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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.

Damashi action for kau kau fish!

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Winds were projected to be about 8 mph on the Windward side, and a few mph higher on the South side, so Guy and I hit a Windward spot that held a lot of smaller fish in the past. Winds remained light through the morning so we went all the way out to 200ft looking for nabeta and opakapaka. Guy found a lone, big nabeta, and I ran into some very small opakapaka, and then a 9 incher; still too small to target. With that deep water check out of the way we headed into the shallow reef drop off .

On the high side of the drop off our damashi got hit by 9 to 10 inch moana, and as we drifted shallower, smaller moana and taape bit. Guy was using a damashi rig he tied himself. Lai skin, thread and beads on a #6 Maruto hook the guys at Waipahu Bicycle (Buster’s) recommended. It worked so well he didn’t need to add anything to it, and just jigged it enthusiastically off the bottom. Guy drifted further in and added two species of hagi and a nunu (trumpetfish) to his catch.

I was using an Ahi USA damashi with CHL Minnows pinned on, and caught a beautiful moana kali but it was too small to keep.

When my rig got stuck on the reef I changed to a damashi Guy had given me and added the CHL Minnows. I caught my last two moana on that and we headed in because the wind swell was getting a little dicey.

Guy’s mixed bag of fish

Guy solved the problem of the pesky moana bones by frying the fish crispy. His wife ate the deep fried nabeta before a photo could be taken.

The hagi and 1 moana were given to a friend who loves hagi. We’re gonna have to feature some hagi recipes soon!

I gave my moana to a church friend who hadn’t eaten that fish before. She cooked it “Japanese style” in a pan of water with shoyu and sugar, and found the fish tasty but tricky to eat because of the small bones. Her husband is waiting for a boneless filet of some non-fishy fish. 🙂

We were in the saddle for 6 hrs but it was a safe, fun day and Guy’s Bixpy motor on his Hobie Compass’ DIY aluminum rudder took the strain off his legs and ensured he could push in as the winds turned off shore. The bite was slow because the water was still a chilly 74 degrees but at least some fish did bite. We’re hoping the early Summer bite turns on soon.

Rain offshore made for dangerous kayak conditions

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On the day before a cold front/rain event was due, the forecast for the South shore was 9 mph south wind with gusts up to 15 mph, and rain falling in the mid afternoon. Thinking we would be back on shore by 2pm, Frank, Guy and I headed out for a return trip to the spot that yielded uku on live moana.

We could feel the onshore south wind as we left the protection of the land mass. It was a little bumpy with a lot of current 2 miles out, but still fishable. The drift was much faster than the last time we were here, so it was hard to stay over the reef fish spots, and I could only manage a small nabeta early on. Frank was feeling the rock and roll of his kayak so he went on water safety patrol for us.

Guy, fishing his first time in choppy conditions, was on fire, landing two good sized nabeta and some brown hagi that a friend from Japan wanted to eat.

Even though the rain clouds were a couple miles further offshore from us, the conditions deteriorated sooner than expected and we decided to head into the shallows to wait for the rain to pass. Frank’s Hobie Revolution 13 with a 28.5″ width and raised seat was really rolling in the “following sea” (disorganized waves pushing us from behind as we headed in). My Ocean Kayak Trident Ultra 4.3, with a 29″ width and lower seat felt more secure but there were times I had to put my feet in the water to stabilize. Guy’s Hobie Compass with 34″ width and raised seat was the most stable but still felt dicey if a wave caught him from the side.

Guy, in the safety of calmer water

When we got to the safety of shallower water, the rough conditions had passed but we decided to call it a day anyway. It was a valuable experience to be aware when the weather conditions were turning dangerous, and to learn how to brace and correct in following seas. I’ve since read that some Hobie paddlers recommend putting the fins up against the side of the hull, and paddling in very rough following seas because the fins could be hit from the side if deployed, and turn the boat broadside into a wave. Sitting as low as possible and paddling lowers the center of gravity.

