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Tried a new spot for a new goatfish and struck out. But found juvie opakapaka, weke nono and moana kali and the underwater camera revealed why they were there.

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Went north from my normal Windward launch since a friend said there were plentiful munu goatfish, nicknamed Joes, at the end of the reef. Water quality was excellent in 50ft of water and I could see the bottom, so I think the wary Joes could see me too. Only big moano were caught so I went out to the deep sandy area and stumbled upon juvenile opakapaka. They were about 12 inches, measured head to tail, which is the biggest they seem to get before they migrate out to where adult opakapaka live. 10 inch weke ula/weke nono were mixed in with them, too small to keep, and some fish ganged up and broke my 15lb damashi rig so I dropped the CanFish CamX underwater camera rig down to see what they were doing.

Surprisingly, the fish were spread out but a weke nono would always swim up to the rig, get hooked, and then a paka would bite the 2nd hook. Check out the short video.

I then went to my heavy damashi rig with a 6oz Promar Ahi Live Deception jig as the bottom weight, to handle these bruisers.

The paka’s swim bladder would push out when the fish got to the surface, so I just kept 5 paka (limit for Deep Seven species without a commercial license), released the small weke nono, and left them alone.

I paddled a mile south, with the help of my Bixpy motor, back to my normal grounds but it was slow. Only the taape wanted to eat. So I moved shallower on my way in, hoping to find opelu or a good goatfish.

Sure enough, a nice moana kali hit the top damashi hook of the heavy rig with the jig on the bottom, and got foul hooked on the 2nd hook. That beautiful fish saved the day.

I dropped the underwater camera back down and another moana kali was spotted as well as packs of moano and omilu, so it was confirmed that the rocky reef held a lot of predator fish.

Switching back to the heavy damashi rig with the 6oz jig, a big nunu (trumpetfish) hit the jig itself! Man that fish is slimy. I ended up getting the rig snagged and breaking off everything, DOH!, so I went back to the regular damashi rig with 20lb line.

I landed what looked like a wahanui that had its forehead and mouth spray painted with yellow paint. Maybe it was a male fish that was showing mating colors? Anyone ever see this before?

Something slammed the hooks and a 1.5lb omilu came up on the top hook with the rest of the rig busted off. I’m guessing multiple omilu got hooked.

With only the underwater camera rig still intact, I made the trek in.

After more than 7hrs on the water, this is what I ended up with. It was a beautiful, calm day and I was able to confirm some underwater hot spots, so I went home very happy. Here’s what we did with the fish.

I filleted the juvie opakapaka with a sharp, flexible knife. My wife pan fried it and said it was very good but she did have to pick out the pin bones. She liked ’em enough to want to eat more tonight! Next time, I’ll have to pull those out or cut out those pin bones, without wasting much meat.

The other 3 paka were given to a friend who also fried them, whole. Opakapaka, especially when young, is a clean, non-fishy tasting fish since they are eating plankton and critters they find in the sand.

My neighbor Brian has gotten deep frying the nabeta down to an art form. He actually fried this moments after I gave it to him.

The star of the day’s catch was the moana kali. Brian steamed it Chinese style, pulling the fish out of the oven when it reached a core temp of about 115 – 120 degrees, and then let it rise and balance out on the plate to finish.

Fished the New Moon with damashi and underwater camera and brought home fish to share with neighbors

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The New Moon, light wind and small swell was looking epic last week for the Windward side so I had high hopes of finding some really good fish. Well, there ended up being a strong South wind that chopped up the water and the bite wasn’t as good as previous New Moon days.

But I was able to drop the CanFish CamX camera down on the spots that had yielded fish before, and was surprised at what I saw. I launched at 8:30am and landed at 4pm, my longest trip ever, just to bring home enough fish to share.

The camera rig with just one hook below the camera, spooks the wary fish so I made sure I caught a couple opelu, a good size moano (manybar goatfish) and a 1lb 2oz malu (side spot goatfish) on my regular damashi rig before deploying it. Check out the above and underwater views of the malu in the video at the bottom of this post.

Two juvenile omilu circle the camera rig on slightly raised hard bottom

The fish finder marks were not that pronounced, and the bite was relatively slow, so there weren’t a lot of fish recorded but seeing what kind of bottom was holding fish was very interesting to me. In 100ft to 130ft, it was mostly barren, hard packed sand and the areas that had slightly raised rock and coral were holding fish.

An opelu school was over one of the hard bottom spots and I thought they ignored the camera rig’s lure but it turns out they missed the hook!

On the way in, at 3pm, after the solunar period ended, the bite turned on for more large moana and a nabeta, so I was able to fill the catch bag a bit.

Steamed malu
(top to bottom) Moana, nabeta

My neighbor Brian, who is a great cook and provides really detailed descriptions of how the fish turned out, said the malu had good, tasty meat but had smaller pin bones than the moana kali and did dry out a bit when steamed.

He left the scales on the nabeta and scored the flesh in a diamond pattern to enure that the inner meat cooked crispy. The moana had its pin bones removed and the fillets were fried separately from the body. Both fish were very good deep fried, but of course the nabeta was better.

I gave the two remaining moana to another neighbor and his wife who had never eaten moana before. They pan fried it and found it “very good eating” despite having to avoid the small bones.

opelu poke

Lastly, I removed the fillets from the medium and small opelu for a friend. It made less than a fist sized pile of meat but my friend seasoned with shoyu, Hawaiian salt, minced Hawaiian chili pepper and sesame oil and said it had a good taste with good consistency, and wasn’t fishy at all.

The bottom terrain views of this area confirmed why I’m not catching big uku there. Not enough rocks and structure to hold the food they need. Maybe I have to check the actual coral reef that’s in 50ft of water?

Here’s the above and underwater video of the malu.

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. I bought a JDM Shimano jig rod, saved money and caught some moana kali on it!

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We are Phenix Rods, and Ocean Legacy dealers but the shipping cost for 1 or 2 rods from either of their warehouses in Texas has become prohibitive. A number of friends have been buying JDM rods online from Japanese stores because of the favorable exchange rate, so I looked at the inventory of eBay Japanese stores and found a JDM version of the two 2015 Shimano Game Type J jig rods I have.

The rod is a 2020 version made with a 2-piece design that I don’t believe we ever saw in the US. The current 2021+ version we have here has a redesigned blank in 1-piece frame. Since the 2020 version is discontinued, and shorter to ship, the Japanese eBay seller ships for free. FREE from Japan, unlike $100 from Texas, effectively on sale because of the strength of the dollar.

