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The Kona
Fishing Chronicles 9/10
is here for delivery and we are now taking orders.    Volume 9/10 includes the best Kona fishing stories
and
fishing tips of 2009 and carries a 2010 copyright (in case you wondered about the 9/10 designation). Volume 9/10 sells for $19.95 This site is completely supported by the sale of books. If you like what you find here, you'll like the books. Buy some to help us keep posting these stories every week. |
| Email:
Rizzuto@aloha.net
for details on how to mail order. |
Copyright 07/26/10 Recent catches may offer some encouraging news for the end-of-the-month tournaments just ahead. After being scarce in the first weeks of July, blue marlin are now showing up in bigger numbers and even bigger sizes. Over the past ten days, Bite Me III has caught blue marlin weighing 905- and 710-pounds. The Sea Genie II released a 725-pound blue for long-time client Mark Davis. And the Mariah released a marlin that skipper Jay Lighty thinks might have been a grander. Add in a trio of 500-pound fish and you may have the start of something very memorable in the events to come. Any of those fish might have decided the Huggo’s wahine tournament set for Saturday or the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament on tap for next week. We are also seeing more tagged fish, which play a major role in the HIBT. It’s way too soon to think the HIBT might top its record-setting 2009 results, but there is now reason to hope it won’t crash and burn like the scoreless Kona entries did in the World Cup Blue Marlin Tournament just three weeks ago. Capt. Andy Ludwig had former NFL player Ron Cox aboard Bite Me III for the 710-pounder. Ron played for the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears way back when, but this time it was his son RC Jr, who played the starring role. Though only 13, RC is as big as Bite Me III co-captain Brian Wargo, according to Brian. Just the right size to play line-backer on a 710-pound blue. Brian and Andy had the Tim Gotzion family of Windsor, Wisconsin aboard two days later for the 906-pounder in an adventure that turned into an epic. On previous trips with Brian, Tim has caught six or seven ahi so the plan was to catch some fish of suitable size for Conlan, 7, and Clayton, 11. The Tsunami Buoy 26 miles from port seemed to be the perfect place when Conlan hauled in a pair of 25-pound mahimahi. For the rest of the day they live-baited with small aku in hopes of attracting a marlin, but the best they could come up with were a few small shibi. At quitting time, Andy was pulling in the last live-bait when a 109-pound ahi raced in to grab it. The ahi missed but came back twice more before swallowing the bait and hooking itself. Clayton battled this one to the boat and the day seemed to be ending just right. But the real end was far from in sight. After working the buoy for more ahi, they set out a jet and a Softhead to troll as they high-speeded toward port. When they were still 22 miles from home, a marlin hit the jet lure on the long rigger and started peeling off line. With the scream of that reel in his ears, Brian looked at the Softhead and saw an even bigger fish batting it around. By alternately pulling the lure away and then dropping it back, Andy induced the marlin to strike. Now they were working a double-header with too very aggressive fish. Brian decided to go for the smaller marlin first because it had taken out half of the spool of line, and the larger fish seemed to be still making up its mind. Though Clayton had already beaten a 109-pound tuna, he went to work on the 130-pound blue and got it to the boat. The situation with the bigger marlin had now begun to turn desperate. They were getting spooled. The marlin was jumping far off in the distance with three or four seabirds diving on its head, but it still looked big. The seas were running high, 6 to 8 feet, Brian said, which made chasing the fish very difficult. “We turned to go after it at 15 or 16 knots and were burying the bow as we tried to get line back,” Brian said. Tim was in the chair, never stopped reeling, and got most of the line back in another 40 minutes. The marlin came up jumping about 80 yards out, but the seas were so rough that Brian could not help Tim much by backing up. The fish settled down into its marathon phase and just kept fighting doggedly without wasting its energy. For the next two and a half hours, the marlin battled for those last yards. “We were on and off the double line repeatedly,” Brian said. “Andy had the leader seven or eight times.” Perseverance paid off and they were able to secure the fish at 6:30. They had now been at sea for twelve hours and port was a long way off. The three very tired adults could not pull the fish into the boat. They ran a line around the marlin’s bill, and then around the windlass on the bow. Though the windlass is designed to winch up the anchor, the weight of the fish kept popping the windlass breakers. They finally got the marlin aboard. Any hope that it might have been a grander disappeared when they measured the “short length” at 135 inches and the tail girth at 18.5. A grander generally has a tail girth of 20 inches or more. It was almost dark now and they were still hours from port. What do you do when you have a marlin, tuna and mahimahi aboard? Why, you go for the four-flag-fish sweep and try to catch an ono. That was worth one quick but fruitless pass along ono lane before heading back to the Bite Me scales. With their 9:30 weigh-in they had been at sea fishing and fighting for fifteen straight hours. The celebration will last a lot longer. The catch yields one more piece of fishing advice that could win you a tournament. There is a long-standing belief that we catch more small male marlin than big female marlin because the males are quicker to the lure or bait. In this case, for example, the 130-pound blue hit before his 905-pound female mate did. “It makes you think you want to run the boat ahead for awhile after you get a marlin strike,” Brian said. It worked well this time. WENDY AND KIM WIN KIT WAHINE TOURNEY. With Clifford Medeiros at the helm of the Medeiros family boat Trina Ann, the ladies hooked their fish on a trolling lure at around 9:00 am. Wendy said she was given the chance to choose the lure and she asked for the biggest one they had. Their winning fish chose the same lure, a homemade Clifford Medeiros creation. The winners were on the 800 outside C-buoy, according to Wendy. The sisters fought their big marlin for the next two hours while the strong fish towed their 18-foot boat around. “It took half the spool right away,” Wendy said. “Kim and I took turns in the fighting chair using a harness for help.” When they eventually got the fish to the boat, it shook off the first gaff and ran off another hundred yards. After they gaffed it more securely, they tried to tow it back to port. Wendy said she was worried about sharks so she “pretty-pleased” Clifford to try to get the fish aboard. With the help of a friend from another boat, they finally pulled the fish aboard their little craft. “It was almost the length of the boat with its tail turned,” Wendy said. “We all had to ride on one side of the boat to balance the weight of the fish on the other.” That, in case you didn’t already know, is a pretty good description of what small-boat fishing is like. Her are the full results of the tournament with the longest name of any event on the calendar, the 2010 Kona Iki Trollers Tsuyoki Nakashima Memorial Wahine Tournament. (I count the late Nakashima-san as a personal friend and am delighted to see him remembered in this way.). 1. Team Trina Ann , Wendy Medeiros, Kim Mitchell, marlin 486 pounds. 2. Team Krista O, Lisa Ciriako, Tara Manwaring, marlin, 294 lbs. 3. Team Cynthia, Kellie Kitaoka, marlin 258. 4. Team Alysa, Trishia and Joyce Hancock, marlin, 131. 5. Team Krystal Lynn, Jay Keka, Emily Estoy, ahi 93 pounds. 6. Team Kealoha, Marylou Tolentino, Stay Cantyne, spearfish, 40 pounds. 7. Team Pookela, Moani Nishida, Kristy Sasada, ono 29 pounds. 8. Team Nora K, Aaron Mori, Traciann Kahananui, ono 27 pounds. 9. Team Piilani B, Tottise Timm, Michelle Abanyani, ono 27. Results provided by Trishia Hancock, Kona Iki Trollers secretary. KIT tournaments are sponsored by Queen K. Tesoro and count toward the 2011 Queen K. Tesoro cup. The next scheduled KIT event is the light-tackle tournament August 7 and 8. TOURNAMENT FISHING LOCAL STYLE. “Scrappy” Cox and the Cox clan fished the KIT Wahine Tournament with a full crew and some special equipment. There was Scrappy, her husband Stephen, their kids Kalani, 11, Lei 13, two more keikis 4 and 3, and Grandma Sherry. “Don’t forget the little blue swimming pool we bring along to keep the keiki happy and occupied,” Scrappy told me. At their favorite spot off Kealakekua Bay, a marlin grabbed their corner lure. “Stoked and excited our team jumped up and got to work,” Scrappy said. “We were looking for it to jump and dance but we saw only its monstrous head out of the water as it swam to one side.” Scrappy swung the boat around to chase the fish but they could not gain back the line they had lost so quickly. She said they had been warned to switch up to heavier tackle from their Shimano 80 reels and the warning proved fateful. “The fish took line faster than we could gain it back,” Scrappy said. “It was a good show for the kids while it lasted.” After they lost the fish, the four- and three-year olds wanted to know when it was coming back to eat the lure again. Scrappy was disappointed for her mom, who didn’t get to fight the fish and only fishes in tournaments. They won the “Hard-luck Story” award with a consolation prize appropriate to the wahine event. Grandma, mom and daughter will all get their nails done compliments of the David Magallanes family, last year’s