Tag: kona

Search continues for Hawaii angler pulled overboard by ‘huge fish’

Authorities are searching for a man who appears to have been pulled overboard by a large tuna while fishing Sunday off South Kona, Hawaii.

Authorities are searching for a man who appears to have been pulled overboard by a large tuna while fishing Sunday off South Kona, Hawaii.

Mark Knittle, 63, was fishing with a friend about four miles beyond the Honaunau Boat Ramp when the pre-dawn incident occurred, according to Hawaii News Now.

Knittle, from the community of Captain Cook, had just hooked the tuna and told his friend, “The fish is huge,” moments before going over the rail.

Mark Knittle image courtesy of Hawaii Fire Department

It was not clear whether Knittle was harnessed to his rod and reel and fishing with a super-tight drag, which could explain how he could be pulled overboard.

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The friend tried to grab the line and also jumped overboard to try to reach Knittle before he vanished underwater.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that Hawaii Island police have opened a missing person case involving Knittle, who is 5 feet 10, weighs 185 pounds, and has curly brown hair and a white mustache and beard.

The search, involving the U.S. Coast Guard and Hawaii Fire Department, was scheduled to continue Tuesday.

–Yellowfin tuna image is generic

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Hawaii diver captures rare great white shark encounter on video

A Hawaii-based photographer was astonished Friday to spot a 15-foot great white shark swimming toward him off Kona on the Big Island.

A Hawaii-based photographer was astonished Friday to spot a 15-foot great white shark swimming toward him off Kona on the Big Island.

Deron Verbeck told FTW Outdoors that he was freediving and first spotted the shark about 100 feet below the surface. “But she turned and came up into about 30 feet when I got all the shots and video,” he said.

The accompanying video shows the shark’s close approach as Verbeck captures video footage with a GoPro while also shooting stills. (Video is best viewed with volume.)

Great white shark sightings are rare in Hawaii, but adult white sharks from Mexico and California seasonally visit island waters.

After the encounter, Verbeck joked on Facebook: “Well check this one off the list of things ‘I shouldn’t have been swimming with.’ My first ever GREAT WHITE SHARK! And it happened to be in Kona and a 5-minute drive from my house!”

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The renowned freediver told KHON 2 that he first thought he had spotted a tiger shark but quickly recognized the classic shape of a large female white shark.

“It just kept getting bigger and bigger and I was like, ‘That is for sure, 100% a great white,’ ” Verbeck said. “And I just shot as much as I could as she went by, and she just disappeared back off the drop, then I was just shaking like, ‘Woah! That was insane!’ ”

The shark, although inquisitive, did not seem to regard Verbeck as prey.

Carl Meyer of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology told KHON 2 that white sharks might be attracted to island waters by the seasonal abundance of humpback whales. (White sharks are known to feast on whale carcasses.)

Michael Domeier of the Marine Conservation Science Institute stated on Instagram that “after a quick scan” the shark did not match any of the nearly 400 white sharks in the photo-identification catalog from Mexico’s Guadalupe Island.

Deep Blue, said by some to be the largest great white shark ever documented, measuring about 20 feet, is in the Guadalupe Island database and has been spotted in Hawaiian waters.

Domeier said his research team suspects that “this beautiful female is from the Central California Tribe or Pt. Conception Tribe” of white sharks.

Domeier stated that the shark “was spotted literally right in front of my house. This is the stuff that gets me out of bed in the morning with a smile!”

Verbeck is an award-winning photographer who specializes in shooting while freediving, or on a single breath without scuba gear. Many of his photos are shared via Instagram.

507-pound blue marlin caught backwards is ‘awesome fish’

A fisherman in Kona, Hawaii, got the new year off to a hot start Sunday by catching a 507-pound blue marlin in unconventional fashion.

A fisherman in Kona, Hawaii, got the new year off to a hot start Sunday by catching a 507-pound blue marlin in an unconventional—but sometimes unavoidable—fashion.

David Setniker, fishing aboard his boat called Maverick with Captain Trevor Child and crewman James Bach, landed the behemoth marlin in 45 minutes.

“Another awesome fish for the boss today,” Maverick Sportfishing Kona reported on Facebook. “Unfortunately, the fish got tail-wrapped and came up backwards, so we had the smoke master ready.”

This was the third report recently of a blue marlin hitting 500 pounds or more in Hawaii.

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Reported on New Year’s Eve by the Lahaina News, Capt. Rod Quam and his wife Janice landed a 510.4-pounder, the fourth-largest blue marlin for Lahaina in 2020. This, too, was tail-wrapped and died on its way in, prompting the fishermen to keep the catch.

And in mid-October, Capt. Jonny Keiley and his dad, Capt. Deli, landed a 546-pound blue marlin, the second-largest for the harbor at Ali’I Kai, Lani, the Lahaina News reported.