I had been trying for years to bring in very good, affordable, domestic rods we don’t have in our tackle shops here but I guess I am giving up. There’s a reason why we don’t have a wide variety of rods here. The stores need to be able to easily sell what they ship here, which means the mainstream Ugly Sticks and Penns.

To sweeten the deal, the eBay seller I was watching notified me that he was running a 10% off sale. That sealed it. I ordered the Game Type J B604 which is between the B603 and B605 I have. The “60” stands for “6 ft 0 inches” and the “4” is the rod strength rating. The heaviest rod in the 6ft length is the “5”, and I wanted the “4” do handle a 6oz weight when I damashi fish, and land bigger fish quickly.

The rod arrived from Japan in 4 days! Free and fast!! And, inside the custom made 4ft 9in rectangular box was a $20 coupon for the next purchase from the eBay store. Gotta love the way the Japanese do business.

The top section of the rod slides into the section with the reel seat and rod butt. Putting the joint there doesn’t weaken the rod because the rod flexes higher up the blank. That design actually saves on blank material since the rod butt doesn’t need to be on a continuous 1-piece blank.

I was able to fish the full moon day this week, and the winds were light but 2 opposing swells and rain squalls really bumped up the water. The solunar bite period was supposed to start at 12 noon but the overcast skies and rain got the fish in a feeding mood and the damashi bite was fierce. I popped off a few drag pulling fish before realizing the B604 has a less forgiving tip than the B603 and I needed to lighten the drag a bit. Then a 2lb moana kali and a moana came up together.

Next a 3lb omilu was manhandled by the new rod and released.

3 live opelu were put out and taken, but eventually spit. Seems like the predators are still not big enough to find the hooks on a whole opelu.

The afternoon bite never really took off. I put some opelu skin on the damashi hook and a 1lb moana kali jumped on. It took a little while to unhook, and I tried to release it but it wasn’t looking too good so I kept it.

On my way in I checked the nabeta spots but looks like they moved to a safer neighborhood to avoid the winter swells.

I have mixed feelings about my new JDM jig rod. I absolutely love it and think it was well worth the price, but feel sad that I’m giving up on selling domestic rods in Hawaii.

My neighbor Brian beautifully prepared the larger moana kali for his family, 2 days after it was caught.

Went back to where the shark attacked in 2023, under eerily similar conditions

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I had been avoiding the area the shark rammed my kayak back in May 2023, partly because it was an area I don’t fish, and partly because I didn’t want to relive the experience. I had fished areas around it so it was time to do another check of the area. What made the outing even spookier was that it was flat calm like the shark attack day. I couldn’t find any partners to go with me, so I promised I’d keep my feet in the kayak, and have a Sharkbanz device on my right ankle for the rare times I had to put my feet over the side.

I started off at the opelu spot, a mile from the danger zone, and the school showed up on the fish finder. A fairly big one bit on the first drop and came up scratched up from something that tried to grab it. Oddly enough, that was the biggest opelu I caught all day, and the smaller ones didn’t get grabbed. After 5 were chilling in my footwell I decided not to use them as live bait, and instead dispatched them and put them in the fish bag. I had not had a hookup on live opelu for the last few trips, just bite marks from small predators, so I didn’t want to hassle of trolling a live bait while mining the bottom with the damashi rig.

Talk about a greasy calm, mirror-like surface

Next, I headed a mile north to the shark zone. I kept my eyes on a swivel and no sharks were spotted so I started damashi fishing. Fish bit in the areas with good sonar marks but they were either undesirables (hagi, hawkfish, trumpetfish) or too small (weke nono).

I considered keeping the bigger moano/moana but a lot of my friends aren’t fans of the small bones.

I took a break from the damashi action and dropped the Carolina rig with 2 tungsten weights knocking against each other. It got bit right away but sadly was a slimey nunu (trumpetfish). And look. More than halfway through the trip I realized I forgot to put the Sharkbanz on my right ankle!

I caught another random opelu one the way back to the first opelu spot, but that school had moved on. So it was time to crank up the Bixpy motor and head in through the flat water. I’m trying to figure out if the good bottom fish didn’t bite because the water was1) too calm, 2) the slow Winter season, or 3) the place is junk.

This was all I brought home, but I did get home shark-free. Note the bite marks on the largest opelu. My friend’s wife who loves fresh fish will prepare them like she does saba.

North swell died down a bit but dolphins, whales and sharks tried to prevent me from checking the shallow bottom fish.

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A week ago, the shallow bottom fishing was oddly slow and I suspected that the big north swell was the cause. Here’s how that trip went. To verify that, I started at the same area since the swell had slowed down, and the opelu bite was very good to start off. But the kanpachi, nabeta and juvenile opakapaka were still absent.

I trolled a live opelu out to 220ft and it got bitten but not taken by something not large enough to swallow it whole, it seemed.

Then a small pod of 5ft dolphins started playing in front of my kayak, so I left the area because I didn’t want to hook them. I don’t think they were the ones that mouthed my opelu but maybe they were?

I started heading to an area almost 2 miles south that I’ve only fished a few times that has held big opelu, big aha and ulua. I didn’t want to battle an ulua but hooked something as a lowered a weighted, live opelu down that felt heavy with some head shakes. My Phenix Black Diamond Heavy rod with Avet MX Raptor reel in low gear brought the fish in fairly easily and it turned out to be a mid-sized sandbar shark. Sadly, that was the first large fish I battled with the gear since fishing it for more than a year. It was nice to just grind the shark up.

Two small whales were spouting over the area I was headed to, which was a high spot that attracted bait, and luckily they kept moving south before I reached there.

Another live opelu got killed by an aha so I gave up on live baiting and focused on the damashi. I found the big opelu and they bit eagerly, but since I wasn’t gonna use them for bait I moved on to check the bottom fish.

The high (shallow) side of the drop off yielded small moana, small malu (side spot goatfish), hagi etc so I went past where the drop leveled off and found slightly larger fish on the flat areas. 1lb omilu, 1lb uku and 1lb malu.

The previous malu I kept turned out to be incredible steamed so I kept that but couldn’t find anything else to bring home.

My sister steamed the malu for my dad and said it was tender and flaky “melt in the mouth goodness”! I’ve only caught 2 keeper sized malu ever and they are an uncommon catch but are on the list of great eating bottom fish along with uku, yellowspot papio, kagami, weke nono, moana kali and nabeta.

Oio fishing and damashi fishing after the recent big North swells

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A series of North and North West swells large enough to run the Eddie Aikau contest swept through and were still present when we fished the Windward side of Oahu. Waves were wrapping and breaking on exposed outer reefs but the inshore reefs just had stronger than normal currents swirling. Friends found the oio bite to be good for 4lb to 6lb fish, so I was hopeful that the damashi fishing in my regular spots would be productive.

