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What a great way to end the year! There was a bite on almost everything this month. Winter is usually the slowest time of the year for blue marlin but the bite was about as good as it gets even in the summer months. All sizes, big to small but still no "grander" for us this year. Spearfish season starts in January but we're already seeing some show up. What we haven't seen show up is the striped marlin. It should be better by this time of year but January through March is the peak season so they'll be here soon.
December was the tail end of mahi mahi season but the bite remained strong all month so even though the season is officially over, it's possible that the bite can continue for a while. If you're a regular reader of this report, you may remember that even though summer is also suppose to be slow for them, last summer, the bite was pretty good all summer long. We also didn't have a good run on ono last summer, that's the peak season for them but we have been having a pretty good run on them so far this winter. It actually started about the middle of November. The tunas also are defying the season calendar. Winter is the peak of bigeye tuna season and usually prevalent around the FAD's but it's the yellowfin tunas that have been the major catch on the buoys. The 100+ ahi tuna bite has been about normal for this time of the year. The big skipjack tuna, called otaru (otado locally) have even been around though they are generally only seen in the late summer months.
Winter is the peak bottom fishing season but high winds kept me away from there on several trips this month. When I was able to fish it, the bite certainly wasn't hot but patience paid off. I caught fish of some kind or another on every trip this month. In fact, the last time I got skunked on any trip was back in September.
Happy New Year and may all your 2018 fishing trips get you fish bites, fights and spectacular sights.
See 'ya on the water,
Capt. Jeff Rogers
http://FISHinKONA.com
