Kona Hawaii fishing report – Feb. ’06 wrap-up…
The winter season is nearing the end and it`s been a very mild winter so far. This is stormy season for Hawaiian waters but so far we`ve been blessed with flat waters almost all winter. The striped marlin never really came in this season. We had a few spurts of `em but nothing consistent. This make two years in a row of a slim stripie run and that followed three years of really good runs. We know very little about where the Hawaii striped marlin come from and go. Hawaii is such a small dot in the middle of a big ocean that I guess it can easily be passed by. Too bad the striped marlin aren`t more like the Humpback whales with a built in GPS.
Mahi mahi has dominated the winter catch totals and that’s a little odd because when the water gets to be on the cold side (76) they usually aren`t around but we have had a lot of floating debris coming by the island. Nets, ropes, logs and with that stuff is usually mahi mahi no matter what the water temp. Spearfish is running a close 2nd to the mahi mahi catch and there has been blue marlin scattered (as usual) throughout the winter months.
The bottom bite hasn`t been anything spectacular lately but I did catch the biggest amberjack of my career last month. Weighing in at 131 lbs., it`s the biggest amberjack caught since the new state record of 145 lbs. was caught in `02. The amount of sharks hanging around in the main bottom fishing area has lowered and the commercial snapper fishermen are liking that. Myself, I`d rater have some big sharks to fight. If you`re looking for a good battle, my personal experience is that between a marlin and a shark of the same weight, the shark usually fights longer and harder. While a marlin has the potential to be the tougher fight, they usually wear themselves out at the beginning of the battle and are pretty tired by the time you get them to the boat. With sharks, it`s near the boat when anglers need to be on their game and muster all the strength they can to get it to the boat and get the job done. While at leader next to the boat, sharks are usually more gentile and less dangerous than a P.O.`d marlin ……. As long as give up on thinking about getting your hook back.
See ‘ya on the water,
Capt. Jeff Rogers ,
<A href="http://fishinkona.com"> Kona Hawaii fishing</A>
