Holoholo: How to make easy but ono Oxtail Soup

February 25, 2026 By Scott 4 Comments

Freddie has taught me a lot about the different Hawaiian fish species, and how they are best eaten. He also makes a killer Oxtail Soup. Here’s the straight forward instructions.

Freddie:

Ingredients:

Sam’s Club oxtail in vacuum sealed package
1/4 – 1/2 cup sea salt
5 – 8 pieces dried star anise
Knorr chicken base to taste
Chinese parsley
ginger

Optional sides:

won bok or napa cabbage
choi sum
kai choi or mustard cabbage
peanuts
shiitake mushrooms
kim chee base
gochujang sauce

Sam’s Club sells oxtails in a vacuum sealed package. Two packs will feed up to five depending on the people eating! Main ingredients besides the oxtail are: sea salt 1/4-1/2 cup, five to eight pieces dried star anise, Knorr chicken base to taste, Chinese parsley and ginger ( as much as you like ).

If you have a 10 quart pressure cooker, cooking time is around one hour and thirty minutes, until oxtails are tender. If not, a regular pot will do, but cook time will be more than three hours. Fill pot around half way or enough water to cover oxtails. Bring to a hard boil and add salt, star anise, and a piece of crushed ginger. Cook until tender.

Once tender, use the Knorr chicken base to season your broth. You can also add more water at this time as some may have evaporated. Grate remaining ginger, more the merrier. FYI, use a spoon to clean the skin off of the ginger. Chop Chinese parsley.

Other optional sides are: won bok or napa cabbage, choi sum, kai choi or mustard cabbage, peanuts, and shiitake mushrooms.

Always remember to taste as you cook and never add too much salt or seasoning!

Adding kimchi changes the flavor. If you want, can add kimchi base and gochujang sauce for a bit of a kick.

Cooking: Smoked opelu and pan fried malu (single spot goatfish)

February 4, 2026 By Scott 2 Comments

My neighbor Brian has had his culinary creations featured on this website, and it turns out he has a buddy Ravi who shares his passion for prepping delicious fish dishes. Ravi smoked the recent large opelu I had caught. and they came out awesome.

My sister did a simple pan fry of the malu, highlighting the clean, flaky meat. Here are the simple steps to prepare these two fish. And here’s the report detailing how these fish were caught.

Smoked opelu:

Brine, pat dry, refrigerate for an hour to allow smoke flavoring to adhere better. Smoke at 180 degrees for an hour. Finish with higher heat to brown the outside, if needed. Should come out moist on the inside.

Pan-fried malu:

Salt, garlic powder, dredge in flour. Pan fry. Malu is moist and flaky with a delicate taste. The skin crisped up nicely with a reddish orange color.

Needed fish for a post-Xmas party. Westside provides the tasty goats! Catch & Cook with steaming video.

January 3, 2026 By Scott 2 Comments

We were invited to a party the day after Christmas and the host loves to cook and eat fish. The only location and weather window was Westside, 4 days before the party. It was a long shot, since I never caught much on that side, but I had to try.

I’ve never caught opelu there, so I didn’t even plan to drag a live bait. It was gonna strictly be a damashi and jig mission. About an hour in, I finally felt the strong pull of a weke nono on the damashi rod, and up came one about 1.5lb. The school had moved on but about 10 minutes later I brought up a surprise moana kali. I’ve never caught one there before and my host friend wanted something to steam. It wasn’t big, under 2 lbs, but would be big enough for people to taste it’s premium flesh. It tried to jump back in the water, but luckily was still hooked.

At this point I had tied my best effort on the Westside, 2 keepers. But that wasn’t enough for the party so I pressed on. I hit spots I had caught fish before and eventually caught 2 more weke nono. With 3 weke nono, and 1 moana kali in the bag, things were looking pretty good so I hit my Hail Mary spot on the way in, that has produced on the last 4 trips. I think the spot works because it’s overcast and windy by the time I start heading in, and the fish there aren’t as wary.

Sure enough, I felt a good pull but the fish came off. Next drop, the biggest weke nono of the day, by a few ounces, came up. The other two damashi branches and the lead were busted off so I dropped a 100g lead jig down and it got pulled but I suspect the jig was a little big for the smallish weke nono to swallow.

The fish were between 1.5 and 2lb; enough for the party so I cut the largest weke nono up for sashimi for my dad to eat on Christmas Day.

The 3 remaining weke nono made some clean tasting sashimi pieces; firmer than you’d expect goatfish to be. The sashimi was dipped in white shoyu from Japan, and wasabi and was delicious with no fishy aftertaste. The weke nono scraps were happily eaten by my sister’s cats.

The host, Daren made angled slits in the moana kali, to hold ginger slices, then stuffed it with chopped lup cheong, green onion, parsley and sprinkled with salt and pepper. He steamed it on the stove, in his fancy steamer pan shaped to hold fish. After about 15 minutes he checked it and it was done. He topped it off with peanut oil with the flair of an accomplished chef.

