Fishing Reports
January, 2012
Happy New Year Everyone! 2012 has started off with a "bang"! The first "Grander" blue marlin was caught on January 7th and weighed in at 1,042 lbs.
Kona continues to surprise the world with our renown Blue Marlin fishery and we hope more of the fisherman around the globe continue to come to Kona to try their luck at catching one of these magnificent fish. The juvenile Blue Marlin and Striped Marlin have arrived and are giving our anglers a lot of fun on lighter tackle. Even the shortnose spearfish have started to show up and we always look forward to catching these fish as they are one of the most delicious pelagics found in our waters. We are also seeing a number of "gorilla" yellowfin tuna showing up in our offshore spotted dolphin pods and a 217 lb. specie showed up in our fish counts last week. We hope that you will be able to come to Kona this year and try your hand at big game fishing aboard the Tropical Sun and we look meeting you. May 2012 be a healthy and prosperous year for all of you and may you find yourself fishing on the Tropical Sun.
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. Dennis Cintas
December, 2011
Aloha and Happy Holidays,
We would like to take this time to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and hope that you are able to spend this holiday with your families and friends. Our fishing report for this month is rather short in that we only fished 6 days before we shut down our charter operations and went on our annual vacations. The fishing did get better as the month progressed but overall, the overall fishing in December was slow. Our family went to Senegal, West Africa to visit our son CJ who is a volunteer with the Peace Corp there. It was an incredible adventure and our family spent Christmas at the Peace Corp facility in Kedougou and New Years in Dakar. We have a renewed appreciation for what we have in our United States and want everyone of you to know how much of a sacrifice our Peace Corp volunteers give of themselves to help people around the world in 3rd world countries.
"Mele Kalikimaka"
Capt. "D"
November, 2011
Aloha & Happy Holidays,
November was a very slow month in Kona for fishing due to falling water temperatures and the lack of strong ocean currents provided by our trade winds. Although many of our anglers enjoyed inshore fishing for mahi-mahi and wahoo the offshore bigger game were scarce. Nick & Vanessa Lashea enjoyed a great day on the water during their late honeymoon trip catching tuna and mahi-mahi and taking their fillets back to their wonderful vacation home. There were similar productive fishing trips enjoyed by the Troyer family and the Gustuvson's and the "reef" fishing was spectacular for the young children. The versatility of our fishing here in Kona is what makes this type of vacation activity so much fun! At this time we would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. "D"
October, 2011
Aloha Everyone,
Well another October has come and gone and winter is fast approaching us here in the Islands. 80 degree water and 80 degree temperatures! If this doesn't make you want to jump on a plane and get over here then you must be living in a similar climate! October was a great month for yellowfin tuna and bigeye tuna with the Tropical Sun taking its many anglers to remote areas offshore where the tuna were in abundance. We estimate that we caught over a ton of fish during 4 different trips offshore and our guest were thrilled with the action and thrilled with getting to take so much fish back home. There were a number of nice blue marlin caught as well with an estimate 400 lb. Blue being the largest we tagged and released for angler Elizabeth Welsh. The weather here on the Big Island continues to be absolutely beautiful and the seas calm. We still have a good number of mahi-mahi showing up during their annual migration and the striped marlin and shortnose spearfish are on their way to Kona. We should have a terrific November and we are really looking forward to the return of many of our long time clients. We hope that you are able to get over here during the Holidays but if you can't, we want to take this time to wish you and your the very best that the Holiday Season can bring.