It was good to see some hagi removed from the reef. Although it requires more tedious prep, some people like the taste of the triggerfish. Guy was using a secret bait which he offered to us on the water but we declined. We’ll definitely be taking it next time since he said he also had a big strike break off his line, and brought up the head of a moana. In comparison, it was super slow fishing with just soft plastics on the damashi. I’m thinking the incoming storm was giving the fish sinus headaches like it does to me.

These nabeta were deep fried and greatly appreciated by Guy’s family.

Completely Hooked Lures “Minnow” catches everything

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This product endorsement is long overdue. We’ve been using the 1.5 inch CHL Minnow on our damashi rig and whipping for halalu for more than 3 years now and it has never let us down.

We got hooked on the little Minnow when the Purple Obake color slayed the halalu. Here’s one of the halalu reports.

The various shades of green work really well in the deep, catching not only the target fish but often hooking big fish that bust our rigs, although I’m sure all 80 colors perform at their optimal times. I personally think it’s the fish shape and the kick of the little split tail that makes the predators bite.

The nabeta actually prefer the Minnow to cut bait!

A lot of the kayakers use the CHL 1.5″ Minnow on gold hooks to catch their prized opelu baits.

The best part about the CHL Minnow is that they’re made to catch multiple fish and are less expensive than the other soft plastic brands. Look for them at your favorite fishing supply store but if you don’t find the color you want, you can purchase them online at chlures.com.

Winter kayak bottom fish scouting trip

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Normally, the Fall is the best time to kayak fish the deep. The winds drop, there’s spots with small waves, and the water is still warm enough to keep the preds close to shore. Not this year. The water temps were lower all year compared to the previous warm water El Nino years, and the bite was slow.

There was a calm day last week that was too good to pass up, and I invited a friend with a new Hobie Compass to join me on the East Side. Guy has fished inshore on his pedal yak but hadn’t gone offshore since he didn’t have a fish finder and was still getting accustomed to fishing from a seated position.

The shallower nabeta spots were barren so we kept going deeper til we started getting deep water lizardfish. That at least told us we were over sand. Finally we both caught a nabeta each, and then it was non-stop lizards and little porcupine fish. After bouncing our lead for a couple of hours, we finally gave up and headed to the deep reefy area.

I began marking reef fish near the bottom at about 270ft, but the first one that came up was a chunky taape. On the next drop something heavy hit the little CHL Minnow and pulled drag off my reel. Felt good to finally hook something of size and I had the drag a little too tight for the 15lb Hayabusa damashi set and the line broke off at the top swivel. On a previous trip I battled what I think was a ray on the damashi for a long time so I thought the damashi line was strong enough to handle medium tension.

By this time Guy wasn’t feeling too good because it turns out he normally takes seasickness meds but couldn’t find any Dramamine that morning and was using those pressure wrist bands. Don’t try them alone – they don’t work that well!!!

After rigging up another damashi set with 15lb branches and 20lb main line, I hooked another strong, surging fish that broke the branch line off! Guess that was a sign to break out the prototype 100gm tungsten jig I received from a second tungsten company. The jig is only 3.5 inches long, simply shaped and wasn’t coated with a protective clear layer but boy did it get to the bottom quickly.

After getting bitten by the ulua and the shark

On the second drop I hooked what felt like a small ulua. Guy was watching me and listening to my running commentary. Hopefully I wasn’t making him feel worse. I wanted to land the ulua to show him how effective deep jigging was, but within 20 seconds my rod tip started jerking erratically. Sure enough my fish got sharked and I had to fight the shark for about a minute. Luckily I got the jig back when the shark bit through the assist cord.

Guy decided to troll rather than bob around and bottom fish, and slowly made his way in pulling a kastmaster. I tried really hard to land something on the jig but the commotion the shark caused must’ve spooked the other preds. When Guy reached the inshore water he got such a strong hit he had trouble getting the rod out of the rod holder. He fought it long enough to feel its power but it got off. He guesses it was about a 4lb papio. That woke him up and cleared his head! He changed his sinking kastmaster to a floating Yozuri Crystal Minnow and continued to head in. Within a few seconds he hooked another screamer that jumped like a mini marlin!

