Shawn Rotella

Captain Shawn Rotella runs Night Runner Sport Fishing out of Kailua-Kona and is the Big Island's original light tackle, live bait specialist. A Virginia Beach surfer turned full-time fisherman, he targets wahoo, yellowfin tuna, and mahi mahi, and pours his own custom lead bullet lures. In his In The Spread videos, Rotella teaches slow trolling live bait for wahoo, custom lure making and rigging, yellowfin trolling around skipjack, and mahi tactics on floating debris, all with the relaxed, instinctive read of a lifelong waterman.

Instructor's videos

Shawn Rotella came to Hawaii to surf. He stayed to fish. What started as a move from Virginia Beach to chase waves on the Big Island turned into a life on the water, and for more than fifteen years he has run Night Runner Sport Fishing out of Kailua-Kona, one of the few truly owner-operated charter boats in the harbor. The surfer's read of the ocean never left him. Rotella stays relaxed, trusts his instincts, and notices patterns most anglers miss.

Kona is the big game capital of the world, and while Rotella is no stranger to giant blue marlin, he built his program around something different. He is Kona's original light tackle and live bait specialist, targeting wahoo, yellowfin tuna, and mahi mahi day in and day out, with bottom fishing for giant trevally, amberjack, and snapper when the offshore bite calls for a change. He runs the Night Runner, a 38-foot custom Kona boat rebuilt from the ground up in 2024, and he fishes it clean, fast, and dialed in.

Rotella is also a world-class lure craftsman. He pours and rigs his own lead bullet wahoo lures, choosing skirt colors and building piano wire leaders and hook rigs to run true at high speed, and that hands-on knowledge of how a lure is made feeds directly into how he fishes it. Few captains can tell you both why a lure works and how to build one that works better.

That range is what makes him such a strong teacher. He fishes fast and slow, artificial and live, and he reads how weather, tides, and moon phases move the bite.

In his In The Spread videos, Rotella breaks down slow trolling live bait for wahoo, including a simple trick to prevent cutoffs, custom wahoo lure making and rigging, yellowfin tuna trolling when skipjack schools crash the area, and mahi mahi tactics around floating debris. If you want to fish Kona the way a local does it, Rotella is the one to show you.

Personal website:
https://www.fishingkonastyle.com/