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. "D"
September, 2011
September has passed and unfortunately all too soon for the Kona charter fleet! September brought in ocean temperatures up to 84 degrees in certain areas of our Kona coast and the "algae" bloom brought an awesome amount of microscopic marine food into our waters and the pelagics we target followed right behind them. An abundance of Blue Marlin, Yellowfin Tuna, Mahi-Mahi and other exotics arrived and gave all of our anglers wonderful fishing trips aboard the Tropical Sun. Our largest fish during the month was an estimated 700 lb. Blue Marlin for angler Paul Anderson and his family watched in awe the magnificent fish displayed aerial jumps for 30 minutes of her battle. Great photos were taken of this fish and she is back swimming and hopefully spawning more of blue marlin. Another memorable trip was with Jessie Cherian and his group. They joined us for a light tackle trip and caught 50 - 60 lb. yellowfin, mahi-mahi up to 25 lbs. and many other smaller tuna to round out their 6 hour trip. As I said earlier, it was a terrific month for fishing and October looks like it might just equal September. Hope to see you over the winter holidays and if we don't, Happy Festive Season to all of our readers and longtime friends.
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. Dennis Cintas
August, 2011
Aloha Anglers,
The month of August 2011 was one of the best "Blue Marlin" fishing I have seen here in Kona during the past 10 years. The billfish were everywhere and hungry and we managed to tag & release 15 beautiful fish in the 150 lb. - 500 lb. range and we had to take 4 which didn't survive the fight. Our biggest release was a great fish caught by our return angler John Espositio which we conservatively estimated at 900 lbs. + and congratulations to John for an incredible job of angling. Mr. Hiroshi Tomita landed his first Blue Marlin over 500 lbs. and he is having a beautiful "head mount" recreated by Atlantic Taxidermy to complement his 300 lb. full body mount he had done 2 years ago. The yellowfin tuna run was not long this year but we managed to catch 14 beauties in the 125 lb. - 180 lb. range before they continued their migration south. August didn't produce the amazing wahoo run we normally see and we only caught a few pieces up to 48 lbs. The same applied to our usual good mahi-mahi run which never materialized either but we got lucky and managed to catch a few for our lucky anglers who took them to our Japanese restaurant "Sushi Shiono" for a magnificent preparation by chef Kay and chef Taka. September continues to be strong in the marlin category and we have already caught 2 fish in the 200 lb. class and were able to release them to grow bigger. We hope your summer was a good one and that you were able to spend time with family and loved ones. We thank all of you who were able to get out and fish with us on the Tropical Sun this year and invite those of you who were so fortunate to join us this winter.............
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. "D"
July, 2011
Aloha Fellow Anglers,
July was an amazing month of fishing on the Tropical Sun and the Kona fleet overall. Our anglers were treated with multiple specie catches on most days with some incredibly large Blue Marlin in the mix. We tagged and released three fish over 600 lbs, 10 fish were tagged between 150 lbs. and 300 lbs. and two of our marlin catches that had to be taken due to injury or mortal fatigue. There was also great fishing for small yellowfin and bigeye for the "keikis" (children) and also a sprinkling of mahi-mahi and wahoo to round out our great month. August is shaping up to be another fantastic month and we look forward to seeing many of our past clients returning to Kona for vacation and some great fishing. We hope to see you this summer so please make your reservation now and we look forward to fishing with you.
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. "D"
June, 2011
Aloha Fellow Anglers,
Wow! What a terrific month for fishing in Kona, Hawaii. Our fishing trips this entire month were very successful with lots of yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna, shortnose spearfish and Blue marlin. The water warmed up to nearly 79 degrees and lots of deep water shrimp entered our waters providing a great forage for our migrating pelagics. We look forward to the summer season getting even better and as I write this report, I've just returned from a 4 hours trip with Mark Kahn and his family and Mark landed a 110 lb. yellowfin tuna within 45 minutes of leaving the harbor. Summer is fast approaching and our charter calendar is getting very full so don't waste time thinking about going fishing just do it!! Take care and be safe out there.
"Keep 'Em Tight"!
Capt. "D"
May, 2011
Aloha Fellow Anglers,
May was a fairly good month for the Kona fleet and in particular for the Tropical Sun and its wonderful clients. Huge marlin were caught by Rick Gay (616 lbs.) and Christopher Swicegood (560 lbs.) and a number of others in the 250 lb. to 350 lb. range. The latter were all tag and realease! We also saw the wonderful arrival of the first run of "Ono" (Wahoo) which appeared in fair numbers and are great fighters. Our customers enjoyed great meals with the fillets we provided them and some of them took them to our sushi restaurant "Sushi Shiono" for the chefs there to prepare them a fabulous meal.
