1/15/10 Party of six for the day

Today's charter came from a fellow captain that works as a bartender at Waikoloa, when he's not fishing. He called me up last night around 8:30 p.m., with a potential charter for the morning. He put me on the phone with one of the guy's, and he booked right away. Originally he arranged a 1/2 day, but with some persuading in the morning, he changed his mind to fish a full day to increase our chances.

With my options open as captain, and all of us aboard, we departed Honokohau harbor around 7:00 a.m. Looking to the North, we trolled, searching for the porpoise school that we've been having good luck in lately.

The stretch along the 1500 fathom curve looked good, about 5 miles from shore. A mark on the fish finder appeared at 25 fathoms, telling us we ran over one. Shortly there after, appeared a whipped up blue marlin chasing the white super plunger on the short rigger. The fish was all over the lure and finally ate it, catching the hooks. The estimated 275 pound blue put on a great show right off the bat. After a 15 minute fight it was close enough to tag, giving us a few photo opts.

The boy's we're excited, biggest fish they have ever seen, even after spending a few seasons in Cabo, Mexico. They were very pleased to get that blue, anything after that fish would be a bonus for us.

The rest of the morning proved uneventful, but about mid afternoon, we came across a fishy area offshore. We picked off a beautiful 22 pound Mahi Mahi, and shortly after hooked a estimated 65 pound striped marlin, we released as well.

Few good pictures below taken from my iPhone, unfortunately I didn't get a shot of the blue. I'll see if I can get a picture or two from the boys and post them later.

Great January bite! This past week has been pretty good, most of the fleet has seen some good action.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Starting the New Year off with a bang! 1/6/10

Today, Kila Kila hosted a couple from Alberta, Canada. The newlyweds were vacationing on one of the cruise ships that travel the islands.

We left the docks around 9:00 a.m., put the lures out, and headed north. Not having been out the past week, I wasn't really in touch with the latest action. A porpoise school was working outside the airport; there was one other boat fishing it, but he hadn't had any luck. I opted to wander offshore to find something of our own. We had a double strike from what looked to be spearfish, couple zips out of them and they were gone.

Later, I swung in to check out the porpoise school again. The moon was setting at noon, and fishing for tuna seemed to be our best shot. Right as we got in the school the other boat was hauling his lines in to leave. After marking a few fish on the sounder, I decided to put our green stick rig out. Half hour later came one of the biggest explosions I have ever seen using the rig! But the fish missed. Thirty seconds later, another big swirl on the dancing squids and the break away snapped to a screaming reel! After a good fight, the biggest tuna of 2010 slid through the door: 191 pounds.

We set back up in the school, already extremely happy with the action we've seen, not expecting anything more. When another big tuna was tricked to eat another squid, our next ahi weighed 186 pounds.

The bite slowed down and the school broke up, and it was time to get back for our Canadians to make the ship. We started to troll back and, in total amazement, the long rigger took off with a blue around 250-300 pounds. Our lady angler had it close to leader in under 10 minutes, unfortunately the blue shook loose after a few great jumps close to the boat.

Great fishing, my crew and I were joking about the time of the year asking, "Is it July?" With this action, it sure feels like it!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

KILA KILA's Highlights for 2009

2009 has been a great year, excellent fishing and unforgettable memories with friends.

09' has produced some of the best fishing we have seen in years off Kona, blue marlin came in thick, giving us days with incredible numbers. Not to mention the tuna fishing was exciting too, seeing some unbelievable action.

Hope the fishing carries over for 2010.

Fishing Highlights:

Biggest Blue Marlin we released: 850+ lbs.

Released 4 marlin in one day: 120-to-400 pounds

Released 3 marlin in one day a total of 7 times

Biggest Ahi in Kona for 2009 on Rod-n-Reel: 233.5 pounds.

Most boated Ahi: 4 in one day 113-to-181 pounds

One of the biggest Mahi Mahi of the year: 52 pounds

Most Mahi Mahi: 41 in one day 8-to-15 pounds

Tournament Highlights:

2nd Place Rock-N-Reel tournament: winning $8,500

Tied for 2nd total points Kona Classic Tournament: winning $26,622

Tied for 2nd total points Big Island Marlin Tournament: winning $76,648

2nd overall highest scoring boat in the Maui Jim Marlin Tournament Series for 2009: 1,650 points

3rd overall total purse winnings for Maui Jim Marlin Tournament Series for 2009: $105,268

2010 season is already starting to fill in, please inquire about fishing during your stay as soon as possible!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

11/24/09 Kuse Family Thanksgiving

Charming family from Georgia, the Kuse family booked us for a half day, looking to get into some action for the kids.

We got them action, they had a blast fighting small tuna around O-tec buoy. Then we got lucky trolling back to the dock with a beautiful 25 pound Mahi Mahi, perfect for the grill. We cleaned it for ease of cooking. The Mahi was a perfect compliment next to the turkey on the table, Thanksgiving Hawaiian style.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

11/23/09 Doug Nichols Mahi Mahi's

Doug Nichols and his sons joined us for a extended full day, Doug organized the trip several months in advance and was excited to get fishing. The morning turned out to be on the slow side, but as the morning wore on we got lucky finding a nice floater. We worked it several hours managing to catch 7 nice Mahi Mahi, biggest around 25 pounds. After fishing the floater we checked out O-tec buoy, saw a curious bronze whaler shark hungry for something. So for some fun getting a rod bent we quickly tossed a bait in the water to let them have a pull. The feisty bronzy was about six feet. We hoped for a nice marlin the remaining hours but no luck, pretty slow for most of the fleet today.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com