My husband was really looking forward to sportfishing in Hawaii. It's a little different fishing in Hawaii than it is in our home state of Florida where the fishing is best miles and miles offshore. In Hawaii, lines are in the water as soon as the boat is out of the harbor. There is deep water right off the coast. During the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament, we could see the boats from the beach at the hotel, that's how close in they were fishing.

We booked a half day fishing excursion on a boat called Tara even before we knew it was the winner of the tournament and we were hoping to have good luck while fishing on this boat. Darrell and his father and I boarded the boat in Honokohau Harbor early on 8/9/98 and met the crew, Captain Nate and First Mate Jeremiah. They hustled around getting ready, we stowed our gear, and off we went. Tara is a 46' Hatteras and was well equipped with all the fishing gear we needed. I didn't plan to fish, just watch, but I settled into the fishing chair just to see how it felt.

The crew got the lines in the water to try and catch tuna to use as bait for marlin. It was interesting to watch as they caught a tuna, ran a line thru it's mouth and kept it alive by running water thru it at the same time. First Mate Jeremiah was quite efficient while performing those tasks, below.

I had to give up my fishing chair so that the real fishermen on the boat could have a turn. My father-in-law landed one of the tuna that we used for bait. But try as they might all morning, they never caught anything but bait fish. I guess the billfish were tired after fighting with this same boat during the big HIBT tournament! But both men agreed that, even without a big catch, they loved being out on the ocean.

And what happened to me you ask? While Darrell looked longingly out to sea in search of that prize marlin, I decided the sofa in the cabin looked pretty good so I tested it out for a few hours. After all, I had to get some rest so I would be able to snorkel later. We had booked a snorkeling trip for that afternoon so we had to be back to port by noon. The crew, anxious to catch some fish, was willing to stay out all afternoon if we wanted to but I didn't want to lose the deposit on the raft trip. After all, the guys had another charter booked for 8/11 so they'd have another chance at "catching the big one" then.

On 8/11, the guys got up early and headed out again, this time on Pamela, booked thru the Kona Charter Skippers Association. Pamela is a 38' Bertram sportfisher out of the same harbor. I decided not to go along on this one, I could wait until later to hear the fish stories when the guys got back. Well the story was much the same as the previous trip, a beautiful day on the water but no fish. Darrell was still glad he had gotten to fish even if there was no prize marlin tugging at the end of his fishing rod on either trip. See, doesn't he look happy?

Next: Exploring the resorts on the Big Island of Hawaii

INTRO/ WEBRINGS	OAHU	HAWAII/ KONA	HILO/ VOLCANO
SNORKELING	FISHING	RESORTS	LINKS

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