Trading Trout for Tuna? Kona, HI

[NMmatt]

So I have spent the long summer working on my house, moping around town, and sad to say, working my ass off. Fishing has become a distant memory, sometimes surfacing in my dreams as long-ago trips replay themselves in my mind. Why this sob story you may ask? Because I have been saving all my time off and money for a 3-week trip back to Hawaii!

So November 9th I'm off to Kona with some family to snorkel, kayak, camp, drink, stay in a pimp house and most important - go fishing! I'm going to go with the same captain I've gone with before (2 marlin in 2 trips ain't half bad) so I guess I'm just giving a shout out to whoever may care, and feel free to give me any advice, opinions, or spare change you got. I'm also going to bring the 10 wt rod for shoreline fishing - it's going to be a crapshoot I know, but we'll give it a go and see what we can pull out. I promise to release all humuhumunukunukuapua'a unharmed.

We will be going out twice initially, and perhaps will work out some additional trips, maybe including an unconventional destination. I really like this captain, but he goes out with a lot of sports and I need to reestablish some relationship with him that I can hold my own on deck. The main reason I found him in the first place is that the boat is yours alone (and whoever you bring along). No rotating rods. Plus he no longer has a mate, so that's the reason about the mutual confidence factor. Pulling in a 425+ pound marlin over the rail (no door) with two people is a heck of job, I can tell you.

This time I hope to catch some better eating fish for our stay - but you never know what's going to happen out there. I have been very, very lucky. But I also came to play, and put down some serious jack to make it happen. This time it's even more of an investment, so maybe I'm setting myself up for an ocean cruise just by posting this. But any day on the ocean is a good day!

I will post some history and a few updates in case anyone's interested. Aloha!

[schwerty]

Sounds like a blast. Never been there so can't offer any tips but seems like have it dialed. Looking forward to seeing some pics!

[GiBo]

Check it.

http://www.ucolick.org/~bolte/Hawaii...y_Fishing.html

[NMmatt]

Wow - sweet! Thanks. Lots of good beta here, although I will definitely be using bigger flies, leader and rod...

[NMmatt]

PREQUEL 1

So I started this Kona fishing business by having to go to Hawai'i in September of 2008 for work (yeah, yeah). We traveled to five islands over two weeks training water & wastewater operators. It actually was pretty hectic - training all day one day, travel the next day. I know I won't get any sympathy, so I'll stop right there. But I did get to see some parts of Hawai'i off the beaten path.








Moloka'i is amazing - but sucks without air conditioning. Fishing around there has major potential but really you need your own boat. I'd like to go back someday, but it's not a resort destination, that's for sure.

After training in Pearl City Lihue, Kaunakakai, Lahaina, and Hilo, we finally got to Kona. I went on a charter out of Maui in 2008 but it was a shared charter on a big boat. Nothing happened anyway, but looking at the number of people x the likelihood of hooking up, I figured I better do some research. When I got to Kona, I had the name of a small boat captain, basically no frills but it was only me on the boat.





Captain Alan Borowski - he's a great guy to my way of thinking. Anyhow, we went fishing. At that time he had a first mate. This boat also has a fighting stand, not a chair, and the captain uses 50 Penn reels. In other words, it's more of a fair fight than a lot of boats out there.





We cruised over to a FAD (fish aggregation) buoy, and man it was on. Birds were everywhere, spinner dolphins, bait balls - it was crazy. Even the captain was impressed. Freaking huge tiger sharks were cruising by the boat about 10 feet down. I got the feeling that if I fell into the water, I would become bait within seconds.

Anyhow, even though it was a total feeding frenzy, those goddamn spinner dolphins would follow the lures and murder anything that got hooked instantly. I managed one small tuna that practically flew into the boat in self-defense. We planed some lures deep, trying to hook up on something big enough to survive the dolphins. Groups of 2 or 3 spinners followed the boat, jumping high out of the water straight over the planer like it was Sea World. "They've never seen that before - they're pinging the lures," said the captain. "We can pretend we're fishing here but we're not."

So against all visual evidence, we abandoned the feeding grounds to troll elsewhere. Ate lunch. Nearly fell asleep. All of a sudden, fish on!





A little less than 30 crazy minutes later, fish to the boat. After some discussion, captain & (commercial) first mate decide to shoot and sell the blue marlin. In Hawaii, the fish belongs to the boat - although most captains will share a generous portion with you. Not really like Alaska though where you are freezing and shipping anything. They aren't equipped to do that and it probably isn't worth the money anyway - except I think I would be doing mental calculations with a 100 lb tuna.

As a hunter, but also mostly a C&R guy, I was somewhat conflicted. I certainly honored their decision. But I would prefer to release a fish this big (and it's not that big for Hawaii). Part of the deal is that it was just the right slot size for sale (marlin isn't exactly known as an eating fish) and it was super healthy still at the boat. The colors were amazing - she was actually glowing blue and yellowish, flashing her displeasure. It's not everyday they catch a marlin - and this was one of the few ones they sold. First mate had connections to move it.





