Lepika Sportfishing, Kailua Kona, HI 96740 • 808-960-0068

March 2013 Fishing Report – Big Ahis and Blue Marlin Are Here!

nittas2010 — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 08:06:43 +0000

This month started of with a bang! After coming into March with a 673lb blue marlin under our belt the fishing continued to be good until about mid March. In early March, we caught good numbers of short nose spearfish, big yellowfin tuna (ahi) and blue marlin. Starting around mid March things started to change. We didn’t have much, if any, baitfish in the area and the current was pushing offshore. The nearby buoys which usually hold plenty of small skipjack and yellowfin tuna have been dead. The big fish however have arrived and our second 1000+ marlin was caught here a few weeks ago. As of late, the big ahi have arrived in good numbers and some big blues have been on the chew. Friends of mine have broke off a few monsters estimated at over 800lbs off in the past week. There’s not too many around but if you are lucky enough to run over one they are all BIG! Here’s some recent pics from March…

February 23, 2013 – 673lb Blue For Dusty and Denise!

nittas2010 — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 05:14:25 +0000

Dusty and Denise are celebrating their 6th wedding anniversary here in Kona. Dusty is a charter boat captain from Charleston, South Carolina and really wanted to catch some big ahi. Dusty is also good friends of Keith who was crewing for me today. We left the harbor before the sun came up and found a big pod of porpoise just as the sun came up. I didn’t see any marks of fish in the pod so we headed father into the ledge. There we found another pile of porpoise, but again no signs of tuna in them. I decided to head back offshore into the deep and retrace our path from earlier in the morning hoping another pod was father back. As we crossed the 1000 fathom line a big hole opened up behind the short corner bait just 15 yards behind the boat! The line snapped off the rigger and peeled off the reel as the big blue headed for the horizon. It didn’t jump until it was about 300 yards away so none of us knew how big she was, but we knew she was over 500lbs. Line was disappearing at an alarming rate so we turned and chased the fish going forward. Denise was already buckled into the fighting chair and cranking as hard as she could to keep tension on the line. The fish was now about 700 yards out and still going! We had less than 200 yards of line on the reel before the fish settled down and we were only 5 minutes into the fight! Denise settled into her fight trying to gain a few feet at a time on the marlin. She fought the fish hard for about 2 hours before her body started to hurt. Keith and Dusty helped her as she continued the rest of the fight. The fish went deep and the battle got even harder as she had to deal with a lot of lifting and cranking. For the last hour (yes, a 3 hour fight time) Keith turned the crank and Dusty held Denise in the chair. Finally, the fish was at the boat! The marlin had died during the fight and we had been battling dead weight for about 15 minutes. The fight had taken us just over 3 hours and we landed her more than 2 miles from where we hooked up! Denise was exhausted and sore but she hung in there like a champ! Her 1st ever blue marlin would hit the scales at 673lbs! That’s a big anniversary present!

February 18-21, 2013 Spearfish and Mahimahi Action!

nittas2010 — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 05:13:42 +0000

The last few days have had some action for smaller game! Good friends Joe Bruno along with his wife’s family joined me for a full day. We caught a nice spearfish and a mahimahi which they took home for grilling! A few days later, Norman brought his two sons Trevor and Jacob out for a full day. We went far south of the harbor looking for some action but most of it was back off of town so we headed back north. As soon as we got back in the “zone” we caught two really nice mahimahi for each of the boys! Steve and Rod, along with their wives Patty and Kathy fished with me the next day and caught a nice spearfish as well! They took some nice fillets home to grill that night too! There is definitely some action and the fishing is picking up. Rumors of big fish being missed have been spreading around the harbor and the big blues should be showing soon!

February 15, 2013 – Jim and Nancy’s 456lb Blue!

nittas2010 — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 05:12:10 +0000

Today, Jim and Nancy of Kansas joined me for a full day on the Lepika. The weather was a little unstable and we had some wind out of the north but since the bite has been near the airport we headed into the wind. We took a few waves over the bow and we were definitely “not in Kansas” anymore! Jim and Nancy did great and they hung in there threw the rough weather. We fished a nice pod of porpoise without a bite for most of the day. It was a lot of rocking and rolling and they were getting tired so we started back. The water had calmed as we passed just south of the airport on the 500 fathom line. My good friend Keith was deckhanding for me. He was sitting on the flybridge next to me when a big blue marlin exploded from outside the wake on the long corner bait! The big blue came up jumping inside the spread going straight away and dumping a lot of line in a hurry. The marlin headed straight away as Jim got harnessed into the fighting chair. I started backing down hard on the fish trying to make it easy for Jim to gain line. He was shaking in the chair, fulll of excitement and awe. He had half a spool to bring in still…over 500 yards. Slowly but surely we gained on the fish. We put the Fin Nor 130 in low gear and he steadily gained line. After 35 minutes we finally got the fish to leader! Unfortunately, she was hooked in the eye and we decided to take her instead of feed the sharks. Jim’s first blue marlin would scale out at 456lbs!

February 11, 2013 Keith Gets 3 Big Ahi and A Spearfish!

nittas2010 — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 07:55:32 +0000

Keith is back in Kona and enjoying the warm air but more importantly the fishing. He visits here every year for about a month and a half and fishes several days with me. Today we decided to look for porpoise and hopefully find the big ahi that follow them. For the past two months the ahi haven’t been with the porpoise so our expectations weren’t very high. Since the spearfish and marlin bite has been pretty good so we had a chance of at least catching something. We headed straight out of the harbor and then north out in the deep. About midday a friend of mine had found some porpoise just a little south of the harbor so we headed his way. The porpoise were pretty spread out and I didn’t see any fish right away with them. We put up the greenstick and decided to stay with them until they came a little tighter and maybe then we would start seeing the fish. About an hour later the pod came together tight and I marked a fish on the sounder at 40 fathoms. It didn’t bite but on our next pass the water beneath the third squid exploded as a nice ahi piled on the bait! Keith got in the chair and quickly landed our first ahi of the day of about 80lbs! We set back up and by this time several boats had joined us. We worked the school with about 4 other boats when out of no where another ahi came blasting about 6 feet out of the water swallowing the squid. We were on again! Keith again made quick work of our second ahi which weighed 91lbs! After packing the fish in ice we again ran back up and deployed the greenstick. It took a long time to mark more fish in the pod. By now there were about seven boats fishing with us and none of them had a bite. We came back into the pod and put a small bullet lure out as we trolled the greenstick. Sometimes the ahi like a slow lure trolled close to the boat. As I came into the school the lazy bullet took a strike and line peeled from the Fin Nor 130. We both thought it was an ahi but a small shortnose spearfish came up jumping behind the boat! Keith quickly brought the fish close and we took it for the grill. His shortnose spearfish would weigh 23lbs! As I made a pass on the front part of the pod I marked an ahi at 40 fathoms but it didn’t bite. I swung back around that part of the pod when a nice ahi came skyrocketing out of the water and missed the squid! I continued to jig the squids as it again came blasting out of the water only to again miss the squid! I continued jigging and on the third try the ahi blew up on the squid and we were on! Keith would fight our third ahi to the boat in about 15 minutes! We were happy with three and a spearfish so we decided to call it a day! We ran home and were back at the dock by 2pm! The big ahi are here and fishing is picking up!