I’m so grateful that God provided from a spot I normally don’t catch much. Friends at the party thought the steamed moana kali was the best steamed fish they ever had. The texture was firm, yet melted in your mouth. And Daren’s seasonings erased any hint of fishyness for me. 🙂

Holoholo: Kahala (amberjack) jigging from shore! Catch and Cook.

July 23, 2025 By Scott 4 Comments

Matthew Ikeda is back from college to share his unexpected catch of shore caught kahala (amberjack).

Matthew:

A couple weeks ago, I was lucky enough to catch two small Kahala from shore, something that I never thought I would catch. I was teaching one of my friends how to fish for the first time but I brought my jigging setup to try on the side, planning to kind of mindlessly fish the budget Daiso jig while coaching him on how to catch reef fish. The jig came with a light treble hook, which I replaced with a front assist hook so it would snag less.

About 20 minutes in, I got my first hit that felt like a nice Papio, but upon bringing it up it looked like a small Kahala, which I thought was weird, but I was still happy because I had never caught one before. Twenty minutes later, I caught a second one. I knew that Kahala were supposed to have good quality meat minus the many parasitic worms that they usually have, but since these two were young I hoped that they would be healthy and threw them into the cooler.

After I got home, I asked Scott for a confirmation on the ID of the fish, and we both got confused about whether they were in fact baby regular Kahala (greater amberjack) or Kampachi (almaco jack), another more prized fish that looks almost identical. However, after some discussion we concluded that they were just regular Kahala. For an interesting story on how to identify a Kampachi versus a Kahala, as well as the life cycle of the Amberjack tape worm, see one of Scott’s old posts: here

I initially wanted to filet them to check for worms, knowing that fish in the Amberjack family commonly are infested with these parasites. Amberjack actually has very good quality meat, but most people stay away because of the worms. Anyways, my fileting skills suck and I messed up a big portion of one of the Kahala, so I decided to risk it and eat it whole. We ended up steaming the two Kahala in a pressure cooker before preparing a sauce on the side. The ingredients were simple, things you usually see in Chinese style fish (garlic, cilantro, peanut oil, shoyu), heated until smoking hot then poured onto the fish to finish the meal. I was really pleased with the way that the fish turned out, and it tasted even better. It tasted very similar to a Papio, but it was meatier and had less of a fishy taste. It was comparable to Yellow Spot Papio, in the way that it was oilier than other fish in the Jack family. I likely won’t ever catch one of these from shore again, so I’m grateful to have had the chance to try it.

On a side note: The fishing this summer has been pretty disappointing after a really great streak in June. The Oama came in early in June, and both the Oio and Papio action was hot. I initially thought that it was going to be a great summer of fishing, but July has been a pretty terrible month of fishing for me, and I haven’t seen fishing this difficult in a long time. I’m not too sure what is going on but I’ve had more dry streaks than I think I ever have in my whole life, even from when I started fishing. However, there are still plenty of others out there that are catching good fish, so there is still a reason to go out (and regardless it’s good just to be outside). The Oama and Halalu season is now in full swing, so do take advantage of that while you can. Good luck and stay safe.

Best way to eat moana / moano and not be bothered by the bones

April 9, 2025 By Scott Leave a Comment

Moano goatfish, commonly called moana, are fairly easily caught from shore, kayaks and boats in up to 130ft of water. They do have the soft meat shared by kumu, moana kali and munu (Joes) but are not as prized because they are a smaller species with smaller bones, and maybe not as sweet a taste. Commonly fried or steamed, you normally have to carefully pick through the meat to avoid the bones.

I recently caught a big moana that had a lot of meat and larger, easier to avoid bones so I kept it.

Look what I found in its stomach! It still ate a larger CHL soft plastic lure even though it had just swallowed some kind of wrasse. No wonder the fish shaped lures work so well.

My neighbor Brian wanted to fry the moano for his young kids so he filleted the fish, and cut out the pin bones from the fillet. He then dipped the boneless fillets, center bone and pin bone sections in egg yolk, rolled them in flour and deep fried them.

The kids ate the boneless fish sticks and the adults crunched through the deep fried bones. Was ono and a great way to minimize the risk of getting bones stuck in your throat!

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.

March 28, 2025 By Scott 4 Comments

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

March 5, 2025 By Scott 5 Comments

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.

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.

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.

Holoholo (Group): What is your favorite goatfish to eat and why?

February 25, 2025 By Scott 2 Comments

The Holoholo writers weighed in. It was very interesting to find how each of the goatfish we have in Hawaii were someone’s favorites, for different reasons.

Kekahi (diver and kayak fisherman. IG: kamakaze_kaster):

I think munu (nicknamed Joe Louis), have the softest meat compared to kumu and moana kali. Kumu and Joes are less commonly hooked than moana kali, but divers can get them at selected spots. I have hooked kumu and joes whipping, dunking and bottom fishing. Even at night.

Merik (shore, boat and throw netter):

The answer is different from person to person. For me personally, I believe that the best eating goatfish has to be the kūmū. With that being said it’s also one of the most elusive, making it a treat whenever one is cooked, steamed, fried, or sashed at the dinner table. Coming close behind has to be the moano ʻukali, which is slightly more common and pretty much just as good eating.

