It was a year ago that “The Bright Side” first ran in West Hawaii Today. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who reads this column, and thank everyone for the kind words and nice comments when we see one another around town.
My mantra for each article is: if it doesn’t make me laugh it ain’t gonna make you laugh and to carry on, loosely in the spirit of Harry Lyons. Like all art it seems to work — sometimes.
To WHT, thanks for having me for a year. I look forward to 2020 and Year 2. To the readers, mahalo nui loa for taking the time to read The Bright Side.
Mele Kalikimaka a Hau’oli Makahiki Hou!
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The Christmas season is upon us, and for people far and wide, sentiment flows as freely as egg nog. Young families love the Christmas season for the memories in the making while some older folks reflect upon memories made in the years gone by. The warm feelings of the past may carry some through the quieter times of present. There are as many scenarios as there are people
One thing is universal, the excitement of children is contagious. Doctors say one person can’t feel what another feels, but it is only natural to think back on when you too were full of that giddy feeling, and get a bit sentimental yourself.
So I gave in to the temptation and conjured up that gleeful feeling kids exude, running around the Christmas tree like banshees. As if on cue, that old electricity scampered up my back, and happy moments from the past flooded in. Want to know what memories and imagery accompanied the flow of my sentiment?
It it was the snap, crackle and pop of 130-pound monofilament line under the strain of about 70 pounds of drag. The slight groan of a 180-pound rod, bending only at the last two guides filled out the bottom end while the treble was topped off by the squeak of rubber soles trying to find a purchase on a slippery footrest.
Yes, indeed.
The exhilaration of heavy tackle angling — performed well — with tackle and man maxed out against a beast that recognizes your impact as one might a mosquito, is arguably as exciting to those who have experienced it as a puppy under the Christmas tree to a kid.
Christmas comes like clockwork every year, and is there for all who want to partake. Hooking into a truly large marlin and going against it in a professional manner, however, is fairly rare. Kona is known as a “big fish” fishing hole though and the guys here are matched only by the guys fishing for giant black marlin on the Great Barrier Reef in terms of ability to match man, tackle, boat and crew against giants. So the excitement of that fishy Christmas feeling can come to anglers on the Kona coast on any given day of the year, which makes it a fishing hole that is famous around the world.
To celebrate this gift of Big Fish that Kona bas been given, a new “Big Fish” tournament has been scheduled for the spring of 2020. In the “old days” the Kona fishery operated on a seasonal pattern that was pretty reliable. The winter fishery of striped marlin and spearfish would give way in spring to the appearance of large female marlin in March and April. In May and June an armada of small male marlin would descend upon the Kona coast for the annual spawn. Ahi would move in, first to the porpoise schools, and then up and down the coast, frustrating anglers by rolling around in plain sight, but not biting while they too, spawn.
Long about September the males would move out, while some of the large females hung around. As Christmas neared, it was by and large just back to stripes, spearfish and mahimahi that surfed in on waves generated by the cold fronts and winter gales.
In the past two years, that pattern of old has mostly returned, along with the added bonus of blue marlin of all shapes and sizes hanging in here, year round. The big news, however, is that the spring run of big blues has returned. In March and April of 2019 and 2018, more than 50 big blues over 500 pounds were caught or tagged and released. That was 50 plus each year!
No other fishing hole on earth can boast that, but as the famously boisterous Capt. Peter B. Wright often said, “It ain’t boasting if it’s true!”
Since it is, indeed true, the Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series has breathed life back into a big-fish tournament that was tinkered with many years ago — the Lazy Marlin Hunt. The Hunt will fish on March 27-29 in 2020 and become the new Leg One of the HMT Series.
The tournament was named the Lazy Marlin Hunt for the way in which truly large marlin can appear to be swimming effortlessly while pulling on 70 pounds of drag as if they weren’t even hooked. They can also appear in your lure spread, just paddling along, grabbing at a lure every now and then as if a standing elephant grabbing toying with peanut offered over the rail.
That was the idea anyway. A social media questionnaire and an email contact list query returned positive response to keeping the name and the classic Craig Smith logo – so there we have it. The Lazy Marlin Hunt lives again!
To enter or for more information, log on to konatournaments.com.
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The Kona Charter Desk has opened at the Fuel Dock at Honokohau and everyone is happy to report that the weigh scale is back up and operational, and has been for a few weeks now.
New proprietor Rey Rubaclava owns the charter boat Miss Mojo and he has teamed up with Charter Desk veteran Amber Hudnall, owner of Sea Wife Charters. They report that they will be booking all the boats in Honokohau in pretty much the same manner as the “old” Charter Desk did for years.
They have a New Years Day tournament scheduled and the base entry fee is only $250 per team and they will pay three places — to the three largest fish weighed. Optional categories are available for marlin, ono, ahi and mahimahi.
For more information, log on to: konacharterdesk.com
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The Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series is having a year end clearance sale of all their tournament T-shirt designs produced under the trademarked WIREMAN brand.
All items can be purchased on line with a credit card, along with USPS Priority Mail shipping, which will get your package delivered in time for Christmas – if you live in Hawaii.
Being a clearance sale, most sizes are available in most designs, but that can change as limited inventory goes out the door.
To shop for tournament T-shirts, just log on to konatournaments.com/merchandise.