I had brought a 4-3/8 inch, sinking 2-1/4 ounce Duo Blazin 110 in case I had to stay shallow and whip the reef, so instead, I trolled it on the way out to the damashi spot, averaging 3mph. In 10 mins, a very skinny aha was on. I’m convinced this lure with its tight wobble would be deadly whipped for papio, and trolled for pelagics. I’ll try to test this lure in the future. You can learn more about Duo Blazin here.

Out at 140ft, there were non-breaking N swells rolling through, and chop generated from far off squalls. Not dangerous but not calm by any means. The bottom marks present on the last few trips were absent and all that came up were small opakapaka, yellow barbelled goat fish and tons of lizardfish. The target nabeta and kampachi were mysteriously absent. I managed to scrape up 3 opelu off small schools and gave up to see if the fish on the reef were behaving oddly also.

The fish were clustered in 40 to 50ft but a weird assortment of very small moana, hawkfish (not the po’opa’a) and unusual hinalea were caught. I did get lucky with a 1lb moana kali, but couldn’t find anymore since the “rubbish fish” were mobbing the damashi. The wind changed to a cold, offshore blast so I headed in.

Friends later told me that bottomfish often move deeper when large swells roll through so that could explain why the bottomfishing was so slow, with very small fish caught. But the oio fishing was better than expected for this time of year. Maybe the oio moved in shallow to take advantage of the swirling current stirring up critters?

Malu (side spot goatfish) compared to Moano/Moana (manybar goatfish) steamed

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Malu (Sidespot Goatfish)

Malu are less commonly caught than the ubiquitous moano/moana and I’ve actually only caught them on the Windward side of Oahu but at one time, they were caught all over. They are pink and white, with a black squarish spot in the middle of the body, hence the name side spot goatfish. They have a large head head like a moano, but a slimmer body like a white weke.

Moano have a stockier body than the malu and an 11 inch fork length individual is considered a big one. They have soft, flaky meat. Moano are usually steamed or fried, but have a lot of small bones so you have to be careful picking through the meat.

The 12 inch fork length malu I recently caught was steamed, and when we checked to see if it was cooked through, we found the uncooked flesh to be firm and mostly free of pin bones. When fully, the meat turned white, unlike the opaque meat of the moana. It was less fishy than moana and much easier to eat since there weren’t a lot of free floating bones. The meat melted in your mouth like moana does. Definitely worth keeping if they are large enough to steam.

Damashi/sabiki out fished live opelu and jigs but big fish kept breaking off, even with 40lb line! Early Winter shallow bottom report.

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I have been focusing on shallow bottom fishing since I don’t start early enough for productive pelagic fishing. Bottom fishing has less variables since the fish are usually somewhere in the general vicinity but the trick is getting the right ones to bite.

Almost all species of predatorial fish seem to be attracted to small bait imitations moving up and down in unison. Often the morning starts with opelu biting mid-water column, and when that slows, fish near the bottom eagerly hit the damashi rig. Some spots are loaded with taape and small moana. The former I kill and release back to the reef, the latter I release unharmed.

While it’s always fun to feel the bites and bring up fish, unhooking unwanted fish is just time away from catching the desirable fish like uku, yellow spot papio and kagami papio.

This report comprises of the last 2 trips. 1 trip back, a 1.5 lb uku got tail wrapped and hooked multiple times and by the time I unraveled it, it was in bad shape so I had to keep it. While I’ve been trying to get uku here for years, normally I wouldn’t keep one under 2lb.

Then some toau (invasive black tail snapper) started biting, and since their bones are easier to deal with than the small boned taape, I brought them home.

I went out to the 200ft area but could only get a kahala checking out the underwater camera.

On the way in, I checked the nabeta spot with a small piece of aku belly on the bottom damashi hook and something hit harder than a nabeta could and took some drag. I was stunned to see a 2.5lb uku come up, which is still on the small side but the biggest for this greater area that lacks large rocks and caves.

A fat 11 inch moana hit next and joined the catch. All in all, a productive day learning the bottom fish grounds. My neighbor fried the moana and toau fillets tempura-style and said they were amazing. The smaller uku was steamed, and the bigger one was given to a friend who said the sashimi was firm enough and very good despite only being 2.5lb.

CHL Minnows added to store-bought damashi set

The winds dropped again this week and I set out to bottom fish the damashi armed with the 1.5 inch CHL Minnows (the ones with the split fish tail) and some leftover Japanese wormy lures. Since even my 20lb rigs were broken off on the previous trip, I had rigs tied all the way up to 40lb test.

Look at the bait school on the fish finder!

The opelu showed up on the fish finder and bit in the shallows. I filled the bait tube, requiring me to drag the tube around. Although the wind was down there was a strong current running South to North that kept pushing me away from my spots.

I put out a live opelu and landed and released a big kawalea (Heller’s Barracuda). Good eating but like all barracuda, its slime is really stink.

The next opelu was neatly sliced in half but there were small teeth marks also, meaning it probably wasn’t an ono. The following opelu just had small bites taken out so I gave up live baiting and focused on the damashi fishing.

The afternoon bite really turned on, and omilus and bigger jacks kept jumping on the hooks. I released 3 omilu and each of my rigs from 15lb to 40lb eventually get their branch lines cut or light gold hooks broken off by heavy, strong fish. Those brutes didn’t fall for a jig, interestingly enough.

I was feeling a little desperate with nothing but opelu in my fish bag and then I stumbled upon a very small area where a 1.5lb yellow spot came up, followed by a 2lb uku and then a light colored goat fish that turned out to be a large 12 inch malu (side spotted goatfish). Whew, finally got some great eating fish to take home.

It was a lot of work to get these small good eating fish, with so much bycatch (taape, hagi, small moana, lizardfish, etc). I gave the big opelu to a friend at the beach who plans to make lomi opelu out of them, and kept a small one to freeze for bait.

The malu had crabs and some red & white shrimp in its stomach a little bigger than my CHL Minnows, and the yellow spot papio had translucent baby fish just a bit bigger than the minnows. No wonder the small damashi lures were so effective. Maybe really big fish were eating the same small food? I’ll be taking 40lb damashi with longer shanked Gamakatsu hooks next time and hope to see what’s been busting me off!

Here’s a comparison of the yellow spot papio and uku, prepared as sashimi and steamed.

Here’s a comparison of the malu and moana, prepared steamed.

We split up, friend went shallow for oio, I went after opelu. Kayak fishing during a rain storm.