It looks as though summer is arriving on schedule with the water temperature warming up and more and more activity of bait in our waters off the Kona Coast. We are also seeing good numbers of deep water shrimp filling the bellies of our smaller tuna at the FAD's............... Always a good sign!!
Our summer calendar is filling rapidly so be sure to take advantage of some of the spots left and book your reservation on the Tropical Sun early.
In the meantime remember................."Keep 'Em Tight"!
Capt. Dennis ("D") Cintas
Tropical Sun Sportfishing, Inc.
(808) 960-5900
April, 2011
Aloha Fellow Anglers,
April was a good month for catching mahi-mahi, a few wahoo and an abundance of small (5 lb. - 15 lb.) tuna at our local FADS (Fish Aggregation Buoys). The fleet also enjoyed very good fishing for large yellowfin tuna (150-200 lb.) aggregating with the offshore pods of spotted dolphin.
A number of striped marlin and shortnose spearfish were caught and released aboard the Tropical Sun and all of our anglers had great fresh fish dinners from their catch. For all of you to know, we fillet any of the fish caught by our guests and bag it for transport to their resort/condo or to our "Sushi Shiono" restaurant to have it prepared.
Big marlin have started to show up in our waters and we managed to catch and release three Blue Marlin this month over 300 lbs. Make your reservations now for your summer trip as I expect it to be terrific fishing!
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. Dennis ("D") Cintas
Tropical Sun Sportfishing, Inc.
(808) 960-5900
March, 2011
Aloha Fellow Anglers,
Spring is here and the fish was absolutely terrific with large blue marlin arriving for their winter spawn and many juvenile males here to rendezvous with the big gals. We caught and released 3 blue marlin over 400 lbs. and another 7 in the 150 lb. to 200 lb. range.
Darryl and Judy Arnatoni of Northern California joined us for 2-days of spectacular fishing with Daryl, 74 years "young" catching 4 blue marlin and 2 shortnose spearfish. He was such a great passenger to have on board and his wife Judy did a great job with the photography.
Again March proved to be the arrival of numbers of mahi-mahi, juvenile blue marlin, striped marlin and shortnose spearfish. What we didn't expect was the TSUNAMI! We all survived this act of nature and thank God no-one here in the Islands were killed or injured seriously. We pray for the people of Japan that their lives may come back to some form of normalcy soon.
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. Dennis ("D") Cintas
Tropical Sun Sportfishing, Inc.
(808) 960-5900
February, 2011
Aloha Fellow Anglers,
February was an incredibly busy month for us with many snowbirds arriving in Kona for our fabulous weather and water activities. Our customers who chose to fish with us were elated with the great striped marlin, shortnose spearfish and mahi-mahi fishing we have in the late Fall.
Bob and Mary Nesbitt, long time clients and good friends enjoyed 2-days of good fishing and wonderful "catch" dinners at The Bangkok House in Kona. Joining us in February was the Krywulak family who were able to make their annual trek to Kona from Canada to fish with us. It was great seeing them all and, as usual, they brought their luck and we had good success with mahi-mahi and shortnose spearfish. John Young also made it back out here and we enjoyed some fabulous fishing for striped marlin and shortnose spearfish. As usual, John had chef Nick at the Beach Tree restaurant prepare his daily catch to enjoy with his family.
In all, February was a great month to see old friends, meet new ones and enjoy the fabulous fishing offered here in Kona during the late winter months.
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. Dennis ("D") Cintas
Tropical Sun Sportfishing, Inc.
