Katchman Brothers (11/20/09)

The Katchman brothers decided to charter us after meeting me at the harbor near our slip. They struck up a conversation with me as I was going home from a day of maintenance on the boat. After talking with me about the fishing and my experience they quickly entertained the idea of chartering the KILA KILA.

They picked today, with my advice we decided to try our luck in the afternoon rather then the morning. The tides and moon seamed to look better towards the afternoon. They met my crew Nate and I at the boat at 11:00 a.m. After an introduction to the boat, we started our way to the fishing grounds. I headed north with a plan to go after something big the first half of the afternoon, then try our luck for wahoo and mahi mahi along the shoreline.

Our plan payed off the first hour, hooking a blue marlin, total surprise for us all this time of the year. After a great fight, lots of jumps near the boat and some tricky maneuvering by the KILA KILA, we estimated the marlin at 250-275 pounds and let it go. That fish made the two brothers trip to Hawaii unforgettable, but the day's not over. After trolling around a couple more hours with no luck we switched tactics and went after something smaller near shore. Nate rigged up some ballyhoo for a slow troll after mahi mahi. Not long after we switched over we had a triple from three big mahi mahi. One mahi mahi fell off right away but two of them stuck. They weighed in at 38 and 39 pounds, trophy size mahi mahi, well above average size. We missed one more on a bait after those two fish, great afternoon of fishing.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Friends Dave and Sio from Seattle big blue (10/28/09)

A couple of friends of my girlfriend and I, chartered us today, total novice anglers just enjoying the experience of big game fishing. My goal was to show them a good time on the water and maybe hook them into some small tuna around a buoy. Not promising them any luck on a 1/2 day with anything big we went out of the harbor at 9:00 a.m. After my co-Captain Jason Holtz, normally the Captain of the Marlin Magic, gave Dave and family a run down of the tackle and angling techniques they were ready.

We missed about a 400 pound marlin after the run down, total bonus for them to at least see the excitement that happens when a fish is up after a lure. That one got away, just when the buzz was wearing off of that fish, up we raise another one. Jason yells out, "there she is on the long corner". I get my eyes out of the binoculars just in time to see it eat. Great bite inside out, head and shoulders out of the water, all time bite! Does a lot of beautiful jumps after it gets hooked, 20 minute fight we get her on leader for some pictures. We took the hooks out and estimated the fish at 575-600 pounds. Great bonus for some good friends of ours.

I'm glad Jason and I were able to exceed their expectations, and ours for that matter!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Nice winter time Ahi (10/19/09)

3/4 day today, once again pretty slow inside here, clients would be happy with any sort of action. Started out trolling north and missed a blue outside the light house off the airport. That started the morning out well. Got to the North grounds and we caught a half dozen good size skip jack, 6-to-10 pounders, good fight on light tackle.

Clients decided we should try for something bigger, so I started to roam out wide looking for the porpoise school. while we were looking we caught a 15# Ono for the dinner table. After searching for an hour we found the school about 10 miles of the airport. The porpoise school looked great, no one in them, all to ourselves. We fished it a while with lures no luck so we switched to the rig. After about 45 minutes fishing with the rig we finally tricked one to eat. 147 pound yellow fin tuna grabbed the rig leaving a great big hole in the water where the dancing squids were. Nice fish for our just turned golf professional angler.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Lets Go Fishing TV Show (10/11/09)

Ben Wong from Lets Go Fishing, a TV show here in Hawaii chartered us with one of his buddy's from Honolulu. They wanted to get any sort of action to possibly make a show with.

The fishing was tough inside so I opted to go offshore to the tsunami buoy 28 miles offshore, just about the only place any bait was holding. The plan sounded good with them so off we went. We got there around 9:00 a.m. caught plenty of action for the kids with us. Small Big Eye Tuna, Yellowfin Tuna, and Skipjack Tuna kept them busy for a while. They wore them selfs out with all the action from the small stuff and let us rig on of them up in hopes of something bigger. 10 minutes after rigging it up a 275# marlin grabbed it, just what we hoped for.

Ben was happy, he was able to put together a show with some action to keep the Hawaii fans wanting more.

Here's the link to watch the Lets Go Fishing show aboard Kila Kila, http://www.benwongtv.com/episodes.php?id=64

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Perez family (10/8/09)

Fishing has been pretty slow, typical for the offseason, but in Hawaii even when its slow you never know your luck. We went out this morning not expecting to see a thing, if we did, it would be a bonus. Well we became one of the lucky few today. We entered a porpoise school outside Keahou, the school looked pretty good. They were charging along, birds working overhead, we were hoping for a nice winter time tuna. The short bait went off, instead of an Ahi we hooked an elusive winter time blue marlin. Great surprise, did some fantastic jumps near the boat, came in for a healthy release calling it 200 pounds.

After that great surprise making our day, and some of the other boats around us just for seeing a blue. We went trolling again, working some loose porpoise schools offshore we missed what seemed to be a Ahi on the short rigger. It knocked it out hard, left a big explosion but came off right away, no real markings on the lure.