winners. KENTUCKY MALAHINI SCORE TUNA. Michael Roettker, a bass fisherman and Home Depot employee from Burlington, Kentucky rented a boat from Eric McCormick at Kona Boat Rentals and headed down to Kealakeua Bay to do some snorkeling. Michael has run boats since he was 5 years old and was not intimidated by the idea of fishing strange waters with no guide. After a few hours of spying on colorful reef fish, Michael and his family headed back along the coastline toward home. Eric had told them that their best chance to catch a fish on their one 9/0 reel was to stay in ono lane where they might hook a manageable wahoo. “We set the lure out about 150 feet back and stayed in 250 feet of water, just the way Eric told us,” Michael said. Just before 2:00 pm, the line started running off the reel and just kept going. Michael figured it was an ono, the fish Eric had told them to expect. At first, Michael tried to fight it by taking the rod out of the holder. He immediately realized he’d better put it back or risk being pulled overboard. With his sons Nicholas, 13, and Nathan, 11, at the helm, Michael and his wife Elke ground away at the reel crank. “We took line anytime we got slack but it was an hour and a half before we saw the fish,” Michael said. Though this was their first ever saltwater fishing experience, Michael says he knew something about fighting a fish from his own experience with bass and from watching fishing shows. On the other hand, they realized immediately that their opponent was a tuna much larger than their previous best catch, a ten-pound bass. When they got the ahi to the boat after two hours, they called Eric and asked what to do now. He described the process of dispatching the tuna. With the help of a tail rope and a crew borrowed from a nearby Captain Zodiac tour, they pulled the tuna aboard and headed home. At 153.5-pounds, their ahi is the largest tuna caught by a Kona Rentals client in the nine-year history of the company. SOME FISH ARE HARD TO GET RID OF. Paradise Fishing Club members Paul Merhib and Rich Matzelle headed out of Keauhou to look for ono and ahi. That’s a sure-fire plan for hooking something else. They came across a current line with a pod of pilot whales and some trash (current lines seem to attract both). As they followed the current line looking for any fish it might have interested, they trolled two ono lures and two small ahi lures. At 11:45 am, they were two miles north of C-buoy when a marlin hit a hrome jet. Paul could see it was a big one, maybe 600 pounds. They fought it for two hours hoping it would throw the hook so they could get on with their ono and ahi fishing. When that didn’t work, they tightened the drag on the 14/0 reel to pull the hooks out. Paul even grabbed the line with both hands and told his fishing partner to gun the engine. Miraculously, the hooks, line, and knot held. Unable to get themselves free short of cutting the line and losing all their gear, they eventually found themselves with a dead blue marlin at the back of the boat. “My arms were so weak after the fight I didn't have the muscle to set the gaff,” Paul said. “We tried to get the fish on the swim step but couldn't do it. We dragged the fish to Honokohau and it weighed 597.5 pounds.” Paul says he couldn’t believe how the two “small” number eight hooks held up on such a big fish. Note that the marlin was not leader shy and hit a lure rigged on a heavy cable leader. But the most incredible part was how successful the unorthodox fighting method was. EXPERT VIDEOS NOW AVAILABLE. Kona skipper Jason Holtz has just released two marlin fishing videos. The first, “Postcards from Around the World,” features Kona buddies Jason, Oskie Rice and Kevin Hibbard on their worldwide travels to Brazil, Cape Verde and Australia on The Hooker. It features great bait-and-switch shots of marlin eating baits as well as great cockpit stuff of fish on leader, according to Tim Robertson of Twesmark. “It features two granders and the unbelievable leadering skills of the three Captains, Tim said. The second, “Marlin Fishin” was shot by Jason and Brian Toney in Kona including the 1,104 they caught earlier this year and includes several dramatic still shots plus Brian Toney’s very intense music selection. Neither has a lot of narration but let the action speak for itself. You can take a look at them on a large video screen by stopping in at Twesmark for a preview. Sisters Wendy Medeiros and Kim Mitchell boated a 486-pound blue marlin to win the 2010 Kona Iki Trollers Tsuyoki Nakashima Memorial Wahine Tournament on Saturday, July 17. Copyright Rizzuto 07/12/10 With marlin it is all about the strike. Sometimes they strike. Sometimes they are “on strike.” Last week during the Blue Marlin World Cup Fishing tournament, Kona’s blue marlin refused to cross the picket line of boats trying to win the worldwide competition contested annually on July 4. Not a single Kona entrant caught a blue marlin that day, even though Kona is usually a top contender. To put a bold face on the Kona results, if there was a best time for our mid-Pacific Blue Marlin Union to go on strike for a tournament, that might have been the day. Our Kona fleet took to the waters for the “start-fishing” signal with very daunting news from the west coast of Africa. Our fishing day had scarcely begun when word came of a 1,097-pound blue marlin caught off the Cape Verde Islands. Though granders have been caught here every year, it really would have taken a miracle for anyone to beat the Cape Verde fish. From then on, the Kona fleet was really fighting it out for second place in a tournament for which there really is no official second place. The Kona World Cup committee remedies the one-fish-takes-all situation by simultaneously running the Kona Cup for local teams who want to enter as a side-event. On a day when no Kona entrant caught a qualifying marlin, no one qualified for the Kona title, either. And to put a bold face on even that odd occurrence, it really means they all tied for the title and went home with a percentage of their registration fee as their prize. Amazingly, the Cape Verde 1,095-pound Atlantic blue was the third grander in the 26-year history of the event. The winners fished on the Happy Hooker. The lucky team included Berno Niebhur of Germany and Chris Brand of Portugal, who had won the 2006 World Cup with an 850-pound marlin. No World Cup is complete without the story of a catch that might have won but the team wasn’t entered. Yes, indeed, a non-entrant team of Kona anglers did come up with a massive fish that would have taken most of the past World Cups. Mike Dixon and Steve Schulz caught a 718-pound blue on Steve’s boat Jayhawk. A 718-pound blue would have won 16 of the 26 events, including two for which no qualifying fish was caught. But not this one, of course. Kona has won six times to three for Cape Verde – nana nana nana. Wait until next year. “GRANDER” IN THREE PIECES. While most of us were flailing around trying to find a single marlin, the Kona Concept caught two weighing over 1,100 pounds if you count up all of the “pieces.” Tuesday, Capt. Steve Tarbill and crew John Rooney hooked a marlin that came in at 473.5 pounds, after a white-tip shark took a chunk for itself. Steve and John found the marlin that morning as they trolled near a pod of pilot whales hanging out on the 1100-fathom line off Keahole Light. The whales sometimes attract curious marlin and white-tips, too. Perhaps the sharks just lie in wait for any trollers who are lucky enough to hook a marlin and cooperative enough to tire it out for their easy pickings. Whatever the shark’s scheme, Steve’s plan was to release it. The shark had showed up within minutes of the hook up and just bided its time until the Kona Concept crew had done its work for it. The toothy white-tip stayed clear of the marlin as long it was upright. As soon as it rolled over, the shark dashed in and nipped off a lethal mouthful. No sense releasing the marlin because it was mortally wounded by the shark’s first bite. For the angler, the marlin was his first bite in five days of fishing. He paid his dues for four fishless days before he got lucky. Two days later, novice angler Tom Senters got lucky in his very first hour of marlin fishing. They had just made it to the 500-fathom line off Keahole Light when the marlin struck. This time Gabe LeGay was aboard to handle the coaching and leadering chores. Tom’s fish turned out to be the second largest marlin of the week at 607-pounds. What’s he doing different from anyone else? “Who knows?” Steve said. He caught the 473-pounder on the one lure he says “is always out there.” That would be the same mass-produced purple-and-black wide-range Softhead ™ lure that half the world is pulling. He caught the bigger fish on a Black Bart lure with a “cupped face.” Steve says these “pocket-mouth” lures “run solid and you don’t have to do a bunch of stuff to get them to run right.” “Cups” have a 360-degree edge that digs in regardless of its orientation in the water. Their steady reliable action makes them an easy target, too, Steve says. “Cups” are very popular around the world. The final compliment: nearly every major manufacturer offers them in its line of products. SUMMER TUNA TIME. Summer tuna are bruisers, but they are also “busters.” The rest of the year, you’ll see ahi hanging out with dolphins. Summer is the time when you are most likely to see an ahi school on its own “busting” the surface as the streamlined predators chase after escaping baitfish. Their golden sides flash in the sun as they wave their long sickle fins and churn white water with the power of their charge. Capt. Steve Lassley, crew O. B. Morton, and angler Ray Shea were in good company as they trolled the boat Bad Company toward an actively feeding ahi school on Independence Day. Their trailing lines never reached the tuna they could see before two lures disappeared down the mouth of two tuna they didn’t see. The larger tuna, estimated at 215 pounds, took an Elkin’s popsicle lure. The “estimate” is based on a gilled-and-gutted actual weight of 196 pounds. Ray pulled in the smaller fish, estimated at 120 pounds, and then the larger one. Hopefully, he didn’t bust anything of his own in the process. KONA IKI TROLLERS INVITATIONAL RESULTS. Ahi and ono dominated the catches at the Kona Iki Trollers Inivitational Tournament held June 12th and 13th. That was just fine with the local boys and girls who like kau kau fish “da best.” First place: Team Nora K, Aaron Mori, Mike Tabil, 175-pound ahi. Second: Team Pearly D., Firpo and Derek Debina, 145-pound ahi. Third: Team Good Times, Buck Pope and Larry Ostini. 