![]() |
|
![]() |
![]() |
|
![]() |
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
The Kona Fishing Chronicles 7/8
is here for delivery and we are now taking orders. ![]() Volume 7/8 includes the best Kona fishing stories
and
fishing tips of 2007 and carries a 2008 copyright (in case you wondered about the 7/8 designation). |
| Email: Rizzuto@aloha.net for details on how to mail order. |
|
Posted 05/05/08 He was fishing VV-Buoy with a pair of fat and lively baits. After Dee had spent two hours circling the FAD with the very best billfish food on the menu, he watched the charter boat Carnivore approach towing trolling lures. When the lures crossed a spot Dee had just fished with his baits, a 400-lb marlin grabbed one of Carnivore’s plastic artificials. Now that’s just plain unfair. But it gets worse. After Carnivore boated its 400-pounder, the skipper put the lures out, circled the buoy again and hooked a second 400-pounder. And boated that one, too. “It just wasn’t my turn,” Dee said. On Saturday, Dee found himself in exactly the opposite situation. After trolling inshore for ono with no luck, Dee spotted boats live-baiting at VV-buoy and decided to go grab a bait and join them. He trolled to the FAD with his spread of big-game lures popping along behind. It was about 9:00 am and conditions were Kona-perfect. When he was just about 200 yards from VV-buoy, a 643-lb marlin grabbed the Softhead ™ lure running in his long corner position – much to the consternation of the fishing fleet sitting on lovely live baits just right for billfish. “This time, it was my turn,” Dee said. Actually, it was Denise Bradley’s turn. The young lady from San Diego, Calif, had fished for marlin three times before with nary a bite. “She told me she thought she was bad luck,” Dee said. Denise fought the tough fish for two hours, urged on by three male members of her fishing party. The marlin jumped once on its initial 400-yard run and then not again after that, Dee said. When a marlin doesn’t waste its energy in jumps or long runs, it can battle on relentlessly. Dee fishes without a crew but trains his fishing parties to help. Denise’s family and friends helped clear lines so Dee could begin maneuvering after the fish soon after the strike. The marlin never took off a lot of line after the first quarter-mile sprint but concentrated its efforts on short, powerful bursts. “It made about six runs of about 100 yards each,” Dee said. “It was still strong even at the back of the boat.” Even without a crew, Dee was ready for the end game. High Noon has controls on the fighting deck as well as the bridge. Dee had taught his anglers how to shift the engine in and out of gear. “When I tried to leader the marlin, it was still green and wouldn’t come,” Dee said. “I had one of the guys shift us into neutral. That slowed the boat enough for me to pull the fish up. When I had the fish up alongside the boat, I had him put it back in gear to help keep it right there against the boat.” Dee had his flying gaff ready and close-at-hand. He cleated the leader to hold the fish for the second or two he needed to set the flying gaff. Denise’s 643-pounder was the biggest marlin weighed here last week and High Noon’s largest of the year. Dee’s lucky charter boat parties had two other shots at fish that might have been as big or bigger. “Kenton Geer had the boat out one day in ono lane off Keauhou and had a marlin something over 500 lbs hit in 40 fathoms,” Dee said. “It went after a lure a couple of times but didn’t stick. “The next day, I had one I estimated at 700 hit the long corner in 200 fathoms of Keauhou. It came off.” That’s lure fishing for you. One solid hook up in three strikes is actually a better-than-average ratio. UNSEEN OBSERVER APPEARS. On Saturday afternoon, much of Kona’s fishing fraternity gathered on the grounds of the Kona Inn to celebrate the life and accomplishments of legendary skipper George Parker. The commemorative ceremonies took place near the oceanfront spot where George and his fellow fishing pioneers weighed their catches back in the 1940s and 1950s when Kona was beginning to build its big-game reputation. Unseen offshore, a 700-lb blue marlin cruised the same waters its ancestors did back when they were challenging the anglers fishing from George’s classic wooden-hulled Mona H. The big fish hunted for food and was ready for action. At about 2:00 pm, as the onshore testimonies were beginning, the marlin spotted something interesting above. A boat rumbled overhead, sending out attractive motor sounds. The fish rose to check out the throbbing noises and then spotted a school of “baitfish” racing along behind. One of these was a Marlin Magic blue jet lure dressed in flying-fish