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I had been under the weather and missed a few light wind days. I needed a calm, safe day to ease back into offshore kayak fishing. Guy, who I last fished with more than 1.5 yrs ago, and hadn’t kayaked since, wanted an easy day to make sure his equipment and body still worked. There looked like some rain but light wind on the Windward side on a rare day our schedules aligned so we made the plan that he would stay inshore and troll for papio, and dunk for oio. I would head out to the bait spot and try to catch opelu and other bottom dwellers on the damashi rig.

We drove through heavy rain and ponding water but our destination just had moderate showers. The wind was light as we launched but half a mile out, I began to get hit with increasingly stronger onshore wind and chop, 15mph with higher gusts. It was a slow slog to push through all that, taking much longer than normal. 2 miles from shore, I lost radio contact with Guy probably due to all the showers and mist.

Fish bite well on overcast, rainy days and I had high expectations. I turned on my old GoPro Session 4 I had mounted to the bow of the kayak, to share a view of what it looks like when I’m trying to catch opelu on the damashi rig. Sure enough, the opelu were in the mid-water column and hit all 3 of my hooks. If I could stay on top of the school and drop on them, they’d bite. You’ll be able to see the action on the video below.

The fish like foul weather but me, not so much. I was socked in and couldn’t see land, and the swirling currents kept spinning me around. I had to use my fish finder’s compass to figure out which direction I was drifting. It was so choppy and swirly I almost got sick, and had to do all I could to clear my head.

I really wanted to stay and bottom fish with the damashi but I had live opelu after all, so I put one out with a sliding weight and paddled around the area for a bit. Eventually that line got tangled with my damashi line since I was spinning around so much. When I checked the bait, it had been pulled off. I gave up on live baiting and focused on catching stuff on the bottom. I dropped the camera rig on good marks but didn’t hook anything. Was really hoping to capture some interesting footage.

Occasionally Guy and I were able to hear each other for a garbled sentence or two so we both knew the other was ok. I think my old vhf radio was at fault and probably doesn’t have the range it did when it was new. It sounded like the papio trolling was slow inshore.

I was leaving the bait area at 2pm and ran across some really good marks. So I dropped the damashi down again and a strong fish busted off a branch line but a nice lai (leather jacket) came up. I hate handling lai because its dorsal and anal fins have venom, but figured Guy could eat it and use the skin to make lures, so I snipped the offending spines and kept it.

The next couple of drops yielded opelu so I tried to catch as many as I could (see the video) but eventually other fish like lizardfish and the yellow barbelled goat fish hit the damashi baits. Even nabeta were in the feeding frenzy.

I ended up with 18 opelu for the day, my best so far.

Oio #1
Oio #2

I started to head in and got in radio range of Guy. He said he was anchoring in shallow water and using some freezer burnt tako (octopus strips), and caught a small oio. As I got closer to him he landed an even bigger oio that fought like a white papio, with a lot of head shakes. Nice!!

Guy said the shallow inshore waters were eerily still with steam coming off the surface. Such a contrast from the conditions I experienced. Here’s the video.

Guy’s family wanted raw fish dishes, so he sashimi’d the lai, made lomi out of the oio (2.5lb and 4lb) and made a simple poke (inamona, salt, dried shrimp) out of the opelu.

He’s drying the lai skin to make lures.

Another friend’s wife Mayumi is from Japan and would eat fish everyday if she could. They don’t buy whole, local fish so I wanted to see what she thought of opelu and nabeta.

She deep fried the nabeta enough to eat the skin and scales but not the bones. She said the opelu tasted very similar to the saba (mackerel) she eats in Japan and really appreciated both fish.

I vacuum sealed the smaller opelu and froze them for bait. In hindsight I wish I had caught more since so many people enjoy eating opelu.

Dropped the CanFish CamX camera down and was amazed at the diversity of life

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I drove to the Windward spot as early as I hoped to, but a rain squall delayed my launch, and the onshore chop slowed me from getting to the grounds nearly 3 miles out. But the brown boobies greeted me as they always do and made a tight circle. When they do that, I find usually bait in the circle and sure enough an opelu bit on the first drop even though it was close to 9am. Scattered, feeding opelu appeared on the fish finder.

For the next hour opelu bit along with lai, small opakapaka and lizard fish if I dropped too deep. I stuffed 8 opelu in my bait tube, a record for me I think. I weighed one down with a sliding tungsten weight and took it deeper and then onto the shallow ledge but it only got pulled off by a small aha, I’m guessing. I put another opelu on and the same thing happened. Nothing was big enough to swallow the opelu and get properly hooked by one of the 2 hooks.

So I went back out to the bait spot and the bait marks were gone. The only thing that came up were lizardfish. The afternoon solunar bite was supposed to be starting but the fish weren’t cooperating. Since the fish finder wasn’t helping, I attached a 20lb leader 2-hook damashi rig to the CanFish CamX underwater camera, attached that to my heavy jig rod, and dropped it over what looked like small patches of structure. Occasionally I’d hook a small opakakpaka or lizardfish, but the action was really slow.

After dropping a bunch of times on what I hoped were areas of small structure, I went to the sandy area where nabeta have bit in the past and dropped the camera down with some opelu meat. I felt tugs through the stiff rod but the fish were just pulling off the bait. I was really hoping the culprits were caught on camera.

When I got home and looked at what was recorded, I was astounded at how many species were on that small structure I initially dropped on. There were small patches of rubble holding some type of short seaweed. And those spots were packed with fish.

The sandy area I had my bait yanked off did indeed have nabeta. This video captures one coming out from under the sand to grab at the bait. And I didn’t bring up any nabeta so maybe they are always there but I often can’t hook them?

The CanFish CamX may prove invaluable for aiding us in determining if fish are around, even when we aren’t getting bites. My friend Shea on the Big Island has used the discontinued GoFish cam attached to his live bait trolling rig to see how many ono have sniffed his bait and turned away.

If you’re interested in purchasing a CanFish CamX, lemme know. I’ll be putting together an order for friends. Please contact me through the Contact page.

1) Did I catch a Kona Kampachi type of kahala. 2) How did my small kahala get worms? Life cycle of worms explained in simple terms.

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In Hawaiian waters, we have two species of kahalas or amberjacks. The better known one is the greater amberjack, which is the larger species. The smaller, slightly less encountered one is the almaco jack, which is being farm raised in Kona under the name “kampachi“. Both are actually good eating but because of ciguatera accumulation and abundance of parasitical worms, they are normally released.

