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HAWAII FISHING NEWS
By Darryl Takemura
Anyone who loves big game fishing knows that the Kona Coast is world renown for its fabulous fishing. With Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa acting as huge windbreaks, virtually all prevailing trade winds are smothered to a slow breeze along the Kona Coast. Flat c onditions prevail from Miloli'i all the way up to Kawaihae on most occasions and make long trolling expeditions quite comfortable. In addition, these waters have extreme thermoclines on the two bookends of the coast, Hawi and South Point, creating a fish rich environment. Steep underwater shelves and valleys send depths plummeting to over 1,000 feet right offshore along the coast, making it a long stretch of prime feeding grounds for marlin, ahi and a host of other giant pelagics.
I was lucky enough to fish for a day with Capt. Neal Isaacs aboard his beautiful 33 foot Bertram fishing charter boat, the ANXIOUS. Neal has 20 years of experience fishing the Kona Coast and has been running Anxious Sportfishing Charters for about 17 years now. After talking with Neal and hearing him go on and on about his "game plan," I immediately knew Neal was a hustler.
"We'll work hard right out of Honokohau since that's where all the action was yesterday," Neal exclaimed without hesitating. "If that doesn't work, I'm going to work F-buoy for some aku and drag a live one. That might get 'em!"
Capt. Neal was upbeat and a most personable fellow. His deck hand Aaron, from Honaunau, was a very accomplished fisherman and just simply loved being on the water every day. I brought along my son Tyler and father-in-law, Jimmy Takemura, for their very first bluewater fishing experience. I was hopeful both would get to witness what bluewater fishing was all about.
 As Capt. Neal fired up the twin 320hp Caterpillar diesels, Aaron went over the equipment and lure drag pattern with me. By 7 a.m., the sun was already high in the sky as we pushed out. of Honokohau and began setting up the lures and outriggers. Aaron ran two short lines, two long lines and one center line off the five Penn International 130STs as we dragged a combination of Softheads and pushers all rigged with the hottest, most popular colors.
Spirits were high as we slowly trolled through the previous day's hot spots with no takers. Other boats in the area called in "misses" but no fish taken, so we weren't alone. We kept to our game plan and began to head 3 miles out to VV-buoy and work the 600 fathom ledge.
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"I could clearly see the lit-up cobalt blue hues of a huge marlin..."
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With no real takers, we then made the long 6 mile haul out to F-buoy for some hopeful aku action. The plan was to catch several aku and quickly bridle them for some livebait slow trolling.
Capt. Neal Isaacs and his deckhand, Aaron, kept a Penn International 130 setup rigged and ready for livebaiting.
Believe it or not, even the aku were almost nonexistent. I did see baby pintsized aku skimming the water with no real intention of chasing our small pink aku lure. I was beginning to wonder if I should have brought my whipping pole! I had my fingers crossed, but not even one aku came up!
After working the area pretty thoroughly, Capt. Neal decided to slowly work a pattern toward a well known area known as "the caves." As we slowly dragged our lures through the 400 fathom grounds, the short corner line snapped abruptly, "Ka-chak!"
I jumped up and looked back at the lure. As I scanned through the ANXIOUS's wake and back wash, I could clearly see the lit-up cobalt blue hues of a huge marlin that was about to savagely rip into the long corner Softhead that was pushing water in a slightly zigzag pattern. The marlin, as if in slow motion, ripped into the lure from left to right as Aaron and I yelled in unison, "Whoa! There! There! Hookup!"
The long corner snapped loudly, "Ka-chak!" as the Penn International 130ST screamed as if on fire, "Gazzzzzzzzzzzzz!" The action quickly ended abruptly with the sound of profanity in the air.
The huge fish was gone. It had somehow dropped the hook from its thick, woodlike jaws. Aaron quickly checked the lures as Capt. Neal made a slow 360 degree turn to make another run through the strike area. Tyler excitedly jumped from his seat through all the action and exclaimed how surprised he was to hear and see such an exciting strike from a rod and reel that was in his words, "huge and tractorlike."
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Live Bait or Lures?
by Captain Neal Isaacs
There is always a debate around the harbor: Do you catch more marlin on live bait or lures?
Our experience is that it is about 50/50. The conditions usually dictate the decision. On the "Anxious", we try to live bait if there is a large quantity of small tuna on the ledge or around the buoys and the current is not too strong.
If the current is strong, bait is scattered and hard to catch, we go with lures and cover more area. We tend to catch more "smaller" marlin on bait and "larger" marlin on lures.
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We eventually made our way back to the strike grounds but were shut out on the second run. The adrenalin was pumping and I was ready to jump into the hot seat, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be.
As we made our way back to Honokohau, Tyler was able to witness a pod of porpoises that chose our wake to body surf in. It was a very first for him to see such incredible creatures in their own habitat. Just outside of the ANXIOUS's wake flushed a dozen or so malolo that skipped and glided like water dragonflies, a real treat and another first for him to witness. My highlight of the whole day was simply watching my son thoroughly enjoy himself out on the water. Tyler later told me, "Riding on the ANXIOUS was my favorite part of the trip!" I couldn't have agreed any more with him.
Capt. Neal Isaacs and Anxious Sportfishing Charters are firstrate and highly recommended for any big game enthusiast or first-time angler. With top-of-the-line equipment, an air-conditioned cabin and friendly crew, one can't go wrong. For any questions regarding fishing on the ANXIOUS, you can E-mail Capt. Neal at anxious@hawaii.rr.com or visit the ANXIOUS website at http://www.alohazone.com.
In fishing you can't win 'em all, but you can always keep trying for that lucky day. As I told Capt. Neal, "Although we didn't catch anything, just seeing that estimated 700 Ib monster crash the lure was something never to be forgotten." And as Tyler said, "That marlin will make us even more anxious to come back again." I couldn't have said it better .. . . Darryl
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