29-pound ono. Fourth: Team Leilani, Ronnie and Lisa Aukai. 29-pound ono. Fifth: Team Duck Soup, Butch Chee and Noeau Camarillo. 24-pound ono. The event was sponsored by Queen K. Tesoro and the points counted toward the Queen K Tesoro Cup. The next scheduled KIT event is the Tsuyoki Nakashima Memorial Wahine Fishing Tournament July 17th. Information provided by Trishia Hancock, KIT secretary. Copyright 07/05/10 QUEEN K NETS $10K FOR MAGALLANES After a year of dominance in monthly fishing tournaments, David Magallanes won the Queen K. Tesoro Cup with its $10,000 cash award. David led from start to finish. He persevered through 18 sanctioned tournaments and against 208 other teams at some time or other. David’s final test was the Wee Guys Tournament on June 26 and 27. He had a comfortable lead over his closest rivals, Mike Oshiro and Kenny Fogarty. Mike and Kenny are both outstanding fishermen so David had to score points in the Wee Guys to hang on. Mike made it very difficult by winning the Wee Guys ahi division. But David placed second in the mahimahi division to close the door, according to Capt. Al Gustavson, owner of Queen K. Tesoro. Al runs the monthly Dirty Dozen fishing tournaments and established the Queen K. Tesoro Cup as a boost for the small boat fleet and a draw for the dozen Dirty Dozen events. The DD competitions now average 25 boats and Al hopes to see them grow to 30 or more. “I don’t think there is another competition like this one in the world for boats under 25 feet,” Al said. The Queen K Cup and its $10,000 prize has had a significant effect on other tournamenst in the series besides the Dirty Dozen. “The Wee Guys Tourney, of which we are the major sponsor ($10,000), went to the next level when we awarded the Cup Series to Dave.” Al said. The 2011 Queen K Tesoro Cup Series starts on August 7th with the Queen K Tesoro Dirty Dozen hosted at the Bite Me Fish Market. The Weigh-ins and bragging location will be at the Fish Market Restaurant from now on, Al said. Sign-ups will be at Queen K Tesoro before the Tourney day and at Bite Me Fish Market from 6am to 8 am on the day of tourney. The top ten finishers in the Queen K Tesoro Cup with boat names, team captains and final point totals were: 1. Kona Pearl II, David Magallanes, 1,243 pts. 2. Krista O, Mike Oshiro, 958. 3. Makana Lani, Kenny Fogerty, 675. 4. Hei Mana, Gary Sheehan, 665. 5. Miss Lynn, Hill Ramos, 550. 6. Mikaela Kai, Mike Camp, 519. 7. (tie with 505 points) Silver Star II, Paul Cantor and Kuuwaihi Kawena, Jeremy Moniz. 9. (tie with 485 points). Brezen II, Ted Toriano and Reel Lady, Pat Tanaka. WEE GUYS 30th ANNIVERSARY DRAWS 130 TEAMS. A full field of 130 trailerboat teams celebrated the 30th anniversary of Hawai’s largest small-boat tournament. Though the competion culminated the year-long Queen K Tesoro Cup, it stands alone as a stellar event in its own right. Marlin results: 1. Miss Lynn, Hill Ramos, 429 pounds. 2. Breezin II, Ted Toriano, 420. 3. Moani, Sid Shigimatsu, 302.5. Ahi: 1. Krista O, Mike Oshiro, 192.5. 2. Hei Mana, Gary Sheehan, 179.5. 3. Alohilani, Evan Obra, 155. Ono: 1. Kuuwahi Kawena, Jeremy Moniz, 49. 2. Reel Lady, Pat Tanaka, 48. 3. High-C’s, Shonne Sasaki, 46. Mahimahi: 1. Silver Star II, Paul Cantor, 24. 2. Kona Pearl II, David Magallanes, 20. 3. Kauina, Jack Keanaaina, 19.5. Grand Champion (largest combined weight of two fish of two different species). Mis Lynn, Hill Ramos, 429 pound marlin and 21.5 pound ono. Aku: Malialani, Gregory ambrosio, 6.5 pounds. BIG PAYOFF IN KONA CLASSIC. The Hawaiian Marlin Series Kona Classic Tournament, June 26 and 27, paid out nearly $100,000 in prize money for catches of marlin, ahi, mahimahi, and ono. John Simitac caught a 473-pound marlin on Kila Kila with Capt. Teddy Hoogs to take the price money for largest marlin and most Day two points. Team Kila Kila won $10, 407. Louis Wardlaw recorded the only tag and release marlin of the event and scooped up the optional entry levels. Louis fished on Marlin Magic II with Capt. Marlin Parker. His multiple-entry strategy paid off with $62,800. Team Chiripa caught the biggest ahi of the event, 197.5 pounds, and won $4,197.5. Team Teresa’s 144-pound tuna won $1,035. Team Rod Bender a 123-pound ahi and pocketed $1,145. Team Foxy Lady finished out the tuna scoring with a 117-pound ahi and also caught the largest mahimahi 44 pounds. The two catches totaled $4,692. Team Leilani won $4,017 with the largest ono, 48.5 pounds. Team Keiki Auana weighed a 44.5-pound ono for $2,115. Team Billfisher II finished out the scoring with a 32-pound ono worth $1,080. WAIT RIGHT THERE. Why does a marlin strike a fast-trolled hunk of tasteless metal and plastic when it goes whizzing by? Some say the fish is just an aggressive beast defending its territory by attacking an intruder. Sounds good, but it’s that “territory” aspect that bothers me. Do marlin ever stay in one place long enough to set up a territory? Don’t answer until you hear about the 542-pound marlin Paul Carlton caught on Miss Mojo Friday. The fish would be interesting if only because it was the biggest of the week, but the odd twist of events will give you a lot to think about. Paul owns Miss Mojo and was along with Capt. Tio Kearney and his crew Mike Nesbitt. Tio headed straight out of Honokohau and got hit as soon as they reached the 1,000-fathom line. Tio says he knew it was a heavy fish but it quickly shook free. And that, presumably, was that. The marlin didn’t come back to the lure so Tio marked the spot and left the fish to cool off in its own territory. Meanwhile, he ran out to F-buoy, which had gathered a good batch of baitfish, and grabbed three aku. He bridled these to hooks and walked them back to the original spot he had marked. Tio says it took him about two hours to get back there because you can only tow a baitfish as fast as it can swim comfortably (otherwise known as “walking speed”). When he got there, a marlin jumped on the baitfish. Paul got the fish to the boat in just over an hour. Tio says they put a lot of pressure on it because they were practicing for the Blue Marlin World Cup and the Firecracker Open coming up in the days ahead. Who knows if it was the same marlin as before, but why not? There is, however, no mystery to why it took the hook the second time. You don’t have to be a marlin to know that fresh aku tastes good. TRIPLE CROWN FOR KAHALA KING. Among Kona fishermen, Capt. Jeff Rogers has the nickname “Kahala King.” Jeff has earned it by catching, tagging and releasing more amberjack (kahala) then any other fishermen either here or anywhere else, for that matter. He also deserves the title because he is the person who first discovered and established the fact that there are too very similar looking but different “kahala” here. Those are the greater amberjack and the almaco jack. The latter is now famous as the Kona kampachi, farmed by Kona Blue and marketed worldwide. The only thing missing was the Hawaii State kahala record, but Jeff now owns that, too. On Thursday, Jeff hosted a trio of father-and-son anglers, hooked two kahala over 100 pounds and took over the state record with a 151.5-pound greater amberjack. Jeff took advantage of the abundance of small aku roving the Grounds these days. He caught one, bridled it to a hook and sent it deep into kahala territory, down about 80 fathoms. When a kahala takes a bait and runs, you have to be ready to put maximum pressure on the fish. Otherwise, it will dive into the reef and catch the line, or – worse yet – run out over the edge of the reef and keep going down until you run out of line. Jeff had packed his Penn VSX two-speed reels with 100-pound test braided Tuffline. David Jacobs started the fight but then passed the rod to Justin Lazar of Oakhurst, California. After Justin got into the pump-and-reel rhythm, he stopped the fish and was able to get it started toward the surface. When Jeff saw the size of the fish, he thought he might have fluffed an IGFA world record chance by letting the anglers switch. The IGFA allows only one angler to handle a catch for record consideration. State records have no such requirement so his 151.5-pounder makes that qualification. Jeff missed the IGFA record by 3.5-pounds anyway. Jeff’s anglers have set six state records and six IGFA records, though some of his records have superceded others or been beaten by others. He set the state record for oceanic bonito, for example, then beat that one a few months later, and that one a year later. With Jeff’s now-triple claims to the Kahala King title, some have suggested they change the name of the fish from amberjack to amberjeff. NO TOURNAMENT STORY IS COMPLETE WITHOUT IT. No fishing tournament ever happens without a story about the team that got away. There is always a boatful of guys who aren’t entered in the tournament, go out on their own, and catch something that would have won a prize or two. Saturday the Firecracker Open was happening but that didn’t keep non-entrants Mike O’Toole, Gary Robb, and Robert Oswald from heading out on Mike’s boat True Lies. For most of the day, it looked