I’ve never caught small kahala until this year, and recently kept a 14 incher to see if it was too small to have worms. Sadly, it had quite a few 1 inch long, off-white worms about the diameter of round dental floss I was able to pull out from the spinal cavity. The fact that they could be removed so easily made them suspect, and probably not part of the fish’s nervous system. Disappointed, I did a quick internet check and found this on the website ncfishes.com, about the lifecycle of the Amberjack Tapeworm.

It’s pretty creepy actually. Sharks are host to adult tapeworms. The sharks poop out the eggs of the worms which develop into a very small, young form of a tape worm on the ocean floor, that are then consumed by crustaceans. The tape worm then grows into its next life stage, still very small, and is intact in the crustacean when it’s consumed by a small fish. The small fish is then consumed by an amberjack and the tape worm develops further, into the “spaghetti worm” stage. Finally, when a shark eats the amberjack, does the tape worm fully mature in the shark, lay egg and the life cycle starts again.

I think the 1 inch tape worms I found in the 14 inch kahala were waiting to grow larger and thicker as the kahala grew. If they overwhelmed the kahala, the host fish would die and so would they. Kinda like how viruses work.

Credit: gulfcouncil.org

I had kept the 14 inch kahala because it fit the description of an almaco jack. It had a deep, flat body, and its jaw ended before its eye started. It also had a tall dorsal fin. See the chart above from gulfcouncil.org. It was gross to find worms but omilu and white papio have worms too, and this kampachi wasn’t fishy tasting like omilu and white papio. No wonder they are farm raising the almaco.

I’m gonna try to get another small almaco to see if it has worms, and will cook it up again! Not brave enough to eat it raw though.

First good fish on the Westside jumped in the yak, 4 trip slump is over! Catch and clean.

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I’ve fished the Westside 4 times and never done well, but with the Windward side too windy, and traffic light because school is out, I had fished twice recently and the only thing I brought home was a lonely nabeta. Meanwhile friends who launch in the dark and target the pelagic species had been getting shibi (yellowfin tuna under 100lb), ono and uku. School is starting up next week so this was possibly my last Westside trip this year.

The major solunar bite was happening in the mid-morning and it was slightly overcast so that gave me hope that the normally wary bottom fish would be more active. But the bite never materialized until after the major bite time was over. I had gone deeper to find less cautious fish and something finally bit the damashi rig and felt a little heavy coming up. I was stoked to see a thick nabeta and hoped to catch a few more but that didn’t happen.

Instead, I got bitten off and re-rigged with a 25lb store-bought damashi set, adding a Completely Hooked Lures Minnow to the damashi fly. This combination has been effective with the tackle busters at this spot. The fish skin wings and tassled thread must make the CHL Minnow look like a larger creature.

I hooked something near the bottom that bent the soft jig rod and took drag! It pulled in spurts, and circled but didn’t feel like the jacks that had broken me off the 2 previous trips. I was ecstatic to see my biggest weke ula / weke nono on the kayak but the fight wasn’t over as it slipped out of my hands and jumped in the kayak with the second damashi hook dangerously flying in tandem. See the hilarious video below.

Another cut off followed, then the deep bite slowed so I went in a bit to check a depth a friend recommended. Sure enough I hooked a smaller, keeper weke nono. It started to drizzle and the offshore winds gusted to 20mph so I cranked up the Bixpy motor and made my way in, dropping the damashi on enticing marks.

Something bit at the 100ft mark that surprised me. A daytime menpachi that must’ve thought night time was coming!

I was grateful that the distance to deep water on the Westside is very close compared to the Windside because I was battling strong offshores and choppy seas to get in.

The large weke nono was just under 2.5lb and the smaller one was just under 1.5lb The nabeta was 0.75lb. Weke nono is a little dry when cooked so it’s best eaten as sashimi or poke and very underated in my opinion. Because the weke nono primarily eat shrimp and crab, their flesh is clean and sweet tasting, on the soft side but not mushy.

This is the fillets of the 1.5lb weke nono. The bones and head were cooked Japanese style in shoyu, sugar, ginger and water.

It helps to chill the weke nono in ice for day or so before cutting to firm up the meat, and then wrapping the fillet in paper towels in the fridge for another day or so to remove moisture . The Rapala Fish Pro 6 inch Fillet Knife made slicing the soft-ish flesh a breeze.

My neighbor Brian artfully sliced and presented the 2.5lb weke nono.

And here’s the short video of the weke nono jumping above the kayak.

BKK Hooks – Small bait hook, wide gapped jig head, offshore live bait hook, treble hook and assist hook. How did they work out?

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BKK Hooks are designed in Japan and manufactured to exacting standards in China. They are known for making very strong, sharp, long lasting hooks that meet specific fishing needs. They were tested by our various Holoholo reviewers. Here’s how they performed.

Red Octopus Beak

Tested as damashi/sabiki fly hooks for akule and opelu.

Product Description: The offset hook point provides much more contact with the fish’s mouth, resulting in a better hook-up rate.

Additionally, the red coating increases the concealment of the hook (matching the color of the bait used) and also guarantees great saltwater corrosion resistance.

Results: Akule and opelu flies were made with these. They kept their point and didn’t rust after 5 uses. Recommended.

Silent Chaser EWG Round Head

Tested as jig hook for oio whipping on the flats.

Product Description: The BKK Silent Chaser 1X EWG is a versatile round-head offset jighead featuring a wire jig hook with an Extra Wide Gap round bend, super sharp needle point and SS nano coating to enhance penetration when fishing with very light gear.

Predominantly used in finesse approaches close to the bottom, the Silent Chaser 1X EWG is designed for stealthier presentations and to be snag proof. Size range goes from size 1 to 4/0 for Texas rigging a wide array of soft lures.

Results: Multiple large oio were landed whereas other premium brand jig hooks bent open. Recommended.

Beastly Cat

Tested as rear live bait hook for offshore fishing.

Product Description: Designed with a thick wire, it features BKK’s signature Hand Ground hook point technology boasting an excellent penetration capability, being able to penetrate through hard bony jaws and reducing the overall weight of the hook structure.

The Super-Slide coating additionally minimizes piercing resistance and provides an instant and deep hook up.

Results: Used as an offshore live bait hook. More positive hooksets than other hooks used but corroded and lost its point after 1 use. Not recommended.

Raptor Z treble hooks

Tested as replacement hooks for plugs and poppers.

Product Description: The BKK-RAPTOR-Z incorporates BKK’s latest manufacturing technologies, being engineered to hook strong and aggressive “monster” fish and stay hooked to the very end.

Thanks to BKK’s Hand ground technology and Bright Tin coating, it is equipped with ultimate impaling power, being able to penetrate even the hardest bony jaws and superior corrosion resistance.

