Great day for the kids. Catching four ahi trolling is something that doesn’t happen very often in Kona. We found what we call the outside porpoise school and well, let the kids do all the work.
Archive for February, 2009
Four Ahi for the kids
Thursday, February 26th, 2009Sean McWinney’s 966
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
The Northern Lights is put in full rack reverse as Capt Steve Epstein chases a monster blue on another series of jumps two hours into the fight. Only a few hours earlier, Steve and son Tracy were fishing around C buoy using the tuna stick to try and catch one or two of the ahi that had been hanging around. After boating a hefty 179 pound yellow fin, they put the stick back out to try for another one. Within a few moments of getting their gear back out, something flashed from one side of the boat, then underneath and out the other side. A blue marlin lit neon blue and white from head to tail had lined herself up right behind the back of the boat. She was most likely chasing tuna in the area and had one cornered underneath the transom. Within a few seconds Tracy had grabbed the first live bait hook he could find and slammed the hook through the nose of a small dead skip jack that they had lying in the fish box. At first, the blue would have nothing to do with the bait, but Steve and Tracy pulled a few tricks from their sleeves, and the large predator took a half-hearted swipe at the bait. She rolled the skip jack over her bill and missed her mouth completely. As she turned away, Tracy pushed up the drag and forced the hook into the side of her face. Stunned, she slowly paddled away.
