BIG MARLIN BEAT GOES ON
Capt. Jaff Kahl may have sent Kona its next grander. Jeff runs the Maui charter boat Piper. Last week, Jeff hooked a fish he estimated at 900 pounds or more. He used the designation “900+,” a kind of code for “mighta been a grander.” They got the marlin to the boat in about three hours, placed a tag and released her.
“She had plenty of fight left in her,” Jeff said. “It was a good feeling turning this majestic monster free to continue her marauding ways down below! Breed on!” More
SMALL PACKAGE BIG GIFT
This year’s good run of shortbill spearfish is the gift that keeps on giving. 
Spearfish may be the smallest of the world’s 10-member billfish family, but catching one of these spectacular-looking gamefish can be a big event for the neophyte as well as the veteran.
BIG BAIT JARGON
In the 45 years this column has appeared here, we’ve collected a very diverse readership ranging from the world’s best pro fishermen to a curious non-fishing general public. For the latter (and some times the former), the fishing jargon can be befuddling. We try to unbefuddle from time to time. More
WHEN IT IS YOUR TURN
When a fisherman watches someone else do well on a day when he hasn’t, he’ll shrug his shoulders and say “It was his turn. We’ll get ours.”
Last week, it was unarguably Capt. Chuck Wigzell’s turn. More
WORLD TUNA DAY
May 2, was United Nations World Tuna Day. The observance shines a special spotlight on Hawaii as a central focus of the US tuna industry. Among the “wherases and therefores” in the official proclamations for the day, you’ll see a few facts you may never have heard before. More
AGAINST THE ODDS
Oldtimers will remember the late Dr. “Kid” McCoy. Doc was an avid fisherman, and his boat Happy Hooker was a regular sight offshore whenever his veterinary practice allowed. He preferred to fish with live bait rather than lures because he said lure-fishing was an exercise in futility. During the 1977 HIBT I fished on Happy Hooker for a week and our team got exactly one strike in 40 hours of towing lures. “If marlin are endangered,” Doc said, “It’s not by any of us.” More
Big-Fish List for 2017. The list recognizes the biggest fish caught on rod and reel (except opakapaka and onaga, for which we’ll accept handline catches) in West Hawaii waters for 2017 in each of 22 categories. They are listed by species, weight, angler, skipper, boat, and date. The list is updated every Sunday throughout the year (copyright 2017 by Jim Rizzuto). If we have overlooked you, give us a call (885-4208) or send an e-mail ([email protected]).
Blue marlin, 925, Guy Terwilliger, Capt. Cindy Cary, Cindy Lu. Apr. 2
Black marlin, 357, Todd Nakatani, Keola Toriano, Breezin. Apr 6.
Ahi, 242, Shawn Takaki, Clarence Minamishin Jr., Malama Lama. Apr 13.
Bigeye tuna, 121.5, Kelsey Bestall, Capt. Jah Nogues, High Noon. Jan 14
Striped marlin, 107, David Benson, Capt. Kevin Hiney, Kuuipo. Mar 31
Spearfish, 56, Mac Jorgensen, Capt. Kenny Fogarty, Hula Girl. Mar 13.
Sailfish, 93, Justin Kaber, Capt. Shawn Rotella, Night Runner, Mar. 25.
Mahimahi, 46.5, Brita Campbell, Capt. Bob Beach, Reel Screamer. Mar 2.
Ono, 75.5, Jason Wong, Donny Kobayashi, No Name. Mar. 22.
Kaku, (barracuda), 39, Chad Culbertson, Capt. Jeff Rogers, Aloha Kai. Jan 23
Kahala, vacant
Ulua (giant trevally), vacant
Omilu (bluefin trevally), vacant
Otaru (skipjack tuna), 24, Marie Hulletel, Capt Kevin Hiney, Ku`uipo. Feb 10.