colors. The offering was particularly suitable. George Parker was one of the originators of big game fishing with lures and this lure was made by a company headed up by George’s son, Marlin Parker. Captain Gene Vander Hoek was at the helm of Sea Genie II and Bronson Cablay was on deck when the big marlin struck. Veteran angler Robert Holding IV battled the hooked fish on standup gear and brought it to the boat in about a half hour – a great display of angling prowess of which George would have approved. Gene and Bronson released the fish to live for more celebrations in the future. The catch celebrated George’s life in a particularly appropriate way. Gene, who knew the venerable skipper well, says that George would not have passed up the chance to take out another charter and catch another big fish even to attend his own funeral. During the time set aside to honor his memory, someone else did it for him and marked the occasion with a worthy fishing accomplishment. THRESHERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT. Gordon Stone came all the way from Scotland just to catch threshers and he caught six in four nights, says skipper Gene Vander Hoek. Gordon fished nights on Sea Genie II with Gene, crew Bronson Cablay and assorted other insomniacs and saw a type of big-game fishing few others have ever experienced. “Gordon’s six threshers averaged about 500 lbs,” Gene said. “That’s a lot of pull.” As if that weren’t enough, the Sea Genie II gang ended the week with another big thresher challenge on Friday night, as well. Robert Holding IV joined them in an attempt to top his previous best long-tail capture, a 900-lb thresher he caught last year on his boat Contender. (For that story, check out Tim Robertson’s account of last year’s great thresher fishing in the May issue of Hawaii Fishing News.) “We went out for just a few hours on Friday night and Robert ended up catching a 500 or 600 pounder,” Gene said. Threshers use their extremely long tails to stun baitfish before eating them. When they hit a hooked bait with their whip-like weapon, they sometimes snag themselves in the tail. “We hooked this one in the tail and it took him 900 yards straight down,” Gene said. “Even so, he brought that one back to the boat. It was thresher number nine for the week. They can wear you out because they pull pretty darn hard.” Gene says he has a spot where he can park the boat at sunset, put out two baits and expect a strike in as little as ten minutes. “Over by VV-buoy there is a point that comes out on the 500,” Gene said. “I dubbed it the pyramid. It is easy to go there and set out the baits. You hook one, fight it for 50 minutes, run back to the spot, put the baits back out again and ten minutes later you are hooked up again.” Old timers who remember DD-Buoy, the “Fishing Island,” may remember days when the large aluminum fishing platform swarmed with threshers. I have photos of anglers pulling threshers aboard the fishing station during bright sunlight hours, as well as on overnighters. Gene’s pyramid spot is not very far from there. Fishing round the clock can wear you out. Sea Genie II ended the week on Friday with the 700-lb blue marlin already mentioned. “We had a pretty eventful 48 hours,” Gene said. “I wasn’t really exhausted but if you look behind the boat and see a 700 pounder in the wake, it’ll wake you up.” HO`OKELE SCORES 20-LB KAWAKAWA. The charter boat Ho`okele took over the kawakawa lead last Tuesday with a 20-pounder. Skipper Guy Terwilliger and crew Brad Damasco baited the big tuna-cousin with a live opelu. “We were trying to catch ono with live opelu,” Guy said. “We couldn’t get the ono to bite but did get the big fat kawakawa. We were using light standup gear so Nancy got a nice fight out of it.” Rigging live opelu for ono is tricky. A standard head-bridle rig rarely works because the sharp-toothed killers whack the bait off at mid-body. Guy foils the hackers with a stinger hook rigged so it runs in the back third of the bait. Live opelu work great in the summer, Guy says, but not so well at this time of the year. “They are more into the lures, these days,” he said. “We did it again another day last week. After we caught an ono on a lure, we switched over to live opelu. We couldn’t get anything to bite on them, so we switched back to lures and caught six more for Pat and Scott Strader.” Mark your fishing maps. The Straders got their big ono catch on the ono run between Kaiwi Point and Keauhou. THE RIGHT KIND OF “PORPOISE.” Jimmy Hamura headed to OTEC early in the week aboard his 21-foot inboard, prepared for the worst. The bait schools he came across along the way were being hounded by stenos, one of the bait-stealing kinds of dolphins. And