BKK’s Slim Ring Technology further allows for an easier attachment of split rings.

Results: Multiple ulua have been landed on these. The treble hooks don’t open up under intense pressure. Recommended.

Sea Ranger+ assist hooks

Tested as assist hooks on micro jigs.

Product Description: Developed to tackle big fish using a small jig.

Comes pre-tied with BKK high quality solid core assist cord, which is very robust yet retains its softness. Shimmering and glowing fibers increase the attractiveness of the jig, triggering more strikes.

It features a heavy gauge providing excellent strength to the hook and BKK’s Hand Ground hook point technology lightening the weight of the hook, providing an outstanding penetration performance. Additionally, the U-spade Slip Lock feature keeps the assist line securely in place.

Last but not least, the bright tin coating ensures sharp hooks in saltwater environment, preventing saltwater corrosion.

Results: Glow tinsel attracted small and large fish; hooks stayed sharp and corrosion free after countless uses. Never tangled on the jig. Recommended.

We didn’t sell these hooks in the Store except for the Sea Ranger+ assist hooks. Please let us know via the Contact Page if you’d like us to special order a box of hooks for you.

Video: See how damashi fishing was affected by weather and solar-lunar influence

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Recently fished the same area 3 times in different weather and solar-lunar conditions as I had mentioned in this post. The fish bit really well in the afternoon on the first 2 trips because of weather and solar-lunar effects, and only the “rubbish fish” bit on the 3rd outing because the water was too calm and clear.

Here’s a short video of the damashi/sabiki fishing to support this.

0:04 1st time – 2pm, slightly overcast with Major Bite period. The target fish (uku, moana kali, yellowspot papio) I had been looking for bit, but they were small.

1:11 2nd time, 2pm, dark skies with heavy rain, no bite period. Every drop of the damashi during the rain storm got bit, even by akule (goggle eye) that normally don’t bite during the day.

1:49 3rd time – 11am, very calm and clear, no bite period. Too calm, only the “rubbish fish” bit.

Uku, moana kali, yellow spot, 25lb ulua on damashi and 60g tungsten jig – I’ve been doing it wrong before!

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I’ve been looking for uku and great tasting goat fish (moana kali and weke nono) on the Windward side for years now and kept coming up empty. Ended up changing my jigging setup and the area I searched, and the results were astounding. There’s a video of the action at the end of this post.

There seems to be uku (green jobfish) all over the South and West sides of Oahu. I’ve dedicated hours dragging live and dead opelu all over the Windward side dropoffs and no uku have bitten. Apparently the grounds I was fishing were sloping sandy areas, not rocky rubble the uku preferred.

The patchy reef areas did hold a lot of bait and reef fish, and I’ve hooked a few ulua and kahala jigging before, so the few times I took a break from bait fishing to test the compact tungsten jig, I did so on a rod designed for heavier jigs. Hadn’t been getting much action with that approach. I decided to give the 40g and 60g tungsten jigs the best possible presentation, so I switched to a light action Shimano Trevala rod paired with a Shimano Curado 300EJ bait casting reel with 25lb fluorocarbon leader. To hedge my bets, I used BKK assist hooks with glow in the dark fibers.

I started the morning catching a couple medium sized opelu, put them down on a weighted rig and slow trolled them over the 90ft ledge for 4 hrs. No uku showed up, only bait stealers. Out of frustration, and running out of fishing time, I headed to a slightly deeper but flatter reef structure I hadn’t fished before.

A cluster of reef fish showed on the fish finder, so I dropped the damashi down and a hard pulling fish responded. It felt like a papio and I was stoked to see a yellow spot papio come up. Since they feed on bottom dwelling crustaceans, they have a much cleaner, sweeter taste than their lookalike cousin, the omilu (bluefin trevally).

The next drop hooked a fish that pulled drag also, and I was looking to load up on yellow spot papio but it was a small moana kali. If it were a pound larger I would have been tempted to keep it.

Then the elusive uku bit the damashi but it was much too small also. The moana kali and uku did give me hope that larger versions would be nearby.

On the next drop a small omilu and a taape (blueline snapper) came up, then the action slowed so I moved shallower to a 90ft spot on my maps Capt Erik had given me years ago.

Taape first came up on the damashi and then hard pulls resulted in hooks broken off. I went up from the 12lb damashi rig to a 15lb rig and felt a small fish get hooked that was eaten by a larger fish. That rig had its hooks bitten off too so it was finally a great time to drop the 40g tungsten jig. Unfortunately the drift was too fast for that jig to fall quickly to the bottom.

I switched to a blue/silver 60g tungsten jig and hooked a kawalea on the first drop. That was probably what was cutting off my damashi hooks. I didn’t want it stinking up my fish bag so it was released. The next two drops of the jig yielded large, brown hagi. I’ve never experienced such a hot damashi and jig bite like this.

The next jig fish was a thick moano (manybar goatfish) proving the 2.5 inch jig mimicked small bait. It’s known to have tasty, soft flesh but small bones but I kept it hoping the bones would be big enough to avoid.

The bite slowed at this shallower spot and it was almost 2pm so I made a pass back to the deeper spot, on the way in. Hoping to hook a bigger yellow spot papio or uku with the jig, I dropped it down and the line went limp. I reeled up and the jig was cut off with no tug at all! What the heck was happening in the middle of this calm day?!

I had one more jig, a green/gold 60g tungsten jig that had produced before, and put it on. Dropped that down, slow pitched it a couple of times and the line surged angrily. Right away I knew it was a pretty big ulua (GT) and didn’t know if the light jig rod with only 25lb leader would hold. I tried to pump the fish up when it wasn’t running, and was surprised how much backbone the parabolic jig rod had. Offshore kayak guys like heavy action jig rods to fish for pelagics and I always thought they’d have too soft a tip, but I now understand how the soft tip is forgiving for the seated kayak angler.

I was just praying I’d be able to get a photo of the fish with the jig in its mouth and after a tense 20 minute battle, using the Bixpy motor to chase it down, it was on the surface. I tried to slide it onto the kayak to unhook it but the leader broke at the jig and the fish flopped in the water. It had barotrauma and couldn’t swim down, but was swimming in circles and was hard to tail grab it. Finally I was able to loop its tail with my gaff and pull it on board. I removed the jig and pushed it deep in the water. The fish finder showed it making its way slowly back down. Crazy such a large fish ate a 2.5 inch jig.