February 9, 2013 – Ann Lands Her First Blue Marlin 222lbs!

nittas2010 — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 07:55:19 +0000

Ann and Jim have fished all over the world. Last year they went to Costa Rica to try for blue marlin and didn’t catch one. They fished a full day with me in hopes of making that dream a reality. The last few days the bite has been north of the harbor on the Grounds so again I headed that way. The bait on the ledge has been thick and the marlin are there but not on the chew as good as we had hoped. The fish have preferred trolled lures as opposed to live bait but today I decided to get a few live baits and try our luck. As we drug our baits up and down the ledge we saw a few boats hook up trolling near us, but I stuck with my plan. About mid day I marked a fish at 40 fathoms and my long bait started to get nervous. I told Jim, “get ready because something is checking out our bait”. The marlin chased the bait for about 20 seconds (which feels like an eternity) but it finally decided to eat it. We set up on the fish and it came blasting out of the water about 100yds behind the boat. Line was peeling off the reel as Ann got settled into the fighting chair. She was excited and scared at the same time thinking the fish would pull her out of the chair. She did a really good job and never gave up! We had the fish close a few times but everytime it got within 20yds it would freight train across the water going straight away from the boat. We got some really good jumps out of this fish for sure! Finally, after a 30 minute fight, Ann brought the fish to leader and since we had hooked it deep in the stomach we decided to take it. Her first blue marlin would scale out at 222lbs!

February 8, 2013 Jeff Day 2 – More Spearfish!

nittas2010 — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 07:55:06 +0000

Today was Jeff’s second day on the water. Again, Mike and Jim came along for the ride. Since the Grounds was proving to be the place to fish the last few days, we headed back that way. Bait was everywhere along the ledge and the temptation was there to live bait but the pas dew days the fish have been biting better on the troll so we stuck with that. Early in the day a nice spearfish showed up on the stinger and this time Jim was up. Jim is from Oahu and has a 33′ Blackfin. He has fought some big fish over there so this spearfish was no sweat for him! He got the fish to leader in about 10 minutes and after taking a few pictures we released it in excellent condition. We trolled the ledge the rest of the day without a bite but we saw several big fish on the sounder but they didn’t come for the lures. Overall fishing was slow and several guys I spoke with saw the same thing…fish on the sounder but no bites. The fish are here and they are gonna have to eat sometime!

February 6, 2013 Jeff Returns For More Lepika Action!

nittas2010 — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 07:42:06 +0000

Jeff fished with me last year and we did really good that day. We caught two really nice ahis, a spearfish and a blue marlin. On this trip to Kona Jeff booked two full days. Today, he brought along his friends Mike and Jim. The bite on the Grounds has been pretty good and the current was right for a good bite up there. We trolled our way north and as we passed the airport the long rigger took a solid bite. Jim was first up and fought his first ever short nose spearfish tot he boat. Since they wanted some fish to take home we decided to take it for the grill! Jim’s spearfish weighed about 30lbs! We continued on and saw good signs of bait on the ledge. We caught a few live baits and walked them up the ledge. It didn’t take long when a big blue came in and ate the long bait. We fed the blue and then set the hooks! The fish came up briefly and shook it’s head on the surface. It looked to be about 300lbs but unfortunately it came off. We would miss another short nose spearfish today and watched as a 200lb blue marlin swam down the side of the boat and ignored our lures! UGH…Good news is the blue marlin have arrived!

February 2, 2013 Mike Day 2 & 3 – More Stripeys, Spearfish and Mahimahi!

nittas2010 — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 07:07:12 +0000

Mike and Linda from Minneapolis fished a few days ago with me and they were back for more offshore action. Linda decided to enjoy the sun and spa on our next two days of fishing so Mike and I headed out to see what we could raise.

On day 2 I decided to stay out in the deep as we had done a few days before. On day 1, we caught 3 shortnose spearfish, missed another and caught a nice mahimahi. Today I decided to take a similar route and fish far offshore. We ran to the 1000 fathom line and started trolling. It took a while, but we managed to catch a nice striped marlin about 60lbs. A good friend of mine needed a fish for his daughters party so we decided to take it and give it to him. Later in the day we missed another striped marlin and that was it. Day 3 the bite went wide open!

On day 3 Mike and I headed out to the deep again in the same area we had been fishing the last few days. The fish were there! Early in the day a nice spearfish showed up on the stinger…Mike got in the chair and fought our first spearfish to the boat. We quickly reset our lines and about 10 minutes later the short rigger, stinger and long rigger came crashing down! Mike and I both watched as the water erupted behind each lure…it was a triple! At first I thought it maybe a triple striped marlin bite but the fish dove deep like tuna. Mike and I worked together and boated three nice ahi about 1o-15lbs each…perfect for eating! We set up again and I worked the area searching for more fish. Again, it didn’t take long before another nice shortnose spearfish inhaled the long rigger lure…Mike fought his second spearfish of the day which weighed about 25lbs. The fish were in this area so we continued trolling in a 2 mile by one mile area. Again, the long rigger came crashing down and Mike fought his second spearfish of about 30lbs to the boat! We definitely had the fish located and I wasn’t going to move far from this spot. Shortly there after, we missed a short nose spearfish on the same long rigger lure. This lure on this position has been hot the last few days and the fish were definitely choosing this lure over the others. I had heard of some bites a little shallower so we headed into the ledge. On our first pass on the ledge the long rigger again came down with a solid bite! Mike got buckled into the chair as a nice striped marlin came up jumping a few hundred yards behind the boat! Mike worked the fish to the boat and we quickly released our third billfish of the day in about 10 minutes! His stripey was about 70lbs! We continued to work the ledge and missed another striped marlin. As we headed back to the harbor we had a double mahimahi strike and managed to get one of them in…unfortunately it was the smaller of the two! The other looked a little over 20lbs! We would end the day releasing one striped marlin, two shortnose spearfish, a nice mahimahi and three ahi!