the OTEC area is not always a sea-kindly place for small boaters. When he and Honolulu friend Rodger Debebar reached the FAD, they were pleasantly surprised. The conditions were flat and the dolphins congenial. “I told Rodger this is the good kind of porpoise – not the stenos.” Jimmy said. “We put out the lures, went about 50 yards and hit the fish.” The fish in this case was a 111-lb `ahi. “I put Rodger in the fighting chair and helped a bit by backing down when I could,” Jimmy said. “It was his first big fish but he still got it up in about 30 minutes.” Jimmy had planned to catch a few small kau kau fish and had brought along just enough ice to do that job. The 111-lb `ahi effectively ended the fishing because it used up all of the ice. So we’ll never know how many tuna there really were out at OTEC that day. One was more than enough for Jimmy and Rodger. SWEEPING UP THE FLAG FISH. It’s not often you get the chance to score a sweep with all four types of Kona flagfish – billfish, tuna, mahimahi and ono -- says skipper Dennis Cintas. But he had that chance aboard Krista on Saturday. “We started out at 6:30 am on the second day of a two-day trip with George and Annie Wartsbaugh of Galveston, Texas, and ventured out to the 1,000-fathom line directly in front of Old Airport,” Dennis said. That’s where they found a big blue marlin – Dennis says it weighed at least 700-lbs -- waiting to eat. “Unfortunately she wasn't awake enough to clearly see and inhale the short rigger but she gave it an honest attempt before she swam away to eat other things no so fast,” Dennis said. “About 8:00 am a small spearfish came into the pattern and was equally not awake enough to give a real attempt at eating the stinger malolo lure,” Dennis said. Deckhand Tramaine Baquiring, quickly put out a ballyhoo on a 30-lb outfit and the shortbill switched from the lure to the bait. “A great battle on 30 gave George his first ever Pacific shortnose spearfish weighing in at 35 lbs. A little later we had a blind strike in the same area by three hungry 60 to 65-lb `ahi. After a bit of a fire drill, we managed to get them and keep our string of bites going. A little later we found a cargo net and landed five mahimahi and one ono. Quite a day in Kona for any fisherman and a testimony to the fact that you don't have to venture too far off Kaiwi Pt. to find your "motherload’!” 8TH ANNUAL OHANA BOAT TRAILERS FOUR-FLAG FISHING TOURNAMENT. Ohana Boat Trailers of Waimea will sponsor a Four –Flag Jackpot Tournament to be held on June 14. Boats will launch from Keauhou or Honokohau. Entry forms are available at J Hara Store-Waimea, Kona Fishing Tackle, The Fish House at Kawaihae, Melton International Tackle, Pacific Rim Fishing Supply, Dino’s Fishing Tackle and S. Tokunaga Store. For more information call Tootsie Timm at 960-3901. MORE....... |
Posted
04/21/08 BAITING WITH LURES, LURING WITH BAIT.
Among elite fishermen, the terms “bait” and
“lure” have been known to start arguments.
“Bait,” they say, properly refers only to some form of
natural food and “lure” only to something artificial
– a piece of plastic, wood, or metal. |
|
Hawaii FAD Finder 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 Lona Knight, and Amber Hundall, |
BIG-FISH
LIST * Black marlin, (vacant). *`Ahi (yellowfin tuna), 190, Frankie Ventomilia, Capt. Guy Terwilliger, Ho’okele. Feb. 16. * Bigeye tuna, 137. Peter Blake, TLC II. Feb. 17. * Striped marlin, 92.5, Larry Raymond, Capt. Howard Whitcomb, Billfisher II. Jan. 22. * Spearfish, 55.5, Miquela Romero (11), Capt. Martin Romero, Lepika. April 2. * Sailfish, 61, Nolan and Kaoru Uyeda, Sailfish, March 22. * Mahimahi, 57, Randy Tabayunda, Kyle Hirayama. Kainoalani. Feb. 23. * Ono, 89, Arleen and Peter Fukuyama, Tia Moani. Mar. 18. * Kaku (barracuda), 54, Todd Andrews, The Todd-a-yak. Feb 8. * Kahala (amberjack), 105, Jamie Biddle, Capt. Dennis Cintas, Krista Feb. 8. * Ulua (giant trevally), 69.5, Jason Border, Chuck Wigzell, Hooked Up. Jan. 4. * Omilu (bluefin trevally), 24.5, Bert Llanes, from shore. Jan 28. * Aku (skipjack tuna), Tom Williams, Capt. Guy Terwilliger, Ho’okele Feb. 6. * Broadbill swordfish, (vacant). * Ahipalaha (albacore), (vacant). * Kawakawa, 20, Nancy Macoux, Capt. Guy Terwilliger, Ho’okele. April 29. * Kamanu (rainbow runner), 23.5, Onipaa Matsuda, Dennis Matsuda, Laura K, March 24. * Opakapaka (pink snapper), 15.5, Sueto Matsumura, Sandee. Feb. 21. * Onaga (ulaula ko`aie), 21, Capt. Dale Leverone, Sea Strike. Mar 8. * Uku (gray snapper), 22.5, Brent Kostka, Capt. Kent Mongreig, Fish Wish. Feb. 7. *`O`io (bonefish), 8, Payton Hahn, from shore. Feb. 14. Catch information courtesy of Andria Debina and Lona Knight of the Charter Desk at Kona Marina (329-573).
|