October started out pretty slow for both charters and fish. Those otaru tunas dominated “The Grounds” for most of October and all though they weren’t biting readily, perseverance paid off but when the current switched late in the month, the otaru went by-by. Right now the most common catch is mahi mahi and ono. It’s no surprise that the mahi mahi are here because it’s that time of year again. We get a spring run and a fall run on mahi mahi. They can be caught here any time of the year but mahi mahi become even more plentiful March through June and October through December. It’s not ono season at all but we can get a good run on ono any time of the year and that’s happening right now so if you’re fishing Kona, shine up those ono jets and have some fun. Ono are partial to lures that don’t splash (like the best marlin lures do) and ono bust up resin lure heads with those sharp teeth and powerful jaws so most fishermen use chromed steel jet heads. The problem with chrome heads is that they get green corrosion spots all over them and generally turn dull, especially when stored on your boat. Chrome polish doesn’t really do a good job at cleaning and brightening these up but steel wool does a quick and easy job of it. But, make sure that you don’t shine ‘em up while in your boat. Steel wool breaks up into little pieces as you are using it and those little pieces will rust and make little rust spots all over your boat. I’m speaking from experience here.
I usually start off my reports with the marlin as the lead but the marlin were fairly scarce in October. Like I said in last month’s report, more boats fishing = more fish caught so the lack of fishing effort had a lot to do with the lack of marlin caught this month. Same with the ahi.
The bottom bite was pretty good with the usual catches of jacks and sharks. Good fun on stand up tackle and going to the bottom is almost always a guarantee of some action. Fresh caught baits are my favorite way to target the bottom but if baits can’t be found, jigging will usually get the job done. The best thing about bottom fishing is that I always expect to have something bite. Also, there’s a wider variety of fish on the bottom than there is trolling top water. Trolling is OK when there’s a good bite happening but it sure is boring when the top water action is slow to nonexistent.