Overall, Mike and Linda had three really good fishing days! They would end their three days with five shortnose spearfish, two striped marlin, two mahimahi and three ahi! We did fish the Love to Fish Tournament the next day but things definitely changed. We only had one bite and missed it and the rest of the fleet struggled to even get a bite. The current as of now has changed for the better and the bite has improved! Mike and Linda will be back in May and hopefully we can get them into a nice blue marlin and a big ahi!

January 29, 2013 Mike and Linda Score 3 Spearfish and Mahimahi!

nittas2010 — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 07:12:02 +0000

Mike and Linda joined me today for their first day of a three day charter. Mike and Linda come here almost every Spring and have fished on a few other boats so the pressure was on to get them into fish. The short nose spearfish bite has been pretty good the last few days so that’s what we decided to target. We headed north out into the deep well past the 1000 fathom line and trolled the deep. As we passed the 1200 fathom line the longrigger came down with a solid bite. Linda was first up and strapped herself into the chair. Right-off-the-bat we knew it was a short nose spearfish just by the way it fought. As I grabbed the leader I saw that this was a big spearfish of at least 40lbs. We decided to take it since they were staying at a condo and wanted some fillets to take home. Linda landed her first ever billfish in about 10 minutes! We reset the lines and continued out into the deep. About 30 minutes later the long rigger again came crashing down with another spearfish bite. This time Mike was up and angled a smaller spearfish about 30lbs to the boat. Since we already had one in the boat we decided to release this one to fight another day! As I started to reset the lines the short rigger came down but whatever it was we missed it. I got all the lines set-up once again and a few minutes later another short nose spearfish ate the long rigger and came off! It dropped back to the stinger and this time the hooks set solid! Mike was still sitting in the fighting chair so he got buckled onto the rod. He fought his second short nose spearfish to the boat in about 10 minutes. Again, we decided to release the spearfish, his second of the day which weighed about 25lbs. With three short nose spearfish under our belt we decided to pound the area. I worked and area about 2 miles by one mile. Our third bite came in the same area, another spearfish but it soon came off! Our next bite came a little later in the day and Mike fought a nice mahimahi to the boat. This one went into the fish box for them to take home for dinner! It weighed about 18lbs! We would continue trolling for the rest of the day and end up with three nice short nose spearfish from 25-40lbs and one 18lb mahimahi! We also missed three other short nose spearfish! The bite is really good right now and hopefully we continue to get more bites in Mike and Linda’s next 2 trips this week!

January 22, 2013 Big Ahis and Mahimahis Today!

nittas2010 — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 21:23:46 +0000

K.C and her husband Sheldon joined me for a full day. It was their first time to Hawaii and their first time deep sea fishing. They showed up to the dock at 7am and we got ready to push off when I realized I didn’t have my boat keys! I was in a panic as I tried to remember where I had put them. They weren’t on my key chain so I decided to drive home and look for them…UGH! I got to the harbor stop light and realized I didn’t check my flybridge so I turned around and sure enough there they were! We were off at 7:15! We headed out into the deep since most of the bites have been coming outside the 1000 fathom line. We headed south for a few hours without a bite and then I headed even deeper inhopes of running into some spearfish or striped marlin which have been on a pretty good bite lately. A splash on the horizon got my attention and we headed that way. It was big pod of porpoise! We made our first pass thru the pod and as I got near the end of the pile I marked two ahi on my sounder at 40 and 35 fathoms. I told KC and Sheldon to watch the lures and maybe we could get one to bite. a few seconds later a big ahi exploded on the short bait just thirty feet behind the boat. Line was leaving the reel fast and Sheldon got buckled into the harness! He worked the fish for about 15 minutes before getting me to the leader. His first ahi would scale out at 119lbs! We ran back to the porpoise and set-up the greenstick. By now several other boats had spotted us and were working the pod. I knew there was at least one more fish so we started our second pass. It didn’t take long before another ahi blasted completely out of the water and ate one of the squids! KC saw the whole thing happen and she yelled out “Holy S#$T!” As Sheldon and I turned around all we saw was the huge hole it left as it landed back in the water. This time KC was up and she got to work on her first fish of the day. She did a great job and was surprised how hard these big tunas can fight. She landed her first ahi in about 10 minutes and it weighed 79lbs! We set up again and worked the pile but I didn’t see any more fish in them on the sounder. There were now about 8 other boats fishing the pod so I decided to look for something better. As we trolled farther south we had a spearfish attack one of our lures about 8 times and the hooks just didn’t stick. As we headed back up the line a nice mahimahi ate the long rigger and gave us a series of nice jumps. Sheldon was up again and fought his first mahi to the boat that weighed about 17lbs! It was a great day with some real quality fish! The bite is on and should only get better!

January 17, 2013 – Shortnose Spearfish on the Fly!

nittas2010 — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 01:51:08 +0000

Today, Chris, his wife Diane and children joined me for some flyfishing action. My boat has been out of commission for the last few days because the dive boat in the slip next to me got tangled up in one of my outrigger lines and as he left his slip completely folded my outrigger in half! Not a pretty picture! Needless to say, Chris contacted me and wanted to do some flyfishing so I didn’t need the outrigger on the port side anyway…perfect! My friend Mark joined me since I would need some help teasing fish within flycasting range. We met at the dock a little later as usual since the swell has been pretty big along the shoreline. Chris has caught several tarpon and other large gamefish on the fly so I knew he could handle throwing big flies on heavier rods. We practiced a few times on the way out and Chris made perfect cast after perfect cast. All we had to do was raise a fish or two which would be the more difficult job … We started off in front of the harbor and saw a boat fighting a nice 300-400lb blue arlin which they broke off on the leader. We worked south along the 500-700 fathom line for most of the day without a bite. We had marked 2 fish down deep so they were in the area but not ready to bite. Mark and I were up top stressing out about not raising a fish when a spearfish boiled on the long teaser! Mark quickly got to the rod and started teasing the fish in as Diane cleared one of the other teasers. Chris dropped his fly back and got ready to cast as Mark teased the fish right to his fly. As I pulled the boat out of gear Mark yanked the teaser out of the water and Chris made a perfect cast. He stripped twice and the spearfish piled on his fly. He was on! The spearfish made a short run and came off! I yelled to him to trip it back in and the spearfish made repeated attempts to eat the fly. Finally, after what seemed to be 5-6 bites, Chris set the hook deep and the spearfish made a series of jumps towards the boat! After a 10 minutes battle Chris successfully landed his first billfish on a fly! We estimated the spearfish to weigh between 20-25lbs! We have been seeing more and more of these fish along with striped marlin so the next few weeks should be excellent fishing!