(808) 960-5900
January, 2011
Aloha Fellow Anglers,
January, 2011 was an absolutely fantastic month for offshore fishing from Kona, Hawaii. The Tropical Sun enjoyed many wonderful fishing charters this past month trips where our anglers caught shortnose spearfish, striped marlin, huge yellowfin tuna, mahi-mahi, wahoo and barracuda. Our winter "Big Swell" condition didn't hamper much of our fishing days and the weather overall was absolutely beautiful most days. Our sea water temperature is still hovering around 77 degrees and the fishing continues to be good as of this writing.
Yesterday, we were able to catch two giant yellowfin tuna in the 110 lb. to 135 lb. range and released a striped marlin in a 6 hour trip. Hopefully February and our fast approaching Spring "bite" will continue on course.
Book your reservations on the Tropical Sun now and enjoy some of the best fishing around the globe. Take care and stay warm!
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. Dennis ("D") Cintas
Tropical Sun Sportfishing, Inc.
(808) 960-5900
December, 2010
Aloha Fellow Anglers,
Happy New Year! December was a terrific month for fishing in Kona and it would have been even better if we had had more tourists booking trips. Those anglers that did book on the Tropical Sun were rewarded with wonderful fishing as much of our local waters were teeming with current driven floatsam and the mahi-mahi, yellowfin tuna and wahoo fishing was off the charts. We had 10 of our 13 trips in December record 15 - 20 mahi-mahi, 20 - 25 yellowfin tuna in the 15# - 60# range and wahoo up to 30 lbs. We also saw quite a few shortnose spearfish in the 40 lb. class show up in our trip counts.
The water temperature is still holding around 78 degrees during the late morning and afternoon periods and the offshore porpoise schools are holding large numbers of 150 lb. to 200 lb. yellowfin tuna. Our best catch of the month were a 165 lb. and 210 lb. "Gorilla" yellowfin tuna caught by Mr. Shionya, one of our frequent Japanese anglers.
Our offshore water conditions remain mostly calm with daytime temperatures in the 80's. As the early days of 2011 unfold, it appears as though we will have a fantastic year of fishing here in Kona, Hawaii so be sure to book your trip aboard Tropical Sun early. Check out our updated photo gallery when you have time and we hope to hear from you soon.
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. Dennis ("D") Cintas
Tropical Sun Sportfishing, Inc.
(808) 960-5900
November, 2010
Aloha Fellow Anglers,
Well, the end to the year 2010 is fast approaching and what a strange and different year it has been! November was a great month for beautiful weather and calm seas off the Kona coast but the fishing was aboslutely HORRIBLE! The water temperature continued to stay at nice 79 - 80 degrees during the day but the small aku (skipjack tuna) which normally show this time of year never appeared and the amount of our other prolific baitfish, flying fish, was also almost non-existant. There were some mahi-mahi and a few big Blue Marlin that showed up but the overall fishing was poor to say the least!
The availability of our pelagic sportfish was unlike I've ever seen this time of year and way belwo our normal average. We had a few charters in November and got lucky on most of them with catches of huge yellowfin tuna being caught in pods of spotted dolphin offshore. We landed two big yellowfins in the 150 lb - 165 lb. class and the same client caught both of them over a 2-week period. We also caught an amazing 23 mahi-mahi in one day on some floating debris we found 15 miles offshore.
We sincerely hope that the last month of 2010 turns out to be a good month as we have many return clients flying in for their annual Hawaiian Christmas and there's nothing like fresh fish on the dinner table this time of year. In any event, we want to take this opportunity to wish all of our wonderful clients and those of you we haven't met a wonderful and joyous Holiday Season and we hope to see you onboard the Tropical Sun soon.
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. Dennis ("D") Cintas
Tropical Sun Sportfishing, Inc.
(808) 960-5900
October, 2010
Aloha Fellow Anglers,
October, 2010 was a very different month from what I've seen historically over the past 22 years. Water temperatures finally rose to 80 - 81 degrees during most days but there was no bait to be found. Ocean currents prevailed to the north and east for most of the month but the overall water conditions were not condusive to bringing in the bait and large pelagics.
