Hawaii Nearshore Fishing

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Holoholo: Hiramasa on a jointed sunfish lure?!!

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The lure was later lost that day, this is the closest lure online that resembled it.

Hunter, a Middle Schooler, fishes all over Oahu and always manages to catch unusual, highly desirable fish!

Hunter: About 1 1/2 years ago on January 1 2018 I was fishing at my friends beach house at Laniakea. We started out fishing for bass in his private pond . We didn’t catch anything so we decided to move to the beach. About a week prior I was in Florida fishing from a pier when a kid approached me. He asked if I wanted his “Hawaiian lure” which was a bass lure that looked like a sunfish with a hook out of the top of the lure. I took it not expecting to use it.

Back at Laniakea, I saw the lure the kid gave me and thought it would be a good idea to try it out. I tied on the lure to my baitcaster that I recently got at Bass Pro Shops and started casting. The lure looked nothing like anything you would find here in Hawaii but I kept casting. After casting about 10 times a decided to move down further right. I casted my lure and started reeling and jerking the lure. Suddenly my pole started flexing and my line started to get taken. I pulled to set the hook and called my friend over.

I yelled “I got a fish”! Loud but my sister didn’t believe me. My friend came over and asked if it felt big and I said “heck yeah”. It was surprising a good fight lasting a good 4-5 minutes. When It got close we went towards the water to see what it was and saw a golden flash. We looked at each other thinking it was a pao pao but as we brought it up on the beach we realized it was a hiramasa (yellowtail that swam from Japan).

I was so excited and must’ve took 1000 pictures but somehow I only have 1 now. We brought it home and we fried it in lemon butter which made for a delicious lunch the next day. The only down side was that the next day I ended up with a fever and couldn’t attend school. Now that I think about it, maybe the lure looked like a kupipi?

Holoholo: New Oama fly works!

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Our man in the water reporter, Jason, has been seeing big omilu breeze by as he stalked wary oio. He decided to switch gears and try for the papio while they’re so close to shore.

Jason: With oama season in full swing, I had started playing around with ideas for an oama fly, eventually settling on a modified Clay Yee’s Reef Special  ( http://www.nervouswaterhawaii.com/default.asp?id=144), itself an oama imitation and variation of the classic Clouser minnow.  My humble additions included adding some olive to the wing to mimic the darker topside of the oama’s body, replacing the shiny polar flash with a few subtle strands of white Krystal flash, and replacing the white variegated tinsel chennile body with plain white chennile.  There are a lot of oama imitations on the lure market today, but I feel you can’t beat the natural movement of fur, hair and feathers.  I couldn’t wait to test it!

Ian, Jason, Dave and Mike

Turns out that weekend I was also supposed to “play guide” for friends Mike and Dave, along with Mike’s cousin’s boyfriend Ian, who was visiting from California.   Dave and I started out fly fishing together years ago, but he hadn’t fished in awhile. Ian is a big time trout guy getting his first taste of saltwater fly-fishing and Mike is brand new to the sport, and still learning to fly cast.  Not the most ideal conditions to test my “new fly,” but I was determined to fit it in.


Since I was out there to show Mike and Ian how it’s done, I wanted to hook at least one bonefish “for demonstration purposes.”  I started out with one of my favorite bonefish flies, a version of a classic Super Gotcha taught to me by my friend and mentor, Asa.  About 30 minutes in, I manage to hook a small one to show Ian.


After taking pictures and showing Ian the fish, I released it and switched over to my new “oama fly.”  The tide was going out, so I waded out closer to the break with the intent of targeting omilu in the turbulent white water.  About 5 casts in I hooked a nice fish that I could instantly tell wasn’t an omilu.  I spent the next 5 minutes chasing the fish around, freeing my line from the reef as I went.  At one point, the line got stuck pretty good and I could no longer feel the fish tugging.  I thought for sure it was gone, but when I waded over, I was surprised to see the fish furiously swimming in circles trying to free itself.  Luckily it was too tired to break my tippet, and I quickly scooped it up with my landing net.  It was a nice fish, made even nicer by the fact it was almost lost.  Not my target species, but I wasn’t complaining!   I got some photos, then revived and released the fish.  