January 10, 2013 – Big Tigers For Scott’s Shark Slam

nittas2010 — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 01:50:05 +0000

Scott and Valerie have fish with me for several years and caught some big ahi, blue marlin as well as a short nose spearfish to complete his IGFA Billfish Slam. On this trip to Kona, he wanted to catch a tiger shark to check off his list of shark species for his IGFA Shark Slam. I rarely target sharks, especially tiger sharks because they are believed to be spiritual ancestors of the Hawaiian people. We rarely see “small” tiger sharks (under 10 feet) and they are truly a magnificent fish. Scott really wanted to catch one and since we were going to release it I decided to try and get him one. We fished 2 days and on the first day we were shocked to not raise a single tiger shark. On our second and last day the pressure was on! My good friend Kevin joined me and brought along several garbage cans full of tuna and miscellaneous bottomfish including several amberjack which these tiger sharks love to eat. The plan was pretty simple…start down current and pump bloody water out as we traveled up current starting a big slick. Kevin threw chunks of bottomfish and tuna as we made our way to our drift point. We then tied a large carcass to a float and dropped it a few yards away from us. Kevin rigged a 30lb amberjack on the Fin Nor 130 and got it ready to pitch to a shark. As I watched the float a big brown shadow appeared out of nowhere and slammed into the carcass hanging below. I yelled to Kevin that we had a shark eating the float and he threw the rigged amberjack into the water as I motored closer to the float. I watched as the tiger made another pass on the float and this time he grabbed the carcass and took the whole float and bait down for about 20 seconds! We lost him for a minute and then he came in pretty fast on our bait. We were trying to get some good video footage so we teased him to within 30 feet of the boat but he refused the bait at the last second. Kevin sunk the boat and the tiger came around and ate the bait a few yards under the boat! Scott got himself clipped into the chair and got to work. He is a really experienced angler and got his first tiger to the boat in about 40 minutes! As Kevin leadered the tiger we were amazed as it rolled over and showed us just how thick she was! I don’t think that anyone could have put their arms even half way around this sharks belly! It looked like she had been feeding on a baby whale! After a few pictures we released her unharmed with a nice hook set in the corner of her mouth. Since it was still early we decided to try for another and it didn’t take long! Our slick was working! We reset the float and sunk an amberjack as we waited. The deep bait fired off and we were on again. This time the shark made a blistering run! Scott worked the shark up to the boat and apparently we had tail wrapped her. This shark was even bigger maybe 14 feet but not as fat as the first one. Kevin leadered her up and got her unwrapped from the leader when she kicked a few times and broke the main line. What a day! Two big tigers and one that was definitely over 1000lbs!

December 12, 2012 Marshella and Alison Catch Big Allisons!

nittas2010 — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:07:02 +0000

Today, I hosted Marshella, Alison and their boyfriends Chris and Chris for a 3/4 day charter. This time of year I would highly recommend a full day but we decided to give it a try on a little shorter trip. I started right in front the harbor and worked my way straight out towards a nearby buoy. Nothing was at the buoy and we had some hard wind out of the northeast. I ventured way offshore to look for current and debris that might be holding mahimahi. As I continued out to the deep I angled down swell to make the ride more comfortable. About 15 minutes later I saw a porpoise jump about 200 yards away. It was hard to see in the swell if they were spotted dolphins so I continued on trying not to lose sight of them. The pile was massive, probably one of the biggest pods I have seen in a long time. I made my first pass without a bite and no fish showed on my sounder. The pod was just too big to not be holding fish so I switched my pattern to more ahi type lures. I came back into the school and made 5 passes without marking a fish or getting a bite. I started back in when the stinger position fired off! Line was dumping off the Fin Nor 80 as I buckled Marshella into the fighting chair. We were almost at half a spool before the fish settled down. Marshella got to work fighting her first fish ever! She did a great job and stuck with it the whole way. In about 40 minutes she finally got the fish to leader! Her biggest ahi and her first fish ever would scale out at 191lbs! After a few pictures we reset lines and found the pod surfing its way south. We made pass after pass without a bite and still no fish were on my sounder. I was just about to give up when the long rigger came down hard! This time Alison was in the chair and fought her fish on a larger Fin Nor 130. We pushed the drag up and Alison got to work in low gear. We laughed as I told them this is Alison’s Allison (Allison yellowfin tuna)…Alison made quick work of her first ahi in about 15 minutes! Her ahi would hit the scales at 129lbs! We lost the pile in the swell and headed back to the harbor. We went into ono lane and worked from Keauhou to the airport without another bite.

December 6, 2012 Big Ahi and Mahis For The Watson’s!

nittas2010 — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 06:53:54 +0000

Debbie, John and their son Dan fished a full day on the Lepika! Dan fishes quite a bit in Colorado and this was his first experience in the deep blue. We ran far offshore in hopes of finding some nice current lines and trash that might be holding mahimahi. As we worked our way farther out we ran into a few boats working a pod of porpoise. The porpoise haven’t had much ahi in them so I wasn’t anticipating much action, but…you never know until you try! We made a trolling pass with the lures and I didn’t see a single mark on the sounder. I spoke to a guy on one of the other boats and he had not seen or caught a fish either. I continued to work the pod and on my second pass I thought I might have marked a fish at 55fathoms, far to deep to get a bite on lures. I turned to make my third pass and didn’t see the fish again on the screen. It was a quick decsion but I decided to leave the pod and look farther offshore. As I made my turn the short rigger came down hard and the Fin Nor 130 screamed as the ahi dove for the deep! Debbie had asked me earlier, “how do you know when you get a bite?” and trust me…she knew! Dan got in the chair and the ahi cleared almost half the spool by the time it stopped it’s first run! He fought the fish hard for about 20 minutes before he got the leader to me. At first glance I thought the fish would scale out at 140lbs but when we got to the scales it went 180lbs! I ran back to the porpoise and looked on the sounder for more fish but didn’t see any other marks. I continued farther south and ended up at one of the buoys that was holding some small tuna. On my trolling pass I saw some small mahimahi cruising around so we went to live baiting. The mahi were hard to catch but eventually we managed to catch one for each of them, perfect for a few nights worth of dinner!