So why was the damashi and jig bite so good? Here’s my theory:

  • The relatively flat reef had enough structure to hold an assortment of fish.
  • The hot action perfectly aligned with the solunar major bite time for that day.
  • The soft plastic lures on the damashi and the small tungsten jig mimicked shrimp and small fish.
  • The 60g jig fell and bounced more enticingly on the light rod with light line better than it did on the heavy action rod with 40lb leader.

Everything came perfectly together that day. I’ll be back soon to see if it was a one-off.

This is what I brought home. The moana did turn out to still have small bones and the yellowspot papio made really good non-fishy, slightly firm sashimi with an oily feel.

The tungsten jigs and BKK assist hooks can be found in the Sinking section of the Store.

Here’s some of the jigging action.

Winter nabeta: Catch, clean and cook one of the best tasting fish in Hawaii

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In the Winter, the huge NW swells often make the Windward side unfishable by kayak. So the week before New Year’s I returned to the crowded south shore amongst the boaters and kayakers who were hoping to catch something for their New Year’s feast.

I was trying to get a nice uku (green jobfish) that could be sashimi’d and poke’d but landed a perfect sized nabeta on the damashi early on. Usually I end up with just one, which serves one person at most, so I put in the effort to catch a few more. I was surprised to catch 2 more, and then had a drag pulling nunu (trumpetfish) join the party. Then this whopper of a nabeta hit, tried to go back into the sand, and eventually came up. It was the largest I had ever seen and I contemplated releasing it because I heard the big ones get rubbery when deep fried, but decided to steam it instead. Check out how big that nabeta was.

Then another nunu bit the damashi and the slimey buggah was released like the first one. I finally caught a moana for uku bait, put it down and it was immediately hit. Unfortunately a huge brown hagi (triggerfish) came up after a heavy tussle. The next moana had its bottom half cut off despite the fact I had a second hook in its tail. The last moana had a bite around its gills but the attacker missed the hooks again. Whatever the predators were, they were too small so I went back to adding to the nabeta catch.

Two more nabeta rounded out the catch, the most I ever caught on the South Shore. I scaled the two largest nabeta (12.5 inches and 11 inches) which was much harder than I thought. The nabeta scales are so pliable to allow them to burrow in the sand, that the scales bend when you try to remove them. If I intended to pour boiling oil on the steamed nabeta, the scales would have become crunchy and eat-able but my family didn’t want the oily finish.

I just gut and gilled the smaller nabeta and left the scales since everything would be deep fried crispy. All 4 were developing eggs or sperm to spawn yet the two largest ones had no eggs or sperm. And the smaller ones had critters in their stomachs yet the 2 largest ones had nothing. Maybe the two largest ones just spawned and were trying to restore their reserves? One of the smaller ones had a whole bobtail squid in its stomach (thanks Kelly for the species identification). Check out how hard it is to scale nabeta and also how easy it is to gut and gill them.

I gave the 4 smaller nabeta to a friend with instructions to salt & pepper, coat in corn starch, deep fry ’til golden brown, take out to cool and then deep fry again to really crisp the scales and skin. Unfortunately they only had Olive Oil and we learned that that type of oil doesn’t get hot enough to do the job.

The largest nabeta did get a little firm and rubbery after being steamed with ginger slices in tin foil but still tasted very good with just some Ponzu drizzle. My dad loved it so we steamed the other large nabeta that same way and that came out soft and creamy. I guess when nabeta reach a certain point their flesh gets rubbery. Nabeta is the least fishy tasting fish we’ve steamed and has such a nice slightly flaky texture. Can’t go wrong with them deep fried or steamed.

Shoreline to boat, the doldrums had set in! What to expect in coming months.

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Every year, there are a few months when the bite comes to a grinding halt. The slowdown is normally exacerbated by cold fronts dropping the water temps quickly, but this year, the water has stayed relatively warm at about 75 – 77 degrees and yet it’s been super duper slow since mid-January for the shore guys out to the boat guys.

We’ve had stretches of very calm water which actually slowed the bite even more. The less desirables, above, although tasty, bit because nothing else would.

Inshore

The papio at heavily fished spots probably won’t be in until the end of May at the earliest. According to the late Jim Rizzuto’s Fishing Forecast, it’s also a slow period for moi and ulua but the aholehole bite should be good. Papio and ulua should improve in April. Kaku is a wildcard, according to Mr Rizzuto.

Best bet: The guys fishing for oio with bait and lures (flies and small weighted jigs) have been doing well lately. Get in the water and get it to where they are feeding, for your best shot at the silver bullets.

Kayak

Bait has been hard to locate and catch, and if you’ve been lucky enough to have live bait, they generally went unmolested. Even the bottom fishing has been slow. Mr Rizutto’s forecast says that uku is normally slow until April, but Mahi normally return in March and some were actually caught this week. Kawakawa should be around now, though we haven’t heard of much.

Best bet: Fish the best conditions (low visibility, good current, some chop on the water) with the liveliest, freshest baits and drop down to where the fish are holding.

Boat

Winter/Spring trolling season hasn’t been too good. Some billfish and aku have been caught but not in great numbers, and the mahi and ono haven’t really shown in consistent numbers yet. Just this past week, there’ve been reports of large shibi/small ahi off the west and south side of Oahu, but the bite has been on and off. The Deep 7 snappers are biting but nabeta has been slow. Sailfish and kawakawa should bite through April according to Mr Rizzuto.

Best bet: Plan to round out the day by bottom fishing with the best baits and conditions possible. Things hopefully pick up in March.

Eastside: Calm conditions again but damashi fish didn’t bite well, was it the slack tide?

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January had at least one day of light wind every week; which was unusual but appreciated. So with the swell down, I returned to my Eastside spot I hit the previous week, hoping 3-day old opelu would entice the big fish to bite. What I found was the big fish were absent again, and the damashi bite was very slow.

I trolled a dead opelu out to 280ft and back into the reef dropoff, for no bites. The baby opakapaka, about 9 inches, did jump on the damashi CHL Minnows but luckily decompressed so all could be sent back down. The normally annoying lizardfish and pesky reef rubbish fish didn’t bite, and I had to drift the opelu in areas I usually don’t fish, only to hook a pinktail hagi, and a huge roi that fell off the hook before I could kill it.

The hagi and roi were on a reef with less current and a higher water temp. Basically dead water with junk fish. The fish that hit the damashi last week were in an area with a lot of moving current and cooler water, but, with the tide being pretty flat, there wasn’t much to get those fish going.

So it appears that winter cold water + calm conditions + slack tide = lousy fishing. This applies to shore fishing also. Predator fish stage in areas of turbulence and current where they can ambush unsuspecting prey. Guess I have to pick a day with a big tidal swing if I want to catch something on these calm Winter days.