The aha fought much harder than he expected and when he got it boat side he saw that it was foul hooked near its back fin. It later taped out, nose to fork of tail at 37 inches, which is a pretty good sized fish.

The next day Guy fileted, skinned and deboned the aha, making beautiful clean fish sticks.

He fried the nabeta the way Coach Haru taught me: salt and pepper, coat with corn starch, fry to a golden brown, take out to cool and fry again so the skin and scales are crunchy.

Judging from this photo I’d say his family loved their first experience eating nabeta.

Takeaway: The water temp was 76 degrees, a little cooler than normal for December. The nabeta were deeper than they were in the summer, and hard to find. Bait and preds were still on the deep reef, concentrated in small areas. The compact tungsten jigs continue to get bit by big fish, usually within the first 2 or 3 drops.

Small tungsten jig outfished bait and a normal jig!

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We were blessed with light wind this week so I was out on the windward side again, working on my damashi skills and doing more tungsten jig testing. Even though the big tide was rising, there wasn’t much current so it was easy to pan around, mark fish, then drop on them.

I started out looking for opelu, couldn’t find any, so I went past 100ft to a depth Capt Erik told me to check. Sure enough there were marks along that depth contour and my first weke nono (Pflueger’s goatfish) came up. I was stoked to find one, but since it was a little one I let it go. Drifted off that mark and must’ve been over sand because a nabeta came up next. Then it was non-stop deepwater lizardfish so I put one on my bait rod and dropped it down. Nothing touched it. Hmmm…

I took off the lizardfish and put a previously thawed and refrozen opelu on, and motored out to 200ft and back into 150ft with no love. Grabbed the jig rod with the 2.5″ 2oz tungsten weight and dropped down. Boink! A lizardfish grabbed it! Caught another lizard after that and decided to get off the sand and head in for the zone I had action on the last trip.

So the little jig was gobbled up the pesky lizardfish but could it attract a much bigger predator? I was over some spread out marks and was hopeful since that jig has been hit on every third drop or so, and kablam! Something strong and heavy yanked the rod tip down and was peeling out line. Now this was a decent fish and I really wanted to see what had hit the jig. A few minutes later a 15lb class kahala was expelling bubbles near the surface. My first kayak kahala on a jig, and a really fun fight on the Shimano Game Type J XHeavy rod and gold Trinidad 14 reel.

I motored/paddled back to that spot, and 2 drops later a stronger fish pulled line in long spurts. It shook its head so I assumed it was a bigger kahala but it turned out to be a GT that had just made ulua status. I had to tighten my drag further than I had with the kahala, and was surprised how much stronger the ulua was. I would say that the ulua fought harder initially but the kahala pulled more steadily. I couldn’t believe how the little jig, just 2.5 inches long, was causing these bigger fish to frenzy. I released the mini ulua also.

So now my confidence was super high and I dropped the jig again, and on the way down something swam off with it. This was an even stronger fighting fish and I tightened the drag as much as I dared. The runs were spurty and I could feel twanging on the line. Then there was less resistance and I cranked hard for a few seconds, came tight again and whatever was on the line at that point surged for the bottom and then the mainline cut. Either the fish was swimming towards the surface when the line felt slack, or I was reeling up a fish head that then got finished off by a shark. And the shark took my lucky blue jig whose eyes I painted with nail polish. 🙂

I put on a center weighted 100gm lead jig, found the mark again and… nada. I never got a bite again. Was it because the jig was too big or did the fish move off? The tide was reaching the slack high but I think the little magic Tunsten jig would have gotten bit some more. I just have a few of those left and look forward to trying them again!

Here’s what the fish looked like swimming off. Not the most graceful release of the kahala butat least he didn’t have any problems will a full air bladder keeping him on the surface.