November 26-27th – Fishing Kona Yields Mahimahi and Small Ahis

nittas2010 — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 06:33:49 +0000

Tough fishing has plagued the fleet for the past few days. Fishing Kona can usually yield some nice fish consistently but the past few weeks the fishing has consisted of mostly mahimahi and smaller yellowfin tuna. All of these are great for the grill and that’s pretty much what we’ve been catching…dinner! On the 26th, Mike and Jeff fished a full day with me. There had been some small skipjack tuna and yellowfin tuna at one of the nearby buoys so we headed there first. We arrived early and there weren’t many boats in the area so I decided to catch a small tuna and rig it live for some bigger fish. Mike caught a perfect size yellowfin tuna about 2lbs and I sent it back about a hundred yards. We made a few passes on the buoy and more boats arrived including two dive boats. Typically, divers in the water put the fish down but as we pulled our baits near one of the boats a big mahimahi grabbed our bait. Jeff was first in the chair and this was his first mahimahi he had ever caught and it was a nice one! The average mahimahi in Kona ranges from 15-20lbs and Jeff’s mahimahi scaled out at 35lbs!

The following day, Laning, Liz and their parents joined me for a full day. Laning and Liz have fished with me a few times in the past few years and this time they brought along Laning’s parents. After trying for big fish without success we ended up at VV buoy and caught a few small tunas for Liz to take home and cook for dinner. Liz has been growing organic ginger and had a chance to make some sashimi to go along with it!

November 16, 2012 Fishing Kona Ahis!

nittas2010 — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 06:42:45 +0000

Tom fished with me almost five years ago! On that trip he remembered catching ahi pushing 120lbs! Today, he was back with his friends Scott and Joe to fish Kona once again. Not many Kona charter boats have been fishing so we had the ocean pretty much to ourselves. Sometimes that’s good and sometimes that’s bad. When more boats fish it’s easier to find fish by relying on friends and finding fish with a group as opposed to just out on your own. We’ve had really good luck the past three days seeing quality fish so I had hoped today we could do it again. Tom wasn’t sure how his friends would do in rough water so I ventured south where the ocean is typically calmer because of the volcanoes that block the normal trade-winds. We trolled south for a few hours without a bite before stumbling onto a porpoise school that was fairly spread out. There was one other boat that joined us and I marked two nice tunas down at 40 fathoms. No bite trolling so I deployed the greenstick. The pod was pretty big and spread out so I wasn’t expecting much until they came tighter. We made our third pass on a nice group of porpoise when a nice ahi balsted 8 feet out of the water and inhaled one of our squids! The guys were too busy checking out the porpoise swimming all around our boat and missed the ahi bite. They definitely heard it as line screamed from the Fin Nor 130. Tom was up and worked his fish to the boat in about 15 minutes! Tom’s ahi would scale out at 134 1/2lbs!

November 14, 2012 – Mike and Debbie Hook MONSTER Blue Marlin!

nittas2010 — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 06:11:03 +0000

(Ok…that’s not it in the picture…read on) After yesterday’s successful trip on ahis I decided to head north in search of big blue marlin. Friends of mine had seen fish pushing 400lbs of the airport so I decided to give it a try. Mike and Debbie chartered me for a full day so we had plenty of time to find the fish. As we neared the Grounds the swell was a little lumpy and uncomfortable. I was paying attention to the steep chop when the stinger took off. Line was leaving the reel slowly so I thought it was a small fish. As I turned to grab the rod a big blue marlin lunged halfway out of the water! The fish was big and as most big marlin are, didn’t know it was hooked! I ran downstairs and clipped Mike into the harness. I told him to get ready because the fish is going to figure it out and head for the horizon! The big blue only had 50 yards of line out and I was able to clear two lines when the blue headed for the horizon. Before I could get the lures in the boat we were at a half spool of line (500 yds)! I backed off the drag to lessen the strain but it wasn’t enough and the big blue broke off taking our lure and all! UGH! I estimated the fish at over 700lbs! We continued to troll and decided to switch over to live bait after seeing good signs of frigate mackerel on the ledge. We caught a few baits and live baited. We got bit pretty quick by a nice mahimahi which we fought almost to the leader before the hooks came out! UGH again!! Back to baiting we went and as our luck would have it the dolphins came in and started eating our baits. Back to trolling we went and again hooked up to what I think was a small blue marlin. Again, the fish came off after a short run! Three strikes and no fish to leader!! Frustrating but it happens…so back to trolling. Finally, near the end of the day a small blue charged in on the stinger. This time the hooks were in firm…both of them…one in the eye and the other solid in the corner of the mouth. The feisty blue put on a great show for us as it tail-walked towards the boat. Mike fought the fish for about 10 minutes and since we hooked in the eye we decided to keep it. Mike’s blue marlin would weigh 119lbs! We donated it to a friend of mine for his nephew’s birthday party. That was was some pretty good action today which rivaled some days I’ve had this summer! The big fish are making an appearance!