Up with the marlin flag and that's all she wrote. I was hoping it weighed at least as much as me - at 254 pounds, it was heavier than we thought.





I could have gone out somewhere on Alii Drive and had fresh marlin that night, but I ate tuna sushi instead. Delicious - and a hell of a lot cheaper.





I won't pretend hiring a boat and trolling around involves any major skill on my part. It sure is a hell of a lot of fun though! However the following year I went back, and definitely earned it a bit more...

[skifishbum]

cool salt stoke.
Only advise I can offer is on shore casting is invest or bring a stripping basket.
I forgot how spoiled you get shooting line out of a boat and how much friction line on the water and wave action inhibits your ability to shoot line on your final cast.
And how fuckin agrivating having nervous water or fish working just outside in what you would consider your casting range.
i have a cheap small willie j hoop basket /belt but spaced it out on our trip to fiji and was cursing myself almost every day.
I did manage to bring couple of decent trevally's a few snapper and ugly ass brown bass looking things that fought like bricks with short fins to hand and had a sweet spanish mackeral on for bout 5 seconds of drag screeching backing joy till the hook popped.
Most def humbling and trying to miss shots at fish as it aint like you can just float another mile and have a few k of targets or lies that should hold potential. Pretty funny to as you can charter a
snorkeling or sight seeing boat but if you want a fishing charter the price doubled. I tried to find someone to share the cost/boat, but couldn't justify spending more for a day on a boat than I spend on a week on the river gas, food, booze, and safety suppies included.
But I was stoked to be able to make some casts evryday and check a few new species off the bucket list.

[hop]

[marine biologist specializing in tropical dolphins]I'm guessing the dolphins were pan-tropical spotted and not spinners, as spinners tend to be much more shoreline-oriented and not anywhere near FADs during the daytime. Spotters also associate with tuna. Pics would confirm/deny.

I'm also willing to bet that the spotters weren't killing the tuna on your lines. They're more likely to be going for the same things the tuna are after. Perhaps it was the tiger sharks you were seeing? Again, pics of the mangled fish or alleged offenders would help.[/MBSITD]

[rgaworski]

I went to Kauai this summer and the shore fishing is wiped out there. Although my buddy did get to nab a 10 GT which was pretty sweet. Anyways good luck!

[BS720]

+10 on skifishbum's stripping basket. You don't have a clue how frustrating it is without it.

[NMmatt]

[marine biologist specializing in tropical dolphins]I'm guessing the dolphins were pan-tropical spotted and not spinners...[/MBSITD]

Could very well be. I'm just going with the captain, and I'm sure non-target species differentiation isn't high on his list of priorities. I would have to disagree about them hammering the tuna - fishing boats hate when spinners/pan-tropical spotted dolphins show up, because the fishing is over. I think naturally they are after the bait ball on top, with the (big) tuna coming up from the bottom, but presumably it's learned behavior. I only say this because one nailed a small tuna we had hooked about 10 feet from the boat. No bloody head pics taken, sorry. Thanks for the expert input!

Another fish tale is that the dolphins keep the sharks in check - it appeared that this was the case, but certainly not scientifically verifiable. The story was that the dolphins would hammer the tigers in the gills if they got too close to the action on the bait balls??

First day was a bust. Absolutely nothing happening where we went. We caught plenty of fresh mackerel bait, which as we all know is the crack of the ocean, and all we got was needlefish pecking at them. So, maybe another flashback report, and we are letting things chill until next week.

Cheers!

[hop]

Could very well be. I'm just going with the captain, and I'm sure non-target species differentiation isn't high on his list of priorities. I would have to disagree about them hammering the tuna - fishing boats hate when spinners/pan-tropical spotted dolphins show up, because the fishing is over. I think naturally they are after the bait ball on top, with the (big) tuna coming up from the bottom, but presumably it's learned behavior. I only say this because one nailed a small tuna we had hooked about 10 feet from the boat. No bloody head pics taken, sorry. Thanks for the expert input!

Another fish tale is that the dolphins keep the sharks in check - it appeared that this was the case, but certainly not scientifically verifiable. The story was that the dolphins would hammer the tigers in the gills if they got too close to the action on the bait balls??

First day was a bust. Absolutely nothing happening where we went. We caught plenty of fresh mackerel bait, which as we all know is the crack of the ocean, and all we got was needlefish pecking at them. So, maybe another flashback report, and we are letting things chill until next week.

Cheers!

I'm sure there are exceptions but my experience with most Hawaiian commercial guys doesn't speak highly of their ability to identify marine mammals aside from what they want to see. Also, my experience with Hawaiian sport and small commercial guys (and anyone else targeting tuna from Hawaii to Peru to SoCal and elsewhere, including myself at times) is that if you want to catch tuna, you troll through the spotted dolphins because spotted dolphins = tuna. Then again, these dolphins could have been rough-toothed dolphins (or maybe false killer whales but they look nothing like a generic "flipper" dolphin) which are relatively common around Hawaii, and both of those species DO target ahi and mahi and ono.

