This week on the IHU NUI II our new 40′ Miller Marine was taken out for the first time to try everything out from the engines to the fishing equipment. We call this the “Shake Down” voyage to get the bugs out so to speak. Well this proved to be a good day to test it out as we had fishing veteran Louise Hawkins aboard along with Captain McGrew’s wife Jennifer Rice, Tony Clark and Carlton Arai. Louise is 95 years old and holds three Women’s IGFA world records on light tackle and just happens to be Jennifer’s grandmother. Louise and her husband Clifford have a long history in Kona with fishing on their boats the Papa’s Keiki and the Papa’s Keiki II. They came to Kona in the early 1960’s and built their first home in Papa Bay. They participated in many of the Kona Mauka Troller tournaments, the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament, the Kona Gold Jackpot, Kona Gold and the Golden Goddess tournaments. Jennifer came over as a young child to visit her grandparents and fish with them over summer breaks and holidays and even in between her breaks from professional figure skating and Ice Capades World Tours. However, Louise always took the Big Ones while Jennifer was trained to take the Ono’s and Mahi Mahi’s and became an excellent photographer capturing these exciting moments. Now the tables have tuned and history continues as Louise is happy to capture Jennifer catching the Big Ones! Today was no exception as good luck struck again with Jennifer catching her largest Mahi Mahi to date weighing in at 30 lbs. As many of you know this has been a long journey for the IHU NUI II. Starting off in Savannah, Georgia to be transported to Kona with some major detours that resulted in a year long journey to finally arrive here at it’s new home in Honokohau Harbor. This delay turned into a blessing as this situation helped us find the IHU NUI 45′ Monterey which is proudly docked next to the IHU NUI II. Today as we embark on our first official Charter on the IHU NUI II we look forward to many years of adventures fishing in Kona on this beautiful Kona Coast.