November 13, 2012 – Craig and Nate Score Ahis!

nittas2010 — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 06:10:33 +0000

Craig has fished with me the past 3 years and on his last two visits we caught 3-4 big ahi from 120lbs-160lbs! Those trips were “guy” trips and he brought along local friends of mine Britt and Scott who played baseball at Pepperdine with him. Today was a father son trip and his son Nate came along for some action. Of course, Britt and Scott tagged along too! We left the harbor early and ran south looking for anything we could find. Fishing has been pretty tough lately so we headed out to the deep and looked for signs of life. About mid morning we found a small porpoise school and worked them with the greenstick but didn’t mark any fish. There has been some nice ahi coming out of the school so we decided to leave and look for another pile. We worked our way down and ended up at one of the FADS (Fish Aggregation Buoys) which wa sloaded with birds and bait. As we got close 40-80lb ahis started blasting bait all around us. I set up the greenstick and worked the area. It wasn’t long before 12-15lb ahi started piling on the jumping squids! We had two small ahi on and were about to real them up when a bigger ahi piled on another squid. Craig got in the chair and started to get to work. There were two nice ahis on the line and we wanted some fish for dinner. Craig has caught bigger ahi before with me but these would do for today! Our biggest ahi of the day would weigh about 70lbs! I really wanted to get Nate into the action so we set up the greenstick again and drug it next to the buoy. Instantly, every squid started to get attacked by 10-12lb ahi! We ended up getting a triple and Nate got to work fighting them all on one rod! In about 10 minutes he had all three in the boat! With only a few hours left in the day we caught a few more for the grill and headed home with a nice load of ahi!

October 29, 2012 – Big Ahi Are Still Here!

nittas2010 — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 18:34:20 +0000

I haven’t had many charters this month which is as expected this time of year! Everyone is back to work and not many people are traveling to Kona for vacation right now. Things usually start to pick up near Thanksgiving and then run right thru the holidays. That being said, there’s still some fish out there to be caught and some nice ones too! The porpoise schools are loaded with big ahi and there’s still some small blue marlin around to keep things interesting!

Jay, from Kauai and his son Mason fished with me and did really well. We found a nice porpoise school all by ourselves far offshore and got lucky. We worked the pile for several hours and had a nice ahi blow-up on one of our squids! Mason was the angler for the day and horsed in a nice 114lb ahi in about 15 minutes!

A few days later, we found another nice porpoise school which was loaded with big ahi in the 120-170lb range! We worked the school with the greenstick and missed one right away! UGH! A big ahi came up and just plain missed the bait! After working the school for a while we were lucky enough to again have a big ahi blast one of the squids! Nick was up and battled his first ahi to the boat in just under 20 minutes! It was his biggest fish ever and wanted to try and lift it by himself after we weighed it! Nick’s ahi would end up weighing 141lbs!

September 2012 Was Wide Open!

nittas2010 — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 18:52:36 +0000

September ended up being a great month this year! The fish showed up a little late this Summer as they have for the last three years. We had a few epic days of fishing especially with Daryl from southern California. Daryl fishes every year with me and usually for several days at a time. He is a greenstick fanatic and loves watching these big tuna blast off on the squid baits! This trip he fished four days straight and landed 6 ahi from 102lbs to 116lbs! A few days later the Roladers fished a full day and caught two really nice ahi weighing 106lbs and 125lbs! Don also fished again this year with me and we lucked out and found a big log floating in the water that was covered with nice mahimahi! We ended up catching 5 from 17lbs to 28lbs before searching for porpoise that were holding big tuna.

I had a chance to fish for giant bluefin tuna this year off the east coast of Canada. I spent a week with a few friends of mine and we caught fish ranging from 450-600lbs daily. We were lucky enough to weigh one that went 754lbs!

August 29, 2012 Mark and John Get Ahis and a Blue!

nittas2010 — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 07:26:48 +0000

Mark of “In the Bite Magazine” and his good friend John joined me for a day on the Lepika. Their goal was to catch a nice blue marlin for John who has caught a lot of sailfish but has never caught a blue marlin. We started off close to the harbor since the bite has been in shallow along the ledge. We worked our way south when a small blue piled on the stinger lure! Line peeled off the 80 Fin Nor as Mark got John strapped into the fighting chair. I backed up hard on the fish and John got the leader to me in about 15 minutes. We safely released his first blue marlin that weighed about 130lbs! It was still early and we continued on. The bite went dead so I headed offshore to try some deeper water. On the horizon I spotted a nice pile of porpoise. Mark and John have caught ahi but nothing over a 100lbs and neither of them had seen the greenstick in action. We ran to the pile and saw ahi jumping in front of the school chasing flying fish. I set the greenstick up and made my first pass. Mark and John watched as the squids bounced in and out of the water when a nice ahi blasted completely out of the water and inhaled one of the squids. John was up and got in the chair. The ahi dove deep and John landed his first ahi in about 15 minutes! It weighed 110lbs! The bite was on so we quickly reset and made another pass. Almost instantly another big ahi blasted one of the squids, leaping all the way out of the water! It was Mark’s turn and he quickly got in the chair. He did a great job and landed his first and biggest ahi which weighed 146lbs! Mark has seen some pretty incredible bites but he will definitely never forget seeing ahis flying out of the water to eat the baits off the greenstick! It is something he will never forget!

August 28, 2012 One of Wally’s Happiest Days!

nittas2010 — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 07:26:17 +0000

This was day two with Wally and Lynne. Last Sunday (8/26), Wally caught a nice blue marlin about 250lbs. He really wanted Lynne to get the next fish but she was hesitant so Wally “faked” a shoulder injury and “made” Lynne get in the chair today! Drastic measures! We started early and set line pretty close to the harbor. The sun was barely up when a small blue came charging in on the long rigger bait! Lynne got in the chair and at first was a little hesitant as line peeled off the Fin Nor 130! She wasn’t sure she could handle it but Wally and I both reassured her she would do just fine. I backed down on the fish and put the two speed Fin Nor in low gear. She did a great job and stayed with it keeping the line taut all the way thru the fight. I got the leader in about 20 minutes and noticed we had hooked the marlin in the eye. I try to release all the blues we hook but this one had a slim chance of making it so I decided to kill it. Lynne’s first blue marlin would scale out at 129lbs! After I reset the lines, Wally came upstairs and told me that watching Lynne catch her first blue marlin made his trip! That was awesome! It’s always a good feeling to hear a charter say that even though they have already caught several fish with you! It was still early so we continued down the coast. Not far down we found a nice pod of porpoise that had some ahi working in front of the pile. I put up the greenstick but the ahi were deep. We stayed with the school for a few hours when we finally got a bite! Wally has caught several nice ahi with me and knew what to do. He got to work on the fish and had it boatside in about 15 minutes! His ahi would scale out at 100 1/2 lbs!