Taste wise they are pretty similar. Kūmū, to me, just seems a bit softer more tender, with the taste being slightly different. Hard to really describe it. It could also be because I don’t get to each as much kūmū so I enjoy it more when I do.

A much more common goatfish that is also a favorite for myself and many others is the ‘oama, caught using a hand pole and best enjoyed whole and deep fried.

Pono (shore fisher, diver, boat fisher):

‘Oama. I like how they are the easiest to prepare and eat! Perfect for people who aren’t used to eating around bones or don’t like eating fish since they taste like McDonald’s fries. I’d take 2lbs of ‘oama over a 2lb goatfish all day.

But if I had to steam something, or cook something special, kūmū trumps every fish, goat or not.

Lawrence (kayak fisher):

I like moano kali because they are aggressive biters and hit the damashi hard. We sashimi or eat ’em the same way we stuff uhu: all the goods – onion, tomatoes, mushrooms, lupchong, green onion, Portuguese sausage, mayonnaise, garlic salt, pepper. Need a sharp knife to prep the small, soft fish.

My second most commonly caught goat is the weke nono / weke ula.

Scott (kayak fisher):

Since I don’t eat cooked fish much, the weke nono, also called weke ula, is my favorite since the clean, non-fishy, white meat is firm enough to eat as sashimi or poke. The fish itself is so beautiful in shape and coloration. It does tend to dry out when cooked so it’s best to eat raw.

Erik (boat fisher):

I prefer the Moano / Moana Kali. The reason is based solely on aesthetics. 😆. Even though I can’t tell the difference and really enjoy the taste/texture and flavor of both Moana Kali and Weke Nono equally, if I had to choose, I prefer the Kali. This I guess, has to do with eating with my eyes first and maybe some to do with how the fish looks coming out of the water. The bright orange on the upper back. The ombre purple from waist to tail. It’s just such a beautiful fish.

A friend who has been able to try all the goats sums them up for us:

For steaming, I think Moana Kali is the best, followed by Joe Louis then Kumu. My father likes the Joe best, then Kali and Kumu last. We’ve steamed all 3 together a number of times with the same results.

I don’t cook weke nono / weke ula as it’s way too dry but the ones over 3lb are good for sashimi. We typically throw back the smaller ones.

Malu (side spot goafish) is very similar to weke nono as it’s a relatively dry fish although less dry than the white weke, red weke and weke nono.

Small moana, like oama are best deep fried crispy.

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

December 9, 2024 By Scott Leave a Comment

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.

Yellowspot papio compared to uku prepared sashimi and steamed

December 7, 2024 By Scott Leave a Comment

To compare the 1.5 lb yellow spot papio and 2lb uku written up earlier, my neighbor Brian filleted half and steamed the other half. Here’s his brief but detailed comparison of the young fish. Thanks Brian!

Brian:

Yellow spot papio on left, uku on right.

Both fish were great as sashimi. The yellow spot was tender and mild. The uku was firm and had a stronger flavor. The uku was easier to slice since it was a thicker fillet.

Uku on top, yellow spot papio on bottom.

Steamed, the yellow spot papio was more flaky and dense whereas the uku was more moist and light. Texture wise, the uku was preferred but both were very good.

Yellow Spot Papio (Island Jack) and Weke Nono (Pfluger’s Goatfish) – how are they raw?

August 22, 2024 By Scott 2 Comments

Yellow spot papio, also called Island Jack, can be caught in waist deep water on the flats and thus may be more commonly caught than weke nono / weke ‘ula or Pfluger’s goatfish which is normally encountered in water deeper than 100ft.

Yellow spot papio are considered about the best eating of the papio we have in Hawaii, only possibly surpassed by kagami papio or African pompano. Yellow spot initially may look like omilu (bluefin trevally) in the water because they both have blue colored fins and opaque blueish sides, but on closer examination, yellow spot papio have the yellow spots they are known for, as well as thicker skin with tiny scales and a downturned mouth equipped to suck up crustaceans. Their diet of shrimp and crab are the reason for their light tasting, non-fishy, slightly fatty flesh.

Weke nono are a beautiful red goatfish with white stripes, when alive, that aren’t generally as well respected as kumu, munu and moana kali because weke nono have flesh that tends to get a little dry when cooked.

But weke nono make great sashimi, especially when over 2lb and prepared properly. Their diet is similar to yellow spot papio, feeding on shrimps and crabs. Since their flesh, like all goatfish, is on the soft side, icing the fish overnight and then dry aging the fillets for a day or so really help to tighten up the meat.

Yellow spot has a softer meat than most papio but are still firmer than weke nono because they have more muscle fiber/tendons. Both fish have a very “clean” taste.

Neither yellow spot nor weke nono sashimi got fishy after 3 days but the weke nono was beginning to soften further. Yellow spot sashimi “feels” more like you’d expect of raw fish, whereas weke nono have a softer less “connected” feel. Both are excellent in my very humble opinion!