Broadbill swordfish, vacant
Ahipalaha (albacore), vacant
Kawakawa, 22.5, Britt McCurdy, Capt. Shawn Rotella, Night Runner. Jan 31
Kamanu (rainbow runner), 20.5, Britt McCurdy, Capt. Shawn Rotella, Night Runner. Jan 31
Opakapaka (pink snapper), 14.5, Greg Hong, Kevin Shiraki, Erin Kai. Jan 12.
Onaga (ulaula ko`aie), 21, Greg Hong and Kevin Shiraki, Erin Kai. Mar 6.
Uku (gray snapper), 37.8, Billy Wakefield, Kiakahi. Apr 4
O`io (bonefish), 10.5, Hansen Gardling, shoreline. Mar 30.
Beasts of the week (marlin weighing 500 pounds or more, including R for releases).
None reported
Released:
Apr 23: Blue marlin (150), blue marlin (400) Vicki Pickens, Capt. Chuck Wigzell, EZ Pickens
Apr 24: Striped marlin (100) unknown, Capt. Chuck Wigzell, Hooked Up
Apr 26: Blue marlin (125 and 225) Mark Kinsler, Capt. Neal Isaacs, Anxious
Apr 27: Spearfish (35) unknown, Capt. Neal Isaacs, Anxious
Apr 27: Blue marlin (180 and 350), spearfish (30) Laura Kingsbury, Capt. Chuck Wigzell, Hooked Up
Apr 28: Blue marlin (400) Parker Nguyen, Capt. Chuck Wigzell, EZ Pickens
Apr 28: Blue marlin (175) Katy Hansen, Capt. James Dean, Blue Hawaii
Apr 29: Blue marlin (250) James Golia, Capt. Marlin Parker, Marlin Magic II
Boated:
Apr 23: Blue marlin (134.5) Cyrus Machi, Genesis Marks, Naia Lele
Apr 24: Ahi (99.5) Taylor Lund, Capt. James Dean, Blue Hawaii
Apr 24: Ahi (80) Tony Mascone, Capt. Molly Palmer, Camelot
Apr 25: Blue marlin (142) Isaac Fleming, Jerry Waliezer, Miss Cindy
Apr 25: Mahimahi (three pieces from 15 to 18) unknown, Capt. Kent Mongreig, Sea Wife II
Apr 26: Ahi (120) Bill Manns, Capt. Guy Terwilliger, High Flier
Apr 26: Blue marlin (133) Henderson family, Dennis Bishop, Koko
Apr 26: Spearfish (28.5) Carol Ott, Capt. Chris Donato, Benchmark
Apr 26: Ahi (100), ono (20 and 25) Nicole Hewitt, Capt. John Bagwell, Silky
Apr 26: Ono (30 and 30) Mark Kinsler, Capt. Neal Isaacs, Anxious
Apr 27: Ono (20) unknown, Capt. Neal Isaacs, Anxious
Apr 27: Spearfish (25) Laura Kingsbury, Capt. Chuck Wigzell, Hooked Up
Apr 28: Spearfish (30), mahimahi (15) Parker Nguyen, Capt. Chuck Wigzell, EZ Pickens
Apr 28: Ono (21 and 23) Nathan Nielson, Capt. Jeff Heintz, Linda Sue IV
Apr 29: Blue marlin (490) Kevin Powers, Capt. Guy Terwilliger, High Flier
Apr 29: Blue marlin (304.5) Roger Beasley, Keith Chapman, Kalele
The same day, Capt. Brad Damasco and crew Andy Diehl hit an ono hole and boated 3 fish out of 4 or more strikes. Their catch demonstrated the “Oh, no,” aspect of ono fishing. “We got dinner but donated $50 worth of skirts to sharp teeth,” Brad said. Ono tend to whack lures from the side and chop the skirts off in the process. Good time to begin skirting your lures with remnants to stretch the budget. 
