Two Firsts For My Girls

Kevin Nakamaru had a three day charter on his boat so he offered to let his mate Matt take us out on the 37 Merritt "Northern Lights". Debbi, James, Laurel, Matt, and I loaded up early one morning and headed out to the flat calm Kona waters to see what we could find. The fishing had been steadily improving so we were eager with anticipation as we watched the lures splash along the surface. Around noon there was a splash behind one of the lures, but the fish missed the target. Everyone watched and hoped the fish would come back and try the lure again. Then a few seconds later the fish came back, this time devouring the lure and getting hooked up solid. Laurel grabbed the rod, jumped in the chair and held on as the fish took line. The rest of us cleared the other lines and watched in amazement as a beautiful spearfish (the rarest of all the billfish) jumped completely out of the water. Laurel did a great job, reeling the fish to the boat and a couple minutes later the leader was within reach. As I gently pulled the fish closer, the rare spearfish displayed some of the most brilliant colors one could ever hope to see. James pulled the fish in the boat and everyone celebrated Laurels catch! After everything settled down we began trolling again and a short time later there was a big splash on the exact same lure. Again, the fish missed and nothing, we watched and waited. Then the fish came back, got hooked up and this time Debbi jumped in the chair. This fish acted entirely different than any fish we had encountered so far on this trip. Line peeled off the reel but the line angle went strait down. After we got everything cleared and organized and the fish settled down we began to see the thump, thump, thump of the rod tip, a tell tale sign of a tuna. Could Debbi be hooked up to her first big ahi? A few minutes later our suspicions were confirmed when deep down into the clear, blue pacific waters we could all see the big yellowfin tuna sporting it's long yellow streamers. My wife had applied maximum pressure with the heavy tackle, thus wearing the tuna down and making my job on the leader an easy one. I pulled the 130lb ahi within range and Matt and James quickly gaffed and hauled our catch onboard. This was Deb's first yellowfin and one to be proud of! It was another great day of fishing under the Kona sun and two great fish that my girls can now check off their lists. Great going Laurel and Debbi today was your day to shine.