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

January 4, 2024 By Scott Leave a Comment

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.

Cooking: Dried opelu jerky, and deep fried nabeta & opelu

November 6, 2023 By Scott Leave a Comment

On my last kayak trip, I witnessed some incredible bait ball action but only brought home 3 twelve inch opelu and 1 medium sized nabeta. My neighbor Brian really appreciates fresh, local fish and was excited to make the most out of the unused opelu, and improve on his nabeta deep-fry recipe.

Brian:

Opelu Jerky:

Fillet, quarter the fish in lengthwise strips, marinade for 45 mins in 1/4 cup shoyu, 1/8 cup mirin, 1-2 tbsp chili pepper water, then dry in dehydrator overnight (6-8 hours at 150 degrees).

I would have liked to cold smoke it for maybe 20-30 mins before the dehydration, but my cold smoker hadn’t arrived yet. Next time!

The opelu jerky turned out pretty good, I think I could have left it in the dehydrator longer (had to pull it earlier than I wanted because I had to for work early the next morning). The salt level was good, in the past I’ve definitely made ahi/aku jerky too darn salty, so this one was just right for me. Also, I’m going to try roasting one of them in my outdoor toaster (specifically for fish) when I eat the next one and I have a feeling that it’s going to be good. It’s a great high protein snack.

Deep-fried Nabeta:

This time I changed up how I usually do my fried nabeta. The past couple times I’ve been a little bummed about not being able to eat all the bones after frying the nabeta with the flesh on or if I fry extra long, the flesh is more like crackers. So this time I filleted the Nabeta (more difficult than the Opelu due to flesh consistency, I needed to sharpen or get a better filleting knife).

Then I dredged both bones and fillet.

Fried the fillet first just for a min or two and the meat was ONO, super juicy, tender and flavorful.

Then I fried up the opelu bones and the nabeta bones and honestly I liked the opelu bones better than the nabeta. The bones were easier to munch on, being a slightly smaller diameter than the nabeta’s. I was able to eat the whole spine bone no problem with the proper frying time.

Windward Offshore Kayak Trip: Glassy, relaxing day; saw a lot of wildlife and caught some fish to take home! Catch & Cook.

January 26, 2023 By Scott 6 Comments

The stars aligned and an old kayak fishing partner was able to join me for a very relaxing day 2.5 to 3 miles offshore at a Windward spot I hadn’t checked in almost a year. I hadn’t fished with Guy in almost 2 years. The water was sheet glass for most of the day and the Pre-Eddie Aikau North West swell wasn’t wrapping into this area yet.

Click to see the small gold hook on the lower lip

Guy pedaled his Hobie Compass with help from a stern mounted Bixpy motor, and I paddled my Trident Ultra with help from my rudder mounted Bixpy. Over flat calm water I was averaging 3.5 mph on the 4th of 12 speeds. I pulled up at a spot where I previously caught a lone opelu that turned into my first ever kayak kawakawa the last time we fished this spot together. You can read about that trip here.

What looked like suspended opelu didn’t bite so we searched around and Guy landed a much coveted nabeta, calling me over. After we both picked up nabeta just off the bottom, my damashi was stopped on the way down by 2 opelu! We couldn’t find any more so we each put one out and headed out to deeper water. Guy’s free swimming bait got taken and I went out deeper to drift my weighted bait in. I hooked something on my 12lb damashi line with a lot of headshakes and 8 mins later a 5lb white papio finally reached the surface. The little gold hook was secured perfectly in its lower jaw. A friend has been asking for papio for years now so I decided to keep it for him and stuffed it in my fish bag filled with ice cubes and Arctic Ice blocks.

A bit later, I saw a few midsized fish flash on the surface and my weighted opelu got pulled for 8 seconds while I was frantically trying to bring in my damashi, and the opelu was pulled off. Just another pulled bait in the “off season” of Winter. I’m telling myself the fish are too small to swallow the opelu and too small to care about but what if they are legit sized pelagics?

Put a twice thawed-and-refrozen opelu out on the weighted rig and resumed damashi fishing while I drifted. Up came what I thought was an orange kumu but a friend Kelly later identified it as a “yellow threaded goatfish“, which is uncommon in Hawaii. It was returned to its home with a hole in its lip.

Then I ran across a big mark attached to the bottom and pulled up an 8 inch weke nono / weke ula. Too small to keep so I moved away from the area.

Stumbled upon another opelu while damashi fishing but nothing substantial hit that when it was put out. Guy was enjoying the damashi fishing with the flies he tied and was weeding through a variety of reef fish in water shallower than I was fishing, keeping the invasive but good to fry taape. I headed to a sandy area to get away from the hoards of hagi (trigger fish) and wasn’t getting any bites on my CHL Minnows until I put a piece of opelu on the damashi hook. Instant nabeta, though small. I got another one that way but then it was time to head in.

We did have to keep alert though. There was a juvenile whale slapping the water with its tail and Guy heard what sounded like a shark attacking something on the surface. So much life in this area. What an enjoyable day experiencing all this just a few miles offshore and bringing home enough fish for our family to eat.

