Can you believe we are talking about a Kona sailfish run in February?
Substitute the name of any month for “February” and the question is just as confounding. Sailfish catches are unusual here any time of the year. So it isn’t a real stretch to call the three sailfish caught here last week a “run.”
Silky tagged and released an 80-pounder at the start of the week so we’ll begin with that story. Capt. John “J.B” Bagwell was out on a holoholo trip with family and friends last Monday. He started off trolling ono lane on the way up past the fish pens off Keahole Point and found the sailfish in 40 fathoms off Mahaiula Bay. Worth noting at the outset, this is only the second sailfish J. B. has caught in 18 years of chartering here.
NEXT ONE, BIGGER ONE
The Silky’s decision to release its sailfish left the Big-Fish List slot open for Jim and Teresa Thomas’ catch on their boat Freedom. On Saturday, they headed south and were trolling in 40 or 50 fathoms off Keauhou when their list-leading sailfish hit. This one took the lure with no hesitation, hooked itself and ran hard from the start, Teresa told me.
Teresa fought it on a standup-50 outfit and managed to keep it stuck through a series of hook-tossing jumps. The acrobatics are another part of the “few-catches” story, but not this time. Teresa kept the line tight and the hook stayed in right to the end.