Good day for the offseason.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

McNameney Family 1/2 day (9/1/09)

Had some kids onboard and clients who just wanted some action. Fishing was a little on the slow side so I decided to check out C buoy. There was some small bait fish hanging by the buoy, and the longer we stayed we started to see some picky Mahi Mahi around it. I just so had the trick to catch those picky Mahi Mahi, a small bait fish in our live well called a Goggle eye, or in Hawaii we call it a Akule. We quickly rigged it up and got it in the water, as soon as it got away from the boat we were bit! But it wasn't a Mahi Mahi like we expected, it turned out to be a 120 pound blue. We weren't disappointed with the surprise, the live bait was rigged on a stand up 50# outfit, which gave Dad a great fight.

After the marlin we caught a micro bait around the buoy which was pretty tough and as soon as that got rigged we caught a 20# Mahi Mahi. After the Mahi Mahi it was time to go in for the half day. Our family had fun with the action and enjoyed the Mahi for dinner.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Ralph Bodin and fishing pals (8/30/09, 8/31/08,and 9/2/09)

Great trip with Mr. Bodin and his two fishing pals. They chartered us for three days, and had a great time catch and releasing two blues and boating two good size Mahi Mahi.

First day we went 1 for three on blues, second day 1 for 1 on blues, and third day we got two Mahi Mahi one of which was close to the biggest of the year. The Mahi Mahi weighed in at 52#s and 22#s, beautiful trophy size Mahi Mahi.

They got some awesome pictures as you can see!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Last minute charter (8/27/09)

Yesterday a couple showed up behind our boat asking if we were available tomorrow, someone had recommended they charter us. Just so happened we were available today so here we go. Mr. Muhern and his wife are from Florida, there pretty experienced marlin fishing in some of the hot spots in the Atlantic. We didn't disappoint them catching a blue first thing this morning. The fish ate the short bait putting on a great show before we released it, estimating it at 130 pounds.

We fished the rest of the day with no such luck. We told them its not over till its over, we have hooked fish right outside the harbor at the end of the day. And what happened, we hooked one right at the end of the day. This fish was a very healthy 250 pounder, ripping out 400 yards of line on us quick. Great fight, lots of boat driving, great way to end the day.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Big Island Marlin Tournament (8/21/09-to-8/23/09)

Gary Carruthers and his brother entered the tournament with us this weekend, the boys were feeling lucky. The tournament ended we'll for us, we tied for first for total points releasing four blues over the three day tournament. We got lucky the last day tagging two when everyone else had one for the day getting us most of the side daily money for the tournament. It was a long couple hours the last afternoon hearing other boats hook up. A handful of other boats could of tagged one more fish for the day and shared most of the pot with us, or one big fish could of won it all. In the end it worked out in our favor, winning a good chunk of the side money.

Total winning for the tournament $76,648.00, Gary already booked us for the tournament next year. All of us were pretty happy with the outcome and the luck we had this weekend.

John and Chris Gamrot were fishing on the "Huntress", they did really well in the tournament also, tagging four blues for the weekend, three of which were in one day! They won over $20,000 and were extremely excited with the results. They can't wait to come next year!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Meat fishing action (8/20/09)

Couple of guys chartered us just wanting some action, not interested in marlin or anything big, just action and something to eat. I went to Otec buoy and gave them what they wanted. We spent most of the morning catching 5-to-15 pound tuna around the buoy on light tackle. They had a blast catching one after another and getting something they could throw on the grill. We trolled all the way back home, lost two marlin, one of which was very close to being tagged and we lost two spearfish. They had a fun day, can't wait to be back.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Pre Tournament fish (8/19/09)

Today we have Gary Carruthers, his brother and their wife's fishing with us, Gary's been coming to Kona as long as I can remember fishing with my father. He's got pictures of me when I was just a little fella running around the cockpit.

He chartered us for four days, one pre fish day before the tournament, and three days during the Big Island Marlin Tournament.

Today was pretty relaxed, we just wanted to test the waters to see where we should fish during the tournament, if we catch one great if not no big deal. We'll we caught one, right during lunch, all of us were enjoying fresh sashimi that Josh cut up in the galley when the marlin hooked up. Nice warm up for Gary, little 140 pounder to refresh his angling techniques. We lost a Short-nose spearfish after that. I marked a few fish during the day giving me a good idea of the latest conditions to help my decision this weekend.

Wish us luck!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Scotts day five (8/17/09)

Last day for the Scotts, its been a great trip for them with us this year.

Today started out by losing a blue right at the back of the boat before we could get a tag in it. Had another one up, and tagged a 130 pound blue. John and Chris could not have been happier with there results with fishing this year.

They're total for the 5 days of fishing; 10 blue marlin (120#-400#) 1 30# Short-nose Spearfish, 7 Mahi Mahi and 1- 40# Albacore tuna.