The next couple of hours were pretty quiet, so we decided to double back to the spot where I caught the smaller fish and wait for the tide to come in.   Ian still hadn’t hooked anything so I wanted to try to get him on a fish.  I set him up to bomb a fishy looking pocket near where my earlier fish was hooked, but minutes later it was Dave who ended up hooking one.  This fish was around the same size as my first one, and could have very well been the same fish.  The fight had taken him back to the west, so he and I decided to stay there and let Ian have the “hot spot” to himself.  

At this point Dave and I had each got the monkey off our backs so we were just talking story and lazily blind casting.  Mike was about 75 yards in front and just to the east of us practicing his casting in a sandy pocket.  All of a sudden I was cut off mid-sentence by a strong take, followed by another episode of running back and forth across the reef.  This one was a bit smaller than the second one and took the same “oama fly.”  

After releasing the fish, we were all pretty hungry so we decided to call it a day.  Unfortunately, Ian ended up getting skunked, but I told him not to feel too bad.  Some guys fly out to Hawaii solely to chase bonefish and leave empty handed after a week of pounding the flat.  He only got to fish for one day, and on the last day of his trip.   He will be back, and will be better prepared next time.   As for me, I think I’ve got a new fly to add to my rotation!

Jason

Hawaiian Fish Name Translations

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These are the English names of the more commonly encountered nearshore fish we’ve mentioned on this website. We’ll continue to update this list as needed.

  • aha – houndfish or needlefish. Viewed as a pest because it scratches up baits and lures.
  • ahi – Yellowfin tuna or bluefin tuna over 100lb. Under 100lb it’s called “shibi”.
  • aholehole – Hawaiian flagtail. A flat, silver sided fish that grow up in brackish estuaries and lives in reef crevasses as an adult.
  • aku – Skipjack tuna.
  • akule – Bigeye scad. In the mackeral family. Grown version of halalu.
  • ‘ala’ihi – Various squirrelfish.
  • ‘ama’ama – Native Hawaiian striped mullet.
  • awa – Milkfish. Herbivore sometimes confused with the smaller awa aua.
  • awa aua / awa awa – Hawaiian ladyfish.
  • aweoweo – Bigeye. Has big eyes because it’s a nocturnal fish. One of the “red fish”, along with menpachi.
  • halalu – Juvenile bigeye scad.
  • hinalea – The lowly wrasse family, known for being slimy and easily caught. Most aren’t very tasty but the nabeta (Japanese name) is part of this family of fish.
  • kahala – Greater amberjack.
  • kagami papio/ulua – African pompano. Has a flat, shiny body that resembles a mirror. “Kagami” is Japanese for mirror. Considered a rare, delicious catch.
  • kala – Bluespine unicornfish.
  • kaku – Great barracuda. Stinky, toothy fish that is actually pretty tasty.
  • kawakawa – Mackeral tuna.
  • kawelea – Heller’s barracuda (deeper water version). Milder tasting than kaku.
  • kole – Gold ring surgeonfish. Prized for how it tastes fried/grilled, but has been implicated in ciquatera poisoning episodes.
  • kumu – Whitesaddle goatfish. Considered the best eating for all the goatfish, followed closely by moana kali.
  • laenihi – Peacock wrasse, razor fish, more commonly referred to the Japanese name “nabeta’. Arguably the best eating nearshore fish. Fried whole with scales on to a golden brown.
  • lai – Leatherback. Makes great sashimi and the dried skin can be used in lures.
  • mahi mahi – Dolphinfish, dorado.
  • manini – Convict tang.
  • mamo – Hawaiian sergeant.
  • menpachi –
  • moana – Manybar goatfish.
  • moana kali – Blue goatfish. Very beautiful and delicious to steam fish. Now it’s more common that the highly prized, easier to catch, kumu.
  • moi – Pacific threadfin. One of the best fish to steam. Was reserved for Hawaiian royalty.
  • mu – Bigeye emperor, a type of snapper with human-like molars.
  • munu – Island goatfish. A stouter goatfish, ranked in the top 4 of best eating.
  • nohu – Scorpionfish. Has deadly spines but is good eating.
  • nunu – Trumpetfish.
  • oama – Juvenile goatfish. Oama bring the nearshore predators into the shallows, within reach of anglers.
  • oio – Bonefish.
  • omilu – Bluefin trevally. Most common papio.
  • opelu – Mackeral scad. Everything in the deep eats this fish.
  • opelu kala – Sleek unicornfish that lacks the horn.
  • palani – Eyestripe surgeonfish.
  • pananu / ponuhunuhu – Star eyed parrotfish.
  • pao’o pa’o – Golden trevally.
  • papio – Juvenile (under 10 lbs) in the trevally family.
  • poo’paa – Stocky hawkfish. Nicknamed “rock fish” because it perches on rocks and waits for food to pass by.
  • puhi – Various moray eels.
  • roi – Peacock grouper. Invasive. Implicated in ciquatera poisoning episodes.
  • shibi – yellowfin tuna or bluefin tuna under 100lb.
  • taape – Blue-lined snapper. Invasive.
  • toau – Blacktail snapper. Invasive.
  • uhu – Parrotfish.
  • uku – Gray snapper, blue green jobfish. Tastes similar to opakapaka, maybe a touch fishier, because it lives in shallower water.
  • ulua – Jack fish over 10 lbs. Usually ulua are mature giant trevally since that’s the largest of the related species.
  • uouoa – Native mullet, smaller than ‘ama’ama and not striped.
  • u’u – Soldierfish. Also called menpachi.
  • weke – The common “white weke” or square spot goatfish. Most oama seen are of this type.
  • weke nono / weke moelua – Pflueger’s goatfish. The bigger, striped, deeper water red weke.
  • weke ula – Literally means red goatfish. This is the shallow water weke that looks like the “white” weke but is nocturnal and can turn reddish. It is a little thicker than the white weke but doesn’t seem to get as long.
  • white papio – Juvenile giant trevally under 10 lbs.