Motorized kayak damashi and jigging action!

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The wind forecast finally dropped to fishable conditions. It promised a 10mph East wind directly onshore on the Eastside, and a 15mph North East wind coming down the mountains on the south side. So I headed East and had the launch and water to myself due to the social gathering restrictions.

The wind felt like 12 mph heading straight into it but I could push through with the help of my Bixpy motor mounted on my rudder. It was 2.5 miles out to the 130ft spot I hoped held opelu but no schools showed up on my oldie but goodie Garmin Echomap 44CV. I paddled around with the motor assisting me, at about 3mph, as I scanned around for bottom marks.

The first scattered mark, slightly off the bottom, produced a lai which I kept for a buddy who makes flies out of the skin. Next up was a surprise nabeta which must have been in a sand patch I didn’t know was there.

Then I went deeper, all the way out to 180ft but didn’t see anything good and my frozen opelu went untouched. The wind brought me back in, and I started exploring the shallower water. A very active mark showed up on the bottom so I used the motor to hold me in place against the current and dropped the 2-hook damashi rigged with CHL Minnows. As soon as I lifted it off the bottom the pole arched and line pulled off the reel! I was trying to remember how heavy the branch line on the damashi was, and was hoping it was at least 10lb test. The fish battled me all the way up, on the light drag, and I was surprised to see an uku that later was weighed 2lb 10oz. The other branch line was broken off so maybe two uku hit the rig. I had been searching for uku in this area in the past and never expected to catch them on a damashi!

When I checked my opelu it was gone and the 2oz tungsten bullet weight I was testing had teeth marks on it! Man, that was a crazy frenzy.

With the bite this hot and my damashi rig only having one hook now, I switched to my jigging setup rigged with a 2 oz, 2.75 inch prototype tungsten jig I’ve been hoping to test. I couldn’t find that mark despite having set a “Man Over Board” on the GPS so I searched around the area.

Found another good mark in 90ft, dropped the jig on it and “kapow!”. A good fighting fish jerked the tip, pulled a bit of line and gave a good account of itself. The compact jig had fallen like shot and must’ve hit the omilu on the head, haha.

I had another jig shape to test so I switched and went hunting for a good mark again.

Dropped the second tungsten jig on the mark and “whammo”, hooked up! This fish wasn’t taking line but still felt fun. A nice moana came up. Both the omilu and moana were released. I was stoked to see how well the tungsten jigs worked.

I moved off the spot and only saw scattered marks on the fish finder so I went back to the damashi, with 3 hooks this time. By now it was midday at the top of the big King Tide and the current went slack. Fish didn’t bite for a while but then it picked up with a smaller uku and omilu. I released those and the misc reef fish that were keeping me busy.

When small, brown hagi started coming up it was time to head for home. I ran the motor at a 3/4 speed and the battery died about a half mile from my landing. Running between 1/4 and 3/4 speed for 6 hrs drained the battery. Now I know and will keep more juice in the tank just in case.

Without the assistance of the Bixpy I couldn’t safely do the 7 mile round trip, and wouldn’t have been able to stay over marks while I dropped on them. Thank you Bixpy!

Stay tuned for more testing of the compact tungsten jigs. Even though they are only 2 oz (60 gm) they fall like a 3 oz (90 gm) jig because of their compact shape.

Deepwater tasty critters on the damashi

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Hadn’t been able to kayak fish for 5 weeks so when the wind forecast dropped I got my gear ready. Surf was too big on the south shore so I headed back to God’s Country, the Windward side of Oahu, land of plenny fish and nice people.

I wanted to catch some fish for some friends who had helped me out, and the most productive kind of fishing I was capable of was using the damashi for tasty critters. The wind was stronger than expected, at 12 to 15 mph, and the water was lumpy from the big south swell. It took a while to get out to the spot I found the last time, but the rudder mounted Bixpy jet motor pushed through the slop with ease.

