Hawaii Fishing

[domtesta27]

I was on a trip to Kona last year and will be going back again in May. My little brother is a Scuba instructor out of Kona and he hooked me up with a buddy who also had his own charter. PM me and I'll send you his info, great young captain who knows how to get on the fish. Fishing from shore isn't as good idea since there are no real flats on Kona like the other islands which have huge bonefish populations. I tried almost every morning and only caught lizard fish and some dinky blue crevalle.

First day I took the whole family out, we trolled for almost 6 hours and caught 1 marlin and a decent sized Wahoo. The only problem is those captains use massive rods and 400+ lb test on the line. I reeled the wahoo in in about 3 minutes and couldn't even feel a head shake...... pretty boring IMHO


Second day I only brought the 10 wt flyrod and had him take me straight to the tuna grounds. I would highly recommend this. I landed 8 YFT between 3 and 20 lbs and the sashimi was fantastic. Not only that but they would slam massive streamers on the surface just 15 ft behind the boat on a very fast retrieve, then go 150 to 200 yards into the backing a couple of times. So much fun!

[619-SWIM-DOG]

If I wanted to go kayak fishing on the Kona side. I would book with one of the best in the game. I've seen him on this site before, but not sure of his name here.

[Denis_Ruso]

Originally Posted by MrPatrick

I've hired a kayak guide in Kona. We had some raked baits but none stuck. We did get to see some Humpbacks at the end of the season and the scenery was beautiful. The fish reports were low that week. It was fun nonetheless.

Who was the guide you hired?

Originally Posted by mrJB

Fishing out of Kailua-Kona is probably very different than you're used to. Since the Big Island is a volcanic formation, the drop-off to deep water is very near shore, I'd guess within a half-mile, and very steep. We're talking maybe 300' very close in. I remember seeing the charters catching marlin just off shore as I was viewing from the beach. Lots of mahi-mahi and ono (wahoo) also to be had.

If you have the time and haven't firmed anything up when you leave the mainland, take a trip just north of Kailua-Kona to a "small" boat harbor in Honokohau and ask around. This is where most of the charters leave from and they'll be happy to get your business or point you in the right direction.

Good luck and let us know if you got out on a 'yak...

Thanks for giving me an idea of the island topography. I was going to bring my free diving fins and now I'm a little hesitant hehe. I'm leaning toward giving the kayaks a shot, depending on what kind of deal I can get on a private charter. Would love to land a Mahi on the yak. Fish so nice they named it twice.

Originally Posted by domtesta27

I was on a trip to Kona last year and will be going back again in May. My little brother is a Scuba instructor out of Kona and he hooked me up with a buddy who also had his own charter. PM me and I'll send you his info

PMed