President's Day Week Fishing Report

Started by Tightlines667, February 23, 2018, 05:55:29 PM

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Tightlines667

Fishing has been slow around Oahu throughout January, and the first part of February, but an influx of new colder water from the north around 02/15 breathed some new life to the area.  I watch the remote sensing data regularly, and let my friend Jay know there was a good temperature break that set up about 10-12nm south of Honolulu.  He went out Friday/Saturday the 16&17th.  He fished a carolina-style White Marlin spread of ballyhoo dink-baits on the surface, with a dredge, and an Islander on the planer.  Both days he ran into several 'rat packs' of Striped Marlin, and some Mahi, with steady action throughout both days.  He ended up going 6 for 14 on Striped Marlin, and picked up 3 Mahi as well.    The 2 smaller Striped Marlin and Mahi were cut up, and we dropped the 25lb bull, and the 4 Stripers (ranging from 24lb-90lbs Gilles & gutted) on the auction block.  He ended up getting between $2.50 & $3.00/lb (bigger fish) with a $2.83/lb average for the Stripers, and $5/lb on the Mahi.  The ~$700 goes a long way towards helping with the boat' s expenses.

Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

Tightlines667

#1
I made it out for full day with my friend Joe Sunday, a full day solo on Monday, and a half day solo yesterday afternoon.

Sunday

Good temp break in close on south side, good wind weather forcast, and great fishing reports from friends made it an easy decision to brave the line of storms and make a banks run.

Left the dock at 0500hrs, ran to my friend's numbers where he hit 5 rat packs of Stripers on Friday and Saturday.

I copied his carlolina-rigged 'dink-baits  ballyhoo, and rigged up a dozen on the way out.  Arrived on scene, and started setting the spread, as I stopped the 3rd bait, all the rigs started coming down.  Ran around the cockpit and managed a drop back and hookup on 2 of the 3.  

Turned out to be Mahi.  Ran the temp break to Penguin, and found plenty of life,  birds, whales, scattered debris, and several packs of Mahi chasing bait.  Managed to hook 1 of 2 on dinks, and lost 1 on a green/yellow ninja.

Found signs of life where I had started the day, but couldn't buy a bite.  Back at dock at 1430hrs, cleaned 1 for dinner, and dropped 2 on the block.

Monday

Well, given the life I saw as I passed by the close (12nm from Pearl Harbor), pinnacle both ways yesterday.  I decided to set up camp there today and resist the urge to run further.  I am glad I did, plenty of action.  Fishing solo with plenty of bites is always entertaining.

Left the dock at 0600, rigged up 14 dink ballyhoo on scene at 0730.

Marked bait on the sounder, but no bites first thing, ran 1/2 way to HH, and headed back, saw a 12' tiger shark.

Then found a group of Mahi.  First good pass and all 5 lines went down.  Only managed to hook 3, and land 2 (1 had taken two baits, pulled the hook on the third dealing with the other 2).

Several more passes and no takers.

Then a lone booby lead me straight to a nice cargo net.  First pass and I had 3 small Kine Shibi bites, landed 2.

But a tangle lead to me losing the net, even though I marked it on GPS.

I followed my nose and ran into another group of Mahi.  All 5 lines went down.  I managed the prescribed drop back on 2 fish, one threw the hook on a jump, so landed 1 of 5 bites.

After I got set up again and started back to the area, I noticed a lone booby with body language that clearly spoke of fish right below him.  As I approached, about 15, 20lb class Yellowfin broke the surface.  As luck would have it, we were on a direct intercept course, and 2 minutes later they exploded in my spread.  All 5 lines went down.   Long rigger didn't stick, long corner and short rigger immediately got tangled up with fish running on both.  The short corner behaved himself, and just ran off 1/3 spool going deep.  I worked to clear the long rigger, and try to get to the tangle, but think one fish must have popped the hook.  I lost the third hooked fish and the corner when I ran to the cockpit to put the boat back in gear.   You reherse how to handle 4 or 5 tuna solo, but actually doing it isn't always the same.  Should've left the boat in gear, and landed the short corner first I guess.  Didn't get another Shibi bite.

I had no rigged ballyhoo left, so put out a 5-7" Polu Kai spread, and immediately hooked into a bull on the long corner.  Managed to land this one textbook.  I then ran upwind 5 miles and worked a big bird pile for an hour w/o a bite.  Back through the early area, then back home w/o any more bites.

Ended up dropping 54lbs of Mahi on the block, selling 1 Mahi to a friend, and 1 Shibi to another, the last one ended up pan seared, and sashimi for dinner.

The fish love those dinks, but they require a bit to attention to get the hookup.

Fishing solo, I lost more fish today then in the last 9 months...lol

Fun day.

