Ralph Cunningham Came to hunt Black Hawaiian Sheep and Spanish goats with us here on the Big Island. We started with the Sheep up on Mauna Loa early in the morning. We were lucky to find a bachelor herd of Rams and looking at the 3 rams the ram on the left was a classic Black Hawaiian with a black face which Ralph was looking for. The other 2 ram were nice but had white spots on their faces so we took the black faced ram. By 7:00 am we were headed south to hunt goats. By the time we got there the goats weren’t moving. With the severe drought the goats aren’t moving as long. We waited until 3:30 when they started moving again and after a good stalk we shot this billy. We got him under a canopy of trees that was like a tunnel. It was really cool.

Mat Bowman on one of last duck hunting days before he heads back to Kona. We are looking forward to Mat coming back to help out this season again. We are fixing to get busy soon so I think his timing is right on track.

Rodger Bourke and friend Kyle came to Hawaii for a Sheep and Turkey combo. We got lucky to find both. They were staying on Oahu for their holiday A flew over the night before the hunt so we could get out early the next day. We found a couple of good sheep that got away from us before we could get the shot at them. We found this nice sheep when Kyle saw a dust cloud and saw that there was movement coming our way. We headed towards the dust cloud and found that there was a herd of sheep move in the heat of the day which is rare for us. This nice ram was in the bunch so we took it. Our target in the afternoon was this nice fall tom turkey. The toms have been tough to find in the fall. but we got lucky to find this one. It was a 25 pound bird with a 11 in beard. The spring turkey season starts in March so once the Toms start strutting we should be able to find them easier. We are taking booking now for the spring season where we will be doing turkey sheep combos throughout the month of March.

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Andre and Judy Pachon came to fish with us on the Northern Lights this Fall at the end of the year. Knowing it was the end of our season they came with low expectations and a great happy go lucky attitude. They understand the nature of the sporting game hunting and fishing back at home they knew that fishing is fishing and we would have to give it all we got and see what happened. Captain Boyd Decoito helped me with the Pachon’s 3 day trip I had after Mat Bowman went back to Maine for the winter. Here you see Boyd with the leader on Andre’s nice fish. We fished the first 2 days with no bites. There weren’t to many boats out so it was tough to find where the fish were. We did the runs we like to do in the fall and nothing worked for us until the third day. At lunch time we had a nice fish come to the shot rigger that bit and came off. On the way back from working the area we hooked this nice fish. On the bite it looked like a 300 pound fish. It stuck its bill up when it came for the long corner and it was a big bill but the fish didn’t show its size until it jumped across the wake after it bit. What a fish! i knew at that point it was over five but how much I didn’t know. We turned and chased on her right away and idled up the line as she went crazy ahead of us. Boyd got clear and Andre started getting line. Before long we were right up to the long corner mark and I started really chasing the fish in reverse to try to get a close look at her. Our sneak attack idle up to her worked so with in minutes we were in range. Charging back the fish came into sight and the leader popped up. Now I could see the fish and it really looked big. Boyd got the leader and got a couple wraps and she jumped going away. I said to all of them that I tough the fish was over 800 pounds and that we might want to see what she would weigh on the scales. It is rare for me to feel that a fish might have a chance to make a 1000 but this time my initial looks at the fish had me in the “We better gaff it to see how much she would weigh. The truth is as I have written many times before is that it is nearly impossible to tell exact ally how big the fish are when they get this size. Unless you weigh them or measure the fish with a good measurement it is impossible to make the call the fish is over a 1000. A few of the 1000 pounders I have weighed we were surprised they weighed so much. We would have let them go never knowing they would have made the mark. Because they came up dead we got a weight on them and they were in more than one case over 1100 pounds. A 100 pound fish is a special fish and so rare these days that it is probable that the fish wouldn’t make the mark. This one was in the category of it might have a chance so I asked Andre if he wanted to gaff the fish to see. He said no and he and Judy were absolutely in favor of letting the fish go. At that point our only chance to know for sure how big the fish was to see if it would fight so hard it would die from the fight. With release in mind Boyd and I charged the fish full speed not being afraid to loose it by breaking the leader or pulling the hooks. If the fish got away from us to many times it would be inevitable that she would fight so hard she would die. I drove up to the fish and passed it with the boat. Boyd was able to get really close to her on the leader. She was going away so I charged back actually having to slow down as she layer gaffing distance along side the boat. I went out of gear and glided back and Boyd stood with good wraps waiting to see what she was going to do. After what seemed and eternity she bolted forward Boyd dumped the leader and got it back again. After and awesome series of action at the back of the boat and Boyd hanging on the the fish eventually we ripped the hooks free to get the fish free. We didn’t get the tag in the fish but doing so would have probably killed her with us soaking her until she was ready. I could have run down and tagged her but choose to take pictures instead. Many times we don’t get tags in so I can get the photos and so that the fish can survive. We feel that being aggressive saves the fish. If release is the mission we want to be sure they survive. This approach is not good for the tag and release awards but better for the fish and that is the point after all. Congrats to Andre Judy and Boyd for a great catch on the Northern Lights! What a way to finish a great year of fishing on the Kona Coast.