I made a bunch of drops with two sizes of CHL Minnows, drifting around until I brought up a small nabeta. 1 in the bag! The second one came up soon after and then I drifted off the spot and couldn’t find them again. I went further out, made drops until I felt more resistance on the line than a nabeta could make. Juvenile opakapaka, or “paka pups” as we call ’em! Their swim bladder pops out on the ride up from the depths so even if I deflated the swim bladder I’m not sure they’re gonna survive. There’s no size limit for opakapaka but without a Commercial License I’m only allowed 5 “Deep 7” fish, so I bagged it and went deeper for hopefully larger paka.

Paka pup fell off the top hook and floated helplessly

A double of larger paka pups came up and one fell off the hook and floated away. I motored back to get it and it definitely couldn’t decompress and head back down on its own. I poked its swim bladder with a hook and left it in my footwell. It stayed alive but wasn’t too lively and its swim bladder was still distended.

Another double of paka pups came up so I went shallower to find the nabeta and to avoid catching more pups.

I felt a little wiggling on the line and up came a silver, slender fish? Opelu? Noooo… baby kaku! These guys were cute but still stink like the larger variety. Another came up on the next drop so I moved away from Kaku Kindergarten.

I’m partial to green shades of Minnows when fishing deep but the pink ones worked too

The wind has pushed me shallower and I started catching little boxy porcupine fish so I cranked the Bixpy up and headed past the Kaku Kindergarten. The first drop yielded a nabeta so I was on the spot! Then I got a double nabeta – woohoo! I’m now counting in my head whether I have enough of these deep water golden nuggets to share.

Then I felt a heavier fish fighting back and up came a blunt nosed deepwater lizard fish and a paka pup. Uh oh, I was past my limit and didn’t want to kill anymore of them so I headed in with 5 nabeta and limit of pups.

A really nice guy, camping and boating with his kids, helped me pull my kayak out of the water and gave me a brand new Hayabusa damashi (the expensive kind) when I told him I suck at catching opelu. The folks I meet on this side of the island still live life the old Hawaiian way. It feels like I’m being transported back in time when I’m out here.

The fish were small but my friends were able to get a taste of how good steamed opakapaka and fried nabeta can be. I’m hoping to get more pups when they’re bigger.

Live opelu is way better than fresh opelu!

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Old timers have told me that opelu is the “magic bait for pelagics”, like oama is the “magic bait for papio”. Since frozen oama still works when slow trolled for papio, I’ve been buying opelu from the fish market and trolling and bottom fishing that off the kayak. It hasn’t worked that well trolled (one 11lb mahi last spring) but has worked for uku (and a lot of bait stealers) near the bottom.

Hayabusa damashi fly on gold hook

Boaters and kayakers who catch their own opelu have been telling me to save money and just catch my own but that’s much easier said than done. I’ve been striking on when others have been bringing up multiple opelu and was kind of just going through the motions of dropping the damashi down until I finally caught an opelu on the last trip. That made me realize it was possible to catch one or two for bait, and since fishing is all about confidence and sticking with it, I was determined to catch opelu and hook something good with it. To increase my odds I was using the expensive store bought Hayabusa damashi flies with gold hooks.

You can see the damashi fly springing free

I went out this week on an overcast, slightly drizzly day. It was about 9am when I reached the bait grounds but because the sun was blocked it looked like dawn. My version of dawn patrol. The fish finder marked a lot of small fish near the top of the water column and I dropped down, felt something hit but it was pulling harder than opelu should. Baby aha – ugh. Next drop was another aha. I’ve never caught them on the damashi fly before and was gonna find another bait pile but decided to drop one more time. This time something smaller was on, and because my opelu confidence had dropped due to the aha, I brought it up slowly and when it got to the surface it was a perfect sized 8 inch opelu that popped its head out of the water and shook the hook! Arrgggh…

The school moved and I spent another 45 mins in different spots trying to catch them. Gave up, slow trolled a 9 inch fresh opelu that got taken near the bottom and the hooks pulled once again. So I started fishing the 9 inch fresh opelu cut in half, with two hooks to see what I was missing. Sadly, I landed 2 big taape and a hagi. So that’s probably what has been stealing my dead opelu, not the small uku I was hoping for. Disillusioned, and now fighting a 10mph south wind, I came across a promising bait school in the area where I’ve lost ulua and sharks but hadn’t seen a lot of bait before. The bait stealers had depleted my fresh opelu supply so I decided to try for opelu on the damashi again. To my surprise I got bit on the way down! This one was bigger than I preferred but stayed on the hook and was dropped back down with two hooks in it.

