Back from Kona

[Capt. Lyndon]

I arrived back in NC from Kona last night. As some of you may remember, I went to work with Tough on Tackle on a commercial handline boat. Due to an extremely slow tuna bite, I decided to cut my trip short by about 6 weeks. The first two trips were awesome. 6-8,000 lbs. of big-eyes each trip, but the last three have been terrible, barely paying expenses. From what we have heard from the buyers and the other few boats in the fishery, no one has been catching. One boat who was out with us this last week had 10 wahoo and one mahi for 10 days. This boat long-lines and trolls, if that tells you anything. Another boat that longline and trolls had 2 thresher sharks and one 12 lb tuna for 9 days. It kind of has some of the guys worrying. It was a great learning experience if nothing else. In the next couple of days, I'll post a little bit about what this fishery is about. It is truly the experience of a lifetime.

[tom@marlinstar]

There has been a lot of wind off of Kona...usually Kona is protected but I have been told the winds are heavy this year. What are the Captains saying? Any speculation on the decline of #'s?

[Capt. Lyndon]

As far as the Kona winds, yes they have been blowing harder than usual, but that didn't really affect us, as we were fishing 135-250 miles offshore, Ironically, the inshore marlin bite has been off the hook all winter for the charter fleet, the best in any one's memory. The only speculations that I've heard is the purse seiners down south are wiping out the schools before they make it to Hi, or the possibility of just an up-down cycle, but the only problem with the cycle deal, the capt. of the other boat that was out there with said he hadn't seen fishing this bad in his 38 years of fishing.

[reel fool]

Lyndon--we caught a nice 123 Ahi (g&g) in the school today. they just showed up out of nowhere, birds working, etc...looking electric for the 10 seconds that we spotted all this until the short corner popped!
been blowin 20-25 last 2 days from the south.

[Capt. Lyndon]

Lyndon--we caught a nice 123 Ahi (g&g) in the school today. they just showed up out of nowhere, birds working, etc...looking electric for the 10 seconds that we spotted all this until the short corner popped!
been blowin 20-25 last 2 days from the south.

Congrats. We heard there had been a few nice yellows in the porpoise. Out front? What boat were you on?

[reel fool]

L--this is Jeff on the BM3

[Sea Draggin]

Welcome back to good old NC.

[Wireman]

I'm looking forward to hearing and seeing the details about this fishery. It's unfortunate your season was cut short. Hopefully other opportunities will present themselves for you stateside. Best of luck.

[Capt. Lyndon]

Jeff, I didn't realize that was you. Man, you and Diamond have been on fire lately. Congrats again. Keep in touch.

[perfectpartner]

got any pics of your trip?