I scaled, gilled & gutted and clipped the fins, scutes and tail off the papio to make it easier for my friend to process. Within 2 hrs of giving it to him, he and his wife ate most as sashimi and made soup out of the head and bones. At 5lbs the risk of having a significant amount of ciguatera in its body was very low.

I decided to cook the nabeta for my wife and dad which I hadn’t done in a couple of years. Following Haru’s recipe, I salt and peppered the gutted and gilled nabeta (left the scales on), then rolled them in corn starch. I fried them outdoors over a propane stove ’til they were golden brown, pulled them out to cool, then fried them til they were a crispy, dark brown. We could crunch through most of the bones and fins, albeit carefully. So ono with a drizzle of ponzu sauce but it’s also so messy to deep fry in a frying pan!

Guy deep fried his nabeta and taape outdoors without any batter, in a wok over a gas stove, using a splash screen to keep the mess down. His family ate all but the center bones and loved it. Hopefully he can free up to fish with me again!

Returned to kayak the SE side, the usual winter suspects were there including the Beast. Uku catch and cook.

December 27, 2022 By Scott 6 Comments

‘Tis the season to fish the South East side since the North swell is sweeping through the Windward side spots now. Woke a little earlier and got to the bait spot before 8am, and it made a difference. 🙂 Got 3 opelu in the tube, my best effort ever, and paddled them out to 220ft per Big Island Hammah Shea’s recommendation to avoid the shallow water bait stealers.

Let the first one out and it got picked up but the fish didn’t run hard with the bait. When I applied a little pressure I heard a splash behind me and the bait was dropped. The opelu came back mortally wounded and looked like it had been grabbed sideways by something other than aha and kaku. I put on a lively opelu, dropped it back and went out to 500ft and back inside 150ft and nothing bothered it. Decided to try for uku so I weighted it down with a 1.5 oz bullet weight and it got nibbled on when it got near the bottom. The nibbles turned to a screaming, unstoppable run. 300yd were out and I tried to slow down the Beast but my Strike drag setting had no effect on the run. I inched up to max drag and the braid backing shattered! The same thing happened last November in the same general area. Check out what happened that day.

My 70ft fluoro shock leader and 6ft fluoro leader was taken so I had to retie a leader directly onto the braid. No longer a stealthy setup, I just hoped a not-so-smart uku would happen by. Instead I got another fish that ran out 70yd and slowed. After a tough battle with a lot of vertical yanks, a 5ft to 6ft sandbar shark was pulled up from the depths and cut free. That shark really fought above its weight class compared to other sandbars that size. This made me think that the previous beast was a very large, fast running shark, not the ahi I hoped it was, since both times it bit near the bottom.

Finally I felt the telltale bite and jerky fight of a small uku and I landed my first one since January. I love catching uku. They’re easy to handle on the kayak and very versatile to prepare. I was hoping for a few more since it was small (3 to 4lb) but the winds picked up and water got choppy. The few boats out there left and I couldn’t get my bait down near the bottom anymore. It’s funny, I’ve never gotten more than 1 decent sized uku on a trip.

A friend was in town with his wife, visiting in-laws and he and his wife’s family had never eaten uku before. They wanted to dry age the uku but Christmas dinner arrived 4 days after the fish was caught and they couldn’t wait any longer. They wrapped the uku in foil and baked it at 450 degrees for 20 to 30 mins, intermittently checking on it after 20 mins. Ginger slices had been stuffed into slits in the body and after it was done “steaming” in the oven, a sauce of shoyu, sugar, sesame oil, mirin and oyster sauce was poured over the fish. The seasoned fish was eaten over a bed of rice, with a side of zuccini and kale, and from the looks of the photo, the bones were picked clean. When I pressured my friend for a review of the steamed uku he said “it was nice and meaty, medium-fluffy, not too oily, but not dry, not really fishy. It was fresh tasting, and a great base for the sauce that was poured over it.” What a descriptive, easy to relate to review!

Better Oahu kayakers are getting ono, mahi, and kamanu (rainbow runner) in the Winter so I’ll be out again when the weather allows, but won’t be disappointed if another uku bites the bait.

Holoholo: Dry Aging Nearshore Fish in Hawaii

December 8, 2022 By Scott 2 Comments

BJ Hosaka, who has previously shared about night whipping for Menpachi and Āholehole, recently started “dry aging” the fish he catches. Please read what an amazing difference it makes.

Maximizing fish quality is a goal many fishermen have when preparing their catch. As most know, this begins by properly bleeding and icing down a fish when caught. Yet, another important factor that is often overlooked for improving fish quality is aging. Fresh fish is touted as being superior but can be tough and lack the flavor profile of a properly aged fish. Dry aged fish enhances fish quality by drawing out moisture from the flesh, allowing flavors to intensify. Proper aging gives ample opportunity for muscles, sinew, and tough flesh to become soft and delicate; a reason why most premiere sushi chefs and food connoisseurs choose to age their fish before serving it to customers.

