I was really hoping that the striped marlin bite would be better this month and while there are a few being caught right now and with more frequently than last month, it’s not really enough of a bite to call it a “run” yet. It’s still early in the season for them though so I remain hopeful that the bite will get better from here. The blue marlin bite has been fairly average for this time of year so there’s one, two or a few being caught daily. We’re just coming into spearfish season. There hasn’t been any caught in a long time but one was caught last Wednesday so again, we can only hope that there will be a “run” this season.
Even though the sea surface temperature has cooled down as is typical for Hawaii this time of year, the mahi mahi are still here and they again top the list as the most common catch for the month. Mahi mahi tend to be one of the most temperature sensitive fish but we’ve had plenty of flying fish around to keep them fed. We also have clouds of opelu (mackerel scad) right now along the ledges for the mahi mahi to eat and it also prompted an unseasonal ono run that lasted for a couple of weeks. The smaller size yellowfin tuna (10 – 30) are in on the act along the ledges also and the commercial fishermen have been hitting ‘em hard. Small yellowfin tuna (1 – 3) are being caught on some of the FAD’s.
The bottom bite wasn’t very good this month because the current was going the wrong way for most of the month. As soon as the current switched to its normal North direction for Kona, that’s when all the fish showed up on the ledges. If you’re a follower of my reports, and I know there are many of you out there, you’ve heard me say many times that “the current is king” when it comes to the fishing in Kona being good or bad and that there was no way to predict it. Well, I was wrong. A friend of mine sent me a link to a Navy web site and I was astonished! Fairly accurate predictions up to a month in advance with the sea surface height, the sea surface temperature and also the speed (given in meters per second) and direction of the currents. Not just for Hawaii but almost everywhere in the world! I have been following the Hawaii predictions all month and with few exceptions; they were right on the money. I’m sure there are some around that have known about the site for a while but not one captain I talked to knew about it. This information is extremely valuable in an area like Hawaii where the currents can change so rapidly and have so much effect of the fishery. Excited yet? Where is it? Here’s a belated Christmas present to you all. Just Google NLOM Navy and it will be on the top of the search. At least it was for me. Google can tweak its results depending on your previous searches but it should be on the first page anyway. And with that, have fun with it and have a happy new year.