We managed to "scratch" a few nice catches during the month but for the most part it was very slow fishing. We are hopeful that November brings a better oceanic atmosphere to our Island so that we can report a more productive fishing venue.
Hope to see you over the Holidays and if we don't, have a wonderful and festive season.
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. Dennis ("D") Cintas
Tropical Sun Sportfishing, Inc.
(808) 960-5900
September, 2010
Aloha Fellow Anglers,
Well September, 2010 has come and gone but it was the official start for our summer Blue Marlin run. We had a fabulous month catching a number of these beautiful fish with an estimated 500 lb. beauty being released by Nicole Tikomuro for his first ever "Tag & Release" blue marlin. We also enjoyed some pretty good shortnose spearfish fishing as well as a few notable mahi-mahi.
The water has warmed up to 80 degrees and is holding steady so we hope that, like years past, this October will be an awesome month for Tropical Sun and the Kona charter fleet. The weather off our Island continues to be warm and the seas calm so don't hesitate in calling us should you plan on visiting Kona over the next couple of months. Take care and Happy Halloween to you and your family.
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. Dennis ("D") Cintas
Tropical Sun Sportfishing, Inc.
(808) 960-5900
August, 2010
Aloha Fellow Anglers,
August was finally the month that we were all waiting for since June!
The water temperature rose to 78 - 79 degrees and the bait started to move in close to our Hawaii shores. Right behind them came the Blue Marlin and it was a pretty fair month after all. The Yellowfin tuna never made the impressive "spawn" return to the Islands as they normally do and we are still waiting for the albacore tuna run to start. There has been some indications with the waters still warming, that we will have a very late summer run of all species that never really showed up these past three months.
Our dear friends, Grady & Sue Mulbery have just finished another 3-day fishing adventure with us and we were lucky enough to get Grady three nice billfish while he was here including a Blue estimated at 375 lbs. Another great day included catching Jack Goluv (14 years old) his first Blue Marlin and he did a great job angling this beautiful 161 lb. specimen. The weather continues to be absolutely beautiful and the waters are calm. We hope to hear from you soon with travel plans to the Big Island and a fishing adventure with us on the Tropical Sun.
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. Dennis ("D") Cintas
Tropical Sun Sportfishing, Inc.
(808) 960-5900
May/June, 2010
Aloha Fellow Anglers,
May and June of this year started out as though summer was truly on its way with loads of wahoo in the 20 lb. to 60 lb. range, bait schools at our buoys and marlins starting to show and be caught in decent numbers. Even the yellowfin tuna started showing and "blind" strikes were getting more and more common with fish in the 150 lb. to 226 lb. range.
We enjoyed some of this fishing and had some very happy anglers but the fishing conditions shut down abruptly with a lot of cold water moving in and the fleet searching everywhere for warm water. All in all these past two months have been disappointing at best but hopefully July/August will show us the real Kona fishing summers as they normally do. Hope to see you this summer and we look forward to better months ahead.
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. Dennis ("D") Cintas
Tropical Sun Sportfishing, Inc.
(808) 960-5900
April, 2010
Aloha Fellow Anglers,
April was a great month for fishing but a horrible month for weather with winds blowing nearly everyday at 25 - 30 mph. the mahi-mahi liked it a lot and so did the big marlin. We enjoyed a great month with loads of yellowfin catches up to 50 lbs. and mahi-mahi up to 45 lbs. Most of our guests finished their charter fishing trips with bags of fillets of yellowfin tuna, big eye tuna, mahi-mahi and shortnose spearfish.
We managed to catch 7 blue marlin this month and were able to release all but one which is pictured in this report (Photo #40 in gallery). This beautiful female ended up getting wrapped in the leader and drowned so we had to take her. She weighed in at 601 lbs. and is now getting reproduced for our lucky angler through Atlantic Taxidermy.
We are seeing the weather improving as we close out this April and hope that May, 2010 provides good weather and even better fishing. Book your charter reservation now and remember.......................
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. Dennis ("D") Cintas
Tropical Sun Sportfishing, Inc.
