The biggest blue marlin of the year now stands at 846 lbs. and was caught right in front of the harbor. I happen to know that because I actually saw part of the fight. Well, kind of. After I got in from a full day charter, I was greeted by a couple of captains who were looking for someone to go on a rescue mission. There was a boat adrift but the boat these two captains had was also broken down. I took one of them with me on my boat and we headed out to sea. I saw a boat stopped right in front of the harbor and I thought it would be a quick rescue. After getting the coordinates of the broken down boat I realized that the boat stopped in front of the harbor wasn't the one needing rescue. I found the broken boat about 6 miles from the harbor, tied it up and towed it in. The sun was just setting as we got near the harbor entrance and the boat I saw stopped as I was coming out was still sitting in the same place. Recognizing the boat, I called the captain's cell phone to see if yet another rescue was in order. No answer but I was relieved when I saw his boat power up and follow in behind us. Looking back I could see that his boat also had something in tow. I knew right away it was a big marlin.
It was now dark after getting the boats docked up but I walked down the dock to see how big the fish was. Other people showed up too. The marlin was tied up next to the boat and looking at it under flashlight power, the group collectively decided it was somewhere around 800 lbs. The fish weigh scales were opened up about an hour later and the official 846 weight was made. Summer is normally big blue season but big blue marlin can be caught any time of the year in Kona and February actually had many stories of big fish. Most of the time the big ones win the fight. I had a shot at a big one this month also but it was short lived when one of the guys on the boat jumped to the reel right after the bite, grabbed the drag lever and shoved it back and forth a few times. The line on the reel bird nested, snapped and the marlin along with a bunch of expensive tackle was lost. The excitement of a big fish gets anglers excited. Sometimes that excitement brings on a major case of stupidity! He was lucky he didn't loose any fingers. A loop of 130 lb. test line flying around the reel and with a big fish pulling on the other end, you could get your hands mangled before you even knew what happened.
Big yellowfin tuna and otaru are also known as mostly a summer catch and if you've been following my reports, you know that the bite for them was good in December and January. This month was also good. One of the yellowfin brought in was a 250 pounder. That's the biggest caught in Kona in many years. The mahi mahi bite is also good right now.
The bottom bite has also continued to be good. Sharks are still plaguing some of the best bottom fishing areas and I finally got tired of being a victim of there attacks. I decided to gear up and target them on some of my charters. While targeting one last week I got a big surprise. Instead of the shark I was targeting grabbing the bait, a bottlenose dolphin (about 250 lbs.) grabbed it and got hooked. It's not the first time I've hooked a bottlenose and they really put on a good fight. The big advantage to angling one is that they have to come up to breath. When they do, you can gain a lot of line backing the boat to them. I had this one right next to the boat a few times and just wanted to get a good photo and cut the line as close to the dolphin as possible but we got lucky all the way around when it shook the hook during one of my backing maneuvers. It's a big ocean out there and there are all kinds of critters swimming around looking for something to eat. That's one of the coolest things about fishing the ocean. The BIG pond is stocked with a huge variety. You can never be sure what your next hookup will be.
See 'ya on the water,
Capt. Jeff Rogers
http://FISHinKONA.com
