Quote:
Originally posted by JohnnyDeep:
I used to live in the Palisades above the Airport in Kona, My bosses dad ran the Puka Kai out of honakohau harbour...For gear you will want two Penn 5080 or 5080b rods with matching penn international 80s, and for plugs check out page 49and50 in the cabelas saltwater cataloge the Kona pak is a great starter, and you troll fast...20mph or so Trade the downriggers for a fighting chair with a gimbal rodholder so you can rest the rod against the straps and still crank the reel.
I caught my first marlin out there on a 15ft ali'i kai within sight of the pier in downtown Kona. It was only 585lbs but with the small boat it took us about 5 hours to finaly get it up to the boat. Before you think of getting cheap gear think long and hard, when you finaly hookup you are going to spend the next 1 to 12 hours stapped in and working yourself and your gear harder than you can imagine and Marlin will never give you a break...Its AWESOME...one big run and somebody starts pouring water on your reel to cool it off and it STEAMS!!! In 85 degree heat...just seeing it will get you hooked, if you catch one you may never come back!
For mackeral and jack mackeral wich run 2 to 4 lbs(Catch 'em for bait and lunch) a salmon rod or even a light trout rod is perfect. For Barracuda, Mahi Mahi(dolphin tuna) and Ono(Wahoo)a good salmon rod will work fine( a little weak for big 'cudda), but if you do hook up with something bigger they will spool you before you can break it off. Ulua(crevali Jack) and all the tunas will require bigger gear, your boat is fine if you want to go that route, But many times you can get a used boat with all the gear and a chair cheaper than it would be to ship yours over and buy gear and convert it to a fighting chair...oh and don't forget the fish box, fish spoils fast when its 85 and no shade,you will need one at least six feet long and bigger is better...Last time I looked the rods were 3 or 4 hundred...get my drift. DO NOT go there and NOT fish, I went every chance I had and got to see 3 granders in the boat, and just about everything else you can think of. even better is get hooked up with someone who has a boat, buy beer and lunch and go...(the deli at Honakohau used to make incredible subs, like 2 pounds, on warm bread right out of the oven...) god I could go on forever rolleyes
Nah no happy memories fer me laugh laugh
You got a 500 lb Marlin in by yourself? What is an ali kai?