Holoholo: Old, frozen oama still works when the fish are in

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SUP fishing had been slow for Holoholo writer Kelly the last few months but suddenly turned on in a big way! Seems like the normally hard-to-catch omilu are biting with abandon now.

Kelly: Oama sighting reports have come in from all over Oahu, but I dunno where oama stay for sure. Wish I had some livies for bait. Please run your tubs again Scott!

I did find a small pile of the baby goats last week on the Eastside and got
about 15-20 but my kids ate them … haha. Found a few pretty decent looking oama and a couple sardines in the freezer from months ago so I decided to go SUP fishing on a small high tide dawn patrol.

LOTS of ACTION, but nothing especially noteworthy. Couple omilus, a few
roi, taape and a cuda. No big strikes but was fun to get in the water and
exercise. Always nice to bring home some kau kau too.

The VMC 4X treble hook used as the trailing hook on the frozen oama did the job again. ALL the fish were caught on the rear treble. I’ve never had it open up, even on big fish.

Editor’s Note: Kelly was using the VMC 4X Size #8 treble as his rear hook. That size is very small but still strong. The next two sizes up, suitable for replacing hooks on lures, or used as a larger trailing hook on bait, are being sold in the store.

Stomach content notes: roi and taape all had eggs. They must be spawning. Felt good to clean the reef of invasives. Papio had a belly full of cooked shrimp. Maybe someone threw their scampi appetizer in the water?

It’s official, the Summer fishing season has started!

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It’s the first week of August and like clock work the oama are filling in around the island and omilu are coming into the shallows to grind ’em. Omilu are even being caught on frozen shrimp now, in places that weren’t biting a week ago.

White papio are schooling up to feed and spawn, and kaku are hanging around the sardine schools, falling for lures that resemble the baitfish.

Halalu have been in for a few weeks and are drawing bigger predators.

We suspect this isn’t gonna be a long season, so get out and get yours now!

JDM vs Non-JDM Rd 2: Size Matters

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Top to bottom: Daiwa Shoreline Shiner Vertice 120F SSR, Shimano Shallow Assassin Flash Boost, Shimano Waxwing Baby, gold Kastmaster 3/8 oz (Matt’s didn’t have the teaser and single hook)

For this version of JDM vs Non-JDM testing, Holoholo writer Matthew and I decided to test our various JDM and Non-JDM lures against each other and not so much limit ourselves to using or not using JDM lures. We also wanted to fish with the lures available in the Store to make sure we’re selling something that catches fish. Matt would be using a 3/8 oz gold Kastmaster, JDM Lucky Craft Sammy 100, Daiwa Shoreline Vertice 97F (not sold in Store), Shimano Shallow Assassin Flash Boost and his secret top water lure. I would be using a Daiwa Shoreline Vertice 120F SSR with stronger VMC 4X treble hooks, Shimano Waxwing Baby with stronger, shorter double hook (not sold in Store), and Shimano Shallow Assassin Flash Boost. Matt carried 2 spinning rods and a bait casting rod with him, pre-rigged, so he could easily use a different lure as conditions dictated. I used a 13 Fishing bait casting travel rod with Tactical Angler Power Clip to easily change lures.