like they would do no more than live up to the boat’s name. They lost a spearfish at the boat (yeah, sure), then another marlin just out of arm’s length (ha!) but you need some evidence to show when you’ve already warned listeners with your boat name. They trolled back toward Honokohau with a boatload of uncorroborated fish stories, but halfway between VV-buoy and the harbor, the long rigger went down from the strike of a good fish. The circumstances are worth noting. Mike had just been complaining about the unexpected ineffectiveness of that particular lure. They’d had high hopes for this particular bullet lure with shiny mylar skirts and couldn’t believe it had let them down. The lure had gotten the message, howver, and Robert got his first big tuna. Sometimes, scolding a lure is enough. A good guilt trip may do the job. As a last resort, drag it around the parking lot behind your truck. “With expert boat handling, great coaching, and flawless leadering and gaffing, we boated a 178-pound ahi, Robert said. I can’t say what that fish would have been worth in the tournament, but it was worth a lot of internet chatter among fellow members of the Paradise Fishing Club. Rizzuto 24 06/14/10 In local lore, the spring ahi/marlin connection goes like this: the schools of big yellowfins - the 100 to 200 pounders - show up first in late spring and are quickly followed by the summer run of big marlin. The tuna are here for reasons of their own, probably spawning. The marlin are here to eat the big tuna. But if that is so, why aren’t we weighing big marlin with 150-pound tuna in their bellies? Think about that while we look at two stories from last week’s fishing adventures. On Friday, Capt. Russ Nitta and his son Fisher paused outside the harbor to catch opelu before heading Lepika out to find the north “porpoise school.” Having live bait aboard was worth the delay. Soon after they found the pack of tuna and dolphin, a 114-pound tuna found their live opelu. As Fisher fought it they realized it wasn’t acting like a tuna. It didn’t dive. It stayed on the surface. Fisher was in the chair for about 20 minutes, Russ said, and had the line back to the rubber band that had held the line before the strike. The fight should have been over at that point, but the fish took off on a screaming run and nearly emptied the spool of its 500 yards of line. Fisher took another fifteen minutes to reel in their tuna, which showed up at the boat with a puncture wound, through and through. Clearly, a marlin had seen the struggling tuna and speared it, probably with the plan of eating it. The next day, Russ spoke with David Nahuina and heard a similar story. A tuna grabbed a dangling squid while David was fishing with his greenstick rig. This ahi, too, stayed up on the surface as David fought it to the boat. When he got it close enough grab the leader, he saw a huge marlin that was following it. David told Russ the marlin was as broad across the shoulders as the width of his fish box. Maybe a grander? Maybe not, but still big enough to run off with the tuna while applying enough force to break David’s greenstick rod. David eventually got his tuna, leaving a monster marlin still looking for its next bellyful. And “bellyful” may be the reason we don’t catch many marlin that have recently swallowed a whole adult ahi. Even if one decided to eat your lure or bait, where would it put it? BIGGEST TUNA NOW 215 POUNDS. If you have been following the dock reports this week, you’ve been expecting a story about one of Russ Nitta’s tuna catches, but not the story you just read. On Tuesday, Russ hosted newlyweds Scott and Amanda Lawson aboard Lepika. Russ said the Lawsons had gotten married the evening before, which meant they spent their first day together as Mr. and Mrs. fishing. Their devotion was blessed with the largest ahi of the year. Amanda caught a 215-pound yellowfin – a unique and unforgettable wedding present. Don’t be surprised that they celebrated their wedding by fishing. Back home in Florida, Scott is a commercial akule fisherman, Russ said. In other words, he makes his living catching “google eyes” to sell to fishermen for live bait. Obviously, he had the right bait to catch Amanda, and she has already proved to be the right girl for a fisherman’s wife. Russ and his lucky couple got an early start and found the north porpoise school while the fish were spread out and still gullible. They caught their first fish, a 102-pound tuna, while trolling. Then they switched to the greenstick and hooked the 215-pounder. After Amanda got it to the boat, Russ estimated its weight as 180 to 190 but soon realized he had something much bigger. When he tried to get it into the fish box, it barely fit on the diagonal from corner to corner. That put it in at least the same category as a 204-pounder he jammed into the box last year. They put the greenstick out for another sweep with the dangling squids and caught a 108-pound tuna. Time for the Lawsons to quit but still time for Russ to make one more observation. Lately, the trolling boats have been doing at least as well as the greenstickers. On Saturday, the first day of the Kona Iki Trollers tournament, at least ten and maybe 15 trollers caught tuna, Russ said while the guys using the stick caught only five or so. With all of the tuna around, no one caught a big marlin last week. We’re guessing that the marlin are as good at catching a belly full of ahi as any fisherman. VOODOO MAN RETURNS. Troy, the “Voodoo Man,” Tyler is back with some new items in his magic bag of talismans and amulets. Whether you believe in fairy dust, incantations, wearing your underwear inside out or any other such nonsense, believe this. On his first trip since arriving here from his home in the Florida Everglades, Troy fished on Long Ranger with Capts. Lance Gelman and Steve Sahines and caught 28 mahimahi. The next rip, Troy caught two 120-pound tuna on a double strike while trolling. The next day, Troy’s magic subsided a bit and he caught only one tuna. The next day he caught a two ahi weighing 145 and 164. That’s a lot of fish for anyone and everyone – basically, they were using sportfishing gear to fish commercially for the market. On the day of their big mahimahi catch, they had found a floater in the form of an upturned derelict boat. While they were hooking mahimahi, their fish were being stalked by a large shark. After it bit off their biggest mahimahi right behind the head, they switched to deep-jigging. Their fishfinder was marking big fish circling below at around 35-fathoms. At first they hooked several bigeye tuna but the ono took over and got busy biting off their jigs. In other words, they encountered the typical assortment of fish you find aggregating around flotsam and jetsam. Compare that natural assortment to the odd collection of stuff Troy brings for good luck. The list is too long and too weird to list – a section of umbilical cord, a pony tail from his younger days when Troy grew one, a piece of hook surgically removed from Steve’s elbow after one unlucky experience, and on and on. The new additions to Troy’s voodoo bag this year are a pigeon’s foot and a gator shield (one of the bones you find under the bumps along a gator’s back.) It’s not a fool-proof system. After leaving port on one trip they hooked a big ono first thing right outside the harbor. Before they could get it in, a second ono grabbed the lure and bit through the line. The lost the fish, lure hook, leader, and swivel. Troy hopes his luck is holding back in Florida where his home area may someday be in the path of the giant BP oil spill. “We are saying our prayers,” Troy said. Prayers? Now there is something to add to that voodoo bag. Copyright Rizzuto 05/31/10 During the spring and summer cycle the fishing days get longer, of course, but not just by an hour or two. With the possibility of catching broadbill swordfish, yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna, albacore and thresher sharks now, many fishermen are fishing the night away, “ika-shibi” style. Capts. Tio Kearney and Mike Nesbitt successfully fished overnight twice last week on Miss Mojo. They boated an ahi the first trip and a 534-pound thresher the second. Tio and Mike had been hoping for a broadbill swordfish because neither had caught one before. The thresher, however, gave them every bit of the big-game battle either could have hoped for. The trip was a college graduation present for Hunter Lehrman son of the owners, and his friend Corey Spaugh. They reached C-buoy while it was still light enough to catch bait and get set up. Two aku obliged, but the first one became a quick meal for a white-tip shark that took it while the bait was on the surface. They released the white-tip, set out a parachute as a sea anchor and sent the second aku down where the tuna and swordfish feed. After 20 minutes of swimming around on the end of the line, the aku weakened. Mike pulled it up, and added a squid to the hook to spread more smell in the water. “I got it back down, walked over to the other side of the boat and the line took off,” Tio said. The reel spun as though the line was hooked to a submarine. Mike got the chute back just in time so they could chase the fish before being spooled. For the next half hour, they backed down steadily to keep up with their unknown opponent. The fish headed south with the fast-moving current. By the time they got the thresher close enough to identify, they had already gone eight miles past UU-Buoy. Then the thresher turned to fight the boat. It stuck its nose into the tailpipe and bit down hard. Then it hung onto the tube with a death grip despite the engine exhaust streaming past its snout. Mike and Tio had never caught a thresher before, but they knew how dangerous the shark can be from its teeth to its tail. The thresher’s tail is long enough to wipe its nose and it will wipe yours, too, if you don’t stay out of reach. The solution was to rope the tail, which got it at least partially under control. The dock was too far off to tow the shark all the way back to Honokohau so they went to work hauling it aboard through the stern door. After forty minutes of wrestling with the fish, they finally got its huge fins through the opening and aboard. From nose tip to tail tip, the shark measured 16 feet, of which seven was tail. That’ll make an enormous wall mount for Hunter’s den. What do you do with a quarter-ton of thresher shark? Are you kidding? Thresher steaks are among the best eating of any fish. They sent this one off to the auction block and started thinking about their next swordfish trip. MORE....... |
