First Billfish for Guest Fishing in Kona

E J and Johnny Vaughn, longtime Huntington Harbour, CA residents and fishermen spent the day aboard the Fire Hatt in Kona, Hawaii, for a day of fishing.  They entered the local “Dirty Dozen” tournament held the first Saturday of each month.  With much anticipation, we blasted off the starting line after Start Fishing was announced.  Johnny told us E J would be the first angler.  He wanted her to catch her first Marlin.  After the “chair talk”, E J was wide eyed and anxious as we waited for the line to scream.  During that time we listened to the radio as two boats hooked up.  Top Shape boated a 301 lb Blue Marlin and JR’s Hooker boated a 458 lb Blue Marlin to take the lead. Then the stinger line was hit!  E J hopped in the chair and brought in her catch, while not a prize Blue Marlin we were hoping for, it was still her first billfish.  Look at her smile, I think she was happy with her catch.  After getting back to the harbor and taking photos, we started cleaning and packaging her fish.  We always look in the stomach to see what the fish are eating…. we found a tiny Marlin!  E J quickly pointed out that she really had a double…. hard to argue.