Kona Hawaii fishing report - Sept. wrap-up

Kona Hawaii fishing report – Sept. wrap-up

It’s really difficult to determine if the fish are biting or not when the fishing effort is at it’s lowest in many years. As I mentioned last month, tourism is down and big ticket activities (like charter fishing) are at an even lower low. I have been luckier than most and I’m getting out one or two times a week so I’m still able to see a little of what’s going on out there but us fishermen rely on reports from other boats to determine where (or even if) there is a bite going on. It’s a big ocean out there and a single boat can only cover so much of it in a day. The marlin bite definitely slowed recently as a result of less fishing effort and the current switching from the typical North direction to a South direction had it’s effect too but trying to look at the big picture I would have to say that the marlin bite is down a little but not bad.

The yellowfin tuna bite from the porpoise schools has been hot! That’s a big change from what we were seeing near the end of August. Unfortunately for the charter boats out of Kona, the porpoise school has been far to the South so you have to be willing to burn a bunch of fuel and get there quick or else you’ll only have a short amount of time to work the school before it’s time to head back to port. I’m still waiting for the mahi mahi bite to kick in. I’ve been seeing a few mahi mahi flags flying but I didn’t even get a single bite from one in September. I tried some near shore ono fishing also in September also with no luck.

Back to the fishing effort issue. I’ve been spending a lot of my fishing effort sending bait and jigs to the bottom and have been rewarded with good action and some pretty spectacular fights. Most of the fights have been with sharks and some mixed giant trevally and amberjack action too. I had a few sharks hooked up this month that just outclassed my tackle so broken line and even a snapped rod a couple of days ago ended those fights. Tigers? Probably were. I got one tiger to the boat for a photo this month. At about 400 lbs., it was just a baby. A good fighter and one of the smallest tigers I’ve ever seen. Early in September, several beaches in Kohala (North of Kona) were close for more than a week because of tiger shark sightings. Against a swimmer or a surfer, even a 400 lb. baby has the home turf advantage and could easily make baby food out of a person.

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