Kona Hawaii fishing report – March ’05 -
Kona is having the blues. If I was speaking of blue marlin that would be a good thing but this time I`m not. March was packed with storms, rough seas and few fish. As in last months report, “rubber hook syndrome” is still in effect here with the billfish acting less aggressively than normal. Blues, stripes, spearfish and even some sailfish are being brought in or tagged and released but not in the numbers we`re used to. There were two huge blues caught this month just under the 1000 lb. mark.
Ono tops the list as the most common catch right now followed closely by mahi mahi and then spearfish. The shibi are pretty much gone. The baitfish schools are scarce to nonexistent. This should change soon (I hope) as I`ve been marking huge shrimp schools all along the coast at 200 to 300 fathoms. When the baitfishes find these schools, it should start the whole food chain going again.
The bottom bite has been slow but, as usual, it’s the best bet for making sure you don’t come home empty handed. The currents are still inconsistent and there’s no live bait to be had so I’ve been paying retail for fish from the market. One of them I bought called sama, looks very similar to our frigate mackerel (the best bait) so it seemed like the best choice. At a cost of $5 each I bought 10 of them only to find out that the fish (not even sharks) will touch `em. These are strange fish. Even when they get old, they have almost no smell to `em. I guess the old adage still rings true. It’s not the looks but what`s on the inside that counts!
See `ya on the water,
Capt. Jeff Rogers ,
<A href="http://FISHinKONA.com">Kona Hawaii fishing</A>
