Kona, Hawaii Sportfishing Blog

Blog revisited with recent fishing report

2011-04-04T23:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry, it has been awhile since I last blogged! Been a busy couple months, lots on the plate...

I'll make this short and let you enjoy the awesome pictures from the last couple months of fishing. We have had some great new clients and some of our loyal regulars fishing with us recently.

My crew Joe Thrasher and I have been lucky enough to produce the action as you can see from the pictures. Couple big blues, striped marlin, mahi mahi, wahoo, and some big yellow-fin tuna!

Our spring bite has continued to keep us excited to fish and our clients excited to catch!

Enjoy the pictures!

Buoy action, Mahi Mahi and Big eye tuna! 12/22/10

2011-01-06T22:03:00.000-08:00

Great fishing with one of "Play Time's " longtime clients. Capt. Wayne and I decided to head offshore to a fad buoy. We lucked out being the first and only one there and found great action. We picked up a couple good size mahi mahi and proceeded to catch as many 10-25# tuna as we wanted. We also missed a spearfish and a small blue in the same area.

Good fishing by anyone's standards. Enough action to put a smile on everyones faces, and keep our bellies full of good eating fish for Christmas!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.teddyhoogs.com

First day aboard "Play Time"

2010-12-19T22:50:00.000-08:00

Capt. Wayne Knight and I hosted husband and wife return clients from Colorado. They were excited to get back out on the ocean aboard Play Time, hopeing for a little luck too!

We set the lines out, gave a angling refresher course and it didn't take long for a reel to go off! We got lucky catching a 15# Mahi Mahi, just what we needed full-filling there order for something to eat during there stay.

Capt. Wayne continued North coming up to O-tec buoy. We picked up two more resident Mahi Mahi around the buoy and decided to take a look around after that bite slowed.

I just set the lures back in position and the long rigger started screaming! This fish was no Mahi Mahi, it had enough weight on the other end to be a marlin. We quickly got the rod to the chair in time to see a small blue marlin breaking the surface. We fought the fish up to the back of the boat in 10 minutes and released it in great shape.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.teddyhoogs.com

New beginning!

2010-12-10T21:14:00.000-08:00

For those of you that haven't heard, Kila Kila and I are parting ways. Its owner has sold Kila Kila's slip in the harbor, and I have received the unfortunate news to deliver Kila Kila to Honolulu. The majestic 53' Merritt now sits in the Ala Wai harbor awaiting its future for a new owner.

As all of my faithful clients know, running Kila Kila was a lifetime dream. I took great pride skippering such a special operation for three and a half years. I thank Kila Kila's owner, Jimmy Day, for such a great opportunity and all his support he offered. Our successful run now comes to an end, but when one door closes another opens.

When news echoed of my job and Kila Kila coming to an end, fellow skippers and clients extended their support. I'm very fortunate to have a close community that stands by my side.

I've decided to combine talents with good friend Wayne Knight, and owner of "Play Time". He's been so kind to offer his 38' Buddy Davis for me to skipper. Aboard "Play Time" I'm still able to offer the same first class service and fishing experience that customers have learned to expect. I'm very excited to carry clients over to this new operation, and continue our successes.

We will be updating our website soon with info, pictures and 2011 rates. We're accepting bookings for "Play Time", and the 2011 season is quickly filling up.

Thanks to all for your continued support and I look forward to a successful 2011 aboard the new operation!

Below are a couple shots of Kila Kila delivered to Honolulu, freshly polished inside and out, ready and listed for sale. Bottom picture is the stb. profile of Play Time. It has the beautiful lines and classic Carolina flare Buddy Davis, the boat builder, is known for.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.teddyhogs.com

Charlie Yancey 11/18/10

2010-11-21T17:38:00.000-08:00

Charlie fished with me while I crewed on a boat in Cairns, Australia in 2006. He was coming to Kona with his wife and looked me up a few weeks ago to go fishing. He understood the fishing lately has been slow, but also knows, while fishing, you never know your luck.

We searched high and low, found lots of great floaters that should be loaded with mahi this time of the year, but nothing. We did manage to catch one mahi mahi trolling along a current slick, so a least we weren't skunked!

Charlie also had a rare find, one of the sea's treasures, a glass ball. Glass balls were made mainly by Japanese long line vessels while at sea. They would blow them right on the ship to save on deck space. They preferred glass floats because they wouldn't implode under pressure, when fish would drag them under the sea surface. A rare find, considering some of these floats have been floating around the sea for 50-to-80 years!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.teddyhoogs.com

1/2 day 11/18/10

2010-11-21T17:26:00.000-08:00

The Chang family, booked us from a recommendation, they had two young kids, and just wanted some action.

We went to the grounds, and caught a nice skipjack right away. After we caught one, the skipjack decided to shut off. So we switched tactics, and went offshore. Shortly after setting the lures back out we ran across a nice size floater. Some fishy marks came on the sounder telling me mahi mahi were under it. The fish were spooked for some reason, and were very hard to course into biting. We tried all the tricks to get them up with no success.

Time was running out and we needed to head back to port. Putting the lures back in the wate the short rigger went off! We caught a 24 # mahi mahi for Jay's son departing the floater!

The family's first fishing experience was a success, they had a lot of fun and can't wait to try there luck with us again!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.teddyhoogs.com

Evan Rappoport bachelor party 11/10/10

2010-11-21T17:09:00.000-08:00

Evan Rappoport is getting married this Saturday. All his buddies hooked him up with a fishing trip with us to relax and hang out on the water. They lined the trip up earlier in the year and were very excited to get out on the water and try there luck.

We worked a porpoise school most of the day, marking tuna on the sounder; watching them feed from time to time on the surface. Couple moments I thought for sure we would get blasted, seems to be the way the fishing is for everyone at the moment.

Heading back to the dock late in the afternoon, when all hope pretty much left us, a mark appeared on the sounder at 40 fathoms. Evan asked me if we ever get bites out of fish we mark deep like that? I said, normally in the summer when a bunch of fish are around, I would say yes! But given the fishing has been so slow, and the fish just aren't in the mood to feed, I don't have much faith this one will come up... I was proven wrong as the stinger started ripping out as soon as those words left my mouth! Unfortunately, the fish didn't stick, but everyone got the excitement of the hook up!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.teddyhoogs.com

Biggest Skipjack of the year! 11/6/10

2010-11-21T16:58:00.000-08:00

Fishing's extremely slow this past month, so seeing a fish is a bonus right now. We set out with one of our local clients and some of his good friends. They just wanted to spend the day on the water, if we catch that's a bonus.

We set out heading South, and found a porpoise school. Couple marks appeared on the sounder, but the school was pretty spread out. There where already a couple boats working the school, so odds weren't with us for getting a shot out of a big tuna. But we got another kind of tuna that sometimes travel with the school: a skipjack tuna. Not really a rare catch, we mainly use skipjacks for live bait during the summer season, but this one was a dozer! It was in contention for biggest of the year!

Later that afternoon on the scale, it weighed in at 24.5 lbs. Enough to beat the second biggest by half a pound!:)

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.teddyhoogs.com

Kelly Cowlishaw 10/20/10

2010-11-21T16:42:00.000-08:00

Repeat client, Mr. Cowlishaw and his wife joined us again this month. There thinking of moving to Kona, and are searching for a house during there visit as well. We took him out hunting for his marlin, his last trip was in the spring, we caught him a bunch of Ono.

We didn't have any luck from a marlin but scored a nice deep sea Ono! Cutting the fish back at the dock, there was plenty fish to go around. Kelly and his wife were able to prepare the catch at a condo they rented during their stay. Both of them couldn't stop raving about how good eating it was!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.teddyhoogs.com

September, Wedding time!

2010-11-21T14:04:00.000-08:00

Amy (my fiancee) and I left early September to begin our three weeks of wedding travels. First leg began arriving in Elmira, NY, to visit Amy's family and attend a send off party for our next phase of the trip to Ireland. About 75, close family, relatives and one of my long time clients gathered to celebrate our future together. They all gave us their best wishes and the next morning we were off to Ireland.