You still have a chance. O`io get much bigger here. An 18.5-pounder from Hawaii once held the IGFA world record. True, that was 60 years ago, but every year someone catches a 15- or 16-pounder somewhere. 
when Alton Oye showed us one from the farside of the island. Since then, we have been getting a few pics a month. Dr. Jack Randall identified it as a “shortfin ariomma.” 
tuna, she found a bright red sea horse in the belly. The 6-inch long creature is worth noting for several reasons. 
with a fishing trip on Kona Blue. By doubling the birthday luck, something special was bound to happen.
The year’s biggest blue started the week off when Capt. Guy Terwilliger switched places with friend Cindy Cary to fish on Cindy’s skiff Cindy Lou. Some small boats do better towing a live bait rather than trolling lures. That may or may not be the case with the Cindy Lou, but a live bait definitely worked this time. A 925-pound blue wolfed it down.
Night Runner ended 2016 with Kona’s biggest spearfish, ono, kahala and kawakawa of the year. A month into 2017, Capt. Shawn Rotella’s crew is back on top in three categories. Last week, Shawn and crew Britt McCurdy took the lead for kawakawa 22.5-pounds; rainbow runner, 21.5; and bonefish, 6.8.
Bobby Cherry, fished alone on Wednesday and took both the blue marlin and shortbill spearfish leads in a single trip.
last week. Kayaker Rich Potter sent me a photo of a fish with the claim that he had caught a “dogtooth tuna.” We often get claims of a dogtooth tuna catch but the fish has always turned out to be an oriental bonito. “Doggies” aren’t found here.
mark, which, for the moment, makes the race for biggest a matter of ounces. The title of the 81-pound leader caught on Jan 3 by Illusions looked shaky when two fish on Sea Wife II and Silky looked a bit bigger. Silky’s stripe fell short by 2.5 pounds and Sea Wife’s by a scant half-pound.
Capt. Jeff Heintz got the big shortbill on Linda Sue IV for visitors John and Nancy Zagorski of Blackhawk, South Dakota. The Zagorskis have fished with Jeff for 22 years, and it is Jeff’s biggest spearfish since he started chartering in Hawaii 41 years ago.
Kona has always attracted celebrities, including many who visit here to fish for blue marlin. One in particular came to mind this week as I was watching a war movie on late-night TV. Seeing the face of Lee Marvin reminded me of a fierce battle between Lee and another legendary Kona fisherman, Capt. Rope Nelson.
week’s mixed bag of catches is proof. Anglers reported catching marlin, spearfish, sailfish, ahi, mahimahi, ono, aku, rainbow runner, ulua, amberjack, and sailfish. The fish paid no regard for the calendar, lunar cycle, weather, sea temperature, current or prognastications of fishing pundits. But they all followed the time honored rule of fishing — right place, right time, right stuff.
El Nino warming event and yet the offshore fishing of 2015 is markedly different from 2016. Last year, 2015, was one of Hawaii’s best ever for big fish with at least seven granders caught here. This year, 2016, has turned up no granders so far, but we’ve seen steady fishing throughout the year for mid-size blue marlin even up until last week.
On Blue Hawaii, Capt. James Dean and crew Scott “Scooter” Fuller were hosting their boss, Mike Jacobson, and were surprised by a pack of unknown billfish. They saw their first one jump and thought it might be a small blue marlin or stripe. They got it to the boat as more billfish were playing tricks with their other lures. A second fish hooked-up and raced off just as Scooter pulled the first one alongside. It threw off its cape-like disguise and opened up a huge sail along its back. James realized he was looking at the first sailfish he has caught here in 30 years.
more). These larger, hard-fighting jacks are now delighting shore fishermen like John Nakata who brought a 14.5-pounder to the Fuel Dock scales to be weighed.
Magic II released blues estimated at 400 and 150 pounds and Capt. Kenny Fogarty let go a blue estimated at 325. The previous day, Ihu Nui II released two blues and a shortbill spearfish. And that’s just a fraction of the hot fishing report.
