Sportfishing the Kona Coast of Hawaii

BIG ISLAND VACATION
  While vacationing on the Big Island, Chuck and Christine decided to work a morning half-day of fishing into their busy vacation schedule. Around 10:30 the excitement began, as a large mahi-mahi attacked the small lure on the stinger. Six minutes later, Chuck's 35 pound mahi-mahi was in the fish bag iced down.
  Later in the trip, just prior to bringing the lines in, a large blue marlin appeared behind the purple softhead on the long corner. Seconds later the softhead disappeared into the marlin's mouth and the aerial show began. Forty-five minutes later, a very tired Christine was all smiles as Chuck took pictures of her 326 pound blue marlin. (Not bad for her first fish ever.) They will be back as Chuck still has to catch his marlin.

TAG AND RELEASE
  Mr. and Mrs. Paul Kennedy and their son, Paul, Jr., who live in Corpus Christi and fish the Texas Gulf coast out of Port Aransas, came to Kona in search of a big blue marlin. Two hours into their trip, the long outrigger lure disappeared in a swirl of white water and a blue marlin went greyhounding across the calm surface of the Kona waters. Fifteen minutes later, Paul, Jr. had the 200-pound blue at the side of the boat, which he elected to tag and release.
  Later in the trip, Paul, Sr. had his opportunity to fight a pacific blue marlin, this one also in the 200-pound range, and was also tagged and released. These 200 pounders will be 500 pounders in a few years and the Kennedys will be back to challenge them again. Congratulations to the Kennedys for tagging two spectacular blue marlin.

A GREAT WAY TO END THE MILLENNIUM!
  Mark Kinsler and Pamela chartered the ANXIOUS for a days' fishing to end the Millennium. We began the day trolling, and for the first couple of hours it was just a boat ride with no action. We decided to change the game plan and look for a live bait at F Buoy (9 miles offshore in 9000 feet of water). However, we didn't quite get to the buoy before the stinger (center rigger) snapped free and the fight was on. Some 10 minutes later Pamela boated her first spearfish, which just happened to be the largest spearfish of the year, weighing in at 61 pounds. We quickly set the lures back out and turned back to the area to look for another spearfish (spearfish usually are in groups of three or four). Within two minutes the line on the stinger snapped free again and Pamela jumped back in the fighting chair to catch her second spearfish. The fish wasn't coming in very quickly, and Pamela's arm was a little tired from having just fought the first spearfish, so Mark took over. Mark applied the pressure to get the fish in quickly and the fish we thought might be a 60 pound spearfish came jumping out of the water, in the form of a blue marlin, catching us all by surprise. Once the big blue saw the boat, the real fight began. Some 30 minutes later, Mark and Pamela's 436 pound blue marlin was in the boat. Congratulations to Mark and Pamela – an excellent day of fishing and a great way to end the Millennium.

Brian's dream was to catch a big blue marlin. His dream came true with this blue, weighing in at 940 pounds. Later the same day, Brian's wife, Betsy, added to the exciting day with her own 700 pound blue marlin.