(808) 960-5900
March, 2010
Aloha Fellow Anglers,
March, 2010 has been a great month for big fish and Tropical Sun has caught it's share with (2) fish over 200 lbs., (1) fish over 300 lbs., (3) fish over 400 lbs., (1) fish at 578 lbs and yet another "Beast" at over 800 lbs. caught and released the last week of this month by a great sportsman from Pennsyvania.
It's been an amazing "winter" spawn for our magnificent Pacific Blue Marlin and we are hopeful that the spring run of smaller males and striped marlin is on its way here. The mahi-mahi fishing and wahoo fishing has been very poor with only a few fish coming in each week but Spring is here and that generally translates to terrific inshore fishing for wahoo and mahi-mahi. Keeping our fingers crossed!! The yellowfin tuna fishing has also slowed down considerably and the porpoise schools haven't been carrying much fish.
We are very thankful that "Spring Break" has brought so many families and vacationers to our Islands as we have been very busy and we hope that our economic recovery contunes. The "Tropical Sun" continues to please our clients and she continues to "raise" a lot of fish. We invite you to join Ryan and I for a great day of fun and fishing aboard our 43' Bertram and hope that you give us a call when making your plans for Kona, Hawaii. Happy Easter and remember......................
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. Dennis ("D") Cintas
Tropical Sun Sportfishing, Inc.
(808) 960-5900
February, 2010
Aloha,
Well February 2010 has passed us as quickly as it came around and the fishing this past month was good compared to January. Hopefully, we'll continue seeing a steady improvement through the month of March. February was a month where there wasn't many fish showing on the weekly reports but as soon as the full moon arrived it was terrific fishing. The fish that arrived close enough for us to target were big and feisty. We tagged the biggest Blue Marlin marlin so far this year with an estimated 550 lb. beast. That same morning we caught an estimated 200 lb. Blue Marlin and a 30 lb. shortnose spearfish. The Yellowfin tuna are in the porpoise schools and biting and this years' biggest, a 205 lb. giant, was caught just two days ago. There are many more like this one swimming around these pods of spotted dolphins. The wahoo are starting to show and we saw a 40 lb. and a 25 lb. just last week angled by our charter clientele as well as a 30 lb. mahi mahi.
The FAD's are finally starting to accumulate some small yellowfin tuna and skipjack which makes light tackle angling really fun. We sincerely hope that this tough economy hasn't effected you and yours too severely and we hope to see you here in Hawaii very soon. By the way, if your trip is to Kona don't forget to give us a call as we have quite a few open bookings right now and would love to have you aboard the Tropical Sun. Until next month, I hope you get out fishing and I hope that your angling dreams come true!
"Tight Lines"!
Capt. Dennis ("D") Cintas
Tropical Sun Sportfishing, Inc.
(808) 960-5900
January, 2010
Aloha,
Happy New Year everyone!
Well this new year has been a real "odd" year so far as the El Nino phenomenon is upon us here in the Islands and fishing has been extremely unpredictable. The water temperature started the month with consistent 78 - 79 degree surface temperatures and has now settled back into the 77 - 78 degree range. This is a good sea temperature for all of our migrating species and especially for yellowfin tuna.
The yellowfin tuna have been very consistent so far and many fish in the 130# - 190# range have been caught in the spotted dolphin pods outside out coastline. We have had terrific success with the billfish and yellowfin as well considering the number of trips we've taken this year. The shortnose spearfish and striped marlin are starting to show up in our waters and quite a bit of bait has migrated close to our shorelines as well. Our 43' Bertram continues to satisfy our customers in both comfort and fishability and we are so pleased with her addition to our fleet.
We sincerely wish all of you a wonderful and happy new year and hope that Kona is in your plans for vacationing this year. Call us or e-mail us to arrange an exciting day on the water on the Tropical Sun and its friendly crew.
"Keep 'Em Tight"!
Capt. Dennis ("D") Cintas
Tropical Sun Sportfishing, Inc.
(808) 960-5900