I slow trolled it around and nothing bothered it until I went back to the spot I caught it. It started getting nervous and then something ran with it for a few seconds and ripped a 4 inch wound in its stomach. That was probably the small uku since hagi and taape wouldn’t be able to catch the opelu and leave such a big hole. I dropped the now dead opelu back down and the bait stealers picked it apart.

The south wind had settled down but there was a lumpy west swell that was bobbing me around, enough to come over the side of the kayak at times. The bait ball was still around so I dropped the damashi down and caught another 10 inch opelu. 3 opelu in one day if I count the one that fell off at the surface, my personal best! I put the opelu down, maybe 30 ft off the bottom and went back to opelu fishing.

The opelu got nervous, and the rod began to bounce a little as line was pulled off an inch at a time. This went on for about 10 seconds and I gave the pred time to turn the big opelu around and swallow. Then the pred took off, pulling my rod under water and I had to clear the bow of the kayak. The fish was strong and heavy but I was able to stop it with a strong drag setting, so it wasn’t a shark. The fish was turned and I was short pumping it back so it wouldn’t find the reef like last week, and then about a minute and a half into the fight it felt like the hook slipped and got stuck somewhere else. Then the fight got really jerky like the fish was getting attacked by something and it transitions to the heavy pull of a shark. 15 seconds later, the leader above the first hook was cut fairly clean with a bit of abrasion above the cut. I was running the GoPro on my cap and shared the video of the fight with friends (sorry too many landmarks for general viewing). They think that maybe a big uku ate the big opelu and made its initial strong run, and was coming in when a shark or sharks mauled it.

I like that the bait stealers leave the live opelu alone and only something fairly big will grab it. Also like that you can tell when it’s about to get hit because the opelu starts jerking the rod. So in the end I bolo’d once again, but am getting closer to hooking and landing the prize fish on live opelu.

Tin Boat – No Fish Finder, No Problem

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I had planned to cautiously explore a new area 2 miles out by kayak but the wind forecast kept changing so Capt Erik graciously offered to take me on his aluminum 14ft Lowe 1457 with 9.9 hp Yamaha tiller motor.  The winds were under 8 mph at launch time and the waves weren’t bad. Capt Erik used his Navionics mobile app to provide navigation and we zipped out, past the waves, to the furthest of his spots he wanted to check that were within kayak distance from shore.

Capt Erik tested the surface bite by throwing a Yo-zuri Bull Popper and I dropped down the front half of an opelu on the bait rig.  We didn’t have a fish finder but the Navionics app said we were in about 60 ft of water.  Nothing was called up by Capt Erik’s popper and my opelu just got picked apart if it was too close to the bottom.  Capt Erik switched to an Ahi USA damashi rig he tipped with plastic grubs and started getting moana and taape.  The taape were kept to “clean the reef” of invasives, and the bigger moana were kept to join the fish fry.  His damashi action looked a lot more fun than the non-action I was getting, so I put the bait rod in the rod holder and used my jig rod with a 2 hook damashi set. I put on a CHL Luk E. Lee (emerald green) Minnow and a Purple Obake Minnow I had left over from halalu fishing.