Opelu only attracted sharks so we dropped down to jigs and damashi to find the fish

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Been hearing of ono caught within kayak range on the South Shore so Guy and I went out to the deep to hunt for opelu. Couldn’t find any biters and headed inside 100ft dragging a frozen opelu. Something tapped the bait, then took off on a few sustained runs. I was hopeful but when it slowed and felt heavy, my heart sank. I dropped the Avet SX Raptor into low gear and 20 mins later a 6 ft plus sandbar shark was cut free.

Reef fish were showing from 90ft to 75ft (counting backwards since the drift was toward shore) on the sonar so I broke out the 60gm tungsten jig and hooked something that felt really jerky. A small yellow spot papio came up that spit the jig just as I was about to lift it into the yak.

Guy hooked a yellow spot on a 20lb fluoro dropper rig to add to the nabeta he caught earlier and we worked the area for a while but the bite was really slow. I hooked another yellow spot on the jig that stayed on, and this one was about 10.5″ FL. Nothing else wanted to bite the jig, and my half pieces of opelu were getting yanked off my bait rig armed with big hooks so I put a slice of opelu on the assist hooks of the tungsten jig. Hookup! Something pulled drag and began to do the circles that deepwater fish do. Uku! Small, at 2 to 3 lbs but a fun fight and great size to steam whole.

Guy managed to hook a hagi on a jig and then the bite completely went dead, so we retraced our track to head in. Guy saw some bait balls near the bottom in 100ft of water and I dropped my home made damashi rig with 10lb fluoro and special opelu flies that Robert had tied up for me a couple years ago. Instant hookup and a small kawalea (Heller’s Barracuda) came up but the other damashi hook was cut off.

I dropped the 60gm tungsten jig down and it didn’t get a sniff. Rebaited the solo damashi hook with a CHL Minnow, found the school again, dropped down and hooked another kawalea. Next drop the deep water cuda bit me off and that was it for me. Guy’s dropper rig with 20lb test, geared for the big fish that broke off on previous trips, may have been too heavy for the kawalea this day. They only wanted Robert’s lucky flies.

I gave the uku, yellow spot and one kawalea to my church friend who previously liked the moana I had given her but said the small bones were a little tricky to deal with. The bones on these fish are much easier to locate and remove, and all three are great tasting white meat fish. She steamed the uku whole for her family, fried the yellow spot and is contemplating what to do with the kawalea. 🙂

Lucky damashi -> one opelu -> first kayak Kawakawa

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Frank, Guy and I were blessed with near epic weather on the Windward side. The trip didn’t start off too smoothly though. Frank and Guy ran into heavy traffic on the H2-H1 merge, and then Guy’s fish finder went on the blink. Guy also had to do an on-the-water reattachment of his Hobie inflatable ama, but got things situated.

I had heard reports of ono being caught close to shore on Oahu and really wanted another one. The only ono I ever caught was on a live opelu Robert had gifted me because I was so bad at catching my own. Here’s how that trip played out. Since Robert wasn’t with us on this trip, I figured the next best thing would be to use the damashi he made for me that I was saving for a special occasion. I “baited” the damashi with CHL Minnows in the May Day color.

My GoPro was angled too high and cut off the bottom of what I tried to capture

First drop of the damashi over scattered marks brought up an opelu! I couldn’t believe my luck, called the guys over but we couldn’t catch any more. Meanwhile Guy hooked a 3lb oio on his damashi and carefully brought it to the surface, but he had forgotten his net. The oio broke off as he tried sliding into his Compass.

Wanting to take the opelu out to the ono grounds, I zipped out with the help of the Bixpy motor. Guy joined me, landing more lizard fish and little puffers than he cared to count. Nothing bothered the opelu and it was still kicking after 2 hours.

I told Guy I wanted to head over to the deep reef where maybe an ulua might give me a yank, and was heading that way when he radio’d to say fish were busting on the surface and birds were dive bombing. I circled back to the area, didn’t get any hits and turned back to the reef when I got the strike. It started with a few yanks as the fish tried to swallow the 9 inch opelu, and then the fish took off. The runs were very strong and the weight of the fish didn’t feel heavy like sharks do, so I began to think it was a big uku. I dropped the Avet SX Raptor into low gear and pumped and cranked the fish in, hoping to see a 20lb uku. Instead I saw what looked like a small yellowfin tuna! The fish snagged the keel guard under my kayak twice and I thought I lost the fish. When it got closer to the surface I could see that it was my first kayak kawakawa. Man are those fish strong. It was making clockwise pinwheels and my first attempt at kage-ing it missed because the fish dove as it neared the yak. Two more pinwheels and I was lucky enough to get it right past the gill plate.

Sharky had splashed my GoPro lens

Guy and I tried bottom fishing with frozen opelu and he got two hard strikes that literally rocked his kayak, but both shook the single hook he had in the opelu head. He rigged a trailer after that but the mystery fish didn’t return. My opelu got taken by a sandbar shark which I winched up in low gear. I thought of unhooking the shark with pliers but decided to keep my digits and cut the leader instead.

Here’s a short video of the landing of the kawakawa.

Frank had been on a papio hunt and caught two omilu within the first hour, trolling last year’s oama. Switching to damashi, he brought up a nabeta and a yellow spot papio. With his fish bag full of great eating fish, he radio’d us to say he was safely heading in.

The kawakawa ended up weighing 9lbs. It was good training for the 25lb shibi (small yellowfin tuna) that’s hopefully in the near future.

Capt Erik and Kelly gave me tips on how to clean the kawakawa. Because I didn’t have to scale and gut it, it was actually easier than cleaning a smaller reef fish. I was shocked to find the kawakawa’s stomach stuffed with 2 fresh ika and two small opelu. And yet it tried to eat the 9 inch opelu.

I was a little leery about eating the kawakawa since I don’t like fishy tasting fish. Turns out the Hawaiian bonito could be bloody but not fishy like limu-eating reef fish, and since I bled it on the yak it wasn’t really that bloody at all. It had a firm, meaty texture and a good taste. I did get one piece that left a slight bloody after taste though, maybe I didn’t cut out the blood meat on that one.

Guy took this photo before he and his wife ate the entire plate. It definitely tasted different from ono and uku but good in its own right. Bleeding, icing, cleaning right away and wrapping in paper towel definitely keeps the flesh fresh.

Guy paid some dues on just his 3rd offshore trip and will be a better kayak fisher because of it.

Thanks to Robert for the lucky damashi, Guy for putting me on the kawakawa, Frank for spreading Aloha, and the crew for teaching me how to clean and eat fish. God has really blessed me with great fishing friends.