Tyler was fishing alone on his boat Ai`ia when he saw Sueto Matsumura waving to him off for help. Sueto’s boat Sandee was dead in the water, so Tyler thought the veteran old-timer had engine problems and needed help getting back to Honokohau Harbor. Without hesitation, Tyler pulled in his trolling lines and headed over to set up a tow.
caught and even by the “count back” time the fish was caught. So it was for last week’s 26th Tag and Release Tournament (TART 26). Capt. Kevin Nakamaru’s team on Northern Lights 2 won the five-day event only after what the veteran skipper called a “heartburn afternoon” on the final day.
It was for Mike Shimamoto and Capt. Carlton Taniyama on Team Five Star. Going into the final day of the 30th Annual Big Island Marlin Tournament, Five Star was one of twelve teams tied at 200 points, lagging behind three teams tied at 400 points.
What made it so strange? It began with a gutsy first-day gamble and ended with the high drama of the last catch of the week. It went through lots of twists along the way, so let me count the oddities.
Anglers Nicolette Palacol, Saige Padilla and Gabby Lovell were startled into action by a double strike from a cruising pair of blues. The smaller male shook free but the big mama held on as Nicolette strapped into the fighting chair to begin what would be a 46-minute fight with a 780-pound blue. They realized what they were in for when the big fish cleared the water in its first series of jumps. Nicolette stayed with the fight from beginning to end as Gabby steered the chair and Capt. Boyd DeCoito steered the 46-foot Hatteras.
513-pound blue marlin was lured to the hook by a very lively skipjack tuna bait.
Their rehearsal got them ready when a much bigger fish hit a 25-year-old Black Bart lure on the long corner line. Unfortunately, the fish got off after ripping out 40 yards of line, but Tobin had seen the bite and knew it was a marlin without doubt.
Both events went off with great expectations based on the catches reported from the weeks leading up to the Saturday morning kickoffs.
earned them 91 points (a point per pound over the minimum qualifying weight of 300 pounds). Their blue was the only qualifying marlin of the event so they took all of the marlin points across the board. Rod Bender had two bites, caught one fish and won a $29,000 and a Penn International 130 rod and reel, according to tournament director Capt. Neal Isaacs.
Kevin Gallagher just gave us another amazing billfish story for your “beginners luck” file. The story is improbable from the beginning to its dramatic end.
But hooking the fish was the easy part. Reeling it back to shore and hauling it up the rough face of the rocky cliff made the catch nearly impossible.
Dave runs the Kona Blue with crew Walter Gay. The Kona Blue’s owner, Clay Lawrence, was in town and Clay likes to take long-range overnight trips to seldom-fished, out-of-the-way places. So on Friday they headed to South Point in hopes of loading up with ono, ahi and anything else you might expect in untouched waters.
time. A week ago, almost to the same date, Louis’s son and great grandson fished the same spot on the same boat and pulled in the marlin that now tops our list for 2016.
don’t have the details necessary to give them full recognition. With the proper credentials, either might be the top blue on our Big-Fish List.
Hawaii waters, bringing surprises with it. On Wednesday, the surprise was an overturned skiff surrounded by a huge school of mahimahi. Floating objects attract mahimahi and other fish for reasons even the fish don’t know. Big schools like this one are usually aggressively hungry because they have already eaten everything smaller that may have come within range of their greedy jaws.
It happened on Wednesday (no need to check – it wasn’t April Fool’s Day) aboard Night Runner. Capt. Shawn Rotella and crew Shawn McCurdy had Jim Ives aboard to celebrate his 60th birthday.
For elite big-game fishermen, the blue is the only fish worth fishing for. And then there are the rest of us.
When you see something unusual on the horizon at sea, it usually pays to investigate. On Wednesday, Capt. Al Gustafson and his party on Topshape, investigated what looked like an overturned boat and found a fishing bonanza.