Dry aging fish can seem complex and overwhelming. However, it is not as complex as it seems. I would like to share a simple method that I have used successfully. The first step is to thoroughly clean the fish.

Scale and gut fish
Remove all blood from belly cavity (Tip: Use your thumb, toothbrush, and strong water
hose to spray out blood from belly cavity)
Pat completely dry with paper towel

Once the fish is thoroughly cleaned, there are two methods that I have used to dry age my fish.
The methods are listed below.

Materials needed: (Paper towel and Plastic food wrap). Stuff the belly cavity with a paper
towel and tightly wrap the paper towel around the fish. After doing this, tightly wrap both
the fish and paper towel with plastic food wrap and place in the refrigerator. Unwrap and
change paper towels every 1-2 days. .
Materials needed: (Cooling Rack and Baking Pan). Simply put the cleaned fish on the cooling rack with a pan underneath to catch the drippings into the refrigerator. Let the fish dry on the cooling rack for desired aging length.

I personally keep my fish whole with the head and tail on to ensure that outside moisture and bacteria cannot penetrate into the flesh of the fish. This helps to ensure that the fish will not spoil.

Nearshore fish that I have aged: Papio (All Types), Barracuda, Lai, Oio, Moi, Toau, Aholehole, Awa Awa, Mullet, Menpachi, and Aweoweo.

For most of the fish listed above, 5-9 days is best when starting out. Although, I have aged fish for up to 2-3 weeks with very good results. Typically, the bigger and more muscular a fish is, the longer it can benefit from dry aging as it gives ample time for the fish to break down its connective tissue. As a general rule, fish that are oily tend to benefit from shorter aging periods while leaner, tougher fish benefit from longer aging periods. I created a list below of what I believe the ideal amount of time for each fish is for nearshore fish in Hawaii.

White Papio, Oio, Awa Awa, Barracuda, Lai: 7-9 Days
Yellow Spot Papio, Omilu, Menpachi Papio, and Barred Papio: 5-7 Days
Menpachi, Toau, Aholehole, and Aweoweo: 5-7 Days
Moi, Mullet: 5-7 days

When preparing your dry aged fish, simply prepare the fish as you normally would for both raw and cooked dishes. Because dry aging fish reduces moisture and creates a drier exterior, cooking dry aged fish allows for better crusts when searing and a crispier skin when frying. One is able to generate more flavors through the Maillard reaction and decreases the likelihood of a fish steaming. It embodies the same cooking concept of patting something dry but takes it to an exponential degree. With raw dishes, the complexity of flavors and umami become
present, allowing one to taste the unique flavor of each fish.

As noted earlier, it’s important to experiment and find out what works best for you. Dry aging can be an option for those looking to increase the quality of the fish they eat. However, it is not mandatory nor is it essential for enjoying your catch!

Shibi Ahi – Kawakawa – Aku and Yellowfin – Big Eye taste comparison

April 6, 2022 By Scott 8 Comments

As someone new to catching and eating the various tuna available in Hawaii, I had many questions about fish identification and taste comparison, and asked our panel of experts who catch and eat a lot of these. Thank you Capt Darren, Capt Erik, Shea and Take’s Seafood.

Most of us less-exposed to the fish caught off local boats call any yellowfin tuna an “ahi”. It turns out that “ahi” refers to yellowfin and big eye tuna over 100lb. Fish under 100lb are called shibi. Big eye tuna are plumper, with larger eyes since they generally live in deeper, colder water, making them fattier and tastier than yellow fin. In fact, big eye is much preferred to yellow fin despite the flesh being not as firm as yellowfin ahi. Sashimi aficionados say big eye has a delicate sweet taste, and yellow fin can be slightly bitter.

Aku is skipjack tuna, the type of tuna most commonly canned. It has the most *flavor* of all the tunas, which some people love; others find the iron taste off putting. Otaru is the name for aku larger than say, 20lb, and some fish lovers say otaru makes the best tasting sashimi of all the tunas because of the high fat content. Otaru become less “irony” and more fatty as they get bigger. Aku can reach 40lbs here but most are 5 to 25lb.

Kawakawa is called bonita or mackerel tuna in other parts of the world. Similar in taste to aku, it too gets better tasting when it reaches 20lb or so. The state record is 33lb.

Aku and kawakawa don’t get a lot of respect from the non-local anglers and eaters because they are bloody tasting and soft if not handled properly and commonly used as bait on the mainland. Ideally they should be bled well after braining them, and iced on the boat and overnight before cleaning. That will result in firm filets that have a shelf life of 2 to 3 days. The larger fish are fattier because they need the fat stores to prepare to spawn. 20lb fish are 2/3 of their max weight. A 2/3 grown yellowfin tuna is close to 200lb!

Shibi Ahi have a much better rep than aku and kawakawa, but the guys who have eaten the 3 tunas say that small yellowfin are kind of bland and don’t begin to have more flavor until they pass the 50lb to 70lb mark. For guys not wanting that hint of iron though, shibi ahi is the best because of its mild taste. It’s definitely the brightest looking with its yellow stripe, fins, tail and blue/black contrast.