Shawn Holdridge and I hunted the Sheep on Mauna Loa today and got this nice sheep It had a nice curl and didn’t have the drop but we liked him and took him early mid morning.

Dan and Davis holt got this nice sheep after a fun day of chasing sheep all over. We had good action but could quite get on the big ones. look for Davis on the volleyball court plying for the UH Men’s Volleyball team. They followed up the sheep hunt with a good Boar hunt with Neil the next day.

Here are some close ups of some sheep we didn’t take during our last few hunts. Some were so close we could have practically touched them. Some of these were nice but we had already taken a ram and were hiking back to the truck with our sheep or just let it slide waiting for a really big sheep.

Here you see Dennis Gutman With a nice ram we got. We went out in the afternoon and found the sheep working their way back up to their evening range. We got on them right away but couldn’t find a sheep big enough. As the afternoon went on we saw more and more sheep but the shooters just kept giving us the slip. We hiked back to the truck where I made a move with the truck. We drove up high where I felt the sheep would eventually get to. With us hiking farther and farther from the truck we would end up pushing them up and getting caught in the dark far from the truck. If our move didn’t work out I we would be able to be back on them in the morning. We got up above the sheep and waited for them to come up to us. As they came up we could hear them now all we had to hope for is that they come to us. Luckily they turned our way and the spot we picked was perfect. There was 3 nice rams there with one a little bigger coming at us. This one turned and came at us and turned broad side for a good shot. We stopped the sheep with a call and Dennis made the shot.

Today Bryce and I went to the south end to hunt goats. We were shocked at how dry it has been. Once really green it now is down to very low grass. It is a worry for the goats if the food for them goes away or they range out of the area we hunt to find food where three is no management. The good thing is that the goats came up the cliff side and we had a good number of nice goats to choose from. We found this nice goat to match the really nice Black Hawaiian Sheep he got.

Here the first coats are on. With taking the prep sanding down so smooth it is shining early in the job. I took the table home to my shop where I sprayed about 12 coats of Imron clear over it. I sprayed 6 coats on the first day . I sanded flat and put 6 more coats on the second day. My wife and I sanded the floor that is teak and I oiled it once we cleaned up the dust. Today the boat is clean finally and the dust is going to be less. I am going to let the 6 days of varnish I put on the interior cure really well and put a bunch more coats on it before summer. It will sand easy and shrink back after a month or 2 when it dries nice and hard.

Today I started working on the boat. I started off slow by stripping the interior varnish. It was in pretty nice shape but was on the verge so I decided to strip the varnish entirely instead of trying to patch it here and there. It seemed at the start like I could bang it out and be done but it took a full week to get through the process. With hunts in the middle of it it was a stop and go process but in the end it came out nice. The nice thing is that the wood in the interior matches now. It was uneven before with light shades all over. We will put more coats on it before summer but I am happy how it came out. Here you can see the beginning shots of stripping the varnish and the sand paper of the first few hours of sanding.

I got back from Nova Scotia and had to go fishing right away. I was afraid of the jet lag but it turned out to be fine. Capt Brain Balanico came with me to take this wedding party out for the day. We started off great with a nice Mahi and on the way back from the buoy we caught the mahi at we found the porpoise and caught this nice tuna. It was a lucky bite because we had to leave the ahi to get back in time for the rehearsal dinner. We ran back for a ways and set out the lines. An hour later we had a nice bite on the short rigger. One of our plungers went away as the fish took off on it first run. The Marlin jumped about a 100 yards out and we saw it size. After a 35 minute fight we caught a 560 blue Ryan the angler mounted the blue for his house in Colorado. A great time with a nice group on a special day. Best wishes to the newly weds and congratulations on a great day of fishing.

Jeff Kahl “Piper “Sport fishing- Maui- 808 283-2628 Halloween Shootout

Tuna Adventures Capt AJ Francis”Fisher Grant” 902 969-2408  tunaadventures.com check out his website for further info on your next tuna adventure

What  a way to start a trip! After a long trip we arrived to find this at the dock. We checked in with Capt AJ on the Fishers Grant he told us to hang out because a fish was coming in. About a half hour later here it came the fish weighed 760. It was great to see the fish there and biting. It was also good to see the size of the fish out of the water. We took pictures and measured the fish and it got the travel cob webs out.