Kona Hawaii Fishing Report – January wrap-up.
The new year started off great and was just a continuation of the hot bite on blue marlin and spearfish that we were experiencing in December. That lasted into the middle of the month. Then I didn't fish for a week and when I went back out there, everything had changed. The currents were screwey and as usual when that happens, the trolling bite drops dramatically. It's a good thing that it didn't last for long though. The currents have recently returned to normal and the bite is starting to pick back up again. There were a few striped marlin caught this month but we have yet to see the winter run kick in.
Some mahi mahi are still trickling in and some ono too but it's not the season for either. The FADs VV buoy and OT buoy went totally dead later in the month with no life whatsoever on them but I got the hot tip from another captain that C buoy was holding both ahi and aku. I went there last Friday and while I couldn't get anything to bite trolling, I went deep and scored a couple of 25lb. ahi. We missed several other deep strikes. It takes over 2 hours one way to troll from the harbor to the buoy and of course about the same time trolling back. There's always hope of getting a fish while trolling in between even when the trolling bite is off but we had no luck there. After taking the weekend off I was looking forward to going back to C buoy and catching a whole bunch of ahi the following Monday but when I got to the buoy, there were bottlenose dolphins everywhere. With those animals around, there's about a 0 chance of ever getting a fish to the boat. They eat 'em right off the hook. Much like fishing for salmon with sea lions around. You just have to move on. The next day I did find a ledge where some of the tunas had moved to but it was late in our trip. We scored a barracuda, an ahi and a couple of skipjack before having to head back to the harbor.
The winter months are suppose to be the peak bottom fishing season and I try to get in some bottom fishing on almost every trip. I did score a big almaco jack at the beginning of the month but even before the currents got screwey, the bottom fishing results were pretty disappointing. It's a new month and a fresh start tomorrow. The sun is shining and the winds are supposed to be light out of the South. Look out fish, I'm commin' to get 'ya!
See ‘ya on the water soon ,
Capt. Jeff Rogers ,
http://FISHinKONA.com
