A question I receive almost daily is “when is the best time of year to go fishing in Kauai?”
Extremely tough to answer as mere mortal. Mother Natures hand is constant in moving and changing the patterns of fish here in the islands on a monthly and yearly basis. Overall, when the waters warm to higher temperatures we get larger migrations of pelagic species (yellowfin tuna (ahi), Mahi mahi, ono (wahoo), and several varieties of marlin. This comes in waves through the primary season of March- September. Fishing can be really hot one day with piles and birds everywhere and some subtle changing can alter everything and the ocean can be a barren desert the following day.
Each day se leave with anticipation of the “hunt” for these migrating species and really can’t control what Mother Nature is going to have in her bounty that day.
The large yellowfin tuna, we call Ahi, are the prized possession of every local fisherman here on the island and a major factor in the fishing addiction we all possessed from youth here on the island, spawn through he summer months. The feral peak for these trophy tuna is June/July as the water temperature hits their ideal setting. This season however everything got pushed back into the fall months. While we did catch a decent number of tuna through the summer months, fishing has ramped up into the fall and the bite has been unusually strong for the yellowfin.
Going back to the original question, you can see its. tough one to answer. The basic rule is “you’ll never catch them if you don’t try!”. When going out fishing in Kauai waters it’s great to have positive attitude and enjoy the experience and the thrill of the hunt! You never know what second will start one of the biggest battles of your life.