We arrived about a week before our wedding date to arrange all the last minute details; meet with our photographer, florist, food details, list goes on! Our guests started filtering in during the week, and slowly but surely we all started meeting up, and traveling the sights. We travelled to Dublin, Blarney, Bunratty castle for a mid evil dinner, Cliffs of Moher, Aran Islands, Adare, Golf with the boys at Castletroy golf club, and ending at Kilshane House in Tipperary for the wedding celebration.

Kilshane house was unbelievable, staff and grounds were magnificent, couldn't ask for a better venue! We had a wonderful rehearsal dinner in the grand dinning room, then hung out downstairs in the "mens lair" as I called it, awesome snooker and game room. We prayed for blue skies the next day and called it a night.

The next day was great, more guests arrived and the anticipation of seeing my soon to be, was a great feeling! Everything went without a snag, all the planning from so many miles away payed off with some fantastic help and recommendations from our wedding planner. The weather was grand and we got our outdoor wedding we hoped for! About 30 close friends and family attended, which made it an ideal setting for a intimate day. We got some beautiful pictures of the special day, and will cherish the experience for the rest of our years.

We ended the three week marathon in Santorini, a little island in the Aegean sea off Greece for our honeymoon. Crazy beautiful place, very romantic, and peaceful setting. Most of the island is built right on the edge of shear cliffs, which gives it a very dramatic feel, and makes for some awesome pictures. Looking forward to getting home, but I could get used to this!

Gary Simmons and family 8/29/10

2010-11-21T13:51:00.000-08:00

Gary and his family come fishing with us usually once or twice a year, this time we had some good luck!

Beside the morning being slow, just missing one, and marking a few, I knew, the afternoon tide change might change our luck.

Sure enough, the extra hours paid off, catching a nice 350 pound blue to end the day on a high. Crewman Joe Thrasher got some great shots, and one of the guys got some awesome video footage, I'll try and get that for you soon!

The Simmons can't wait till their next fishing trip with us!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.teddyhoogs.com

Rodger Bourget 8/27/10

2010-11-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

Motorcycle builder Rodger Bourget, looked us up again. I've known Rodger for quite a few years now, and used to work for him about 8 years ago, back when he owned a 54' Bertram here in Kona. Rodger is a great guy and has made a big name in the motorcycle world for his world class bikes, Bourget bike works.

He doesn't mind a fish while he's in town, together we have had some great catches over the years. This year the fishing was slow, we came close to catching one, raising a small blue about mid day, but it didn't stick! We had fun, none the less, and its always nice to catch up with old friends.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.teddyhoogs.com

Barry Alty 8/16/10-to-8/19/10

2010-11-08T12:01:00.000-08:00

Barry Alty, I met years ago when I fished in Australia, he owned a beautiful custom sportfisher in Australia, called the "Mistress". He contacted me a few months ago, telling me he was coming to Kona and wanted to fish with us. So we organized 4 days of fishing in August, that time has come, and were now fishing together.

Day one we caught and released two spearfish, marked a couple marlin but they didn't want to bite for us. We watched three other 500# plus blue marlin get caught right near us in the same area. That's the luck of the draw!

Day two, we tagged two blues, 200, and a 150, in the morning, off to a good start.

Day three, we lost a little better one, 300 plus, and found an area to the North that we want to fish tomorrow. Plenty of bait and all signs look good.

Day four, North grounds here we come, we tagged two from 4 shots out of blues, good action for Barry's last day of fishing. He was very happy with his luck, and wants to book a week next year, maybe catch his big Kona blue!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

Big Island Marlin Tournament (8/13/10-to-8/15/10)

2010-11-08T11:31:00.000-08:00

Two brothers from California chartered us for four days of fishing, three of which were for the Big Island Marlin Tournament (BIMT). Day one was fun fishing, get our brothers warmed up for the tournament this weekend.

Good first day of fishing, we caught & released two marlin on lures, and a couple sharks on live bait. We were feeling good going into the weekend, with a little luck hopefully we can win some money.

Day one of the tournament, fishing switched around, most of the action we were seeing was to the North, but it seems the fish moved South. The chatter on the radio was telling us most of the action was South, given that we didn't see any action to the North we changed tactics.

Day two, we found a couple marlin, we lost a winning marlin after a 10 min. fight, 300# plus. Later in the afternoon we released a blue around 265 pounds, right in the same spot we hooked the one we lost.

Day three, fishing took a turn for the worst, radio was quit all day. We tagged a non qualifying short-nose spearfish, other then that we didn't have anymore luck. Couple big fish seen South of us, right around the moon set. But most of the fleet had a pretty slow weekend. We were glad we had a chance at the money, our brothers are already planning next year, to try there luck again.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

8/9/10 Slow action packed day

2010-11-08T10:54:00.000-08:00

Fishing has become incredible slow, very few blues are even seen at the moment. We patrolled the North grounds, current was swirling, strange wind direction, wasn't looking good. Around 1:00 pm, our gang was just about ready to call it quits, when the long rigger took off zinging! To our surprise, we hooked a small blue! After a good fight our angler brought the feisty blue to leader for crewman Joe Thrasher for the tag, est. 100#s.

The mood switched to a low roar, and the gang was fired up for another shot at a big blue. We put the lures out and minutes later another marlin jumped on, this one a little bigger, 250# range. I think its safe to say, we found a little honey hole. Our second blue fell off after a 10 minute fight, we got to see plenty of good jumps, and the angler was fine with that, as sweat rolled off his face!

Later that afternoon we had a couple more shots from blues, they just weren't eating the lures properly, big crash bites, but weren't sticking. We had a lot of fun hearing the reels take off multiple times, and seeing everyone jump.

The charter group was ecstatic, experienced fishing friends, but they had never seen that much marlin action before today!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

Morning 1/2 day Mark Rubinski and family 8/7/10

2010-10-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

Right out of the gate this morning we put this happy family on a fish of a lifetime for their son. Didn't even get all the lines in when the black lunger, positioned on the long corner started screaming! Crewman Joe Thrasher had to give our young angler on the job training, giving him lessons while hooked up to the real deal! He quickly picked up the angling technique and made short work of this 300+ pound blue marlin. A dream come true for our young fisherman, something he's wanted since he could remember!

We later had a couple more marlin hooked ups for the family before getting back in to the harbor.

They were ecstatic, and can't wait to fish again with us.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

51st Annual Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament 8/2/10-8/6/10

2010-10-23T15:47:00.000-07:00

Another fantastic week for the H.I.B.T., plenty of action to go around for everyone. Teams from all around the world come to Kona to compete. Five days of fishing, with a new team each morning fishing 50 & 80 pound test; points collected go towards the team standings and a separate boat division.

We had a great week of fishing, with a little more luck we would've had an even better week.

Day one, we released a spearfish, and missed a blue.

Day two, we tagged a striped marlin

Day three, we got spooled on 50 pound test on a fish est. over 650, tagged a 275 later that afternoon, and had two more strikes from blues, one over 700 pounds!

Day four, we missed a spearfish and had a strike from a blue.

Day five, tagged a blue first thing to lock the winning team from Japan win! Missed two more that day as well.

All and all, great fishing for the fleet, lots of big fish this year, to make the standings exciting. With a little more luck we would of had a chance to be one of the top boats for the week, but that's fishin! We had fun with all the teams, most of which I have fished with in previous years, always fun to see them back for another year.

If you would like to learn more on the week, go to http://bluewaterjon.blogspot.com Jon Schwartz photographer and journalist has all the highlights from the week, and a lot of other cool pictures and blogs from his travels. The picture below is taken by him, Jon Schwartz

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

2010 Summer Action Video, Enjoy!

2010-10-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

The Scotts! Action wrap up from two weeks of fishing 7/8/10-to-7/21/10

2010-07-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

John and Chris Gamrot, father and son fishing enthutisaest, joined up yet another season. This year they booked us for two weeks and two tournaments.

The action started the first day they fished with us, catching two big yellow-fin tuna and missing another. The first tournament (Skins Marlin Derby), produced slow marlin fishing for the fleet. We didn't have any action from a blue marlin but we picked up a short-nose spearfish on day three of the tournament.

The day after the tournament, since marlin fishing was slow, we decided to go for the Ahi to the north. The direction change paid off giving us the best action we have seen in months. We released a 175# blue and went 4 out of 9 hook ups from big Ahi. From about 10:00 am-to-2:00 pm the bite was on.