We kayakers don’t get a shot at big eye, and even aku are usually out of range. Kawakawa come in the closest and can be caught inside of 100ft. They also aren’t that wary of hooks, line and badly presented baits. Shibi ahi are in range of the kayaks, often caught from 120ft to 300ft, but are sharp eyed and rarely fall for a bait on wire leader.

Hope this clears up some confusion with the similar looking and often misrepresented Hawaii tunas. Please let me know if anything else should be added.

Recommended steps to preserve your fish so it can be safely eaten raw

November 12, 2021 By Scott Leave a Comment

In Hawaii, we like to eat our fish raw if possible, as sashimi or poke. But if your fish isn’t super fresh, and bled properly, it might taste fishy/bloody, and worst case, make you sick.

Whether you’re dunking off the beach, or fishing off a boat, here’s what you want to do to make your catch as ono as possible. Thanks to the Coach Haru, Capt Darren, Capt Erik and Kelly for the tips below.

Bring the fish in as quickly as possible. The fish builds up lactic acid as it struggles to get free, and that lactic acid spoils the meat.
Spike the fish in the brain to stop sending stress signals out to the fish’s body. Stress causes undesirable chemical changes which affect the taste. The fish will stop squirming when dead but the heart will still pump for a while.
Cut or pull the gills to bleed the fish. Blood makes the meat spoil quicker. You want to reach the gills that are connected to the fish’s main artery. Usually that’s the gill closest to the spine. The heart will still pump blood out. Hold the fish by the tail, or leave in a bucket, until the gills are light pink and no longer red.
Big, bloody fish like ahi should be gutted to prevent the fish from “cooking” from the inside out. After gutting the large fish, stuff its cavity with ice to cool down the meat.
If possible, perform “ike jime” by running a wire down the spinal cord to stop the nerves from firing and sending stress signals.
Ideally you want to “brine” the fish in icy, salt water. Fresh water, with chlorine does bad things to the fish so that’s to be avoided. If you don’t have the means to saltwater brine the fish, try to surround the fish with ice cubes so as much surface area of the fish is encased.
If your fish is still in great shape when you get home, you can leave the fish overnight in a salty brine, or wrap tightly in a plastic bag in a fresh water brine, to really get the core temperature down. If the fish is small enough to fit in your fridge, you can wrap it tightly in a plastic bag and place in the lowest area of your your fridge. You can clean the fish the following day as specified in the next step.
If your fish wasn’t iced well, and possibly “cooked”, you need to clean it as soon as possible. Remove the guts and all the blood meat. Wipe the filets with a paper towel and try not to expose them to fresh water. Wrap the clean filets in paper towel, then in a snug plastic bag and store in the bottom of your fridge. The paper towel will pull blood and moisture off the filets. Change the wrappings every day.
“Aging” the fish in the fridge will bring out the good flavors and extract the fishy-ness. Certain fish are very firm initially, ahi for example, and need to age for a few days in order to be soft enough to feel good in the mouth. Uku is needs at least two days to soften also. Softer fish like goat fish can be consumed sooner. White meat, non-bloody fish will last a lot longer than red meat fish. As a test you can sample a small piece of the filet everyday to see how it changes.
If the fish has a slimy, slightly smelly coating when you prepare it for serving, you can rinse it quickly in a bowl of freshwater, salt and lemon. Don’t do this unless necessary, however, since you will rinse off the taste too!

I recently caught fish larger than the usual “pan fryahs”, on humid days, and didn’t have enough ice in my fish bag, and in the cooler overnight. See the impact this had on the fish below. The guys scolded me and I’m making big changes to better care for my kayak-caught fish.

This kagami ulua “cooked” in the fish bag because it wasn’t encased in ice on a humid day. The flesh should be translucent, not whitish/opaque. It tasted fine but was firmer than it should have been.

This kawakawa “burned/cooked” in the fish bag because there wasn’t enough ice to bring down the hot, bloody fish’s temperature.

This piece was discarded but the other filets were fine, cooked. We didn’t chance eating it raw.

These rainbow runner (kamanu) filets ripped while cleaning because the fish wasn’t iced well enough overnight and didn’t firm up.

The fish tasted fine but would have kept longer and presented better if it were cared for properly.

Back to the South Side to kayak hunt for preds

July 27, 2020 By Scott 5 Comments

Since the summer brought bigger surf to the South Side, we had been taking advantage of the small surf on the East Side when the wind allowed. In general, there were more fish than what we encounter in the South, but the fish were not the predators like uku and pelagics we were hoping to run into. We found protected, sandy bottomed areas that held tasty fish like nabeta and juvenile opakapaka but not the rocky drop offs that attract the bigger fish.

Surf and wind dropped on the South Side this past week, and Frank and I went back to one of our favorite spots. We started off looking for bait but couldn’t find any sizable bait balls, so it was time for Plan B. In 100ft of water, I dropped down a frozen, well preserved, year-old local opelu, about 7 inches long. Within a minute, I felt the taps, then the tugs, and then line peeled off my reel. Hanapa’a, but the fish felt really weird. No sustained runs, instead, quick downward pulls.