IT'S HERE!!! LURE MAKING 101/102. Pacific
fishermen have made their own lures since the days when the only lure
materials available were shells, bones and boar bristles. Many
generations ago, making your own lures made you a fisherman. The
“mana” (spirit) you created with your lure determined your fishing
success. For some, that same spirit endures. As modern products have replaced the natural materials of the stone-and-bone age, lure-making has become easier and more accessible to the back-yard craftsman. I’ve written about lure-making for various publications since 1964. I receive a lot of questions about the process so I have just published the book “Lure-Making 101/102.” This is a book of history and an homage to the artisans who brought big-game lure-making into the modern age. In showing you the path the great lure makers followed, the pages provide an array of ideas you can use to create and innovate. Indeed, the book is interesting if only for the story of big-game lure-making throughout the last seventy years. The how-to section begins with simple lures you can make from readily available materials without needing molds of any kind. Then it introduces how to cast lures from “found” molds in the tradition of early lure makers who used bottles, tumblers, and tubes. After you have created some masters you want to duplicate, the book teaches you how to use RTV (room-temperature vulcanizing) liquid rubber to make sturdy and dependable molds. You can use these molds over and over to make your own lures in the spirit of centuries of master fishermen. The book is available only directly from me. For information, please email me at Rizzuto@aloha.net. Copyright Rizzuto 07/18/10 BEST MARLIN TIME AND TIDE? Marlin wait for no time or tide. So say fishermen who think that a billfish eats whenever and wherever it is hungry and doesn’t need to check a clock or tide chart to know when its stomach is growling. Capt. Dale Leverone and I were kicking the best-bite-time topic around while discussing a 475-pound blue marlin he released one day last week. Marlin of all sizes have been scarce lately with many fishermen blaming their absence on unseasonably cold water. If chilly seas are the problem, then the afternoon bite should be better, Dale says. After many years of watching his sea temperature gauge on Sea Strike, Dale says the afternoon waters are usually warmer just from the heating effect of the sun. Dale hooked his 475-pound blue in the early afternoon. The bite came about an hour before the low-tide change, which either does or doesn’t mean anything. The fish ran out a lot of line, jumped repeatedly and then ran out of gas. Angler Mark Jordan had the leader to crew Adam Cohen in about a half hour. One group of billfish scientists studied statistics from a large number of catches around the world and concluded that the best bite time is the period from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm regardless of the tide. Those results may be skewed by logistics. In most places, you don’t reach prime billfish territory until mid-morning and have to quit by mid-afternoon to get back to port. Despite the unseasonably cool seas here lately, Dale says the marlin and tuna are really trying to return to summer norms. “It’s time for them to show up,” Dale said. “We caught two blues and two spearfish and I’ve been marking ahi on my fishfinder in the blind. There’s a lot of bait at F-buoy and C-buoy. It’s trying to get good.” The quality of Kona fishing depends on the direction of the current, which is affected by the strong eddies formed in the Kona lee. Old eddies break away, new ones form, currents redirect, sea temperatures jump up or down, new masses of water and fish spin close to shore, and the fishing can change in less than a one-day cycle. Though Dale caught his fish on the downside of the low tide change, that’s not his favorite time to fish. Dale says he prefers to fish the rising tide for the most practical of reasons – at the end of the day, it is easier to get up and out of the boat. GORILLA BAIT. Capt. Bobby Cherry has had a good tuna week on Cherry Pit II by reversing a never-fail strategy from the old days. Years back, your best bet for hooking yellowfins was to catch a live bait on the ledge off Keauhou, bridle it to a hook, and walk it out to 1,000 fathoms or so. But only if you could get your bait that far before a tuna took it. Recently, bait has been scarce on the nearshore ledges, so Bobby has been starting by catching his bait offshore around F-buoy and walking it back in. He towed his bait toward the “elbow” in the 1,000-fathom line off Kaiwi Point on two different days and caught tuna weighing 170- and 130-pounds. On Friday, he never reached the 1,000. A 209-pound ahi wolfed it down on the 1,200. All tuna are tough but they get significantly tougher when they hit 200-pounds. Angler Clark Miller fought the fish for an hour and 15 minutes before getting it within gaffing range. The big fish did have a special advantage, however, beyond it own size and strength. During the fight, Cherry Pit II drifted into an 18-foot long mass of cargo netting. Bobby fishes without a crew and occasionally misses having an extra pair of eyes when his attention is focused on the angler and the fish. Fortunately, he was out of gear so the rope didn’t wrap the props. After a lot of pushing and pulling with the stick gaff, Cherry Pit II was cleared for a quick trip back to port. ONO HITS AND MISSES. Paradise Fishing Club member Mark Kuechenmeister reported last week’s largest ono. After heading south on his boat Eyecatcher, Mark and two friends found an eager pack of ono, went seven for ten on ono strikes, and weighed a 56-pound whopper. They left port at 4:00 am and ran all the way to Kauna Point before putting the lures out. Within 15 minutes, they hooked a pair of ono and then fished for three or four more hours with sporadic action. Mark says the ono were hitting everything he put out including jets of all sizes and Marauders. Mark says the water temperature at Kauna Point was a cool-for-July 77 degrees. It warmed up nearly four degrees as they made their way back up to C-buoy on very calm seas and aided by a north-bound current. SKINS MARLIN DERBY PEELS OFF $257K. The winners of the Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series Skins Marlin Derby split over a quarter of a million dollars in prize money. The three-day event has over 30 different entry levels and at least that many ways to win money. Team Five Star (Capt. Carlton Taniyama) entered nearly every possible level and won big when angler Warren Keinath boated a 530.5-pound blue. Their second-day catch pulled in $139,860. Team Marlin Magic II (Capt. Marlin Parker) snagged the highest payout, $43,020, when Paul Douglas caught a 330.5-pound blue on the third day. Team Pacific Blue (Capt. Bill Casey) collected $23,670 because of Charles Helscel’s 566.5 pound third-day catch. Team Chiripa (Capt. Bill Crawford) won $5, 850 with 200 points from a first-day tag and release by angler Brett Fay. Team Jr’s Hooker (Capt. Kevin Hibbard) won $3,078 with 200 points from a first-day tag and release by Jim Robinson. Johanna Carelton of Team Miss Mojo (Capt. Tio Kearney) also tagged a first-day marlin and won $2,880. Team Medusa (Capt. Steve Kaiser) finished out the winnings with $1,980 for angler Bill Boyle’s last day 330.5-pound marlin. The tallies were provided by the tournament but were listed as unofficial until further review. Copyright 06/28/10 Too bad you have to spend your typical fishing day driving around hour after hour looking for something to bite. Wouldn’t it be just great if you could head directly to the right spot, toss out your lures and hook up immediately? Capt. Kevin Hiney and crew Chad Contessa have done just that twice in the last few weeks. Wednesday, they steered Bite Me out of the harbor bright and early with angler Melody Zehner aboard and headed northwest toward the Grounds. Minutes later they were in 450 fathoms off Pine Trees and Chad ran Melody through the “here-is-how-you-fight-a-fish” drill. A 713-pound blue marlin must have been listening and volunteered to do its part. The marlin grabbed a Marlin Magic Ruckus lure before Melody had a chance to forget any part of her lessons. The newly-trained lady went right to work and beat the fish – the largest marlin of last week--in about a half hour. “Hooked up at 6:40 am and boated at 7:10 am,” Kevin said. “We had the same scenario as with a 513-pounder a few weeks before. Same time, same place, same result.” In between and ever since, he has been driving around looking for fish like everyone else. Hooked Up got hooked up to four big fish last week and stayed hooked up to two of them. Skipper Chuck Wigzell and crew Bevan Beuachamp hosted angler Cayle Cooper on Tuesday and put Cayle on a 609.5-pound blue. The marlin jumped on a Lunger lure in the early afternoon as they trolled the 500 off Keauhou. Cayle got the fish to the boat in 30 minutes and had barely gotten his breath back when they hooked another. The second fish, an estimated 500-pounder, took pity on the tired angler and