That day set our luck to change, giving us a great week of fishing, leading up to the next tournament. Maui Jim Series Championship, to crown the top boat of the 2009 season. The top 10 highest scoring boats from last season battle it out to name the champion boat and angler. This weekend we shined, pulling in a 164 lb. Ahi, and boating the winning fish, a 511 pound blue marlin! Our great fish on the third day secured our win as champion boat. We got some great pictures of the winning fish, along with video which will be posted shortly.

The tally for the remainder of their trip: 3 blue marlin (2 released and one captured, 511 lbs.) 4 shortnose spearfish released (25-40 lbs.), 4 Ono (20-32 lbs.), 2 Mahi Mahi (15-35 lbs.), and 8 Ahi (100-164 lbs.).

"The Scotts" are already planning next year!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishig.com

Photos provided by 2nd crewman KJ Robinson, & Carol Lynn shot from Marlin Magic II

Bo Williams 7/6/10

2010-07-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

Bo and his wife traveled all the way from North Carolina to fish with a hand full of top captains in the harbor.

We set out to F buoy, knowing bait and small tuna have been hanging around, we picked up a 40# Big eye tuna on the troll near the buoy. We tried live baiting around the buoy for a bit, no luck, then set out trolling again. We didn't have any other action, Bo knows what fishing can be like and was very understanding. He enjoyed the day none the less picking up little tricks of the trade he can take back to his boat he runs in NC.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishng.com

Steven Seger marlin wish 7/1/10

2010-07-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

Steven and his wife came back to Kona in hopes of catching Steven his first blue marlin. They chartered my father last year on the "Pamela" with another couple, they had some great action, releasing a couple striped marlin and breaking line on a Grander. But Steven, being so Kind let the other couple get all the action. This year it was his turn...

The morning was very slow for everybody, but we didn't give up, we stuck to working the good marlin grounds. Our hard work paid off, just after lunch, when a wave of white water engulfed the short bait, and Steve was looking at his first blue marlin. The fish gave us a great show, and a good fight. We got it up to the boat for some pictures and released it in fine shape to fight another day.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Family Fun 3/4 day 6/30/10

2010-07-25T12:17:00.000-07:00

A family of 5 chartered the Kila Kila for a 3/4 day, they were looking to have a good time. We trolled ono lane along the shore in hopes of catching a wahoo for the table. This morning turned out to be slow, so plan B came into play and we set our course for F buoy, 10 miles offshore.

Along the way we set our pattern of lures out just in case we ran over something big. Dad's wish almost came true, when a blue about 400 blew up on the long corner! A short zip from the reel and it was gone unfortunately.

Fifteen minutes later we arrived at F buoy and it was game on for the whole family. Hook up after hook up from small skip jack and big eye tuna. The action wore there little arms out and it was time to call it a day.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Timmerman Family 1/2/ day 6/29/10

2010-07-23T01:54:00.000-07:00

Timmerman's, guests of our owner, joined us on a half day trip. Beautiful morning off the coast, and luck came our way first thing. Young angler got a chance at his first blue, and did it in fine form releasing an estimated at 180 lb blue marlin. Dreams came true for this little guy, safe to say he's hook on fishing for life. After our blue, we switched over for Ono along the shoreline for the rest of the morning. No luck, but a fun day none the less.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

1st Place Winning Team (Kona Classic Tournament) 6/26/10 -to- 6/27/10

2010-07-23T01:29:00.000-07:00

56 boats blasted off at the starting line this weekend, all hoping luck would go there way. Marlin Magic released the only blue on day one, leaving options to win wide open. Going into Sunday, everyone one was optimistic, fishing was extremely slow, with no paticular area better then the next. I opted to fish close to home, figuring its as good a spot as any.

After the first round up in the morning, a nice mark appeared on the recorder. It didn't take long before the fish was spotted under the long corner. A couple looks at the black lunger and it switched to the short-rigger wasting no time to eat it.

The battle began, and our adrenaline flowed, knowing we had the winning marlin on! Twenty minutes later we had the fish secured along side. We hung on for the remaining hours ahead waiting for somebody to hook up and knock us out of position. But, luck was in our favor, our blue gave us the title of first place weighing in at 473.5 lbs.

Lucky first time angler and tournament team were ecstatic, catching a fish of a life time and having memories to smile about for years to come.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Honeymooners Mixed bag 6/23/10

2010-07-23T00:52:00.000-07:00

We started off the morning looking offshore for the north tuna school. In the search, we released a small blue, giving us a good start to the day. We found ourselves pretty far offshore making the quest to find more fish bring us to a buoy 28 miles offshore. The choice turned out to be a good move, the buoy offered a bunch of life, getting us action from a variety of pelagics. We caught a 25# Ono, three Mahi Mahi, and a couple 30-40# tuna, not to mention a few sharks!

Our newly married honeymooners fulfilled there expectations and more big game fishing with us.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Rock-n-Reel Tournament 6/19/10-to-6/20/10

2010-07-23T00:44:00.000-07:00

First tournament of the season started off well. We released a small blue a few hours into the day to put us on the leader board. Fishing was slow, our release was one of two for the day, along with a 300 pounder weighed from the whole fleet. Second day we caught a 176 pound Ahi to give us a total of 630 points, good enough to secure 3rd place.

Not a bad start to the season.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

6/18/10 Big eye tuna and Mahi Mahi

2010-06-30T00:47:00.000-07:00

We checked an offshore buoy, 28 miles out. Not really a place that gets visited to often so we thought it was a god gamble. Reaching the buoy around 11:00 a.m. signs were showing. Good size explosions, and marks on the fish finder told us tuna were abound. We rigged up a live bait and began to make crew man Josh, work for his money today. Anglers, Laura & Aaron got there fair share of reel time, loving the non stop action. We caught about ten, 30-40# big eye tuna, and a couple mahi mahi!

Not a bad day!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

6/17/10 Back in action

2010-06-30T00:22:00.000-07:00

We started off looking offshore for the tuna school, we found them but they weren't coming together. We opted to get our family some action on the grounds with some skipjack tuna. The ledge was alive with bait, and our guests wore there arms out catching them. After letting everyone catch a fish, we all decided to try our luck after something bigger. Josh rigged one of the skipjack up and it didn't take long to get a bite. A good size mahi mahi jumped on, but we couldn't get a hook in it. Shortly after, we got another bite on our live bait, this time it was a marlin. We successfully tagged a 150# blue marlin for our junior angler.

Dad was next. The bite was on, as soon as we tossed another live bait in, it was eaten! Another blue marlin about 200#s, we fought it near the boat for some good photo's and pulled hook almost to leader.

Slow day turned into a great day, all from being at the right place for the tide change.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

6/7/10-6/15/10 Dry dock update

2010-06-14T00:58:00.000-07:00

Scheduled dry dock for Kila Kila this year, Josh and I have been putting in some hours this week. Were getting a lot done and the boat is looking great, just in time for summer.

Here's the list of projects we have completed or are in the process of completing:

~Sprayed new non skid for walk way on fore deck

~Refinished teak deck, epoxied, re-caulk, and finish sand

~Aft rail along water line, repainted

~Deck hatches repainted

~Live well, minor fiberglass work and repainted

~Transom sprayed with high gloss clear Emron paint

~Green stick mounted on tower

~New temp and speed gauge for Furuno sounder

~New set of propellers

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

6/4/10 Ono & Mahi

2010-06-13T23:46:00.000-07:00

Today we went looking for the North tuna school, we found them but they didn't look to hot. I decided to look for greener pastures. While searching we hooked into a 15# ono and a 15# mahi mahi. We saw another unusual sight not see to often, a pair of swordfish sunning themselves on the surface. Always an impressive sight!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

6/2/10 Summers here!

2010-06-05T19:03:00.000-07:00

Today we took a 1/2 day group charter from the cruise ship. We left around 8:30 a.m. and went south. Fishing still hit or miss, we would be happy to see anything in our 4 hour tour. Around 9:30 we picked up a spearfish, lady angler from Oklahoma, first fish and she was ecstatic! We hooked another spearfish shortly after and released it after a few photos. The day couldn't get any better in my mind, considering the action that's been around. But in Kona, there's one thing we all know, it's that you never know!

