Kona Hawaii fishing report - Archive -

Kona Hawaii fishing report 8/22/02

August is tournament time in Kona. Big names like the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament, Pro Am, Hawaiian Invitational and many other one-day, cheap entry fee tournaments. August is supposed to be the height of the marlin season in Kona too but I remember (about 6 or 7 years ago) when August was pretty much a bust! Rumors started circulating around the worlds best fishing spots that "Kona is fished out". Well, …. Here we go again. Poor marlin showings for the August tournaments this year have anglers from around the world murmuring the old "no fish there … la la la" tune. For the record, Kona is far from "fished out". Big marlin catches in Kona have increased over the past few years. It's only the 8th month of the year and there's been more than 200 marlin over 500 lbs. caught in Kona. That's more than last years total, the year before, the year before that ….. I'm not sure what the totals were before 1999 but, you get the idea. Another thing about that "bust" some years back was that right after August was over, the marlin bite went wild! One of the best marlin runs ever. You could just about guarantee a marlin even on a ½ day trip. I know I sound like a skipping record sometimes but I'll say it again. "Fish don't know how to read calendars". The fish are out there. The question is, when are they coming to Kona. Next week? Next month? The sure thing is, they WILL come.

Other fish that are having a hard time reading a calendar are the spearfish and mahi mahi. The spearfish run just didn't happen this year. This follows a run last year that was awesome. The mahi mahi are making up for it though. They stayed with us all winter and are doing the same this summer. Good fun catching on light tackle and good eating too. Yellowfin tuna, albacore and ono bites have been slow this year compared to last year.

The bottom fishing bite is typical for this time of year. It's a bit slow but should (got a calendar?) pick up next month. I'm already starting to pick up some snapper and grouper. Interesting thing with the (adult) amberjack and almaco jack tagging. Around 20% of them caught now already have one of my tags in them. Nearly all the jacks tagged were tagged by me. I just finished my 7th series of 100 tags. Data would suggest that they circle the island counter clockwise with no incidence of them traveling between islands. Is it possible that the total adult population around the Big Island of Hawaii is around 3500? Simple math but are there other variables? Just some food for thought.

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