Fishing philosophers did their best to come up with an answer, and some whispered their greatest fear. Could it be that they had all been caught? Then again, sea temperatures had remained higher than normal for most of last year. Maybe the shortbills had stayed away because Kona’s coastline currents just weren’t cold enough.
on the boat Erin Kai. The expert pair of bottom-fishermen found a rich patch of red fish and caught a dozen or more including several others that might have taken the lead.
We know because some of them are already here. On Friday, Kona Spirit reported the biggest blue marlin released so far in 2016. That was three days after High Noon weighed the heaviest blue of the year to date.
Mahimahi travel and feed in schools. It’s a trait that can lead to fast action with the excitement of a three-ring circus. It gets even better when the mahimahi are big and better still when you catch them on light tackle. A few weeks ago, Capt. Jah Nogues had High Noon out at F-Buoy on a day when no other boats were around. 
years, the veteran bottom fisherman has shown up on our list with beautiful and delicious snappers pulled up from the great depths, and this time is no exception. Sueto fills the onaga slot this week with a 14.5-pound longtailed red snapper caught at about 150 fathoms. 
Capt. Deneen Wargo say she had just caught her first ulua on Friday despite being a full-time charter captain for a few years.
uch shorter than it should be. Could it have been a hybrid of the two species? We sent the image to tuna biologist David Itano, who assured us that it was definitely a yellowfin with a deformed dorsal fin. All other characteristics were standard for “yellows.”
striped marlin, which is the biggest caught so far in 2016.
Angler Jessica Yell and skipper Shawn Rotella got a clue to that kill-or-be-killed world when Jessica hauled up the biggest amberjack so far in 2016. The jaw of the 70-pound kahala was decorated with trophies from some of its unwitting prey.
is sitting on in this picture.
At year’s end, Miles Nakahara sneaked a huge bigeye tuna past us so you never got to hear about it. His very-impressive-but-unreported 216-pounder would have topped our Big-Fish List for 2015, but that’s water under the boat. Now he is making up for it. Last Monday, Miles caught a 173-pound bigeye tuna, weighed it at the Fuel Dock, and took over the lead for 2016.
And the list goes on but let’s start at the top with the year’s biggest-to-date blue marlin. When the 625-pound blue hit, Capt Kenny Fogarty was running the Hula Girl with his brother “Stretch” Fogarty along as crew. Not only did it top our blue marlin list, it was also the third fish of a triple slam for the day, Kenny said.
Peter Blake runs the family boat TLC 2. As happens annually, his son, Scott Blake, brought his family down from Anchorage for the school break. Twins Matt and Dylan, 16, and Hunter, 11 were eager to escape the snow and haul in some tropical gamefish.
options. The skirts are made from chair webbing, a product manufactured for hard use outdoors in sun, rain, and abuse from heavy butts. To see three ways to skirt lures with durable webbing, visit 
Zupanicic of Gilbert, Minnesota said they wanted to catch any fish possible for their two sons, John and Carl.
of Kailua, so a venture like this requires a very seaworthy boat. The 
anywhere else, for that matter.
When the fishing is slow up on top, Shawn and Jah keep their guests happy by going down deep where the bruisers hide out. By sending jigs and baits down into the depths, Night Runner people bring up kahala, ulua, omilu and uku. The typical kahala ranges from 15- to 30-pounds, Shawn says, so he wasn’t really sure what they had hooked when this giant jack latched on.
two marlin totaling 1,000 pounds and you’ve doubled your score in angler satisfaction. Capt. Kevin Nakamaru, skipper of Northern Lights, has caught granders of several kinds in several oceans, but last week was his chance to have a grand day for two ladies with a grand pair of fish estimated at 800 and 200 pounds. Emily Hokett caught the 800-pounder and Faune Conner the 200 – both released. 
My caller said he and his buddies hid a bunch of bananas aboard Leimalia, then laughed as Dudley’s team went fishless while they, themselves, caught plenty.