A few minutes before pulling the lines in right in-front of the harbor, a nice size blue crashes the short rigger. Awesome bite, but the fish shakes free after a quick run. Josh winds the lure back up to position, hoping it never got stunned by the hook. Eyes peeled on the lures, up it comes on the long corner. One quick lunge and it was on! After a 20 minute fight and a spectacular show for all to see, leader was within grasp. Josh did a great job and we had it subdued. The great fish topped the scales at 692 lbs. First time angler had an absolute blast, he decided to get a head mount of his trophy of a lifetime.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

5/31/10 Kukio crew

2010-06-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

One of Kukio's long time employee's, was moving back to South Carolina. And as a farewell, Kukio set him, his girlfriend and some co-workers up with a days fishing with us. Beautiful calm, Kona day, fishing was decent. We caught a short-nose spearfish and an ono, within 20 minutes of eachother, right around the moon set. Plenty of action for the crew, and lots of good eating fish for the grill.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

5/22/10 Richard Dewitt

2010-06-05T18:24:00.002-07:00

Long time client Richard Dewitt visited us again, looking for a little R&R time with son and close friend. We opted to troll for only and get some action first, then try our luck for something bigger offshore. Didn't take long to hear a reel scream, we picked up a double, both nice size Ono. We switched over and put the offshore spread out and hoped for the best. Fishing was slow for the elusive blue marlin, but we managed to tag a 30# short-nose spearfish.

Great day on the water, and nice to catch up with an old friend.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Big Ono for the grill! 5/19/10

2010-05-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

The Baehr family from Colorado, were looking for another adventure to add to their list. Visiting Kona for the past 10 years they have never tried there luck big game fishing. They chartered us for a 3/4 day, in hopes of getting into some action with their two son. We trolled the coast line for wahoo (Ono), May is right in the peak of the Ono season. An hour into the trip we got our first bite, and it was a whopper! This Ono was well above average size, topping the scales a 52.5 lbs! We had another double hook up later in the morning, getting one out of the two.

They had a great time, and really enjoyed eating their fresh catch!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Ralph Bodin 5/5 & 5/7/10

2010-05-21T12:57:00.001-07:00

Repeat client Ralph Bodin joined us this week, this time fishing with his wife. First day was uneventful, but enjoyable none the less.

Second day, the two of them celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary, Ralph really was hoping to get his wife a blue to top it off. Mid morning we picked up a 22# otado, or skipjack tuna. This was a very good size fish for that species, and almost topped the biggest of the year!

Lures went back out and a couple hours later up comes a blue on the stinger. Everyone got to see it as it was back there pushing water after the lure. The fish finally ate it properly and the fight began. Mrs. Bodine hopped in the chair and put her muscles to work. This former marathon finisher made short work of this feisty blue, getting it close rather quickly. The estimated 225 pound blue put on a great show close to the boat and on leader. Ralph got some amazing pictures that we will be posting as soon as I get them.

After a ten minute fight the fish swam away in great shape, high fives and smiles went all around!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

More Ono action 4/28/10

2010-05-10T03:15:00.000-07:00

Another good day fishing for ono, 5 for 8, biggest was close to 30 pounds. Started out slow, but once the afternoon came around the bite turned for the better. Couple multiples and some steady action.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Donna Cotter 4/26/10

2010-05-10T02:53:00.000-07:00

Today, we spent fishing for ono along the shore. Great action, catching 5 for 8 on lures. Everyone was very happy with the catch, and action, each guest got to catch a fish!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Two big Ahi 4/24/10

2010-05-10T02:47:00.000-07:00

Persistence paid off today, after working a tuna school for most of the day we got lucky. I was just about to say to Josh, wind up our green stick rig when wham, we got bit. A nice 140 pound tuna got tricked to switch our luck around. After cleaning up and putting that fish on ice, we started back up in the school to have another one blast off shortly after. Our second tuna weighed 100 pounds.

Mr. Meiners from Alaska was very happy with his catch.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

wwwkilakilasportfishing.com

Ono action 4/21/10

2010-05-10T02:38:00.000-07:00

Husband and wife from Washington joined us for a full day. They wanted some get get into some action, so we trolled along the coast after wahoo. April begins the annual migration into Hawaiian waters for these wonderful eating game fish.

We were successful, bite isn't on yet, but we managed to pick up a couple trophy size Ono.

Clients took some back to there condo for the BBQ that evening.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Toe rail varnish coming to an end!

2010-05-10T02:22:00.000-07:00

After a solid week and a half working on the toe rail, its finally coming to an end. It came out beautiful, well worth the work!! Better have, after 12 coats!:)

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

4/10/10 Varnishing and Granders go hand and hand!

2010-04-11T02:36:00.000-07:00

We blocked off this week to refinish Kila Kila's toe rail. Fishermen's belief is the better you take care of your boat, the better it takes care of you! So we're giving Kila Kila lots of love at the moment, dreaming and hoping that she will produce our grander blue this year!

As we were hard at work, sweating in the hot sun, we hear rumor a fellow captain and crew are bringing in a big one to weigh. The Marlin Magic turns the corner into the harbor to greet a crowd gathering around the scale. Josh and I walked over to see the big catch. The fish got hoisted up to weigh Kona's first grander for 2010: a monster weighing in at 1104 lbs.!

Congratulations to the lucky wahine angler, Jill Anderson! Jill came to Kona for her honeymoon with husband, John Anderson, a friend of mine. They just flew in last night to fish a day, before they go back home to Florida. Capt. Jason Holtz and crewman Brian Tony aboard the Marlin Magic didn't waste anytime hooking the newlyweds that fish of a lifetime.

Awesome catch, nice work guys!

Check out the picture below of the lucky team!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Gary Speirs 3/31/10, 4/1/10, 4/3/10, 4/6/10

2010-04-05T23:03:00.000-07:00

Repeat clients, Gary & Ellie Speirs came out yet another year. This is their 8th year in a row fishing with us in Kona. Gary has seen highs and lows over the years, catching some great action with us.

Gary seems to bring us luck whenever he comes, this year was no different. First day we caught a tuna in the blind, a rare occurrence for March. Most tuna this time of the year travel in porpoise schools. Our blind Ahi weighed 91#s. We marked a few more after setting the lines back out but couldn't get any more to bite. Still a great catch for this time of the year.

Second day we traveled way offshore searching for any debris floating out wide. Got lucky and found a net and caught 8 mahi mahi ranging between 12- 18 pounds. Good action, keeping us occupied for a couple hours.

Day three, long day, can't say we didn't try!

Day four, took us out to the tsunami buoy, 28 miles offshore. We left early and were the first boat to arrive in the morning. We got 8 Mahi Mahi within the first hour, then the bite shut off. Great action on light tackle, one of the fish was a whopping, 35 pound Mahi Mahi!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

3/28/10 Father and Son Alaska

2010-04-05T22:46:00.000-07:00

Father and son from Alaska, both fishing fanatics, willing and ready for everything we threw at em.

Surprise came early missing a blue about 250 on the long corner. Took the lure and made one jump then came off, tough luck but its still early. We trolled around some more coming up to a fad, very rough conditions but we managed to pick off a little big eye tuna. Weather was pretty unforgiving so we headed for home.

Up comes another blue about 300 on the same lure, it switched over to the long rigger, quickly ate and took off peeling line. Good fight for 18 year old Bryan, just when we had it close the hooked pulled. They were ecstatic, different experience, nothing like catching a salmon or halibut back home in Alaska.

Good fun fishing with the two of them, see you guys soon!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

3/26/10 Double 1/2's

2010-04-05T22:05:00.000-07:00

We had two 1/2 day trips today, one was a group charter with 5 other boats, and the second was one of my owner's main managers.

Morning trip was uneventful, but the afternoon gave us a little action. We picked up a nice spearfish and missed a blue marlin in the afternoon to end on a high note. I think we had the only action out of the whole fleet today, tough fishing.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

3/19/10-3/20/10 Darryl Roberts

2010-04-05T22:01:00.000-07:00

Darryl and his family joined us for two days, fishing was very slow, but Darryl remained positive. I hope to get the Roberts out with us again. I would love to catch them a good fish. Thanks for fishing with us. Look forward to your next trip.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

3/17/10 Mahi Mahi floater

2010-04-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

Six good ol' boys from Texas and Colorado fished with us today. They planned on having a good day no matter what, just enjoying their time fishin'.