There fishing on the Huntress this coming weekend for the Big Island Marlin Tournament. If they continue there lucky streak they'll be hard to beat!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Scotts day four for four blues! (8/16/09)

Most of the morning it was a spectator sport, boats seemed to be hooking up all around us. We lost a couple early, including a really nice one over 700, but again couldn't get a hook in one. Our luck changed about mid day, we went on a stretch, releasing four blues from 120#s to 400#s. Most of the other boats went quiet in the afternoon but we switched on, and now the other boats are watching us get all the action. The tally for the day was an incredible 4 for 11 bites! Great day of fishing!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

3/4 day (8/15/09)

Fun group of people onboard today, most of them were golf course superintendents at some of our local courses.

We missed two blues around 10:30-11:00 a.m. then on our way in right outside the harbor at 1:00 p.m. A big mark showed up on the recorder. I waited anticipation for it to come up and sure enough, big hole on the long corner! It ripped out some line and came off, then the short rigger came down, this time I got to see it decent enough. Hard to put a exact weight on the fish, but it looked to be over 700. The hook fell out, tough luck, but thats fishing.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

No rest for the wicked! Scotts day three 8/14/09

The morning started off already out from fishing the night before. So we just pulled the chute (sea anchor), threw the lures in the water and started trolling back home. We missed a blue before we regrouped back at the harbor. A quick clean up, off loaded our Albacore, grabbed coffee & lunch and went back out for the day. A couple people watching us started to shake there heads wondering if we were nuts! :) No were not nuts, we just love to fish!

Today we saw some great fishing, 3 for 8 on blues. One of the fish we lost looked to be 500 or better. The day started out slow but by the time everyone gave in to the urge to close there eyes (including my crew Josh; with my permission:) and get some rest after pulling an all night-er the action began. We tagged two blues back to back then had a string of bites in our little honey hole we found. That woke everyone up and gave us an awesome day on the water. All of us slept very well that night!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Scotts day two + night fishing 8/13/09

We decided to skip a day due to weather around the islands caused by a diminishing hurricane south east of the Big Island. We gambled our odds by traveling 29 miles offshore to check out the tsunami buoy. With the recent high winds, we were hoping the buoy would hold some action, Mahi Mahi if nothing else. We ran most of the way out, putting the lures in about 8 miles away from the buoy. The area started to look fishy by the way the birds were working the area. It was for good reason, one of our lines went off with a small blue. We estimated it at 120 pounds and let it go. Hoping that was a sign of more to come at the buoy, but the buoy was dead. No bait, no birds, no Mahi Mahi. So plan B, we started to make our way back towards the island. On the way in we found a roaming Mahi Mahi school catching one 25# Mahi and loosing another at the back of the boat. We caught another Mahi in the blind. A little while later we came across a floating log that had at least 60 Mahi Mahi around it but none of them would bite with all the boats around it. The day sounded pretty slow for most everyone, so we considered our self's lucky for the action we got.

We got back in to the harbor with enough time to check our night fishing gear, load up with ice and go back out to sea for the evening. We left around 6:15 p.m. set up our drift out side town and started chumming. It was a beautiful night, and the night life came in full force. Squid kept us busy, catching them, using them for bait and changing bait because of their appetite. All in hopes of getting one good strike out of a tuna or broad-bill. The night was pretty slow, we had to wait right up until first light the next day. A few marks came under us and one of the lines went off. We got a nice 40 pound Albacore tuna, these fish usually feed in packs but this one ate alone. Nice way to end the night with a great eating fish.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

The Scotts! 8/11/09

John and Chris Gamrot, father and son from Scotland. These guy's love to fish as much as I do! Both have been loyal clients back when I crewed with my father on the "Pamela". They have fished with us in a number of tournaments and keep coming back for more fish story's to tell there friends back home. Today is the first of five days of fishing total plus a night trip for swordfish and tuna.

We started the luck out right this morning tagging a short-nose spearfish 30# (John's first one under his belt). Then we caught two back to back Mahi Mahi at VV buoy. Chris tagged a 170 # blue around 11:00 a.m. We then followed there already great day catching 3 more Mahi Mahi around a floating log. We missed a couple more blues heading home, great way to start their trip.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Mr. Kravitz 8/9/09

I decided to fish the same area we fished the day before. The morning turned out to be exciting at first, missing three blues in a row but no hook ups. We pounded the area with no luck for a few hours. Just when I was ready to start making our way back I decided to make one last pass off the first lava flow. Short bait went off, but again the fish was lost. 5 minutes later we caught our first blue, the 200 pounder put up a great fight for Mr. Kravitz. After releasing that fish we hooked up shortly after setting the lures back out. This time we estimated the blue at 170 lbs. nice fish and a exciting hook up after seeing the fish on the recorder. We lost a few more marlin that afternoon before we called it a day, 2 for 7 was our last count. Great action for one of loyal clients!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com