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# 48442: Subject: Kona, Hawaii Submitted by Capt. Chip Van Mols (ip 66.8.185.6)
Water Temperature: 78-80 Report: Firstly we pass along our condolences to the families, loved ones and friends of those lost in Iraq and prey for the safety of all our armed forces. Keep up the good work! Now on with the show Spring has sprung here in Kona! The small striped marlin and spearfish of winter here have taken their leave and big blue marlin are moving in. The last three weeks, starting strong the last week of March with a bit of a lull the first week of April but coming on strong again now, there has been at least one blue over 400 pounds caught every day and some days half the boats out are catching big ones. Unfortunately this is a slow time for charters with only 8 to 12 boats going out daily. Biggest so far this run and for the year to date went 868lb and was brought to the scales by the crew on the Makalei the last week of March. Two fish estimated at 700+ were released by the crews on the Huntress and the Sea Genie respectively week before last and the list is just to long to go down from there. It is a little more of a gamble this time of year cause the numbers aren’t really there but the payoff can be BIG as this time of year usually produces some monsters of grand proportions. Spring here has produced four fish over the magic 1000 pound mark the last two years and I expect the first 2003 grander to pop up any day now. Fishing for the big ones this time of year does take some patience as there aren’t usually great numbers of smaller blues mixed in to wet your appetite while you wait but have no fear there has still been some fair action on mahi mahi on floaters and a few spearfish and striped marlin around to keep your riggers rattling while you wait your turn on the big one. In fact this spring so far hasn’t been an all or nothing for the big one at all with most boats coming in with mahi, ono, spearfish, stripeys and/or smaller tuna etc… very few skunks and plenty of table fare. The yellowfin tuna bite has been off for a couple weeks, we thought the porpoise schools were going to keep on holding 100lb+ fish for ever, but that usually comes on strong again starting in May or June with our summer run blue marlin of all sizes right behind. It’s been a while since my last report, I was gone most of March, but here’s how we did on the Rod Bender since my last update. Feb. 25, full day with Jack Butler. We tagged two striped marlin 35 and 55lb, boated a 25lb mahi mahi and six yellowfin tuna 10-20lb. Feb. 26, full day with Willie Stark and friends, tagged a 45lb stripey and boated a 104-pound yellowfin tuna. We had rubber hooks this day going 1 for 8 or something like that on the stripeys and pulling into a porpoise school on our way home immediately lost a big tuna, I was steaming so we went into overtime and got lucky with the 104 shortly after. March 1st, holo holo with my old friend Mathew the Leatherman and his friends from the mainland. Hooks were made of steel again tagging 3 stripeys 40- 85lb and 1 spearfish 40lb not to mention a half dozen yellowfin 15-25lb. March 5, full day. Tagged a 40lb stripey from about 3 shots and boated 2 by 20lb skipjack and 2 by 15-20lb yellowfin. March 6, full day, forgot to write you’re name down, sorry but I did write down this. We went wide today and missed 2 spearfish out by OTEK buoy in the morning then we spotted a porpoise school in the distance and on our third pass we hooked a double of big yellowfin tuna on 50lb test, caught one 120 pounder and pulled hook on the other on the leader looked about 150lb. Not bad for one angler. We set back up and headed in the direction the school was going but couldn’t find them, damn. We then decided to go into ledge and see if we could find a stripey or two and just as we were arriving in the zone we spot another porpoise school and first pass bang we catch another 105lb yellowfin tuna. We get going again, get into position and bang, mahi mahi 25lb, get going again and another 20lb mahi mahi slows us down. By now there is ten boats trying to work the school with us and I look back at the ledge and it’s empty, exit stage left and back into the ledge to try and catch this guy his first marlin and bingo tag and release a 40lb striped marlin! Wait, it gets better, we head down the ledge on the way home and catch a couple small yellowfin and we’re just about to pull the plug and we get another double strike. I figure it’s more small tuna but one of the 50’s starts screaming on nice long run, another 100lb yellowfin tuna in the boat! Wish I could remember your name single angler guy. You sure are lucky! 