December isn’t really known as a big blue marlin month in Hawaii but over the several years I’ve been fishing here in Kona, I’ve seen it happen more than once that the really big blues show up in the winter. The big blue run started in November with the catch of Kona’s 2nd “grander”. I caught a nice size marlin near the end of November and the news about my catch went viral in the beginning of December. Not because it was all that huge of a blue, weighing in at 671 lbs. but because I caught it on my Gatorade bottle lure. My lure, yes, a skirted Gatorade bottle has been in Marlin Magazine, Saltwater Sportsman, Hawaii Fishing News and a few more publications over the years but the guy who covers Kona’s fishing in a weekly report, Jim Rizzuto has just published and released his latest book (he has several good ones) that covers the history and discovery of lure making in Kona. As a promotion for his new book (it includes my “Gator”) Jim put out the story of my Gatorade bottle catch and it was picked up by several online news agencies and next thing you know, I’m even on the front page of Yahoo news! Another good December big marlin story is the “almost grander”. On December 10th, The Ihu Nui weighed in a marlin that was just one little bite away from being Kona’s 3rd grander of the year. It weighed in at 996 lbs. So close and yet so far away. Just one little tuna in its belly and it would have made the BIG magic number. There were several other big marlin caught in December but it is winter so, as far as the numbers go, there’s just not many around. We’re still waiting for the winter striped marlin run to start.
The Fall mahi mahi run is coming to an end as winter approaches but some nice ones are still coming in. Yellowfin tunas made a good showing for December too. One fish that you don’t see many of in December is ono. But, as I’ve said in my reports many times, we can get a run on any fish, any time of the year. Sometimes fish that are supposed to be biting are nowhere to be seen. Such is the case with the bigeye tunas. Too bad, of all the good eating tunas we have over here, bigeye is my favorite. A very little known tuna is the kawakawa. When they’re small, they’re not much good for anything but cat food but when they get bigger, they get better. I caught some nice ones on Monday and I’ll be taking it prepared as “poke” to a New Years party tonight. The fat content on these guys is off the chart! People will be very surprised.
Wrapping up on the bottom fishing, it’s also supposed to be GT (giant trevally) season but they aren’t biting either. It’s mostly been sharks and amberjacks and even those have been kind of hard to catch. Just like coming up with the Gatorade bottle lure, I’m never satisfied with doing just the same old, same old so I’ve been thinking of better ways to cover more bottom (400 to 600 feet deep), more effectively. Experimenting is just one of the things that keeps this job (if you can call it that) exciting. I now have the equipment (Merry Christmas) to try my new idea. Deploying it from the boat without making a mess of it is the next step. I know those GT’s are down there somewhere and I want some!
