Kona Hawaii fishing report - Archive -

Kona Hawaii fishing report 3/20/00

Marlin is the most common catch right now here in Kona. Mostly Striped Marlin with the big Pacific Blue Marlin coming in a close 2nd. Another billfish that we've been seeing a lot of is the Shortnose Spearfish. I highly recommend keeping this one to eat if you have a place to cook it. It's a very light tasting fish and I personally prefer it over Mahi-Mahi. Speaking of Mahi-Mahi, it tops the list this month for the most common catch after the billfish and a bunch of fun to fight on light tackle. The Ono have been showing up with 1 here and 1 there but I wouldn't say it's season yet. Just some lucky catches. They'll be showing up with more frequency by the end of next month. There's been some Bigeye and Yellowfin Tuna bites in the porpoise schools and on OT buoy. Most of the Yellowfin are under the 100 lb. mark and the Bigeye are just bait size with just a few in the 20 to 30 lb. range. The bottom fishing is a mess! A bunch of Bronze Whaler Sharks have moved in and it's nearly impossible to get anything off the bottom right now without it getting attacked. My solution is to rig up and catch (then tag and release) the sharks. I've been using Penn 30 stand-up tackle spooled with 60 lb. line. The sharks are averaging about 300 lbs. so it takes the average angler about 1 hour of hard fighting to get one in. It doesn't take long to hook up either. After catching and dropping a live bait to the bottom rigged with a circle hook, the longest I've had to wait lately for a bite is about 4 minutes.

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