Kona has one of the most stable fishing environments on the planet. Calm seas and sunshine is the norm. Getting rained on while out fishing is almost unheard of. The common wind pattern is that the strong winds (trade winds) hit the other side of the island making the Kona side as calm as a lake on most days. If you're a regular reader of mine you may have noticed that I sometimes complain that I couldn't fish up North too much because of the high winds (choppy seas) but that's only a small area of the Kona fishery. January and February are the two months of the year where we expect to have some days (very few) that aren't fishable. I mentioned last month that I had to cancel a couple of charters because of high winds across the whole Kona coast. This month I had to cancel three charters because of high winds or rain and had to cut a couple charters cut short due to the rain that I could see coming. I'm glad January and February are over because March brings back the beautiful weather that us Kona fishermen are so use to. The humpback whales really put on a good show this time of the year also.
The February fish bite started off a little slow at the beginning of the month but later the bite really kicked in. There has been a very hot marlin bite for both blues and stripes. The spearfish bite is in high gear too. The billfish really seem to be in concentrated pockets right now so if you find where a pocket is, multiple catches can be expected.
Winter isn't mahi mahi season but the winter bite on those was pretty good. March is the beginning of the season for them and we're already started seeing more of those come in. Tuna on the buoys and ledges were a little scarce for me this month but that offshore fish farm has been a real money maker for the small trailer boats that are fishing it daily. Tunas are the common catch and there's even mahi mahi and the occasional ono being caught at the farm.
Bottom fishing for me was all sharks this month. Big amberjacks are a hard fight. Pound for pound, there's no harder fighting fish than a giant trevally but sharks will usually test an anglers strength. Most fish, as they get higher up in the water column, their swim bladders make it hard for them to make a hard dive run. Sharks don't have swim bladders so usually the hardest part of the fight is when they get near the boat. That's also when the anglers are already tired and running out of steam. The sense of accomplishment after the fight is over on any hard fish fight, shark, marlin, tuna or any fish that humbles you is one of the reasons we love to fish.
