It’s surprising that the mahi mahi bite is still going strong. Mahi mahi are known as the most temperature sensitive of fish so when the water in Kona gets just a couple of degrees higher or lower than our average 79 degree water temperature, the mahi mahi usually leave. If we’re lucky, they might stay on into their spring run that starts in March. The spearfish run is going strong also and is the most common fish being caught right now. As I said in last month’s report, most of the spearfish caught in Kona are released even though they are a very good eating fish. They’re a long skinny fish and only average about 35 lbs. average so taking some for the dinner table is no big deal.
Blue marlin are somewhat rare in the winter here but blues are caught every month of the year here and the biggest caught this year so far is a 752 pounder. Kona has had the prestige of being the first fishery in the world to weigh in the first 1000+ pound “grander” marlin of the year for the past several years in a row so if you’re looking for that monster blue, Kona is still the best place in the world to do it. The striped marlin bite has kicked in so they now, and should be a fairly common catch for the next few months. Like spearfish, striped marlin are a good eating fish, especially raw as sashimi.
This month I caught more almaco jacks than sharks. The main reason is fishing technique. Dropping live and dead bait more often produces a shark catch than anything else but dropping bait hasn’t been working so I’ve been throwing more jigs to the bottom to get a bite. The most common fish I catch while jigging is almaco jacks.
Every year I get approached by production companies looking to film one of the many fishing shows out there. I’ve done a few shows over the years but I usually turn the production companies down after researching the kind of fishing show they’re looking to do. Most of the fishing show formats are boring but this time I said yes. A show called “Fishing Adventurer” with Cyril Chauquet and Cyril seemed like the kind of fishing nut job that I could have some fun with. I was right! He’s a very entertaining crazy man and we had lots of fun jigging up fish after fish after fish. Almost all were almaco jacks but we also caught an amberjack and a barracuda on the jigs. Cyril also caught a mahi mahi on his spinning rod so all in all, it should make for a good fishing show. Underwater shots too. Doing a show is more about having fun doing it rather than gaining business from it even though it will make a nice addition to the videos page on my web site.