After a jerky 2 minute fight, this popped up. I thought it was a big omilu but noticed the 4 yellow spots on the side and the down turned mouth. Stoked, I let Frank know of the catch and he set up to drop bait.

Yellow spot / yellow dot / island jack papio are often caught in very shallow water as they feed on crabs and shrimp. Fly fishers seem to get them more often than whippers, since their flies do a better shrimp imitation. Yellow spot are one of the best tasting papio because their diet gives them a fatty, less fishy taste.

My next drop got tap, tap, tapped, then picked up. Initially I thought it was a big jack but when it slowed and felt heavy I knew it was a shark. Even with the 2-speed Avet SX reel in low gear, I had to endure a 20 minute bicep burn. Man I hate these things. It had taken me from 100ft to 200ft, with Frank keeping watch, before I could raise it high enough to cut it free. On the way back to shallower water, we dropped our damashi on deep bait marks, and when that failed, dropped opelu down but nothing bit.

I rested my arms and let the Bixpy motor take me back to where the yellow spot bit, but all our bottom fished and trolled baits eventually got ripped off without hooking anything. I even tried dropping a small 60gm tungsten jig to hook the bait stealers but they were wise to it. The yellow spot and shark had hit on the slack low tide, and the bite oddly slowed as the tide rushed in. Maybe it was midday slowdown?

Frank caught a nice sized nabeta on the damashi, and I caught some taape and moana just to feel some tugs, but that was it.

The shorter paddle on the South Side was appreciated, and it was nice to hear the ratchet sing but I could do without the shark-isometrics.

Hanapa’a writer Kelly caught a 7lb yellow spot in 4 feet of water a few years back, so I weighed mine to see if it was close. A few ounces less at 6lb 9oz! Here’s Kelly’s write up. I thought these fish don’t eat other fish much, but I guess a tasty frozen opelu was too much to resist. Glad the yellow spot bit before the shark shut things down for us.

Badly sliced yellow spot about to be eaten as sashimi

Kelly and Hanapa’a writer Coach Haru said to clean the fish right away, remove the head, gills, and blood, and wrap the fish in paper towels to extract the blood. Let the muscle tissue loosen over 2 to 3 days, then eat as sashimi. On Day 2 I ate the fish as sashimi and poke and found the meat to be soft but not too soft, and very mild tasting. It was better as poke, with the sesame oil adding some richness as well as flavor.

A friend who enjoys uku received the fish on Day 3 and his wife Joanna made a Thai vinaigrette sauce so they could eat the fish over mixed greens. Joanna doesn’t like fishy raw fish and loved the yellow spot.

Uku – raw, steam, fry. Simple, super ono recipes here!!

May 25, 2020 By Scott Leave a Comment

Uku, a shallow water snapper, closely related to opakapaka, is one of the most versatile and delicious fish you could prepare. What limits its popularity with the masses is its unfortunate name (uku more commonly means head lice) and its junkyard dog face. uku is also called green jobfish or gray snapper, which are just slightly more appealing names.

Recently my semi-commercial fishing friend Jon had some uku to sell since the fish auction prices have been down due to all the closed restaurants. Friends and I purchased uku at unheard of pricing and made some incredibly delicious yet simple dishes.

The first thing to do with any fish is to remove the gills and guts to slow down the spread of bacteria. We filleted the fish, wrapped the filets in paper towel and put in the fridge to soften because uku is too firm initially.

Since the uku bones have more blood content than the filets and would spoil first, they were deep fried right away and the head was made into soup. This was the first time I’ve fried fish bones and I was amazed at how good it tasted. I seasoned it like a steak and deep fried it crispy. It smelled fishy while frying but tasted like tender, fried pork chops. The high fat content near the bones made it so juicy.

Uku is pretty firm for the first 2 days so I made a simple poke on the 3rd day with sesame oil, chili flakes, Hawaiian salt and inamona (minced kukui nut). I could have also added limu, shoyu and onions. The poke was had a slightly firm texture and tasted great (non-fishy for me) with the simple ingredients.

Holoholo writer Kelly gave me a simple steam recipe. Wrap the filet in foil, bake in a pan at 400 degrees and check in 15 to 20 mins depending on size of filet. It’s done when a fork smoothly goes through the meat. I poured a simple sauce of shoyu, chopped ginger, sugar, sesame oil and chili flakes and the uku was flaky and clean tasting. Friend and culinary artist Brandon’s steamed uku is much more presentable than mine but was prepared in a similar, simple fashion.

Brandon also salt and peppered the filet, lightly seared for 5 to 10 seconds on each side, then sliced it. He laid the slices on red onion, lettuce, wakame, and sprinkled green onions and tomatoes on top. Finished with a lime ponzu sauce. Looks like fine dining yeah, but can easily be done in your kitchen.

So there you have it. If you make soup with the head, all that’s thrown away are the scales, tail and guts. High yield and so many ways to consume uku! But I gotta say, the fried bones were the best!