We hooked a spearfish in the morning, getting it almost to leader and pulling hook. We ventured further north looking for the porpoise school, finding it after a few hours, but it didn't look to hot.

So we left to find greener pastures, coming across a piece of net floating on the surface. A few mahi mahi were hanging around along with some small tuna. The boys had a blast getting into some action.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Kevin, Minnie & Jack McCluskey 3/14/10-3/16/10

2010-03-31T01:21:00.000-07:00

The McCluskey family fished with us last in October 2008. They had such a great time fishing, it didn't take much to persuade them to join us again. Kevin called me a few months ago looking to plan a three day trip in March. I suggested the time during the new moon for his best chance at action. He then explained his 9 year old son, Jack, was on his way to becoming the youngest angler to complete the royal slam in the billfish world. Jack had caught both Pacific and Atlantic blue marlin/sailfish and had a black marlin to his credit as well. They wanted to come to Kona for his shot of catching the rarest and hardest of all the billfish, the short-nose spearfish.

So here we are, new moon in March, you couldn't pick a better time to fish. The fish had other plans. Besides a few big marlin and ahi, fishing was still slow. We have been experiencing unusually fast currents and it seems to be shutting the fishing down.

We set out with high expectations, looking for Jack's spearfish in all the right places, to no avail. Late in the afternoon, we spotted a porpoise school that was nice and tight. Marks came on the screen as soon as I made a pass, and not long after the water erupted with 100 plus pound tuna feeding on the surface. We stuck out the rig to see if we could end the day on a high note. Didn't take long for a nice tuna to grab the dangling squid. Jack was in the chair but unfortunately the hook pulled after a few minutes.

The next morning we set out to find the porpoise school first, hopefully get a tuna, and then proceed after the spearfish. The search found us going further south then I originally planned, but everything happens for a reason! When we least expected it, up comes a spearfish on the stinger, then one on the long rigger! We hooked the one up on the stinger and Jack was in contention. He did a great job transferring the shimano 50 to the chair himself in fine form.

Jack made short work of the fish and got leader within Josh's reach. We realized the hook was just in the lower tip of its mouth, and knew there was no room for error. I reached out with the gaff... and got a great shot. As it came over the rail we saw the size, realizing, this may beat the present junior world record of 32.5 lbs.

Pulling into the weigh station, all of us were anxious, and hoped our eyes were correct with the estimate. The scale read 40.5 lbs, Jacks spearfish was now the new junior World Record!

Couldn't ask for a better ending for Jack's quest of the hardest billfish to catch. With the spearfish out of the way, all Jack needs to be the youngest angler to complete the "Royal Slam" is a swordfish and a white marlin. Both fairly easy to catch near his home town, Palm Beach, Florida.

The next day we enjoyed spearfish sandwiches, and tried our luck after some tuna. The McCluskey's enjoyed there last day on the water, happy they got what they came for and more.

Good luck to 9 year old angler, Jack, hope you succeed in catching the final two billfish you need to complete the slam.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

3/12/10 3/4 day

2010-03-31T01:13:00.000-07:00

Not much happened today for us, we just missed one short-nose spearfish towards the end of our trip. I heard of a couple nice marlin seen from other boats, and it seems like some big Ahi are starting to show. We're crossing our fingers the action picks up. Very nice and understanding clients, hope we can get them some action next time.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Kukio Crew 3/8/10

2010-03-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

Today, we took out some employees that work up at Kukio, a first class, private getaway north of the airport. We have developed a great working relationship with Kukio, and show our appreciation by getting them out fishing. We had six guys which included the GM, two golf pros, a golf super intendant, food and beverage manager, and chef.

Heading out for a half day, we missed a short-nose spearfish first thing in the morning. Everyone had a good look at the fish as it was after one of our lures. We found a porpoise school which didn't look good enough to hang around. Fishing again was very slow for most of the fleet, I only heard of one blue caught today.

The crew was having fun relaxing on the water, fishing, enjoying their day off. One of the guys named Brendt, had a big night before the trip and slept most of the day. The rest of the gang, all in fun, wanted to pull a fast one on him towards the end of the trip; Josh and I said we would kindly assist.

Just about ready to pull the lines in and Brendt was still sound asleep on the bridge. Josh hooked up our bucket to one of the reels and all of us started screaming, "FISH ON!" He awoke to pure mayhem, not knowing what was going on. The nice guys we are, we quickly informed him we had a fish on, and it was his turn in the chair. He rushed down the ladder, hopped in the chair, blood pumping and loving every second of it! Brendt had some work left as the bucket boogied early in the fight ripping 150 yards out on us! Once our proud angler reeled about half the line in we were faced with a new problem. The bucket kept coming within view on the surface. To keep him from seeing the bucket, we would yell, "Keep your head down, Reel!" That took care of most of the fight until it got really close. I did my part, with some tricky manuvering of the Kila Kila, to keep the bucket out of sight, trying not to spoil the surprise. Josh got leader and Brendt waited in anticipation.... His big catch came over the rail only to see it was a bucket full of water! :)

Brendt was a great sport about it, and that topped the day off for everyone. I heard his pictures are circulating around Kukio as we speak!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

John Piazza 3/6/10

2010-03-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

Mr. Piazza booked us for a full day during a work related stop in Honolulu. John fished in Kona many years ago (I believe in the 70's) with Captain Freddy Rice, aboard the "Ihu Nui". John chartered Freddy for a half a day, and came back to the docks with a catch of a lifetime! They had a double strike shortly after putting the lines in the water and stayed connected to a mammoth size marlin. His giant blue marlin tipped the scales over the 1,000 pound mark.

Learning this information after putting the lures out got Josh and I excited, with the excitement came the pressure to top that catch. Fishing still slow, we hoped to get John into some sort of action. Trolling south near C buoy we had something grab the long rigger. Peeling out line it seemed to have some weight to it. Our angler got hooked up in the chair only to pull the hooks out shortly there after.

We came to UU buoy, bait was holding and conditions looked good to live bait, no big fish though. A little offshore we spotted a porpoise school and decided to take a look since we had some live baits. The school didn't look so hot early, but right when we were about to leave, it came together. We marked a few fish and put our green stick rig out in hopes that would entice them to bite. Couple hours later, no bites, and it was time to start back home.

No grander for us but we had fun trying.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Mahi Mahi for the grill! 3/5/10

2010-03-05T22:25:00.000-08:00

Mr. Glean, from California climbed aboard this morning for a half day. We left at 6:00 a.m., David watched the sunrise while Josh fine tuned the lures. Fishing slowed down immensely from last week, but we hoped for the best.

David had mentioned earlier he would love to have something for the grill, that he could cook at his beach house in Puako. He preferred to catch a Mahi Mahi or an Ono, liking the flaky mild fillets they offered.

With four hours to work with, Josh and I had to act fast. Luckily, a fad that broke free from an outer island just happened to be passing by. A couple boats already checked it out for any action, but turned away with no luck. We marked some bait surrounding the buoy; I had a hunch a Mahi Mahi was calling it home. Josh rigged a ballyhoo on a lighter outfit and stuck it in the middle of the pattern. It didn't take long for the resident Mahi to eat it for breakfast.

David had a good fight on 50 pound test to get it within Josh's reach. Great gaff shot, and Mahi Mahi was now on the dinner menu.

Fishing proved to be very slow again today, we did mark a marlin on our way in, but couldn't get it to bite.

Fishing should pick back up next week during the new moon, check back to see if my prediction comes true.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Keith & Sarah's fishing trip 2/24/10

2010-03-03T10:24:00.001-08:00

Unbelievable fishing, Keith & Sarah surprised us with fortunate luck! Keith called me earlier in the week, Kila Kila was his top pick, "we came highly recommended", he said. After talking, he decided to book a full day. I told him, expect a good time, and hope we get lucky. Fishing's hit or miss this time of the year, but everyday is a new day, "you never know" (Kona fisherman's favorite saying)!

