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# 53746: Subject: Kona, Hawaii Submitted by Captain Chip Van Mols (ip 66.8.190.135)
Water Temperature: 80 Report: This year spring really sprung in Kona with some of the best blue marlin action we’ve had during this time frame in the last few years. Great numbers of 500lb +++ fish too, which is normal for this time of year here but better than average this year! Late March thru May quite often produces the first Grander of the year and this year was no exception. The first near miss came in late April on board the Sundowner and weighed 991.5lb, then another a few weeks later a 968lb on the High Noon. Blue marlin of all sizes continued to bite and then finally on Friday the 20th May it happened, 1132.5lb blue marlin captured aboard the Five Star! There were several 500+lb blues and lots of smaller ones caught that day, it was going off! The very next day it shut down completely but it has come back around to fair bite and will bust loose again any day now. To make things even better this spring was the late arrival of striped marlin which were scattered all over the place and some pretty good numbers of spearfish too. Several big yellowfin tuna have already been caught in the blind and the porpoise schools are starting to hold them well also. Deep water wahoo have also moved in making a nuisance of themselves among our marlin lures with their razor teeth but yes they do eat very nicely! The hardest thing to catch during this period were the charters to get you out there, which is typical of spring here, but for those lucky enough to get out you had the good spots to yourself. Some years it’s big blues or nothing during spring but this year we had it all! I would expect the next grander to come in the next three weeks or so! Stay tuned! Here’s how we did on the Rod Bender for the few trips we did this past May. May 2, Full day with Gerry Bailey. We had the hum today and started Gerry off tagging his first marlin ever, a stripey est. 125lb. We then backed that up tagging his first and then second spearfish, both est. 35lb. “sure would be nice to find him a Blue too” and there it was on the long corner tube, whoosh! 15 minutes later Gerry is getting his photo taken with his 500+lb blue marlin alongside the boat for unhooking and release! Grand Slam, and a nice one too! May 4th, group half day, we tagged two stripeys from a double header. Missed a small blue too. May 9th, half day with returning angler Barry Barber from Florida. I tried to talk Barry into a full day but he reminded me that when he fished with us 2 years prior he caught a 200 pound and a 600 pound blue both on half day trips so… half day it is. It didn’t take long, about an hour into the morning and my Smash bait on the short corner gets SMASHED and starts doing what it likes to do which is going backward behind large blue marlin at warp speed! Tough fight on this one but 45minutes or so later Barry is checking out his 700+ pound blue marlin beside the boat for release. The set of Hays Hooks I’m testing in that lure really did the trick, test passed, strong as too. We set up and trolled back into the strike zone and promptly caught Barry a spearfish. Set back up again, went about 200 yards, and my long corner tube disappears into a massive hole of white water, YIKES here we go again! Barry’s wife Karen hops into the chair on this one and everything’s going great , all settled down, I’m thinking how weird it would be to catch husband and wife both fish over 600lbs on a half day and the hook pulls. We’ll never know how large that one was but it sure moved an impressive amount of water on the strike and got a lot of string out! Karen then came back with a spearfish of her own! Only in Kona! I suggested Barry try fishing a tournament or two but I can’t find any half day tournaments! May 11th, holo holo, My daughter Jada and I left the dock about 10:30 or so with my new crew Will for a little shakedown and to see if Jada could up her junior world record a few notches. She jumped off a little blue, caught a stripey est. 120lb and two spearfish to boot. In by 3:30pm, Good Fun! May 12th, Holo holo, I have big blue marlin fever, they are here, another training day for Will is in order and I bring along Terry to crank. We promptly jumped off a 250 then tagged a 150lb blue. Backed that up with a couple spearfish and finished the day jumping off a blue around 400lb. We tried a legend lures ZEUS teaser off the cleat on the long corner side today and immediately added a shock rubber to the tow rope, It’s going to get smoked! May 17th, half day with Dan and his wife from North Carolina. We go straight down to my Zone, smack on my first set of marks, and there she is on the long corner tube behind Zeus. What a bite this was! Inside out sideways and did a big slashing 180 degree turn with the lure then launched itself (really high) straight back across the spread, over my long rigger and shotgun and under the short rigger, landing well outside the opposite side of the spread and started smoking. Looked 800+, I about fell off my chair! No tangles either. 50 minutes later Dan is standing alongside a really fat one we’ll call 750+ for the tag and release! Hey Guys! How about some copies of the boatside photo’s please! May 21st, Half Day golf superintendents tourney, Big shutdown the day after the grander bite, I was foaming at the mouth in anticipation when we pulled out! 12 boats and one 125lb blue is the only marlin caught. We caught an ono. May 27th, full day, it’s a new ocean out there and the fish have figured out a new way to feed, 0 for 2 on small blues, 0 for 2 on spearfish and 0 for 2 on wahoo. Rubber hooks! May 28th, full day, 0 for 2 on small blues again, 0 for 1 on spearfish but we did catch 2 from 3 shots at nice sized deep water wahoo so the boys got plenty of fillet to take home. It has really started to pick up again over the weekend and a few big ones are starting to show up again! Peak blue marlin and yellowfin tuna season are right around the corner and this next moon should be a lulu. We’re flat out starting the 16th of June thru the 5th of August after which we have a lot of prime open time in August for anyone looking for some summer action. September, also one of my favorite months here, has plenty open time as well. Let’s rock!!! Good Fishing and Aloha, Chip Capt. Chip Van Mols Rod Bender Sportfishing bvanmols@rod-bender.com www.konasportfishingcharters.com 808-960-5954
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