Today (May 5, 2019) was a very fun day for David, Tom, Randea and Jim Prince along with their friends, Harlan Roque and Paul Bienz. Celebrating a wedding in Hawaii and capping it off with a fishing trip in Kona. Our day started off slow but ended with a bang! David had wanted to catch something for dinner and we began the day looking for Wahoo. After an unsuccessful hour or so, we decided to catch some small tuna and use them for live bait for a Blue Marlin. We caught two great baits and then for 4 hours we slow trolled them with not a strike. With about an hour left in the charter, I decided to try for Wahoo one more time. We brought in the two live baits and put them in our 'tuna tubes" to keep them alive for maybe a shot at a shark as a last resort. As I made one pass on the point for Wahoo, two lines screamed off line and we brought one nice Wahoo to the boat. With about 30 minutes left in the day, I brought out one of the small tuna which was still alive and dropped it down for a shark. The line again screamed off the real and David jumped in the fighting chair. From the way the line was peeling off the reel, I was wondering if it was a shark. After a 30 minute fight, we brought up the largest Giant Travelly of the year at 72 lbs. A nice ending to our day! Here is the photo of the largest Giant Travelly of 2010 in Kona, Hawaii!
On one of our last marlin charters, Mark and Sue Foley from Wasilla, Alaska went on their first Kona fishing charter. At about 3 pm, our center rigger went down....and after I teased the fish back up, a monster Marlin charged the lure. The hookup and first run were spectatular...but that wasn't even nearly the finish. This was one of the strongest Blue Marlin I have encountered in over 17 years of chartering on the Kona Coast. This was one tough fish! After an hour, we had it about 50 feet from the boat, and then for an additional two hours, that was it! The fish wouldn't come any closer. After a long and exhausting 3 hour fight, we were able to successfully release about an estimated 800 lb. Blue Marlin. Mark did a great job fighting this fish for over three hours. About an hour into the fight, this fish began jumping 20 yards from the boat and Sue did a great job of catching this fish on it's jump right near the boat. Check out the photo below!! You can see the line going directly from the pole to the Marlin which was only a few yards from the boat. Great photo!!
