Our friend Captain Kevin Nakamaru from Kona, Hawaii was staying with us for a couple days while he was in town to speak at the Billfish Expo. Kevin is a great fisherman who we look up to and have a lot of respect for. Two years ago we caught eight blue marlin and six big yellowfins in a single day fishing with Kevin on his boat Northern Lights. Last year we stayed with him for two weeks and got a bunch of blue marlin, spearfish and tuna. He made time to fish one day with us on the L&H before returning to Hawaii. Wes and I caught bait in advance so we were able to get an early start. Debbi, James, Laurel, Kevin, Wes and I left early in the morning and hit the edge at sun up. Conditions were good, with a brisk north wind and a little bit of current. After getting set up we hooked a double header sailfish on the kites and everyone was happy. We set back up and immediately hooked a triple. After releasing these fish, I took the L&H back inshore and spotted a pack of sails tailing down sea. Our team casted baits at the tailing sails everyone was hooked up. We had five fish on and sailfish were jumping everywhere behind the L&H! After some great angling and a lot of backing down, we released all five of them. By now it was only 8:30 in the morning and we already had ten releases. For the next few hours the fish kept tailing and we picked away at them and got some nice dolphin. By noon we had twenty sail releases, but our bait supply was getting low. My friend, captain Neil Orange Jr. was coming home from a tournament in the Keys and offered to give me his bait. We pulled the lines in and met up with Neil to replenish our live bait supply. After running back offshore and getting the kites back out we immediately caught a double. By now the wind switched out of the north east and the fish stopped tailing, but we continued to catch them on the kites. The bite slowed down a little but we were still getting plenty of bites. Later in the afternoon, Laurel and James joined me in the tower. I ran down to get something and as soon as I got to the cockpit a sailfish grabbed the right middle. I picked up the rod and hooked the fish. James backed the boat down after my sail and Laurel came down to grab the leader. This made me a very proud dad and I felt so very fortunate to be blessed with such wonderful children! We continued to catch fish and got another triple header just before sunset. This put our final talley for the day at thirty-three sailfish releases, some nice mahi, and a hammerhead shark. This was the most sailfish ever for the L&H and the most anyone has ever caught out of our marina. Best of all it was a wonderful day with family and friends and a fishing trip we will never forget!
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