Spend a day of Kona blue marlin fishing with Kevin Hibbard, starting in 1,000 fathoms just three miles offshore. He reads the current at a buoy, picks between the ledge and deep water, explains why he leaves milky green water, and talks through the bait that sets Kona apart from Costa Rica.
Fishing Kona with Kevin Hibbard for Blue Marlin
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Instructor:
Kevin Hibbard
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When do blue marlin bite off Kona?
Kona blue marlin fishing goes on all year, and day to day the bite comes in windows. Kevin Hibbard counts six in every 24 hours: the peak of the high tide, the bottom of the low, moonrise, moonset, and the moon straight overhead and straight underneath.
"Those phases are their breakfast, lunch, and dinner," he says, though the fish still pick at crumbs in between. The morning we filmed, off the most forward-jutting point on the west coast, where 1,000 fathoms is three miles out, boats nearby were hooking up as the tide changed, so he stayed through it before heading south.
Does weather change the blue marlin bite in Kona?
Most crews watch the barometer, and Hibbard does too. Ahead of a front, he says, "these fish are usually going to climb on and eat before" the weather arrives, then go into lockjaw. "Right before a storm, it can get really radical, big bites, a lot of fish."
After a storm the water can get mixed up, and big surf pushes milky blue-green water in tight. When he sees it, "I'm exiting stage left." He wants blue-purple water, and he expects the fish to follow the bait and the warm water: "these fish have tails. They move."
Why do Kona captains troll lures instead of live bait?
Live bait is a classic big-fish method, but most Kona boats troll lures. Hibbard's reason is the bait: state FADs and a kampachi pen pulled skipjack off their natural migration routes, and ledges that used to hold "massive amounts of bait" don't anymore.
Live bait also narrows the catch to a blue marlin or a big ahi. He live baits only where bait has held on a ledge for days, and his favorite part is watching a lure get eaten: "It's like watching a car wreck without anybody getting hurt." One area where he used to live bait gave him smaller fish; he called it "the cheese factory," with "a lot of rats."
Inside the video
- Stopping at a buoy to read whether the current is pulling in or out
- The ledge close to the island versus 1,000 to 1,200 fathoms, and how he picks
- Why he no longer runs a green stick, even with an "explosive" ahi bite
- Kona's flying fish, skipjack, yellowfin and mahi, a "different cafeteria" from other marlin destinations
Questions About Fishing Kona With Kevin Hibbard
Do Kona blue marlin bite in green water?
Rarely, in Hibbard's experience. Kona water stays clean so far from any mainland, and off-color water shows up mostly close to shore after big surf, so he leaves it. In Costa Rica and Mexico, over a shallower thermocline and with sardines and anchovies around, he has caught plenty of blue and striped marlin in pea green water.
What else bites Kona trolling lures besides blue marlin?
Striped marlin, shortnose spearfish, mahi, wahoo and yellowfin all eat Kona trolling lures. That range is one reason Hibbard trolls instead of live baiting: a big live bait mostly limits the day to a blue marlin or a big ahi, and spearfish and small mahi are cut out of the mix.
What does a pueo mean to a Kona captain?
The pueo is the Hawaiian owl. Hibbard says one flying over you in the morning or evening is supposed to be good luck, and when it happens on the drive down the mountain to the boat, it sets up the question every Kona morning starts with: what's going to eat today?
Reading the Kona Current
Which way the current should run off Kona, and what the crews do when it switches, is in Kona blue marlin fishing: current, ledges and lures.
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Captain Kevin Hibbard is a Kona-based marlin captain and wireman who runs the 2nd Offense out of Kona, Hawaii. He learned lure fishing from Kona's best, including Captain Marlin Parker, and has handled granders off Hawaii and Australia, including a reported 1,018-pound black marlin as the mate. He holds the shortbill spearfish world record on 16-pound tackle and is the first captain to win the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament's Henry Chee Memorial Trophy in back-to-back tournaments. A Pelagic Pro Team member, he teaches Kona lure spreads, hook rigging and reading structure for big marlin on In The Spread.
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