Kona Hawaii fishing report - Jan. wrap-up

[Capt. Jeff Rogers]

Kona Hawaii fishing report – Jan. wrap-up .

January has been a good month overall for trolling. The spearfish are still in abundance and if you’re looking for some good fish to eat, it doesn’t get much better than fresh spearfish. The mahi mahi bite was good all month too and that’s a bit unusual for January but I don’t hear anyone complaining. Also during this month, yellowfin tuna of all sizes showed up. The small bait size yellowfin are a common winter catch here especially on the FAD (fish aggregation device) buoys and F buoy was even producing 20+ pounders for a while. Other 20+ pounders were being caught in the blind and in the current lines. As for the 100+ size yellowfin tuna, they’re here too. Working the porpoise schools has been very profitable for the boats using the more commercial type methods for catching them. There are different baiting methods and the “green stick” method but just trolling lures through the school hasn’t been getting too many bites.

Normally I open my monthly reports talking about the marlin bite but there’s not really much of a catch to report on. The striped marlin bite picked up just a little bit this month and went from a average of about four per week to a few a day coming in on some days. There were a few “beast” (over 500) blue marlins caught, typical for any month of the year in Kona but most of the (few) blues being caught right now are babies under 100 lbs. that haven’t even grown their noses yet. Some people who don’t know how to tell the difference between a blue and a striped (many don’t) are actually thinking that the small blues are striped marlin. Bill proportions, stripe density and white belly shade are just a few ways to distinguish between the two but the ultimate test is the dorsal fin. The size of the dorsal fin in proportion to the body is yet another clue with the striped marlin having a larger fin in proportion to it’s body but as with the previously mentioned signs, these are all comparative differences. A hard way for the untrained eye to tell. The most distinguishing characteristic and sure-fire way to tell is that on a striped marlin, the first dorsal fin bone is flexible and on a blue marlin, it’s not.

I always like to wrap up the wrap-up with the bottom fishing report. It’s usually where most of the action and unusual catches are. Winter is a peak time for bottom fishing but it’s also the season when Hawaii gets its roughest sea conditions. Watching the news this morning, I see that even the Hawaii Super Ferry is docked due to rough sea conditions. Kona is unique in that the huge mountains protect us from those sea conditions but the most productive bottom fishing grounds to the North of the harbor are less protected and as a result, I wasn’t able to fish the good bottom grounds for most of the month. When forced to go South, I pray for a good trolling bite because the bottom spots are few, far between and usually not as productive. The up side to that is the water is flat like a lake almost every day. The flat sea conditions also make fighting a fish easier. It also helps if you got a marlin up next to the boat and you’re grabbing at it trying to see if it’s first dorsal fin bone is bendable.

See ‘ya on the water ,
Capt. Jeff Rogers ,
FISHinKONA.com

[Captain Fred Archer]

Thanks for the report, Jeff. And spearfish as far as eating...right as rain! All billfish were released in Cabo, except for the spears and swords, but we did release two of those. Good stuff on the blue marlin/stripey ID thing. I've seen some experienced locals down in Cabo who couldn't tell the difference - a good thing, too, because those folks really like eating the blues, babies or not! Same thing with the occasional white, which you will only hear about from someone who knows the (big) differences between a whitey and a stripey. I love those little firecrackers and sure as hell know one when I see one and there are some down there, for sure.

Anyhoo, a good, informative report that I really enjoyed reading. Thanks, Jeffer!

Here's a MarlinBar whitey on der snooter. Fire in the hole!

[Squidnation]

Thanks for the report, Jeff. And spearfish as far as eating...right as rain! All billfish were released in Cabo, except for the spears and swords, but we did release two of those. Good stuff on the blue marlin/stripey ID thing. I've seen some experienced locals down in Cabo who couldn't tell the difference - a good thing, too, because those folks really like eating the blues, babies or not! Same thing with the occasional white, which you will only hear about from someone who knows the (big) differences between a whitey and a stripey. I love those little firecrackers and sure as hell know one when I see one and there are some down there, for sure.

Anyhoo, a good, informative report that I really enjoyed reading. Thanks, Jeffer!

Here's a MarlinBar whitey on der snooter. Fire in the hole!

Wouldn't that be the ocean that they swim in?