August 27, 2012 Sarah and Kristen Get Ahis!

nittas2010 — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 07:26:02 +0000

Tom has fished three days with me in the past week and had some really good luck with a big blue marlin and several nice ahi. Today was for the girls Kristen and Sarah to get into the action! We left the harbor early and worked the ledge for blue marlin without luck. We headed offshore and found a big pile of porpoise chasing flying fish with lots of birds getting in on the action. As we trolled the pile we got a nice bite on the long rigger but as we got Kristen strapped intot he chair it came unbuttoned! Ugh! I went right ot the greenstick and as we neared the pile on our first pass an ahi exploded on the squids. Kristen got in the chair and made quick work of her first ahi which weighed 76lbs! We reset right away and ran back up to the porpoise. We worked the school hard and saw some fish down deep. We had a nice fish blow-up on the squids and miss three times! Frustrating! It was getting late and we had to start trolling home. About half way back Tom and I were on the flying bridge when a monsterous hole opened up behind the stinger lure! The fish left a hols as wide as the wash of the boat and I got a good look at it’s tail as it dove for the depths. It looked like an ahi tail adn the fish headed straight down – a tell tale sign it was an ahi! Sarah was up and got down to work. I was amazed as she worked this fish without even thinking of giving up. We looked a the time and she was 45 minutes into the fight on the Fin Nor 80 with 1/4 of the spool still out. The fish would take 4 feet of line then she would gain 5 feeet. The fight would continue like this for an hour when finally I got the leader and sink two gaffs in her fish! It was a nice ahi which would scale out at 180lbs! Super impressed by her “never die” attitude! Good goinf Sarah!

August 24, 2012 Another Incredible Day!

nittas2010 — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 06:20:30 +0000

The last three days of fishing for us has been incredible and I don’t believe could ever be duplicated! On the 22nd we tagged a 400lb blue and caught two nice ahis with Tom. Yesterday, in almost the same exact spot we tagged another 400lb blue and again caught two big ahis! Today, went eerily the same…

Mike and Bev from Seattle have fished with me for over 3 years and today fished with some friends of mine Scott and Doug from Waimea. We left the harbor a little later than I like and ran to the area I’ve been finding the blue marlin. We set up trolling after running about 20 minutes. We were about 2 miles fromm the spot I had hooked the last 2 400lbers when another big blue piled on the long corner bait just 15 yards behind the boat! Scott and Doug were upstairs and almost jumped out of their seats as the water exploded behind the boat! Mike jumped into the chair as the fished peeled off a few hundred yards of line and came up jumping some 200yds back. We backed down hard on the fish as Mike bore down and got to cranking. The fish was putting on a great show far behind the boat tailwalking all over the place! Mike put the reel into low gear and got down and dirty with the fish which by now had dove down. In about 20 minutes Mike had me to the leader as we took photos of the fish and released her in good condition to fight another day! As we continued on we spotted a few boats working a nice size porpoise school. I decided to go right to the greenstick and on our first pass a big ahi exploded on one of our squids! Mike had somewhat recovered from his 20 minute battle with his first big blue marlin and got in the chair. Mike made quick work of his first big ahi in about 10 minutes! His ahi would scale out at 127 1/2lbs! We packed the fish in ice and ran back to the school to try for another. The school had spread out a bit and we didn’t see anymore fish for quite a while. We stayed with them and at about 12pm the school came together and the fish were on the surface. We lined up a good pass and again another big ahi inhaled one of our squids! Mike was exhausted and gave the chair up to Scott. Scott worked this fish over and got me to leader in about 15 minutes. His ahi would weigh 128lbs! We were now participants in yet another Ground Hog Day! 3 consecutive days of 400lb blues and 2 ahis! We had to break out of it so we tried hard for a third ahi. It was getting late and Scott had a prior engagement so we had to get back to the harbor early. I decided to make the infamous “last pass” and as I turned to come back to the school another big ahi pounced on one of our squids! We were on! This time Doug was up and did an incredible job fighting this fish. His fish would be the biggest of the three and scale out at 131lbs! Ground Hog Day averted!!!

August 23, 2012 – Ground Hog Day For Jeff and Jeffrey!

nittas2010 — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 06:00:21 +0000

Never before have I ever imagined that I would have a Ground Hog day fishing in Kona! Today was simply amazing and little did we know it would be exactly as my charter yesterday!

Jeff surprised his son Jeffrey with a full day trip on the Lepika for his 14th birthday. The goal was to catch him anything so we headed back to where I had found fish yesterday. As we trolled down the coast I was almost exactly in the same area I had tagged a 400lb blue the day before when a big dorsal popped up behind the long corner lure! As I yelled to Jeff and Jeffrey to watch the fish disappeared for a moment and then showed itself again behind the lure and with one big burst ate it with its mouth wide open! It was a nice fish and my instincts told me to get dad in the chair but 14yr old Jeffrey was already there and waiting so into the harness he went! Line peeled off as the blue leaped back across the pattern before emptying a lot of line from our reel. Jeff held his son in the chair as we backed down on the fish. Jeffrey did an awesome job keeping the line tight and really paying attention to our directions. He kept at it and nver gave up. He fought his first ever blue marlin to the boat in 35 minutes! We got some great pictures next to the boat before we released her safely! As we continued along the coast we ran into a big porpoise school tat was spreade out for miles. We trolled the school for a few hours withou any bites or marks and waited for the school to get together. When they did, I went to the greenstick and after sometime trying we finally got our first ahi to explode out of the water! This time Jeff was in the chair and work hard on this fish. Ahi fight deep and Jeff had to really use his legs to lift this fish from the depths. He landed his first ahi in about 15 minutes and it weighed 100lbs! Again, we ran to the porpoise and deployed the greenstick. We tried for about an hour when another big ahi crashed one of our squids. Jeff was up again and fought his second ahi tot he boat in about 10 minutes! His second ahi weighed 98 1/2lbs! What a way to end a great day on the water for Jeffrey’s 14th birthday!

August 22, 2012 – Tom 400lb Blue and Ahis!

nittas2010 — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 06:00:01 +0000

Tom, his son Dave and daughters Kristen and Sarah, fished with me today. Tom has fished with me for the last 4 years and has caught a lot of ahi from 120-170lbs but his goal has always been to catch a fish bigger than himself. Tom usually vacations in the Spring and charters me for about three days to better his chances of seeing quality fish. Little did we know today would be the day his wish would come true!

