Kona Hawaii fishing report - Archive -

Kona Hawaii fishing report 12/14/00

Well….. not much to report on concerning big game. At least the water is flat and it's warm and sunny. I hate giving a poor billfish report but you'll always get the honest scoop from me. We seem to be in a winter transition here. The blue marlin bite is slow which is typical for this time of year but we usually have the stripped marlin here to pick up the slack. There's been a few coming in but nothing like it was at this time last year. The shortnose spearfish is another billfish that was plentiful at this time last year. Also, just a few here and there coming in. Hopefully this will all change with the new moon on Christmas day.

The Mahi Mahi bite has slowed from what it was last month. Most have headed for warmer waters. There still seems to be some stragglers around though. The Ono bite is slow but building. There was a new Hawaii State record caught here last week. A whopper of 133 lbs. that beat out the old record of 124 ¾ lbs. The old record has stood for over 60 years!

Don't give up hope on some fast fishing action in Kona yet. The Shibi (small yellowfin and bigeye tuna) are still biting on F buoy. Time to bust out the light tackle and have some fun. I had a guy out 2 days ago that brought his fly rod and he had a blast with it. While he was busy with the fly tackle, I did some jigging and got in on the action too. The shibi are running up to 20 lbs. Last June, a navy ship ran over and tore off OT buoy. It was replaced last week. Warren Cortez, head of the FAD program asked me to spread the word. The new coordinates are 19.52.6 N 156.11.6 W. In a few weeks it should be loaded with shibi too.

Bottom fishing has been pretty good. That strong North current has finally backed off so it makes it easier to stay over the school. The numbers of bait fish along the ledges have diminished considerably so a captain really needs to know the spots where they hang out. I added a chart plotter to my fly bridge electronics array last month and moved my GPS to my lower station. With the weigh points and soundings I have now, It's almost as good as painting big red X's on top of their houses.

See 'ya on the water,
Capt. Jeff Rogers
http://FISHinKONA.com