The spot we fished was a shallow, murky flat with a few pockets of small bait fish. Matt started with his gold Kastmaster and I started with the Vertice 120F. We fished murky water without any bites until we saw small iao being whacked by a few predators. Matt casted into the fray an immediately hooked up with a chunky white papio. I casted my 4.75″ Vertice 120F all over the bait school with not a single hit. After releasing his papio, Matt registered more hits on his kastmaster that didn’t stick. He figured they were smaller whites that were bumping the spoon but not getting stuck on the rear treble.

Feeling left out of the action I put on the smallest lure I was carrying, the Waxwing Baby, which is 2.7 inches long and about half an ounce. A little ways down from the bait school I finally hooked something, a small kaku. Whew, I was getting tired of being schooled by Matt! As we made our way down the beach, Matt went through his arsenal of lures and the kaku boiled on his top water lures but didn’t stick.

Nothing else hit my Waxwing Baby so I put on a brand new Flash Boost and fished it for the first time. For a lure just shy of 4 inches and weighing less than half an ounce, it casted really well due to Shimano’s spring loaded weight transfer system. It swam in a fairly aggressive wobble/zig zag, and dove about 10 inches at the speed I was retrieving. I really liked how it matched the small bait and was expecting it to be slammed but had to wait for the witching hour to start. About 45 mins before sun down, we returned to where Matt caught his white papio and my Shallow Assassin got hit just 15 ft in front of me. Another small kaku. That was only my second hit of the day; Matt probably had at least 5 hits by this point. But being the witching hour, it really turned on and I had 3 more kaku hits that I missed on the Flash Boost, and it was time to go.

Not a lot of fish, and those caught were babies, but what we learned was that our lures had to match the small iao in order to see any action.

I really like the construction of the Shimano Shallow Assassin. It looks and feels well made like the Shimano Waxwing, and has a pronounced wobble/zig zag that gets looks. We’re down to 1 Shallow Assassin left in the Store because I took one to do this test, but our supplier said he will restock us very soon. He’s buying them retail from Japan so there’s not much margin to mark up, but we really just wanted to expose you guys to some great JDM equipment. There isn’t a domestic lure under 4 inches that casts far, doesn’t dive more than a foot, and attracts fish. The Shallow Assassin is legit.

And the Non-JDMs won this round because the Kastmaster and Shimano Waxwing can be bought in stores here.

Holoholo: Ala Wai JDM vs Non-JDM and King Tide fishing

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Soon to be 8th grader, Matthew, fished the target-rich Ala Wai Canal with traditional and JDM lures, and fished the bottom and the top of the King Tide on a beach outing. Here’s his very entertaining recap and recommendations.

Matthew:

Ala Wai

Most people think of the Ala Wai as a stinky, bacteria filled canal, and that’s very true, but fishermen see it as a gold mine for fishing. Some of the less brave fishermen don’t fish it, so that takes away most of the crowd. But the fish that do remain in there have seen just about every lure on the market, including grubs, spoons, and poppers. So you have to switch it up a little bit. I use JDMs, which are lures that are made in Japan. I took Jacob, other Matthew, Luca, and Vance to fish the Ala Wai. 

The first hour and a half was very boring, with no strikes, until I switched it up with the JDMs. I tried the Shimano Shallow Assassin Flash Boost 99mm, which is a solid lure, but I had never tested it much. First cast on it and boom, a nice Omilu hits it but the side treble got stuck in its scutes, which made it feel huge. I kept fishing with it for a while, and eventually landed a decent White Papio, and a good size Kaku. 

Editor’s Note: Shameless plug – there are still 3 Shallow Assassin Flash Boosts left in the Store.

Then I switched to the transparent JDM model of the Lucky Craft Sammy purchased in the Hawaii Nearshore Fishing store for $7.50. First cast, and I could see a Kaku following it in. I paused the lure for a second and it jumped on it and immediately went airborne. I tagged and released it quickly and got back to fishing.

I landed one more on the Sammy before I decided to switch it up to the secret JDM lure that I’ve been using recently. No surprise at all, I landed four fish on it, three being Kaku, all violent and exciting strikes, but then I saw a bait school getting busted on in the middle of the canal. 