With Keith and Sarah's happy go lucky attitude we set out, not knowing what the day had in store. Traveling down the coast south, we missed a Spearfish, a quick zip of line off the reel and it was free. Half hour later, a big hole appeared behind the center rigger, and a Blue engulfed the 8 inch lure. Great show, lots of jumps, tuff fight, and the 300 pound blue was released in healthy shape.

"We'll, that was unexpected", I said, that fish just made the day! It's only 9:00 a.m., pressures off, and we still have the rest of the day. Few hours passed, couple fish marked on the sounder, and another hook up. This time we caught that Spearfish we lost earlier, 25 pounder. We spent some time pounding the area of our action, no luck. I started to go North, heading back to the port, still very happy with our results.

On the way back, around 2:30 p.m. a few boats were working a school of dolphin, usually a sign of feeding yellow-fin tuna. We swung through to have a look, the dolphin were charging and signs were good to stick around. Marking 3 to 6 Ahi at a time, we knew we could get bit any second! Center rigger started screaming out line, we just hooked one! Keith angled his biggest Ahi, 155 lbs. Josh cleaned the deck just in time to put the lures back in the water after catching up to the school. We proceeded to go 3 for 8 in the school the rest of the afternoon.

Great day fishing by anyone's standards, even if it is the off season!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Some kind words from Keith & Sarah...

Aloha Teddy and Josh!!! Just wanted to shoot you guys an email and thank you sooo much for a wonderful fishing trip!! We had the time of our lives fishing with you guys. That day will be a memory we take to our graves. Even in the "off" season of February, you guys worked hard and landed us a perfect day fishing. Whether it be luck, skill, or both, we definitely appreciate the awesome day. Who would have guessed in February we could have released a 300 pound marlin, caught a spearfish and three big Ahi (155#, 115#, 100#).... Someone forgot to tell the fish it was the off season. I truly hope you guys enjoyed the day HALF as much as Sarah and I did. Not only did you guys manage to put us on the fish, but when we realized the potential, you guys stayed out wayyyy late, keeping the good time rolling.

The effort and hospitality you guys bestowed upon us was truly amazing!! You guys have friends for life, and if you need anything, just let us know. We loved the Kila Kila, you have something to be proud of in her.

Keep up the good work and good luck in the tournaments.

Keith & Sarah Gann

Nashville, Tennessee

2/10/10 Double Strike Surprise!

2010-02-16T02:17:00.000-08:00

Husband and wife, John and Christina from Chicago joined us today. The couple had never been deep-sea fishing before; they were up for the adventure.

Fishing, still slow for most, urged me to take another look offshore. On our way to tsunami buoy, 28 miles out, we had a strike from a spearfish on the stinger. Reaching the buoy, John picked up a small big eye tuna. Josh switched out to some lighter gear for a little more sport with the tuna. The tuna didn't care to play; we missed a couple but they weren't biting.

So back to having a look around, the offshore waters looked decent. Some birds and loose bait roaming the depths looked promising.

Josh was just about finished making lunch when the long corner started screaming. A few seconds later, the long rigger came down, peeling out line. Josh and I didn't think they were yellow-fin by the way the fish were acting. Given that one of them struck a bigger lure, we now thought they could be a pair of big eye tuna.

John got his fish up first: nice healthy 150 pound big eye tuna. Christina's gave us a little more trouble. She fought the second big eye another 10 minutes before it came to leader. Our eyes just about popped out of our head when it came into view. Josh and I secured the fish, and let's just say, Christina has bragging rights at this point! The second fish looked to be close to 200 pounds, a rare and great catch in Hawaii.

Big eye tuna are spotted only a few times per year; they travel in deep water and mainly feed at night. Catching big eye tuna this size doesn't happen too often.

Coming off the rush of our catch, we had another big strike on the long corner. A quick scream from the reel and it was off. No marks on the lure, but from the hole it left, it looked to be a nice blue, or possibly another big eye.

We made it back to port and the pair weighed in at; 153# and 211.5#.

Congratulations John and Christina, your on top the board for the largest big eye tuna of the year! I don't see this catch being topped anytime soon.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

2/4/10 Glynn Ferrell

2010-02-16T01:54:00.000-08:00

Glynn, and family have been fishing with my father and I, for as long as I can remember. Glynn still shakes his head with a smile, remembering when I was only 3 or 4 years old; trolling a string of lures with no hooks over the transom of our family boat "Pamela". Waiting patiently for a strike... Now skippering the Kila Kila, he's seen me progress through the years, and thrilled to still be fishing with me.

He booked us for a full day, knowing how slow the fishing was; he understands you have to put the time in. Through the years we have had some great days fishing. He always arrives in the morning with no expectations, just enjoys the trip. This day he really enjoyed fishing, loving the extra comfort that the Kila Kila has to offer.

Again, fishing was very slow; we checked all the far to reach spots, searching for the fish. We got lucky towards the end of the afternoon catching a 30 pound short-nose spearfish for his son. Our spearfish, was the only fish caught out of the whole fleet today. That gives you an idea of how slow the fishing is at the moment.

We felt pretty fortunate to have a great fish for the grill, and another chance at a grander.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

2/2/10 Colin Clark

2010-02-16T01:45:00.000-08:00

Very patient and understanding couple today. The fishing was extremely slow for the fleet, but there's always hope. We opted to wonder around offshore, keeping our eye's peeled for tuna or something floating.

Colin and his wife, were happy to spend the day trying, and maintained a great attitude throughout the day. Josh and I thoroughly enjoyed their company, and really would have loved to get them into some action. Unfortunately, the tune for us and most of the fleet, was a sad story, of how slow it was.

They still had fun spending the day with us. Colin's going to try and make it in the summer, when odds of the fish being here are higher. I hope we can hook him into some good action next time.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

1/27/10 Larry Smith and family

2010-02-16T01:29:00.000-08:00

Old time client and former partner with my fathers boat "Pamela", Larry Smith fished with us today. He was excited to get out on the water again, interested in having a good time and secretly hoping to catch a spearfish (his wife's favorite fish to eat). Not even 10 minutes after putting the lines in, we made his wife very happy, catching a 30 pound short-nose spearfish. Spearfish can be hard to hook sometimes, especially when you really want one, but there mild white fillets are some of the best eating.

After that we had some luck around a buoy offshore, catching a 15 pound Mahi Mahi, and loosing a bigger one close to the boat. More luck with some small tuna and it was time to get back home. Great day for filling up the fridge with fresh fish. We later meet up with the rest of the family and had the day's catch prepared every way imaginable.

Larry, and son are fishing the Rock-n-Reel tournament with us in June. We got second place last year, hope we can do it again this year.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

1/15/10 Party of six for the day

2010-01-18T23:15:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-10T21:38:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-05T00:39:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-05T00:28:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-05T00:11:00.000-08:00

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

Katchman Brothers (11/20/09)

2009-11-23T00:20:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-11-14T01:16:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-11-14T01:02:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-11-14T00:51:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-11-14T00:40:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-11-14T00:28:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-11-13T23:58:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-11-13T23:44:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-11-12T03:31:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-11-12T03:25:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-11-12T02:45:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-11-12T02:32:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-11-12T02:15:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-11-12T02:04:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-12T01:42:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-12T01:12:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-12T00:56:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-12T00:45:00.000-08:00

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

Birthday wish 8/8/09

2009-10-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

Today it's my birthday, yes I chose to go fishing today. I rounded up my girlfriend Amy and a couple friends and we went fishing. The tide was a little later in the morning so we left around 8:30 a.m. We got a short-nose spearfish shortly after leaving to start the day off. Then we got Amy and our friend Shawna's first marlin. We went 3 for 6 on blues and ended the day with a nice 25 pound Ono for the grill that evening.

One of my better birthday's!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

The Glenns 8/5/09

2009-10-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Otec buoy, the buoy was alive with life. Bait was foaming everywhere, we were marking some big Ahi and were seeing a couple marlin feeding. But nothing wanted to bite our hooks. Watching a couple Ahi get hooked and marlin around us we waited patiently for our turn. Just about when we were ready to leave a marlin took our short live bait. The fish ate it funny only to get lassoed in the process. A fish that's lassoed gives you no leverage as an angler, allowing the marlin to go where it pleases. Our young female angler did a great job to get the 200 pound blue to the boat in 20 minutes only to have the hook pull right at the back of the boat. Tough luck, but still fun for her to have the thrill of the fight.

