
Apr. 16: Ahi (175) Jack Sampson, Capt. Gus Sellers, High Flier
Apr. 14: Ahi (110) Unknown, Capt. Teddy Hoogs, Kila Kila
Apr. 17: Ahi (126) Russ Lloyd, Capt. Ron Krumvieda, Terminator
Apr. 19: Spearfish (35) Unknown, Capt. Marlin Parker, Marlin Magic II
Apr. 19: Randall’s snapper (23) Mao Kawakami, Capt. Kazunari Fujitan, Good Go
Apr. 19: Ono (22 fish to 59 pounds), ahi (three fish to 80 pounds) 
	Debbie and Carl Bland, Capt. Chuck Wigzell, Hooked Up
Apr. 21: Spearfish (33) Michelle Alexander, Capt. Jeff Heintz, Linda Sue III
Apr. 21: Spearfish (35) Unknown, Capt. Bobby Cherry, Cherry Pit II
Apr. 21: Spearfish (30) Unknown, Capt. Marlin Parker, Marlin Magic II
Apr. 22: Striped marlin (105) Jim Carter, Capt. Jeff Heintz, Linda Sue III
Apr. 23: Ahi (108) B.J. Schnieders, Capt. Robert Battersby, Pacific Lady
Apr. 23: Spearfish (37) John Clarke, Capt. Jeff Heintz, Linda Sue III
Apr. 23: Ono (58) Unknown, Capt. Marlin Parker, Marlin Magic II
Apr. 23: Ono (eight fish to 50 pounds) Unknown, Capt. Rick Reger, Intrepid
Apr. 24: Spearfish (31), striped marlin (30) Jack Jones, 
	Capt. Kenton Geer, High Noon
Apr. 25: Spearfish (30 and 40) Unknown, Capt. Chip Van Mols, Monkey Biz II
Apr. 26: Ulua (58) David Dambacher, Capt. Chris Wilcox, Kona Blue (handline)
Apr. 27: Ono (58) Matty Ua, Capt. Shane Jones, Wai’O’Keola
Apr. 27: Blue marlin (398) Jerry Heckman, Capt. Marlin Parker, Marlin Magic II
Apr. 27: Mahimahi (eleven fish to 37 pounds), shibi (ten fish to 30 pounds) 
    Muckey, Capt. Vinny Maggio, Marlin Grando
Apr. 27: Ahi (144.5) Mark Yang, Capt. Terry Adams, Visions
Apr. 28: Broadbill (116.5) Dal Kube, Capt. Dale Leverone, Sea Strike
Apr. 28: Ono (four fish to 36. pounds) Unknown, Capt. Chris Kam, Sea Wife II
Apr. 28: Ala’ihi (5.5) Conor Halling, speared (possible state record)
Apr. 28: Mahimahi (seven fish to 47 pounds) Rick Naciejewski and Charles Stanek,
       Capt. Wayne Knight, Playtime
Apr.28: Mahimahi (eighteen fish to 38.5 pounds) and ono (four fish to 41.5
pounds) Unknown, Capt. Robert Battersby, Pacific Lady
Apr. 28: Mahimahi (forty fish to 25 pounds), ono (six fish to 12 pounds) Unknown, 
     Capt. Chuck Wigzell, Hooked Up
Apr. 29: Blue marlin (277.5) Marshal Williamson, Capt. Andrew West, Makaira
Apr. 29: Mahimahi (six fish to 35 pounds) George and Pam Hrebien, 
     Capt. Wayne Knight, Playtime
Apr. 29: Mahimahi (six fish to 40 pounds) Unknown, 
     Capt. Chuck Wigzell, Hooked Up
Apr. 29: Mahimahi (seven fish to 42 pounds), 30 pound standup rig, 
     Suzanne Gustavson, Capt Al Gustavson, Topshape. 
Apr. 30: Ulua (68) Don Saito, caught from shore, potential biggest of year.
May 2: Ahi (165) Shiono. Capt. Dennis Cintas, Krista
May 3: Ono (21 fish 43 pounds) Unknown, Capt. Chuck Wigzell, Hooked Up
May 3: Mahimahi (eight fish to 16 pounds) Bob Widmar, Capt. Chuck Wilson, Fire Hatt
May 4: Ahi (168) Unknown, Capt. Russell Nitta, Lepika
May 5: Mahimahi (four fish to 34 pounds) Unknown, 
     Capt. Marlin Parker, Marlin Magic II
May 6: Ahi (130.5) Adam Clarke, Capt. Russell Nitta, Lepika
May 6: Kawakawa (17) Unknown, Capt. Chuck Wigzell, Hooked Up