The mahi mahi bite is still going strong with baby blue marlin pulling in close as the number two bite while out on the open troll. Some bigger marlin are around too but not many. The striped marlin season is close so they should be showing up soon. Along the ledges there’s plenty of bait and some otaru running around. I’ve been live baiting the ledges a lot lately and trying to stay away from the many many many barracuda that have also been cruising the tops of the ledges. They’re notorious bait choppers and are very good at not taking the hook. They’ve even been coming out and nailing me in the deep sometimes. Barracuda are not a common fish here in Kona and I don’t know what brought them here but as long as there’s ample food for ‘em, I guess they’ll be staying. Another pest for the live bait bite has been bottlenose dolphin. They’re also very good at stealing bait and not getting the hook but I did manage to hook one of ‘em recently. Those things sure can pull! Luckily, by giving it some slack line it was able to shake the hook and I didn’t have to deal with it at the boat. I’ve been catching mahi mahi with the live bait too and hoping for some marlin but no luck lately. My last catch (and release) on live bait was a surprise. A Galapagos shark of about 200 lbs. At first I thought I had a marlin on. How disappointing
The bottom bite hasn’t changed much since last months report. Kind of slow but still producing some kind of a catch. Mostly amberjack, almaco jack, shark and snapper.
I got new toys to play with! As if three boats weren’t enough, I’m adding another one to my line-up. It’s a Stamas 310 center console. You can see the review at http://www.offshoremag.net/reviews/stam ... index.html
Twin Yanmar inboards and a bow thruster! I’ve got it all geared up now and will be taking it out this Tuesday for the shake down run. I’ll be offering this boat for EXTREAM SPORTFISHING! No fighting chair on this boat, it’s big game stand-up for experienced anglers only. The main tackle is new Penn 50 VSW two speeds (4 of ‘em) on Diawa rods loaded with 1000 yards of 100 lb. test. 750 yards of braided line topped with 250 yards of mono. These new Penn 50’s seem like they can handle the load but if not, the drags are easily modified and beefed up. I’ve been using beefed up Penn 30’s loaded with 100 lb. braid on all my boats for many years. I’ve never found that the tackle was too weak for any fish I’ve hooked up, my biggest being a tiger shark at about 1000 lbs. The problem has always been weak anglers. I’m hoping the Penn 50 two speeds will make it easier on ‘em. I hate anglers that whine
See `ya on the water,
Capt. Jeff Rogers ,
http://FISHinKONA.com