We lost another blue on the way home outside the harbor.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Wahine Tournament (Team Love at First Bite) 8/1/09

2009-10-12T13:47:00.000-07:00

This years Wahine tournament we decided to enter ourselves, our team included my girlfriend Amy and her friend Shawna. We hooked the winning marlin in the first hour, it looked to be every bit of 500 pounds but after a quick fight the hook pulled. We had a couple more strikes from marlin but couldn't stick em. The girls had a blast and are ready to do it again next year!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Andrew Mcloed 7/29/09

2009-10-11T01:59:00.000-07:00

Another great day, fishing is really hot at the moment. Andrew went solo for his last day while the rest of the family choose to play some golf and relax. We left around 6:00 a.m. making our way to the North where we had good action yesterday. Fishing was still pretty hot but once again we were unlucky with our hook ups. We lost about 8 blues by 12:00 p.m. but we weren't giving up. We hooked a Short-nose spearfish, Andrew's first, the short-nose is one of the rarest billfish in the world so he was pretty stoked to get one under his belt.

After the Short-nose I decided to take a look at Otec buoy again this afternoon. Making our first pass with lures we hooked and released a small blue, getting our confidence back up that we still can hook em.

Otec looked pretty good, good enough to make me want to try live baiting to see if anymore marlin were there. Josh rigged a nice 2 pound skip jack and we towed it around up current of the buoy. I started seeing lots of marks on the recorder that looked like big yellow fin tuna and shortly after the bait went off! Andrew angled a nice 130 pound Ahi, and we quickly tried for another bait. We then proceeded to catch three more in the next hour before we ran out of ice and space. The biggest one weighed in at 182 pounds. We also caught a Mahi Mahi around the buoy to round off the day with a mixed bag of trophy fish.

The rest of the gang met us when we got in to see the good catch, all of them wished they went fishing instead of golfing. But they plan on coming back soon to play some more with us!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

McLoed Family outing. 7/28/09

2009-10-11T01:27:00.000-07:00

Mike Mcloed enjoyed the other day so much with his son and brother in-law, he wanted to show his wife and daughter how much fun they really were having in Kona. We mixed it up a little with the wife on board giving them a little snorkel in Kealakekua bay before targeting the blue marlin action.

After the swim we quickly set the lures out for the morning tide change in hopes to see one. We had the lures in just a few minutes when the short bait starting peeling out line. All we saw was a hole in the water where the lure used to be and a decent size shape. It quickly pulled hook before we really got to see it. I estimated it to be around 500 pounds. We were all wishing we got to see more of it when it came up for another look at the short rigger. Now I got to see it pretty well and it looked every bit of 800 pounds. It just knocked the lure out of the rigger and that was the end of her. I made a circle around in hopes to raise it again but this time the male beat her to it. The average size blue put on a great show for the family, but we would of liked to get the bigger one.

We worked that same area awhile with no more luck and decided to venture to the North grounds where I heard of good reports from my Father on the "Pamela". We ran up to the area he was fishing a saw some pretty good action almost immediately, catching 1 from about 5 bites in a couple hours. The fish were eating a little funny to get good hook ups but lots of fun to see great action.

Another good day fishing for the Mcloed's, good enough Mikes son Andrew wanted to fish one more day before they left.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Same area, different day... 7/27/09

2009-09-09T01:18:00.000-07:00

Morning started off the same as yesterday -beautiful. Our family of four was excited to get in on some of the action we saw yesterday. We caught a Mahi Mahi in the same spot the first blue was released yesterday. Our family was happy about that catch, as that was their request: something to eat, preferably a Mahi Mahi to cook at their house during the week. So with that out of the way, all we needed now was the heart pumping action from a blue marlin. We worked the same area all of our action was yesterday with no luck, in, out, all around working the bottom structure. Finally I marked one at 40 fathoms, I was able to show the family the mark and get everyone to watch the lures for the bite. We didn't have to wait long. The marlin exploded on the stinger but didn't get hooked up. After that strike we worked around a little longer, with no luck. Josh whipped up a great lunch, cooking some fresh ono we caught.

The long troll home was uneventful, with five minutes to go before Josh pulled the lines in we saw a ripple on the long corner. That ripple was one about 500#s. We had a bite out of her, and as it was screaming out line another one eats the long rigger. Too continue our luck both fish fell off.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Mike and Andrew McLoed 7/26/09

2009-09-09T01:03:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Kona morning, glass calm as we trolled our way South. As we watched the sun rise over Hualalai and Mauna Loa we had our first bite of the day, releasing a feisty little blue. Our plan was to fish our way south off the lava flows, about 30 miles down the coast. The current has been flowing south for a while now, and has been stacking numbers of blues in that area. The first blue was a good sign , and it got better from there. As we got to the zone I really wanted to fish we caught another small blue. We had some steady action throughout the day, ending our tally at 3 for 8 on blues. Couple off the fish we missed were decent size. Not a bad day fishing by anyones standards, and certainly a great day fishing for the Mcloed's, so good they booked us another day this week.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Hawaiian International BIllfish Tournament 7/19/09-7/24/09

2009-09-09T00:42:00.000-07:00

First day of the billfish we tied for the lead tagging two blues out of 3 bites. Second day we had two blues on, but couldn't keep a hook in em. Third day we didn't have any strikes, but were right in the middle of allot of action. Forth day still pretty slow for us, we got a strike out of one late in the afternoon. Fifth day I decided to change tactics and go the opisite way I was fishing and it worked out. We tagged a 200# blue and had another one two leader but it shook off before we got a tag in it.

The three blues we tagged gave us 900 points, we were in the hunt to place in the tournament only if we had a little more luck. Thats fishing, fun week of fishing with some great teams from around the world, look forward to next year.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Three Blues 7/19/09

2009-09-03T02:22:00.000-07:00

Our charter this morning weren't really interested in targeting marlin. They were more interested in getting some action for their young daughter and if we hook anything big its a bonus. On our way to the north grounds we got lucky catching a little 120# blue which was their bonus for the day. We put the lures back out, with another couple miles before we get to the ledge, where lots of bait fish were assessable for some action. We had the lures in the water maybe 10 minutes when we hooked another blue around 500 lbs. The big blue put on a great show, and after a 15 minute fight we released it in great shape. All this action was before 8:00 a.m. The family of six were pretty impressed and must have thought this sort of thing happens everyday. After getting their young daughter action in on the ledge with some skipjack tuna it was time to turn around an d head back to the harbor. I made one more pass in the area we got our strikes earlier in the day and it payed off with another blue around 170#s. Not a bad day for not even focusing on blue marlin.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Skins Marlin Tournament 7/10/09-7/12/09

2009-09-03T02:07:00.000-07:00

The Skins tournament started off pretty well, angler David Pilgrim tagged a 160# blue first thing friday. We hooked another blue in the afternoon but lost it near the boat. We were on the board with one, which gave us a good chance for the next two days.

Saturday morning we raised a fish that looked to be 4-500#s that wouldn't eat. Then later that day we had another decent fish knock the short rigger out really hard but didn't stick. Had our chances at two decent fish that could of won a lot of money.

Sunday the fishing really slowed down with no bites for us. Most of the fleet struggled this weekend, with a lot of boat not even seeing a fish the whole weekend. We considered our-selfs lucky to have some shots at money fish.

The tournament was won with one nice fish that took the whole pot.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

First Blue Marlin 7/8/09

2009-09-03T01:34:00.000-07:00

17 year old Hunter Habetz caught his first blue marlin today. He's been fishing with his father, Chad a few years now in Kona. Chad, has had some good success in various tournaments over the years and wants his son to join in on the fun. Hunter has had a handful of blues on but has been unlucky getting one to the boat.

Hunters fish hit when we were on our way home after spending a night at Okoe bay, about 40 miles south of the harbor with two other boats, "Wild Hooker" and "Strong Persuader". The trip ended on a high note by catching a feisty little blue for Hunter, who also did great following I.G.F.A. rules. We estimated the fish at 180 lbs. and after we got some great video and still shots of the fish we released it.