Pics of the offending animals would clear this all up in about 1/500th of a second.

[NMmatt]

Yes, I understand about trolling through some dolphins for tuna (spotted, by your expertise). Suffice it to say that these weren't those kind of dolphins. And sorry, pics aren't coming because this was four years ago...

Here commercial boats "high-stick" troll for tuna through dolphin schools. A fascinating, and difficult-looking way to catch them.

[NMmatt]

Stumbled around a lot of shoreline with the flyrod... Conditions aren't great right now imo. I definitely gave it the go, and have many wounds like this to prove it:








I did hook a "nuisance" fish (coronet fish, I think) - I was happy with anything at this point. Thought about cooking him and slapping him in a hot dog bun...








Went out on the boat again for some deeper dwelling fish. Took us longer to locate the bait, but when we finally found them, we were pulling up 5 and 6 on each line. Loaded up the live well and went to work!








Grey snapper - a delicious fish for several dinners!





Next caught (and released) a nice amberjack...






And whatever this is.





Caught one more gray snapper more or less by myself, and that was very cool.








We split the fish - all and all, a great day on the ocean!

[leroy jenkins]

Pm AKPM, he has some experience trying to trade trout for tuna.

[NMmatt]

Pm AKPM, he has some experience trying to trade trout for tuna.

Indeed, we all have at least thought of giving that a go at one time or another...

[NMmatt]

Last trip this year, had to come up big. And we did.

Again had great luck with the live bait - we filled the jacuzzi with mackerel before 8 am.





Cruised north for a FAD, but white caps and building seas turned us back south. We trolled along the shore for Ono, but no luck. Checked into VV buoy close to shore, and things were looking good. Several boats, birds, and then… Dolphin fins! I took this opportunity to clarify the dolphin situation, and Cap’t Alan told me these filthy bait-stealers were Steno dolphins – so rough-toothed dolphins indeed. When he told me I remember that is what he said 4 years ago as well – he knows his shit, the mistake was all mine.


Anyhow, they verified that they know how to take a mackerel off a hook very nicely. I even played tug of war with one Steno for a while, thinking it might have been a fish. We quickly admitted defeat and headed for a farther-out buoy.








And somewhere on the way, in the middle of the ocean in 5,000 feet of water – a marlin slammed the starboard outrigger out of the clip! It took about 20 feet of line but wasn’t hooked yet. She just knocked the lure around with her bill.


I’ve never experienced too much of the fish following the spread and teasing it into the lure, but this time it was epic. The fish behind the boat appeared, cruising at full speed. The Cap’t let out line and several almost-strikes resulted. The fish went down for a bit, and then slammed another rod - the port outrigger line! This time she took quite a bit of line, rod was in hand but the hook didn’t set. I thought at this point it was over, since surely this was enough of a strike to taste the steel and send the marlin to another menu.


But she was determined! Again the fish sped behind the spread, playing cat and mouse with the lure being spooled out, and finally one more strike – this time the hook was set right in the corner of her mouth.











The fight was on – you can’t really capture it with photos, but she fought well. But I used my trout-whispering skills and multiplied them by 1000x, and sneaked her in about 20 minutes. She was still brightly colored and swimming fine – this time I was finally going to get to release a marlin. Which is good, because I’m not sure I would go again if I ended up killing another one of these magnificent fish.











A successful release, she righted herself and dove down… Our best guess is ~ 180 pounds. The rest of the day was uneventful except for high swells, nothing left but to run up the flag and head into the harbor.

[hop]

Steno. Yep, that's what I thought! Glad to hear you got your marlin.

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Cool TR - I didn't realize Kona was a big fishing spot (I only recognize the name from the Ironman race there).

[steved]

Terrific TR......
Have caught the shows where they'd troll with the dummy-squid...then coax marlin or sailfish up to flyrod distances and follow up with the #9-11wt flyrod action. Think it was in the Bahamas, but looked like so much fun I think I could do that anywhere....anytime....

[NMmatt]

Yeah, it was unbelievably cool. I've wanted to try out the fly rod on billfish, but Hawaii really isn't the place to do it! The other marlin I didn't get around to reposting here would have splintered my 10 wt in .02 seconds:





I've read about large marlin on the fly, and I could see hauling in this latest one (180) if things went right. But the other two, no way. The big one above took out about 500 yards of line in 20 seconds - unreal! She did the whole aerial acrobatic show for 5 minutes: grey hounding, tail walking, jumping... Unfortunately she was so far away at that point I had to keep mentally slapping myself into understanding that I was connected to this fish a quarter of a mile away. I'll never forget the line singing tight straight behind the boat, yet the fish was 45 degrees off the starboard side.

Unfortunately, this one eventually dove deep after the topwater antics, and subsequently died of a heart attack. That's why I was happy to finally get one off the hook alive.

Believe it or not, my plan each time has been to target Mahi Mahi, which I would love to get on the fly and would be fairly easy in Hawaii if the conditions were right. But I've come up blank on Mahi over 6 trips...