3 yellowfin 100-120lb, 3 yellowfin 15-25lb, tag and release 1 stripey 40lb and boat 2 mahi 20 and 25lb. Road trip 3/7 to 3/21, Bermagui, Australia. Fished 7 days for tag and release of 15 striped marlin 200lb average and 2 black marlin 250lb and 350lb. Road trip, 3/26 to 3/30. Honolulu for my older daughter’s soccer tournament, she makes it to the semi’s and winds up third from 20 teams. JUST HAD TO THROW THAT IN THERE! April 3, full day with Mike Sandlin and his Kids. Trolling the big gear for big fish now but the bite has slowed so we break up the day and let the kids catch skipjack and small yellowfin around one of our fad buoy's (C ) until there arms are to sore to catch any more and back to trolling the big guns. Today’s day saver came the in the form of a cargo net we found a couple skiffs working in the afternoon. Skipping fresh belly strips on our little stand up rods proved effective for 3 nice mahi mahi to 25lb and a small ono. Whew, April 5, half day, NFL players association charity tourney, we didn’t have any players on board so I guess these guys were association? We won this tourney last year but no cigar this year, 0-0-0. April 6th, full day with Vince and Patti Carr who bid on this trip on Rod Bender at the IGFA auction. Still slow on the trolling front but we did get lucky on another floater and they both caught a couple mahi mahi each 15-25lb each in the after noon. We set up the lures for the troll home and jumped off a 200lb blue. April 7th, full day with Bob Brundermattson, another single angler, lookout! Bob just wanted to catch fish of any kind we decided to give OTEK buoy a look. After an uneventful troll up to the can we found the buoy loaded with skipjack and small yellowfin. We worked the area with lures for a while and raised nothing but I was getting some suspicious marks on the recorder near the can (mahi mahi?). We live baited most the day around the can for one mahi mahi about 25lb. Every time I drug our baits near the can they got nervous but I never saw any more mahi, humm. We switched back to lures for the troll home at 2:00 and once the pattern was out we made one last swing by the buoy and looking at my recorder I see the same suspicious marks down at 20-35 fathoms and two of our rods start making noise, nice holes left behind where the fish bit too. Our single angler brings in first one and then a second 50 to 60 pound Big Eye tuna! We make another pass and get another single, another pass and get a triple but the one on our teaser is just for show! One more pass for good measure and we get another single but pull hook on the leader. 5 big eye 55lb to 69lb is the total and one 25lb mahi. I haven’t seen big eye like that in 6 or 7 years, good fun! Some yoyo said there was lots of big blue marlin around and the stripeys had all gone north or wherever they go, what’s up with this! April 13,Sunday full day holoholo with my two daughters. Friday and Saturday went off with big blues, 50% of boats out caught nice ones 400- 675 pounds so we figured we would go out and see what kind of trouble we could get into without a decky. Nothing in the morning for us, no good reports from the other boats I spoke to in our area and my faithful crew both went to sleep. Not pleased with area out front of the harbor I pounded my way for an hour and a half north up thousand fathom curve, trades were smoking so the further I went the bigger and steeper the seas got but the speed of the current also increased and we started seeing birds. Got as far north as I wanted to be and started making my first trough run into the top corner of the grounds from the 1000 and we hooked a stripey, 8 year old Kari made short work of that and soon had her first striped marlin estimated 50lb. She was stoked until her sister caught one about 125lbs while I was putting the lures back out, sibling rivalry, ha. After Jada’s fish we continued in to the ledge where we missed another stripey and back out the thousand where we missed a spearfish and a small blue on the way. I heard of three blues this day 180 to 485 pounds for about 10 boats out. I mentioned the trade winds are smoking right now well it’s getting the current well situated for some good fishing and more and more bait is showing up. This next week or ten days should be good. I saw a skiff come in with a 500 pounder Monday morning and about half the boats out again caught blues. You never know until you go! So LET’S GO! We have tons of open time including most of July and the first week of August (tournament season) still available. Rod Bender is a showroom floor condition 1999 35’ CABO flybridge, air-conditioned, comfortable, fast and rigged to the teeth with all the finest everything. Competitively priced with a bunch of older boats that have less. And we support tag and release of billfish. And we work hard for you, no bus rides! And… ANY QUESTIONS? EMAIL: bvanmols@rod-bender.com OR CALL: 808-960-5954 Good fishing, tight lines and ALOHA! Chip Capt. Chip Van Mols ROD BENDER Sportfishing www.konasportfishingcharters.com To add a remark to this report click here. |
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