shook free. The next day, Chuck and Bevan hosted Michael Einsley while they were still on their hot streak. Their strike came about an hour later in the day, which is about the amount by which the tide change shifts from day to day. The fish hit a Super Plunger off Capt. Cook. They estimated Michael’s fish at about 500 pounds and released it after a half-hour fight. Earlier in the week, they got a few jumps out of a 500-pound blue marlin off VV-buoy before it shook the hook on a Softhead lure. You can’t win them all and 50% is a good success rate for lure trolling. JUN KEN PO LEADS MAHIMAHI LIST 2010 has been an odd year for mahimahi. With most of six months gone, the best Kona waters could come up with was a 38-pounder. That’s not much to say considering that the Hawaii State record weighed 83 pounds. Jun Ken Po raised the bar a lot last week. On a trip that was nearly over, Capt. Chip Fischer was in 300 fathoms off Kaiwi Point and about ready to tell crew Russon Hall to pull in the lines, when a big bull mahimahi bit the “long gone.” That’s the last position back in the wake where Chip was trolling a Futa lure. When the bull mahimahi jumped, Chip immediately guessed it at 50 pounds and wasn’t far off. It ended up weighing 51. Angler Nick Janes had a relatively easy time reeling the fish in, which worried Chip a bit. You can usually count on a mahimahi to fight and if doesn’t put up its dukes before you gaff it, you can count on having it go a few rounds before you can kayo it in the fishbox. “They can really tear you up,” Chip said. “But this one didn’t.” Maybe it realized it was about to uphold the honor of the Kona mahimahi population. TRASH TO TUNA TREASURE. If you are having a hard time catching tuna in the offshore schools, try fishing from shore. Reuben Llanes used a good stiff wind and an inflated trash bag as a float to sail his opelu bait about 300 yards offshore into ahi territory. For a 67-pound ahi, that was just far enough. Reuben fought it for forty minutes before running into a problem you don’t encounter offshore. Ahi like to dive deep when they fight, but close to shore, their dives take them into the rocks. Reuben’s cousin Gerald solved the problem by jumping in with a gaff. To fish with a trash bag sail-float, you have to pick a time of day when the wind is blowing offshore. That would be early in the day or from mid-afternoon on. The mid-day thermal winds blow onshore and are likely to sail the bag right back in to your feet. Make sure the bag is tied tightly enough to remain attached to the line no matter what happens. If it gets loose, it is just more trash in an ocean that is already too full of it. JUNE, MOON, SWORDFISH SOON. When the calendar flips to June, Night fishermen turn toward thoughts of broadbill swordfish. Jesse Rogers had the well-armed gladiators in mind when he set out to do some ika-shibi fishing overnight on Saturday. There is usually a lot of competition with other small boat night fishermen in early summer, but the rest of the trailer boat guys were all competing in the Wee Guys tournament that day. Jesse and friend Caleb Wolfson headed their little 17.5-foot boat out into an empty sea. They had the ocean all to themselves, which helped make up for the fact that it was a bright moon night. Jesse says he thinks broadbill feed deeper when the moon is full. Agree with him or not, he was right that night. After reaching a spot where the drift looked good, he and Caleb set out their ‘chute as a sea anchor, turned on the boatside light to attract squid and dropped the baited handlines down. Almost immediately the rubber band snapped as a fish pulled the line free. Jesse said he knew it was a broadbill immediately because the line shot straight up to the surface. Caleb quickly cleared the chute and the lines, then took his turn fighting the fish. It came to the boat relatively easily considering that it was 210 pounds and brandished a four-foot long sword. Though it was the first broadbill reportd to us so far this year, it doesn’t go onto our Big-Fish List because Jesse caught it on a handline, not a rod and reel. But the night wasn’t over. Jesse and Caleb’s personal broadbill run continued with another bite. Though this swordfish weighed only 60 pounds, it had come to fight. Before it was done, the broadbill had taken a big chunk out of Jesse’s thumb. Jesse works at Big Island Marine when he is not out dueling with swords. He says he won’t be mixing any paint for customers for a while. Copyright Rizzuto 06/21/10 Bring in the largest ahi of the year for our Big-Fish List and you get a smile and a handshake. Do it the way Steve Spina did and you snag over $17,000. Steve caught his 226-pound gorilla ahi in the Hawaii Big Game Fishing Club’s Rock N Reel Tournament and won $6,300 from the tournament entry pot and another $10,925 from an optional entry level. Steve got lucky with three ahi while fishing on Rod Bender with the father daughter crew of Capt. Kirwin and Heather Masunaga, Tipping the scales at 226-, 189.5- and 110-pounds, the trio reached the first place total of 1,140 points. Team Marlin Magic finished second with 716.5 points based on a 466.5-pound blue marlin caught by John Peterson and a second blue tagged and released by Billy Boyle. Capt. Marlin Parker’s entry took home $3,150. Kila Kila finished third with 630 points from a 176-pound ahi and a tagged blue. The catch was worth $1, 890 from an entry fee payout for Capt. Teddy Hoogs and angler Jeff Smith and another $3,800 in side entries. An ahi triple totaled 585 points for team Ihu Nui and put them in fourth place. For skipper Oskie Rice and angler Reese Anderson, the three tuna weighed 183-, 121-, and 113-pounds and garnered $1,260. Team J. R.’s Hooker tagged and released a blue and a spearfish to score 300 release points worth $1,400. Angler Jim Robinson reeled in both fish with Capt. Kevin Hibbard at the helm. Team Anxious won the biggest monetary prize, $21,850, with a 333.5-pound blue. For Capt. Neal Isaacs, their blue was largest of the first day and earned the most first-day marlin points. Team Fire Hatt caught the largest blue of the second day, 560.5 pounds, and pocketed $7,125. Angler Linda Wilson outfought the fish despite a string of disadvantages. Linda had been in bed with strep throat for six days before the tourney began. After beginning antibiotic treatment, she felt well enough to join her husband Chuck for the event. The 560.5-pound blue crashed the long rigger as they trolled of Red Hill and then put on a 15-minute aerial show, Chuck said. During its very active battle, the marlin wrapped its tail in the leader and then dove straight down. It took Linda nearly three hours to haul the dead fish backwards up to the surface. After the team got the fish to boatside, it took them another 45 minutes to haul it aboard. Even though it took four hours from strike to finish, their catch was worth about $30 per minute. With 28 teams raking the seas, this is the second year in a row there were no mahimahi or ono caught, tournament director Capt. Neal Isaacs said. Where’s the floater? That’s been the big question all week because everyone with a boat wanted to get into the bonanza of fish gathered around a huge section of nets and floats. Mark Barville spotted it 20 miles offshore of Kaiwi Point on his way to the Tsunami Buoy. Another boat had gotten there first – eventually four altogether – and seeing that boat on the horizon helped Mark find it. The floater had attracted thousands of fish, including a huge crowd of very unfriendly hagi. Call them “hoggies” and you understand why fishermen don’t like these voracious offshore triggerfish. Usually, they just rip your bait apart. They have been known to pack-attack much bigger fish, too, piranha-style. In fact, while Mark was hauling in a mahimahi, the hoggies ganged up on it to nip its flanks regardless of how high it jumped and how fast it raced away. Mark says he rinsed his hand off at boatside and the hoggies tried to bite him, too. A veteran diver with lots of experience underwater, Mark says he would not have dared to jump in for fear of being picked apart. He had a bucket full of aku parts from an earlier catch and tossed it overboard just to see what the giant school of little biters would do. They literally piled onto the free food and climbed on top of each other to get their share. The pile of hoggies stuck up nearly a foot above the water! In addition to several mahimahi that he could snake away from the hoggies by brute force, he caught several ono on the troll and was able to get these 35-pounders into the box relatively unmarked. On his fishfinder, Mark could see the ono feeding down deep under the pack of other fish. Each time he dropped jig down to catch some of the shibi gathered below, an ono bit it off before it could got down 20 or 30 fathoms. When ono feed deep like this, they sometimes race to the surface at launch velocity to grab a trolled lure. Coming straight up at high speed, they grab the lure and keep going five or six feet in the air. Mark had never seen an ono strike like this before, but he ended up with the evidence for dinner. Mark inspected the stomach contents of his mahimahi and shibi and discovered they were full of small ballyhoo, shrimp and crabs. These are the perfect size and type of critter to hide in among the webbing for safety. Even though the net stretched down several fathoms and covered an area of many square yards, it didn’t provide refuge for the unlucky ones Mark found caught by his catch. By the end of that day, Kona’s lee coast gyre had pulled the floater in much closer to shore – Mark estimates it was only 13 miles away at quitting time. Linda Sue III was one of the lucky boats in on the action early in the week. In three hours of hot and heavy fishing, Capts. Jeff Heintz and Lael Wilson put their party of three on 40 mahimahi. In