John


By the way...
I usually tag and release any tuna under 10lbs, but these guys were hooked deep on the dinks.
attachThumb904169 attachThumb904171

Thursday

I was able to slip outta work early yesterday to give the pinnacle another try solo.  I left the dock at 1430hrs, put out my small marlin baits and fast trolled out to the pinnacle.  As soon as I arrived, I saw there was still plenty of life there.  Scattered Boobies, and marine debris with several schools of smaller Mahi sighted briefly chasing flying fish.  It was rainy, with local winds kicking up.  This combined with 2 cross ground swells made for pretty snotty conditions, despite the 5-10knot 3' or less weather report.  I switched to 4 dinks, and a Mahi Ninja spread once on scene.  Conditions were challenging, and I spent much of time dealing with tangles, poped clips, and the like.  Ended up going 0 for 3 on small Mahi, but felt like I would have done much better with a partner in crime.  Got back to the dock at 715pm.

Weather and sea temp reports look good through the weekend, so I will have to go give it another go.

John
Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

STRIPER LOU

John, what an awesome week. Enough action to keep anyone happy. I do fish with friends but find my concentration level and catchabilty is far superior when solo.

How's that New England Downeaster running! Without a doubt, one of my absolute favorite boats!

.................Lou

mo65

~YOU CAN TUNA GEETAR...BUT YOU CAN'T TUNA FEESH~


Tightlines667

President's Day Solo Run pics...
Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

steelfish

awesome reports

thanks John for post it them, beatiful fish
The Baja Guy

Tightlines667

#6
A few more President's Day Solo Run pics...
Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

Tightlines667

Quote from: STRIPER LOU on February 23, 2018, 06:23:22 PM
John, what an awesome week. Enough action to keep anyone happy. I do fish with friends but find my concentration level and catchabilty is far superior when solo.

How's that New England Downeaster running! Without a doubt, one of my absolute favorite boats!

.................Lou

I love the boat, and the engine has been running great.  Unfortunately, the cosmetics, and minor structural stuff has been deteriorating, and it needs to be dry docked badly (It's been 6 years since it was out of the water).  My list of projects has been growing, rather then shrinking, and I am embaresed to say the reels need to be serviced and re-spoiled.  Life is busy, and I have been choosing to fish instead of work on the boat and gear.  I have fished around 700 total hours since I started running her early last May.  Looking at my trip costs (fuel/bait/ice), and fish sales receipts for thst period... I am right around $7,300 in costs, with $5,950 in fish sales.  So I am about $1400 or around 20% short of my goal to cover all trip expenditures on an annual basis.  Total cost of ownership has likely been closer to 2 to 2 1/2 times that.  Still pretty darn cheap for offshore fishing.  That is one of the great things about this boat, is I am not afraid to run it.

It really has been a dream come true.  If only the fishing was better.  We used to catch alot more fish then I have when fishing outta Venice, LA, or Bermuda, and this was supposedly an above average year for Hawaii.  With the La Nina conditions we have right now, the fishing may be even more challenging this next year.

John
Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

Hardy Boy

Great stuff John !! Recovering any costs is a bonus and is an option most of us don't have. I've spent most of my money on boats, fishing gear and beer ........................ the rest I wasted ! Have fun sell some fish and consider yourself lucky. I'm jealous right now with your good fishing and good weather and I have to go shovel snow !

Cheers:

Todd
Todd

STRIPER LOU

#9
John, there's a gent here that has a 29 and he spent a few years doing it over himself. Its dark blue with a light gray boot stripe and deck, and a two tone gray sole.

I'm not positive but I think they repowered it with a Volvo diesel. The boat is absolutely beautiful. If I had unlimited funds, I'd make him an offer he couldn't refuse. There's also a Custom 32 JC that's configured as a center console with some below deck quarters. Very nice too, but its no Dyer!

It seems there's never enough time to take care of the cosmetics. I get about a month of decent weather every season to work on mine before it hits the salt but its not enough.

Keep at it Bud, your doing a heck of a job!

.......................Lou

Tightlines667

Quote from: STRIPER LOU on February 23, 2018, 09:38:24 PM
John, there's a gent here that has a 29 and he spent a few years doing it over himself. Its dark blue with a light gray boot stripe and deck, and a two tone gray sole.

I'm not positive but I think they repowered it with a Volvo diesel. The boat is absolutely beautiful. If I had unlimited funds, I'd make him an offer he couldn't refuse. There's also a Custom 32 JC that's configured as a center console with some below deck quarters. Very nice too, but its no Dyer!

It seems there's never enough time to take care of the cosmetics. I get about a month of decent weather every season to work on mine before it hits the salt but its never enough.

Keep at it Bud, your doing a heck of a job!

.......................Lou

Some of those Dyers are absolutely gorgeous!  If only I had the money, and the right shipyard for the job...

There is no way you would recoup the investment locally though, cause guts here just don't appreciate the vessel like they do on the east coast. 

I would love to convert her to a flush deck, half cab model though.  I may get to these bigger projects myself someday.
Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

Shark Hunter

John,
You have caught more fish in that Dyer than I have in my lifetime.
Keep those reports coming and be safe out there by yourself. ;)
Life is Good!

Alto Mare

Not easy going out on your own...this isn't inshore fishing, but looks like you've done it a few times before. ;)
I'm glad you're having fun and also glad you're covering most of the cost to run that bad boy.
Excellent report Captain!

Sal
Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.

Benni3


gstours

   Thanks for the many and great pictures and details.   You love your fish.  We love em too!   Have fun,   Good Luck. :)