We were bringing up fish on the damashi but nothing too outstanding (hage, table boss, small goats) so Capt Erik kept moving us to the next mark he had on his Navionics app.  I was surprised that not even a papio hit the baited line with halalu so I asked if we could go deeper.  Big fish live in deeper water, right?  By the length of the fall of our damashi rig, we guessed were were in 100 ft of water or more. Nothing hit our damashi or the halalu for a while, and then I finally hooked something on the damashi that made my rod tip twitch in a weird way. Turned out to be the slimy trumpetfish or nunu.  What was he doing all the way down there in that barren depth?  Capt Erik drove the boat even deeper and then he brought up a bigger nunu!

Without a fish finder we couldn’t easily locate drop offs so Capt Erik went further out and I reset the bait rig with a 6 inch frozen halalu about 12 cranks from the bottom.  We used the damashi to gauge depth and bottom hardness, and I kept bouncing mine on the bottom.  Suddenly my bait rig went off and the fish kept running!  I had to bring in my damashi from a long way down but Capt Erik offered to reel it up so I could set the hook on the fish.  The mystery fish had taken quite a bit of line and when I settled into the fight it felt heavy and strong.  Bigger than any uku I’ve fought, no head shakes like an ulua, and too slow to be a pelagic.  I was thinking “shark” by the steady pull with short breaks mixed in but Capt Erik said that a shark would’ve cut the line by now unless my Gamakatsu Live Bait hook or trailing VMC 4X Inline hook found its way into the corner of the mouth.

 

 

 

 

 

The next likely suspect was a kahala but I didn’t feel the head shakes associated with that species.  I tried to bring it up as quick as I could but it had other plans.  It took more than 6 minutes to get it to the surface, and it was 20 lb class kahala. Man those fish are really strong!  I was thinking medium sized shark the whole time.   The Gamakatsu Live Bait hook was perfectly set in the corner of the mouth and the trailing VMC Inline hook was busted off!

In this photo the CHL Purple Obake Minnow looks like a goatfish’s barbel!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I asked Capt Erik what is found with kahala in the depths and he said kawakawa, shibi, etc so I hurriedly dropped another bait down after releasing the kahala.  Capt Erik saw the scum line where two currents came together and put us on a drift towards that.  He felt his damashi weight settle softly and surmised we were over sand. The deep water lizardfish he brought up confirmed that.  Wishful thinking, I announced that nabeta often are caught with those lizardfish, since we had experienced that on the Big Island last year.  On my next damashi drop I felt small head shakes and some resistance and brought up the coveted nabeta on the CHL Obake Purple Minnow!  We couldn’t believe we stumbled upon deep water gold.

Capt Erik dropped his 6 hook damashi set down and hooked something immediately.  He very carefully reeled his catch to the surface and it was a whopper of a yellow/brown nabeta! That one looked more like deep water gold!  We drifted off the spot and started catching lizardfish.  A few birds were circling above and we could see 10 inch fish tail slapping the surface.  I readied for the screamer that never came.  All that activity must’ve spooked the nabeta because we weren’t catching anything on the bottom.  Luckily Capt Erik marked the first nabeta spot with his Navionics app and took us back to it, so we could follow the same drift down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We both hooked up on our first drop and I was really impressed with Capt Erik’s navigational skills to gauge depth and drift with just the mobile gps app.  Despite having to run the boat, he jumped out to a big lead as I started to miss fish and drop them on the elevator ride up.  He was up 7 to my 2 and we were nearing our departure time.

I really wanted to add to the fish count knowing how coveted these fish are and rallied with 3 more at the end.  Our lofty goal was to get 10 nabeta and we ended up with 12!

Fishing with Capt Erik and his very upbeat personality is always a good time, but finding “our” own secret nabeta hole with just the Navionics app made it a trip of a lifetime.

 

 

Cooking Tip: Yesterday I fried one of the big yellow nabeta that Erik caught but it didn’t brown and crisp up because I didn’t leave it frying long enough. The meat still tasted good but the skin and scales weren’t like the fried panko they were supposed to be. Kelly said to just deep fry on medium heat until the skin turned brown, flipping it if the fish wasn’t covered by oil. I did that to this nabeta and look how onolicious it came out!