Mahi mahi season is here, right on schedule. That’s amazing considering that fish don’t have calendars or maps along with the fact that historically, they rarely do show up exactly when they are supposed to. I have a fishing season calendar on my web site and above that is the disclaimer that fish, like party guests don't always show up when they should and sometimes they still hang around when they're supposed to leave. So what about the fish other than mahi mahi on that calendar? Typical of that disclaimer, the blue marlin bite should be good and it’s not. Spearfish are still coming in and they shouldn’t be. Where are the bigeye tuna? I guess they got lost. Some yellowfin are still being caught out of the porpoise schools and the ono bite is actually pretty good right now.
The bottom bite should be kickin` into high gear but that bite has slowed down recently. The currents have been switching back and forth this past week so the hunt is on. The old fishin` holes are dried up so it’s a matter of finding where they moved to.
Five and a half years ago I started a tagging program for jacks. Giant trevally (in the jack family), almaco jack and amberjack. The state of Hawaii’s DAR (Dept. of Aquatic Resources) started sponsoring my program shortly after and now there’s taggers on all the islands. Last week I put a tag in my 1000th fish. The news made the local paper and will also be in Sport Fishing magazine. DAR had already published the news of the 1000th tag several months back but that was news to me. My records didn’t reflect 1000 tagged fish. The difference came about because they were counting fish caught that were previously (several hundred of them) tagged. I’ve been re-releasing the fish with the original tag still attached. Recording the information like length and area caught but there was no need to put another tag in `em. So, counting the fish that I actually put a tag in, I finally hit the 1000 mark. This also happened while I was doing a photo shoot/story for a Japanese fishing magazine called Salt World. Lucky me! A cute little Japanese girl got jack #1000 so it’s really her photo that makes the story worth publishing
See `ya on the water,
Capt. Jeff Rogers ,
http://FISHinKONA.com
