According to somebody, the No. 5 classic movie line of all time is in the Blues Brothers.
In the scene, Jake and Elwood front up in a honky tonk to report in as the night’s musical entertainment. After taking in the dive’s décor, Elwood asks the bartender, “Uh, what kind of music do you usually have here?”
“Oh we got both kinds,” the bartender twanged, “country and western.”
Many people view fishing in Kona the same way.
“Oh we do both kinds, lures and live bait.”
To those of “us” who think like that, guess what? There are other kinds of fishing here! Who knew? And the people who practice the “other” kinds of fishing are just as fanatical about it as any marlin maniac, especially the shore casters and ulua chasers.
The Holy Grail of ulua fishing is a fish over 100 pounds, but to hear Michelle Johnson talk about shoreline fishing, it’s more about family than fish. Well, maybe it’s evenly about family and fish.
Michelle wrote in to tell about her twenty year old son Bo, who has set the bar on the Big-Fish List with his recent 82 pound Ulua.
Once she got going on her story though, she reached as far back as 1948. Her dad, Norman Sakata, ran fishing derbies on the Kailua Pier, hosted by Explorer Scouts Post 26, which he led. Michelle recalled fishing in them in the 60’s, and that if they needed supplies, they didn’t have far to go because KTA — then called Taniguchi’s store — was right at the base of the pier where King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel is now.
As a mom, Michelle continued the family tradition by getting Bo fishing when he was around four years old. When they began his fishing journey, they had no fishing rods and simply fished with hand lines. Bo has come a long way since then, as Michelle reported.
“Bo caught his 82-pounder on a first Generation IRW Big island Special Rod with a 55 Newell Reel, spooled with 80 pound Trilene big game line,” she said. “And it was rigged with a mini cowbell to ring when he got a bite.”
That ain’t no hand line!
All types of fishermen are “gear heads” and love to get into the specs and techs of their fishing rigs, that’s nothing unusual. But most fishermen don’t pitch cots on the rocks and fish around the clock. Bo does, and when his Mom fishes with him, he gives her the cot while he sleeps on a towel, spread across the rocks. And only the most seriously afflicted fishing nut would hike up and down Ka’awaloa three times in one fishing trip, packing gear, but Bo did.
“I’d like to believe that I have given him the love of fishing,” Michelle said. That sounds like a fair claim, and Michelle, you can take more than a little credit. It’s the fishermen with drive and passion that set records and sit at the top of lists, and Bo’s 82-pounder is now one of them.
Michelle organized the weighing of Bo’s ulua as a “coordinated event” so that proud mamma and grandparents could be there to witness the final weight, reinforcing family support and love of fishing.
“I’d rather my son be fooling around with fishing than fooling around,” Michelle said.
Throughout Michelle’s missive, she recalled a number of fishing stories over many years, and one thing stood out after a while. She often cited names of specific fishing locations, including Kainaliu Beach, Kawaihae Harbor, Honokohau and OTEC, but when it came to the spot where Bo caught his 82 pound ulua, she only refers to it as “a favorite spot made famous by his Uncle Clyde.”
Oh, Kona also has two kinds of fishing spots, favorite and famous.
Funny, but neither “favorite” nor “famous” has a name. Elsewhere around the world, they just call that “secret”.
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Meanwhile, back on the rip, those “other kinds” of fishermen have been ripping and tearing. There is a Facebook page where anyone can post their Kona catches now — Kona Marlin Report. Check it out. It is a winner and if the reports are any indication, this is going to be a great year for this kind of fishing in Kona.
There have been some real nice fish caught in April, and almost everyday, someone catches multiple marlin, and multiple species too.
Between April 2-5 there were four marlin in the 600-pound class. They were caught by the boats Pair O Dice, Sapo, Honey and Maverick.
The charter boat Melee had an interesting day on April 9, going 1 for 3, tagging a 700 pound blue. The two they lost were also hefty, estimated at 500 and 700-plus pounds.
Blue Hawaii had what they called a 500-pounder expire on them and when they weighed it, the tally was 497. That’s real close to 500.
On April 12, a noteworthy report came in from a skiff. They went 4 for 8 on marlin, with the largest over 500 pounds.
Multiple catches have been logged through all phases of the April moon and some of the reports have been pretty spectacular.
Continuing a strong run, Melee went 3 for 6 on blues on April 14, the same day Humdinger caught three blues as well. The next day, Kona Blue caught four striped marlin.
Night Runner caught a blue, a spearfish and a sailfish on April 14 and backed that up with a sailfish on April 19 and 20. Sails are rare in Kona, so they must have found a secret spot for sailfish and are now making it famous, but they won’t say where it is.
Capt. Jeff Fay has been quoted (tongue in cheek) to say that there are few sailfish in the calm waters of Kona because there is not enough wind. This might be the reason why Kona is not a sail boaters mecca, but that’s a “Fay-ism” when it comes to sailfish. Truth be told, sailfish are usually a Continental inhabitant, preferring shallow water, the one thing Kona lacks that might actually make a difference.
Honey went 3 for 4 on blue marlin and 1 for 1 on striped marlin on April 20, evidence that the full moon does not always dampen the marlin bite.
If that didn’t make you a believer, you would have no choice but to pay attention when Humdinger caught two blues, six striped marlin and a spearfish, all on April 21 when the moon was bright.
Rounding the turn into the third quarter moon phase, the bite has even gotten better Anxious went 3 for 3 on blues on April 25, with the largest a healthy 600-pounder.
April 26 was a banner day with Tropical Sun going 3 for 4 on blues with one spearfish, and Go Get Em went 3 for 4 on blues and 3 for 4 on spearfish. J.R.’s Hooker was 2 for 2 on blues, as was Waiopai. This is solid action!
The second half of April has produced four more marlin over 500 pounds, a 682-pounder on Bite Me 6 that was brought in because it would not revive at boat side — the largest fish weighed in April so far.
Bite Me 3 released one they called 600 pounds on April 26, and putting icing on the cake, Pursuit tagged a very thick 800-pounder, fishing one of Kona’s famous fishing spots — the trail run.
That’s a famous spot that ain’t no secret, but it sure is a favorite.
So, when closing out the month of April, it appears that three more fish over 500 were caught on the waxing first quarter than the waning third quarter. There were no big ones caught on the full moon, but a number of boats caught multiples on a few big moon days. So, which moon phase is best? Does the moon phase even matter?
People are always trying to figure out when the best fishing occurs. Is it the moon or is it the tide? Could it be the current, or is ocean surface temperature the key? Perhaps, as my grandmother used to say, “it’s just the way you hold your mouth.”
For those who can contemplate more complex theories, the idea that the best fishing is created by some combination of these elements can have them contemplating complexities, all the livelong day.
The fact of the matter is that none of those items contribute to fishing success if there are no fish in the area. Yes, current can cause them to gather in an area but you can have good current and no fish. You just can’t catch fish that are somewhere you are not. And that does happen. Sometimes the fish are just gone. Obviously, that is not the case in Kona at present.
Once they move in, like now, then those elements may come into play. Marlin tend to bite around a tide change but that is not set in stone.
As Capt. Tomo Rogers once said, “If I thought that the only time I had a chance at getting a bite was during the tide change, I’d only fish during the tide change, but I don’t. So, what does that tell you?”
On top of that, the phase of the moon has not seemed to have had much effect on the bite this April, because the fish have been biting throughout the lunar cycle. If one was so inclined, contemplating this complexity could make a day drag on forever, if it weren’t for the distraction of all those marlin bites.
The other bottom line is you can’t catch ‘em if you don’t go, so stop wishing and go fishing! No better time than now, by the looks of it.