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Top ahi stats for 2012

By Staff | Feb 7, 2013

From left, Capt. Fuzzy Alboro, Jay, David, Brandi, Capt. Kenny Bauchman, Brad and Trenton caught this 200-pound ahi.

LAHAINA – The Reel Hooker boated a record-sized “Allison” yellowfin tuna weighing 222.2 pounds by wahine angler Shauna Turner. She was fishing with Capt. Greg France and deckman Chris Wong.

They were about five miles on the NASA-Buoy side of the K-Buoy off the backside of Lanai. It was looking good as they finally found the birds and porpoise school. They were running out of time, with Greg about ready to head back to Lahaina. About ten minutes later, on their last pass through the school, they had a bite on a salmon-colored Lee Aoki lure.

The ahi took off straight down, ripping out the 60-pound test line from a 50-class reel for about 150 yards, and then stopped. It took Shauna an hour-and-a-half to wrestle her record ahi to the boat.

This is the largest recorded yellowfin tuna ever landed by a wahine angler for Maui. It is also the largest ahi in nine years. It is the third largest by a Lahaina charter sportfishing boat and the fourth largest for Lahaina Harbor since 1977. The Lahaina Harbor record is 235 pounds caught during the first Lahaina Jackpot Tournament in 1977.

The Die Hard landed a “Toad”-sized “Allison” yellowfin tuna weighing in at 200 pounds by the Johnson family. Dad Jay, mom Brandi and sons David, Brad and Trenton were fishing with Captains Fuzzy Alboro and Kenny Bauchman.

From left, Richard and Blake Van Den Elkhof, crew Brandon Maxwell and Capt. Mike Tappero landed this 198.7-pound ahi. PHOTOS BY DONNELL TATE.

They were fishing the JJ-Buoy located in 900 fathoms of water nine miles off the south side of Kahoolawe. Fuzzy was “walking” an Akule bait around the buoy, raising the ahi.

They fought the fish on a stand-up 50-class reel for about ten minutes, with it not really pulling much of the 100-test line as it just swam around.

Things changed in a hurry, with it taking the tag-team family an hour-and-20-minutes to land their fish.

Their ahi is the second largest of the year. It is the 13th largest ahi for a Lahaina charter sportfishing boat since 1980 and the seventeenth largest for Lahaina Harbor since 1977.

Who said you can’t catch a record-sized fish on a two-hour charter? The Start Me Up Too did just that, landing a 198.7-pound “Allison” yellowfin tuna by Robert Van Den Elkhof. He was fishing with Capt. Mike Tappero and deckman Brandon Maxwell.

From left, Shauna Turner, Capt. Greg France and deckman Chris Wong with their 222.2-pound ahi.

Having just a two-hour trip, Mike headed south, making an ono run down toward Olowalu. They were almost at the end of the charter as they headed back toward Lahaina. They were in only 30 fathoms of water (180 feet) off Launiupoko Park, about two-and-a-half miles from town, when Brandon screamed out, “Fish on!”

Mike looked back and saw a giant hole in the water at the long rigger position. The fish screamed off the 100-test line from an 80-class reel in a hurry. After an hour-and-a-half tug-of-war, they finally boated their fish.

Eleven Lahaina Charter boats weighed 29 ahi over 100 pounds for 2012.

Two boats tied with seven ahi over 100 pounds: Die Hard (200, 158.8, 150, 141, 120.6, 115, 100) for a total weight of 985.4 pounds, and No Problem (198.0, 167.8, 135.4, 122, 115, 109.8, 101.2) for a total weight of 949.2 pounds. Three were caught during one charter (198.0, 167.8, 109.8). Three boats tied with three ahi over 100 pounds: Jayhawk, Action and Hinatea.

The best month for 100-pounders was July with 12 hitting the scales, the largest being 222.2, 200.0, 198.7 and 198.0 pounds. They were all caught during a 17-day period. The best run was also during July over an eight-day period with eight weighed. The best day was on July 28 with four over 100 pounds (198.0, 167.8, 115, 109.8). The May through August ahi numbers saw 21 weighed over 100 pounds. Both January and May had four 100-plus-pounders recorded.

There were two ahi (Allison yellowfin) that made the 200-pound club: The Reel Hooker with their 222.2 (wahine record) and the Die Hard with a 200-pounder. Two boats weighed fish less than two pounds away. The Start Me Up Too had a 198.7-pound fish, with the No Problem at 198.0 pounds. There were three ahi in both the 160- and 150-pound range.