We started early as usual and started trolling not far from the harbor. The sun had just peeked over Hualalai volcano as we neared an area outside of Red Hill when a big dorsal surfaced behind the stinger lure running on my Fin Nor 80w. It was a nice fish and we watched as it turned on the lure and got the hooks firmly set in its mouth. Line was screaming off the reel as the fish took of for the horizon. Tom knew the drill and got buckled intot he fighting chair. We chased the fish hard and the lighter gear made it more difficult than the usual 130lb tackle we use. Tom got to work and after 45 minutes got the leader to me. We took some nice pictures alongside the boat and released her in good shape. I estimated his fish at a solid 400lbs! We worked the area more and it wasn’t more than an hour later that another 400lb blue erupted on the short rigger lure! This time Dave was up and got into the chair. The fish gave us some nice jumps way out there before racing back towards the boat. Dave did a nice job fighting the fish but unfortunately the fish came unbuttoned just a few yards before we got to the leader. We continued along the coast and ran into a nice porpoise school. We trolled them for a while without any luck so I tried them on the greenstick. We saw some ahi on the sounder but they wouldn’t bite right away. Pass after pass we marked them on the screen when about two hours later a big ahi blew up on one of the squids! Dave was up and got to work fighting his first big ahi. He made quick work of it and got me the leader in about 15 minutes! His ahi would weigh 105lbs! We quickly reset and worked the school and it didn’t take long before another nice fish pounced on the squids! This time Sarah was up and was a little hesitant getting into the chair. She was surprised at the power of these fish and struggled at first but quickly got in the groove and got me to the leader. Her ahi would weigh 141lbs! What a day…a 400lb blue marlin and 2 nice ahis! Tom has another day booked later this week so hopefully we can get him an even bigger blue marlin and who knows…maybe some more ahi!

August 7, 2012 John and Austin Score Ahis!

nittas2010 — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 04:39:53 +0000

Today, John and Austin along with their wives fished a full day on the Lepika with me. They are both avid saltwater fishermen from southern California and make frequent trips to Mexico. John had no interest in catching blue marlin and had his sites set on ahi so we headed out to search for porpoise. We worked our way out to deep water and about mid morning I spotted a nice porpoise school about 2 miles away from us. As I turned to head their way a nice blue marlin came charging in on the stinger lure. It ripped out a few yards of line and gave us a nice aerial display before it came off! Ugh! We continued on and it was no more than 10 minutes later when another blue marlin charged in and ate the short rigger! Austin was first up and got strapped into the harness. We backed down hard on the fish as it took out about 300 yards of line putting on a nice show in the distance. Austin cranked hard and got me to the leader in about 20 minutes. We safely released his first blue marlin in about 20 minutes! It weighed about 180lbs! I set lines again and continued towards the porpoise when another blue charged in and ate the long corner lure and quickly jumped itself off! Three blue marlin bites in about a 30 minutes period! As we neared the porpoise we could tell they were spread out for miles chasing flying fish. We worked them hard for about an hour when we got our first bite. The school was just about to come together and we trolled the outsoide edge of the school when a nice ahi exploded on the stinger lure. John was up and harnessed the Fin Nor 80w into the chair. John worked hard and landed a nice 102lb ahi in about 15 minutes. The porpoise looked really good now so we went to the greenstick. I didn’t mark many fish in the school but there were some. About 20 minutes later John was upstairs with me when a nice ahi came all the way out of the water and missed one of our squids. I continued to jig the line and it came back and again came all the way out of the water and inhaled the squid! It was Austin’s turn and he got buckled into the fighting chair. He made quick work of our second ahi of teh day in about 15 minutes! His ahi weighed 101lbs! We decided to call it a day and headed back with a blue marlin release and 2 nice ahi!

August 6, 2012 Ian and Logan Land Ahis!

nittas2010 — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 04:39:31 +0000

David and his two sons Ian and Logan, along with Logan’s girlfriend Olivia fished with me today. We planned to leave at 6am but didn’t leave the dock until 7:30am because the fuel pumps were down. We waited along with three other boats for over an hour until the pumps were fixed. Since we left later I ran a little farther than normal to get to the better fishing area. I worked my way to deeper water and we ran into another nice pod of porpoise. The porpoise were spread out pretty far chasing flying fish but I decided to put the greenstick up and see if we could get lucky. We tried for about two hours before got lucky and had a nice ahi blast one of our squids! David was sitting next to me and got a nice look at the speed and accuracy of a big hungry ahi! Ian was up first and struggled to get his harness on. He made quick work of his first big ahi in about 15 minutes. His first ahi would weigh 98lbs! I reset the greenstick and ran back to the porpoise. We worked the school hard for the next few hours marking fish here and there on the sounder but they just wouldn’t bite. At about 2pm another nice ahi blew up on one of our squids while we were turning! Logan was up next and got down to business. He landed our second ahi in about 10 minutes! His ahi would scale out at 115lbs!

August 3, 2012 Father and Daughter Blue Marlins!

nittas2010 — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 03:53:22 +0000

Dan and his family fished with me today. Dan’s daughter Meredith, is the real fisherman of the family and the plan was to get her a nice fish, preferably an ahi. We searched for porpoise as we headed along the ledge. Off Hookena a blue marlin cam flying into the pattern and ate the long corner lure. Meredith was up and got harnessed into the fighting chair as line dumped off the reel. We backed down on the fish and Meredith cranked as hard as she could with assistance from her father. We got the fish close to the boat and got some nice close-up jumps as the blue tore off more line. We released her biggest fish ever and her first blue marlin in about 20 minutes! I estimated her fish at 160lbs! I set up again and worked the area. Sometimes when you catch a blue marlin you can sometimes find more in the general area. It didn’t take much longer when another blue came in and knocked down the short rigger and came off. We continued to work the area and had another blue pile on the stinger and quickly come unbuttoned! UGH! Two misses back to back! Soon after we would be visited again by another blue! It piled on the long corner and missed the lure! It switched to the long rigger and took off for the horizon with hooks dug deep! This time, Dan was up and buckled into the chair. Dan’s fish was also pretty feisty and put on a good show with a nice series of jumps. Dan landed his first marlin also in about 15 minutes. We safely released it and I estimate it weighed about 200lbs! I’m sure Meredith will be back to Kona one day for more blue marlin and hopefully and ahi next time!