# 51685: Subject: Kona Coast, Hawaii

Submitted by Capt. Chip Van Mols (ip 66.8.189.234)

• Fished on 5/16/2004

• Report received: 5/16/04

Water Temperature: 80-82
Water Clarity: cobalt blue
Seas: calm to moderate
Weather: sunny low 80's
Fishing_for: all pelagics, marlin
Boat: Rod Bender
captain: Chip Van Mols

Report:

Kona Fish Report

Capt. Chip Van Mols reporting from the ROD BENDER, May 14, 2004.

Yes, yes, I know, it’s been a while! Been suffering from a combo of writers block and bunch of other stuff. I’m a fisherman ya know! SORRY! We’re going to try and get back on the track of a once monthly report from here on out.

A brief overview of the past few 3 months or so would be that our striped marlin run petered out early this year when they disappeared around the first week of Feb. taking most the spearfish with them. What they left behind was pretty darn good winter bite on blue marlin, most of which were pretty large (500+). February, March and April all saw there days and weeks when there would be a handful per day caught over 500lb and there was a week in early April that at least one fish over 700 was caught every day. There have been very few days this whole year that one over 500 hasn’t come in. Two 900+ and several 800+ have already come in this year as well. No granders yet for Kona but there have been a few encounters from brief to as long as 17 hours with blues that were estimated over 1000 pound mark. One of the more interesting encounters was week before last and involved and angler happily cranking in his first ever spearfish when a submarine with a bill on it swam up and ate the 6 foot long mini marlin whole! They stayed attached to the giant marlin for thirty minutes before they pulled the hooks and the marlin swam off licking her chops with the spearfish lunch! Another charter boat in April caught a 780lb blue that had a big bleeding gash in its forehead just below the dorsal fin. Upon closer inspection the skipper noticed something white and hard stuck inside the gash and it was bleeding too. He grabbed on to end of it with pliers and pulled out the whole top jaw and short bill of another unfortunate spearfish! Maybe that’s why the bulk of the small striped marlin and spearfish said adios last Feb., hummmm? It only took me one ZING POW on 30lb. in mid Feb. to realize that our supposed light tackle season was over a month or so early this year! While it’s still not summertime numbers for the blues here yet there are more smaller and midsize ones showing up now along with the big ones so things are looking good for summer. Mahi Mahi 20 pounds and up have been around for ever now and I’m getting tired of eating the stuff, be nice to run over a grain fed steer once in awhile! Mahi are mostly singles in the blind but there has been some great floaters with huge numbers of them this past month and some of the FAD’s have been producing as well on and off all winter and spring. Yellowfin tuna 100+ pounds have been in the porpoise all year and recently a few are getting caught in the blind as well. Summers coming! Wahoo (ono mostly small but a few 40+) are here in varied quantities from week to week and skirt sales at the tackle shops are great. Mostly around 40 fathoms but you better watch out for floating debris out in the deep too. Spearfish have been coming and going in small waves but not the numbers we’re used to for this time of year. Striped marlin, there’s still the odd one around mostly 60 to 75 pounds but like I said their numbers were low this season

From here on out it should just get better and better, yeehaa! We still have plenty of time in June, my mid July (absolute prime for big tuna and blue marlin) is wide open and my September (our best month 2003, 22 days 28 blues) is completely empty after the 3rd. The charter prices are cheapest in the world, we speak English (well we try!), you can eat the food and drink the water without getting sick, the seas are calm and you can’t beat the weather. All right here in the USA. Our water temp is up to 81 degrees and there is lots of bait currently starting to move in from the outside, should bust loose any day now! Looks like it’s going to be another banner year and hope you can join in on the fun with us!

Until then, good fishin, tight lines and Aloha!

Capt. Chip Van Mols ROD BENDER SPORTFISHING www.konasportfishingcharters.com bvanmols@rod-bender.com 808-960-5954

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