ono lane, they hooked two ono weighing 35 and 40 pounds before Lael spotted the floater when it was off Pine Trees. The action proved perfect for Tony Mavrides of Reno, Nevada and his sons Kyle, 17, and Pablo, 13. “On our first pass close by, we saw absolutely nothing in the water, not even hoggies,” Jeff said. “But the rigger went off with a six-pound shibi.” That was enough encouragement for Lael to pull in the lines and throw out some chum to bring the fish up. “Here came the hoggies and right behind the mahimahi,” Jeff said. Fishing entirely with standup tackle, the Mavrides trio had constant action for the rest of the charter. As I write this on Sunday afternoon, the floater and its flotilla of fishing boats could be seen from shore. FIRST CHANCE ON LAST CHANCE Monday, Capt. Matt Losasso took out Last Chance for his first chance as skipper of the charterboat. It’s always satisfying to start off any new venture with a success. While he was weighing his chances, Matt got some extra help from Troy “The Voodo Man” Tyler. Troy comes here from Florida every year with his magic bag of Voodoo charms and always has more than his share of fishing success. Prior to heading offshore with Matt and crew Mitch Latoff, Troy had already caught five ahi and dozens of mahimahi in a week of fishing on other boats. But no marlin. That’s odd because in all of his past trips combined, Troy had caught 36 marlin, including five over 500 pounds. This time the billfish had all eluded his charms. This time there was no marlin magic in the odd assortment including a turkey claw, alligator bone, hank of hair – even an umbilical cord. For Matt’s big chance, however, a good-sized marlin would be the perfect start. No problem. Early in the trip – 8:15 am to be exact – they were working the Trail Run off Kealakekua Bay when the marlin they wanted came up and started batting around the short corner lure. It missed every time, but Lady Luck was just having one final fling with them. The fish dropped back, took the short rigger line and immediately took to the air. Matt’s kick-off marlin weighed 568.5-pounds. Definitely a promising start CHECK OUT KITING The lures on a greenstick rig seem to drop down out of the sky as they sweep back and forth across the surface. With no line or leader in the water ahead of them, there is nothing for a sharp-eyed tuna to see and fear. With that kind of success, you would think kite fishing would work just as well on our ahi. The method is extremely well established in Florida and other sportfishing centers. Why wouldn’t it work here? I discussed it with Capt Dale Leverone, who cut his teeth fishing Florida waters. He told me that many have tried it here and given up. Undaunted, Capt. Wayne Knight decided to see whether the idea would fly aboard his charterboat Playtime. On Monday, Wayne set up his rig in the middle of a pack of dolphins and tuna and used it to dangle a plastic flying fish so it just touched the surface. Four minutes later, the artificial malolo disappeared in an explosion of white water. Angler Joe Sondag wound in a 138-pound ahi. I wouldn’t say it was the first tuna on a kite here, but I’m betting it won’t be the last. TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE PACKED The summer tournament season as packed like sardines in a can with events pile on top of each other. Saturday and Sunday will be especially busy with the Wee Guys and Kona Classic running almost simultaneously (daily start times differ a bit). You can compete in both but only if you are already signed up for the Wee Guys. Even though it is the largest small-boat tournament in Hawaii with 130 teams, it is already filled and with a waiting list. The Wee Guys is the final event in the yearlong Queen K Tesoro Cup series and may determine who wins the $10,000 prize. OHANA TRAILERS TOURNEY TOPS TEN GRAND Ohana Boat Trailers of Waimea sponsored its 10th Annual Four Flag tournament on June 5. With $10,824 in prizes at stake, the event attracted a field of 50 trailered boats for a 5:30 am Honokohau Harbor start. Each of the first-place flag winners (marlin, tuna, mahimahi and ono) expected to take home $2,706. No qualifying marlin were caught so the prize money went to the teams catching the largest ono, ahi and mahimahi. Team Norma T II captained by Byron Ito took the ono title with 34-pounder. Nora K (captain Aaron Mori) won the mahimahi division with a 35 pounder. Mikaela Kai (captain Mike Camp) boatea a 104 pound yellowfin to win the ahi division. Results courtesy of Ohana spokesperson Tootsie Timm. Rizzuto Copyright 06/07/10 Black is the fashion for big girls in spring. Or maybe any time of the year, but the plus-size girls we are talking about are the two biggest billfish caught here last week. On Wednesday, Capt. Teddy Hoogs and crew Josh Bunch got a 692-pound marlin to whack a black Lunger lure. The show was almost over for angler Harlan Hoss and his friends when the week’s biggest fish showed up in the wake of Kila Kila right outside the harbor at quitting time. Early in the week, Capt. Tio Kearny and crew Mike Nesbitt had set the bar very high with a 663-pound blue. The black magic mojo for their boat Miss Mojo was a black Joe Yee Super Plunger with black on gold skirts. “It is really ugly,” Tio said. “But Mike likes it and it caught three of our biggest fish so far.” Both fish took their licks at licorice lures at around mid-day. That’s significant because of the old rule “Use dark lures for dark days and bright lures for bright days.” Whether the fish got that rule wrong - or I did – the Miss Mojo marlin changed its mind very quickly. After grabbing the black Super Plunger, it raced back in the wake to jump on a much more colorful lure – a small bullet-nosed AP lure with a shiny skirt made of rainbow-colored filaments. When Tio and Mike saw the fish shake off the SP and get firmly hooked on the AP, they estimated it at about 400 pounds. They raise the estimate a few hundred pounds when the fish started jumping. The fish took out 300 yards of line and looped back toward the boat. Tio got back on it as quickly as possible, which turned out to be very fortunate. Three white tips sharks had taken an interest in their catch. They just watched the marlin for about 20 minutes without making any aggressive moves, but their demeanor changed in a flash when the marlin rolled over. Before the white-tips could tear into their catch, Tio backed the boat up quickly to chase the sharks away. They immediately made the decision to take the marlin rather than releasing it to fatten up the shark school. The black-lure catches raise issues fishermen like to ponder during the many hours when fish aren’t hitting any lure of any color. What does a fish think a black lure looks like? (That’s easy. The fish isn’t thinking.) Does a black lure even look black? I’ve fished on Kila Kila with Teddy and Josh and watched their black Lunger at work. Like most marlin trolling lures, this one creates a large bubble that cloaks it in a white stream. And, regardless of whatever color was in fashion now, what do you think that fish could have been thinking when it hooked itself on a lure and chased off to grab another one as it pulled the line along behind it? GOOD SPIRITS AT QUEEN K DIRTY DOZEN Legendary Kona skipper Rusty Unger was known as a free spirit throughout his half-century of fishing here. After his passing a year ago, we still get clues about where that free spirit spends its time. When Rusty’s son, Capt. Dave Unger, fished the Queen K. Tesoro Dirty Dozen Tournament aboard Kai Lio, could Rusty’s spirit have joined the festivities? Judge for yourself. The tournament ran exactly one year after Rusty’s passing, tournament spokesman Natalie Gustavson said. Team Kai Lio headed to the top corner of the Grounds to spread rose petals on the water to commemorate the anniversary of Rusty’s passing. They spread the petals, said some appropriate words, and returned to the practical business of the day – tournament fishing. “Capt. David turned Kai Lio around, made a pass through the petals and the rod went off!” Natalie said. “Angler Katie Kriege jumped into the chair to fight a 505-pound blue marlin for two hours and 15 minutes. Her fish won $900.” Sixteen boats competed in the Dirty Dozen for a total purse of $1,500 with another $2,100 in optional entries, Natalie said. Three boats weighed fish and three others hooked and lost their fish during the fight. Just 19 minutes after the 8:00 am “start fishing” signal, the boat Malia Ann hooked up right outside the harbor, Natalie said. With Todd Stern at the helm, angler Rich Robinson brought a 624 pound blue marlin to the boat in an hour and 15 minutes tow win $750 for largest billfish. Team Makana Lani got a late bite right outside the harbor, and Dennis Frost reeled in a 29.5-pound ono to win $750 in the DD, Natalie said. Team Makana Lani also fished in the Ohana Tournament, which had started at 5:30 am with a field of more than 50 boats. Because they could not start fishing until the 8:00 am start time for the DD, they had begun with a two and a half hour handicap. By 8:00 am, Ohana tournament teams had already caught several qualifying ono, two ahi weighing 125- and 150-pounds, and at least one qualifying mahimahi, Gary Robb of team Makana Lani said. Their goal was to catch a marlin big enough to win both events. They got their chance at 9:35 am as they trolled on the 500-fathom line outside of Pine Trees. A marlin estimate at 550 to 650 pounds grabbed their Marlin Magic Superdog lure and another smaller fish took the long rigger at the same time. Both fish quickly shook free. After the Ohana tournament ended, Makana Lani switched out its marlin lures for ono lures and headed for the fish pens outside Keahole Airport, Gary said. At 3:15 pm, their 29.5-pound, $700 ono hit. In addition to their DD prize money, they also earned 