Father Chad was happy to finally get Hunter his first blue. Father and son already are looking forward to next summer.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

KILA KILA takes biggest Ahi of the year 6/29/09

2009-08-26T02:13:00.000-07:00

Right out of the harbor this morning started of well. I ran out to the 500 fathom ledge and Josh put the lines in the water. I spotted a group of shear waters winging over a particular area and turned out to make a pass near them. Shortly before reaching the middle of the birds Josh's morning lesson was spoiled. Angler Justin Johnson, from Seattle, soon got his heart pumping when the line started ripping out from the rod and reel he was already clipped into the chair with. Josh was teaching him what to expect and techniques on angling when the fish struck. After a 15 minute fight we had it within sight. The long Allison yellow-fins streaming from the tuna were the first sign it was a bigger fish. The fish gave Josh a good tug on leader before we secured it with the gaffs. The beautiful Ahi weighed in at 233 1/2 lbs. largest of the year on rod and reel for 2009.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Kona Classic Tournament 6/27/09 -to- 6/28/09

2009-08-26T01:48:00.000-07:00

David Pilgrim of Texas started off his string of tournaments with us with a bang. We tagged one of the first blues of the tournament getting us in contention to win some money. We didn't know at the time of releasing a 200# blue that it would be worth as much as it was. Turned out fishing was a little on the slow side and if you had one of the first blues released you were sitting in the money. Sunday we lost a fish around 300#s and then hooked another blue in the afternoon only to lose it at the back of the boat. If one of those two fish held on we could have doubled our winnings. We tied for second and can't complain with our winnings totaling $26,622.00.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Repeat Clients 6/25/09

2009-08-26T01:31:00.000-07:00

The Conboy's have fished with us for a number of years. This year was pretty special, we started the morning off with marking a cluster of marlin, yes a cluster. At first I didn't know what I was looking at on the depth sounder, but I soon learned my first guess was correct. We raised a blue up on the short-bait, shortly after one was up on the short rigger, and before I knew it we had one up on every single lure. That something I've never seen from blue marlin before, having more then two up at once is pretty rare, and five up at once is pretty special. One of the five we had up looked to be around 500#'s, one female and 4 males. We managed to only stick one of the five and tag & release it. We went through the day to miss a couple more marlin, and see another special sight. We came across one of the smallest whale sharks I've seen, about 12 feet in length. We got Mr. Conboy and Josh in the water swimming with it. They were pretty excited to end the day swimming with a whale shark!

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

3/4 day off the cruise ship 6/24/09

2009-08-26T01:24:00.000-07:00

Morning started out uneventful, but we got lucky around 11:30 a.m. hooking a 166# Ahi on a lure. We had one other bite around 2:00 p.m. before they had to be in to meet the ship. We hooked a blue around 300#'s but pulled hook near the boat. The fish put on a great show and a good fight. Everyone got to see it, and experience the thrill of the fight to make it a successful trip.

1/2 day 6/22/09

2009-08-26T01:18:00.000-07:00

Lost a big Ahi early on a lure, signs of life are still showing. Saw a couple marlin caught around us and marked a few with no luck. Last half an hour of our trip we caught a nice 30# short-nose spearfish, just what our local customers wanted, something to put on the grill. Spearfish are very tasty, one of the best eating fish here. We sent the clients home with bags of fish to go around.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

www.kilakilasportfishing.com

2nd place Rock-n-Reel Tournament 6/20/09 -to- 6/21/09

2009-08-25T23:03:00.000-07:00

We decided to enter the Rock-n-Reel fishing tournament this weekend our selfs. The tournament this year fell on Father's Day so Josh and I thought how better to spend it then with both our fathers fishing with us. We got together my Father, Capt. Peter Hoogs and Josh's Father, Duayne Bunch (our angler) to join us for the weekend. We have been fishing pretty well so I wasn't worried betting on our selfs, knowing we had a good chance to win our money back.

Saturday morning started off slow but by the 10:00 round up we started to see our action. Shortly after missing a little one on the short bait, I spotted a feeder on the surface. As soon as I got near it, the small blue grabbed our short bait. Duane made short work of the little blue to get us on the board with one tag. 10 minutes after getting the lures back in the water we hooked our second blue and successfully tagged and released it. Now were leading the tournament with two tags. We then preceded to raise three more blues, one of which looked every bit of 500 lbs. We also tagged another blue after stop fishing to give us three tagged blues for the day. Unfortunately our lead slipped away to the FIVE STAR releasing four blues for the day.

Sunday morning we knew we had some catching up to do, we missed one early then hooked our first blue around 10:30 a.m. We got it all the way to leader reaching out to tag it the fish shook of the hook making it not count as a release. Fishing the same grounds as we did the day before we weren't seeing the same results. By 1:00 p.m. I knew the fish had moved to another area, so I went looking. It payed off, about 2 miles south of where we were working all morning signs of life started to show again. We tagged two more blues that afternoon to lock us in second place with four tags, and to win over $9,000.

Early Bite 6/13/09

2009-06-21T00:53:00.000-07:00

Lines were wet right at first light for the early bite we hoped, not even 5 minutes after all the lines were set we hooked our first blue. This little 150 pounder gave us a hard time because of were he was hooked, in the belly, giving us no leverage or pulling power to lead it. 20 minutes of fight we got it in time to release it to swim away healthy. Setting the lines back out after the release we hooked up again, this time the fish was hooked up right and showed us a little more size. after a 10 minute fight and a fantastic show close to the boat we estimated and released it at 450-500lbs. Back at the docks by 8:00 a.m. already with two tags.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs
www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Junior anglers 6/11/09

2009-06-21T00:19:00.000-07:00

Another good day of fishing, 10 minutes out of the harbor we already had 11 year old Austin Hoagland hooked up to his first marlin! We successfully released an estimated 80 pound striped marlin, starting the morning off with a bang. With some of the pressure of my shoulder as captain I knew I had two more fish to catch for younger brother Tristen (8yrs), and don't forget Dad who really wants a marlin too! Luckily, Mom was a happy camper just watching the boys have fun. An hour later we caught a barracuda for Tristen, which some what got him of the hook leaving me able to focus on Dads marlin. With the tide lowering most of the morning we predicted if we had any action it was going to be after the tide started rising around 11:00 a.m. The marlin had the same mind set, almost on the hour we had our first marlin hooked. After a aerial display the feisty little blue shook off the hook. That fish set the bite on for us, we went zero for four blue marlin bites leaving Josh and I pulling our hair out, not being able to get a hook in one. Mr. Hoagland was very understanding, and appreciated the experience of the hunt. We gave him some extra time trying for one more in hopes to not lose the next one. That extra time bought his youngest another chance at a real trophy pelagic. Young Tristen reeled in a Ono bigger then himself that made the smile on his face priceless.

Mr. Hoagland is already planning his trip back for another shot at his big blue.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs
www.kilakilasportfishing.com

Mixed Bag 6/1/09

2009-06-21T00:05:00.000-07:00

Newly wed couple joined us on their honeymoon for a little excitement on the water. Fishing's been slow on the inside, so we wandered offshore looking for anymore floaters or possible action from Ahi feeding in porpoise schools. We found our self's 20 miles offshore and near a buoy due west of the harbor. Being that the buoy is so far offshore (28 miles), it doesn't get alot of pressure from most of the fleet. So we decided to check it out since we were close. We made one pass with the lures out and caught a couple 25 pound big eye tuna. Another pass caught us an Ono, another pass gave us a double hook up, one Ono and a 50 pound big eye. This went on for a couple hours giving our total for the afternoon, 8 Mahi Mahi, 3 Ono, and various size big eye tuna up to 50 pounds.
The newly weds were pretty excited with the action, giving that we caught his and hers first and largest fish together.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs

Mahi Mahi Action Continued 5/31/09

2009-06-20T23:55:00.000-07:00

Another good day for Mahi Mahi, we came across another nice floater in an offshore current line. This time it was a scrap piece of cargo net, and without even trying to hard we caught 27 Mahi Mahi. Our family of six were thrilled with the action to top off their trip to the BIg Island.

Aloha, Capt. Teddy Hoogs
www.kilakilasportfishing.com