182 points toward the yearlong Queen K Cup with its $10,000 prize. The Queen K. Cup will be decided after all points are accumulated right up to the end of the two-day Wee Guys Fishing Tournament on June 26 and 27. TRIATHLON TRILEMA FOR GOOD LIFE Last Saturday, Paradise Fishing Club member Paul Merhib faced a “trilemma” (a difficult decision with three equally appealing options). With both the Dirty Dozen and Ohana tournaments happening at the same time as the Honu Triathlon, what do you do? Paul elected to skip the tournaments and volunteer his boat Good Life to help with water safety at the Triathlon. Complicating matters, the Kawaihae boat ramp is unusable, so Paul would have to make the long run up the coastline from Honokohau. Good Life left Honokohau at 4:00 am and assisted at the swim course off Hapuna Beach, PFC spokesman Gary Robb said. After the race, they trolled back home and caught a 35-pound ono two miles north of Keahole Point, Gary said. Their catch was bigger than both winning fish – the 29.5-pounder in the Dirty Dozen and the 34-pounder in the Ohana. ` Trilemma? Could have been a trifecta. HARBOR USERS UNITE TO FIGHT FEES. The new Hawaii Boating and Fishing Association will hold a membership meeting on Thursday, June 10th at 5:30pm at the Hawaii Big Game Fishing Club to review and discuss the DLNR proposed parking fees and access restrictions at the Harbor. To encourage participation, there will a raffle drawing for ½ day fishing trips, lures and more. KONA IKI TROLLERS RESULTS The Kona Iki Trollers Manuahi Tournament held May 29th and 30th produced winning marlin, ono and mahimahi, but no ahi. KIT secretary Trishia Hancock provide the following results: 1st place: Boat: Evelyn M II, 92-pound marlin, Herb and Henry Naito. 2nd: Boat Teresa, 78-pound marlin, Steve Fassbender and Paulette Pama. 3rd: Boat Therapy, 36 pound ono, Steve Deboer and Ron Buraglia. 4th: Boat Kealoha, 26-pound ono, Danny Tolentiono 5th: Boat: Kailani, 18-pound mahimahi, Gordon Oba and Trishia Hancock The next scheduled KIT event is the Invitational Tournament June 12th and 13th. ROCK AND REEL TOURNEY ON TAP. The Hawaii Big-Game Fishing Club’s Rock N Reel Tournament will hold ist briefing on Friday, June 18, with fishing on the 19th and 20th. “We have several more teams pre-registered this year than last so we may have more teams than the 30 we had last year,” Capt. Neal Isaacs, tournament spokesman. Said. KAWAIHAE HARBOR PROGRESS REPORT Kawaihae fishing reports have been skimpy and scant since January when the annual “magic sands sandbar” first appeared to block the trailer-boat launch ramp. The sandbar shows up each year with the first big storm of the year and disappears whenever the agency in charge that year arranges dredging. Since I first began observing the situation in the 1960s, the responsibility has changed hands a number of times but the schedule has varied little. The storms block the ramp with sand some time in January. Dredging is delayed through the storm season until April. We are now into June and the sandbar is still there, blocking access for most trailer boats. A month or so ago, several ramp users pushed some of the sand away from the bottom of the ramp with their propellers. The shift of sand opened up access to a few small trailer boats (we counted five trailers on a recent Sunday). But it also makes it more difficult for dredgers to get to the sandbar to remove the sand when the process begins. Hawaii District Manager Nancy Murphy hopes to have the sand cleared some time in the next two months. “I will offer no excuse but please know that we had to go back to the Army Corps of Engineers to obtain a Nationwide Permit for maintenance dredging of the area,” Ms. Murphy said. It took several months but they finally received the permit last week, Ms. Murphy said. Now the job must go out for bids, a process Ms. Murphy says has already been started. “It is our hope that we will be able to experience some relief in the next two months,” Ms. Murphy said. “However, knowing our system as I do, please do not hold me to it.” As for the long term solution to a half-century problem, “We are looking forward to our new launch ramp in the south basin of Kawaihae, which will be a tremendous relief for our boating community,” Ms. Murphy said. When can we expect the new launch ramp to be ready? Numerous completion dates have been forecast over the years, and by all of them, the launch ramp should already be in operation. Indeed, I observed the first step toward the creation of the facility back in the fall of 1969 when the Army Corps of Engineers blew up a section of reef to create the boat basin. Soon after, the construction company responsible for the job at that time built a substantial launch ramp there, which we used for a year or so in the early 1970s. In other words, we Kawaihae old-timers have been waiting for that new launch ramp for 40 years. Skeptics say the south basin ramp solves no problems because they expect the annual sandbar to build up there, too. As will the sandbar in the north launch ramp. If the sand is not removed, the annual storms will turn the north basin into a giant sandbox in time. HIBT OPENINGS FOR ANGLERS. The Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament is putting together some special teams for the 51st event, scheduled for August 2-6. The special teams create a unique opportunity for lone anglers who want to fish in the prestigious event but can’t put together a team on their own. For more information, contact hibt@hawaii.rr.com. VINTAGE HAWAII FISHING COLLECTION LOT 105. (SOLD. Bidding closed at noon Hawaii Time on Friday, April 16, 2010. We'll get Lot 106 together as soon as we can find the time) Here’s a special selection for fishermen who prefer lures with short heads and big eyes and like paying less than the retail value. The lures offered here come from the collection of a fisherman who has passed on. We bought his lure collection to assist him with his final expenses. Lot 105 (pictured) includes four lures, a new copy of the book Fishing Hawaii Offshore and one vintage Hawaii shirt in a size of your choice -- all six items sold as a set. Though all of the lures we are selling were previously owned, the four in this lot are in excellent condition except for some scratches from billfish strikes. Judge the size of the lures from the size of the book (6" by 9").  The top lure is a custom-made Goggle-Eye lure that runs well on any wave. Skirted lures of this kind retail for $40 when new. Two of the smaller lures are C &H models and the third is a Sea Searcher. These retail for about $35 each so you are looking at a set with a retail value of $150 when new Fishing Hawaii Offshore, also included in the lot, retails for $20, so this collection has a new value well in excess of $150, not counting the shirt. The shirt is a classic Tori Richards, a Honolulu Company that has been in the shirt business since 1956. We have the model shown in five sizes (Men's L, XL and 2XL, Ladies M and XL). Select your size to complete the collection.  The shirts are “vintage” clothing, meaning they have been “broken in” for you but are clean and in good repair. Wear a Hawaii shirt to get into the right frame of mind to fish in the Hawaii way. ABW shirts (already been worn) from Hawaii sell on the internet for from $10 to $125 depending on age and maker. For comparision purposes, we are showing the price list from a recent estate sale, but we are making no claim to any specific value for the shirt.  For a sample of information specifically about Tori Richards prices new and used, visit http://www.thefind.com/apparel/ browse-tori-richard-hawaiian-shirt. The collection is sold together as one unit. Best offer over $95 gets this collection. Submit offers before 12:00 noon Hawaii time on Friday, March April 16, 2010. Email Rizzuto@aloha.net with your offer. |
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Hawaii FAD Finder Ocean Watch Tides at Kawaihae. Tides at Kailua-Kona. Tides at Hilo. Tides at other Hawaii locations. You can check sea current and temperature patterns by visiting the Navy's Oceanographic Research site. For currents, go to https://www.navo.navy.mil/cgi-bin/animate.pl/metoc/74/84/0-0-17/0. |
Jim Rizzuto is the author of Fishing Hawaii Offshore, the Fishing Hawaii Style Series and The Kona Fishing Chronicles yearbooks. Look for his books at bookstores and tackle shops or visit www.konafishingchronicles.com. |
Courtesy of Heather Goto, Amber Hundall, and Jessica Williamson. |
BIG-FISH
LIST * Black marlin, 132, Lou Groebner, Capt. Chuck Wigzell, Hooked Up. Feb 26. * Ahi, 226, Steve Spina, Capt. Kerwin Masunaa, Rod Bender. June 21. * Bigeye tuna, 211.5, Christina Yu, Capt. Teddy Hoogs, Kila Kila. Feb. 10. * Striped marlin, 138.5, Rich Rybolt, Capt. Jeff Watson, Bite Me II. Jan 17. * Spearfish, 62, `Austin Wasserkrug, Capt. Kevin Hiney. Bite Me. April 3. * Sailfish, vacant * Mahimahi, 38, Mark Schoeneman, Capt. Brian Wargo, April 3. * Ono, 67, Bob Beach, Under Pressure. May 10. * Kaku (barracuda), 51, Matt Wilson, kayak. May 23. * Kahala, amberjack, 151.5, Justin Lazar, Capt. Jeff Rogers, Aloha Kai, July 1. * Ulua (giant trevally), 99.5, Chris Kutsch, Kayak. April 1. * Omilu (bluefin trevally), 20, Paul Petrill, from shore. Feb. 23. * Aku (skipjack tuna), 24, Greg Sillake, Capt. Robert Hudson, Camelot. Feb. 23. * Broadbill swordfish, vacant. * Ahipalaha (albacore), vacant. * Kawakawa, 24.5. Devon Hallingstad, kayak, May 2. * Kamanu (rainbow runner), 16.5, Nainoa Murtagh, Capt. Bill Murtagh, Nainoa. Feb 15. * Opakapaka (pink snapper), vacant. * Onaga (ulaula ko`aie), 13, Heather Masunaga, Capt. Kerwin Masunaga, Holly Ann. April 19. * Uku (gray snapper), 34.5, Milton Fukumitsu, Flora III. May 28. *`O`io (bonefish), 8.5, John Bennett, from shore, April 20.
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