I casted far out there and saw four or five White Papio each fighting each other for the lure. They missed it many times, but one eventually grabbed it and stuck on. Right away it started peeling drag. It took an easy 30 yards on the ultralight setup and I started to get concerned of the huge log it was trying to run into. I radioed back to my mom that I had a big one on, and I decided I had to lock down and boost it or lose it. Remember, this is six pound line main with a 2500 size reel, an ultralight setup. I locked down the drag and muscled it out from the log close to where I could see it. When I saw it, my heart dropped. 

One treble was in its mouth and hanging by a flap of skin. I loosened up the drag, and that must be when it saw me and it took another 30 or so yards. It kept resisting for another minute or so before I got it close again. I kneeled down and grabbed the leader, and brought it up onto land. It was the biggest Papio I had caught in a while, so I was of course happy, and tagged it and released it. This was on a rising tide, and was around 2.1 feet when this happened.

Beach Fishing

Cut back to July Fourth and a -0.5 tide. This was the lowest tide I had ever fished and I could walk all the way to the breakers. First cast and the lure flies off to Narnia and I never see it again. Strike one. I keep walking out to the breakers, and retie. I spook a giant Oio and it scares me to the point where I fall off the boulder I’m standing on. Strike Two. I landed hard on the bottom of the boulder, right on top of a Wana (Sea Urchin). Dang. Strike Three. 

I pull off the creature but leave the spikes on my foot, and wonder how I am going to get inshore, because if it took me 30 minutes to get out here with two feet able, how am I going to do it with one? I see my answer soon. I go into the sand channel, which is a lot deeper, but only up to around my waist, and walk all the way in. I quickly pulled the spines out of me, and was careful for the rest of the time not to step on that foot hard. 

First cast since I made it in and boom, an aggro kaku hops on. It had a tag in it, and was my own! It had grown an incredible 4.5 inches since April, which is a lot. But that was the only fish of the trip if you don’t count an eight inch Omilu.

Go to July Fifth and I go fishing on the huge 2.5 King Tide. The spot looked a lot different from when it was a negative tide. I set my dunkers out from 6pm. I started whipping but the only fish that came up was a slimy Nunu (trumpetfish0, but it was caught on the Shimano Shallow Assassin Flash Boost 99mm. It got dark really fast, and I started to eat my food.

The rest of that night passed horribly quiet until 10pm, when we left. Not a single bell rang or a single bite. The dunking bite was horrible, as well as the whipping bite. Maybe because of the swift current? Keep tuned for future updates.

Holoholo: Fly fishing odd ball slam

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Jason, our resident fly guy, provided this unusual catch report and insight to what’s going on near shore.

Jason:

I was getting over a cold and felt that a fly fishing session was just what the doctor ordered. My first choice had no parking, so it was onward to my backup spot.  I got there, rigged up, threw on my wading boots and waded out, looking for fish and “bombing” (blind casting) as I went.   

On my wade out to my usual spot, I hooked a small scrappy omilu while “playing” with a spotted eagle ray.  As often happens when sight fishing bones, it seemed to come out of nowhere to snatch the fly before the ray could get to it.  It wasn’t much bigger than 7,” but what a load of fun on a fiberglass fly rod.  

A little while later, while bombing, I thought I had snagged the bottom.  I waded up to the spot where the fly appeared to be stuck, and tried to free it.  It was unusually stubborn, but after some finagling, I felt it give, but with a weight at the end.  “Great, a rock,” I thought to myself.  I was shocked to see a fully inflated porcupinefish appear at the surface  This was a first for me.   It appeared to be foul hooked below its anal fin (probably very near its actual anus, haha).

After a good chuckle, I continued to bomb the same general area, working a bit to the left, then later, a bit to the right, in front of a big blue hole, maybe a hundred yards or so from the “mouth” where it opened up to a nice, wide channel.  After about a dozen casts, I was about ready to call it day when I finally felt a tug.  There it was; I was just a short 2 minute fight away from completing…. the Fugu Slam! Actually, I don’t think that’s “a thing,”  but I’m calling it that from now on HAHA.    All were hooked on the same fly, too, which earns me extra prestige points haha.  

The bone was a rat, no bigger than a couple pounds, but this was about as fun and interesting a day as one could ask for.   

How do King Tides affect fishing?

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This isn’t a video, it’s just a screen grab crediting Island News.

The July new moon was this past Tuesday, and that big moon coupled with large south shore surf caused shoreline water levels to surge much higher than normal. It’s well known how low lying areas are affected but how do these huge tides affect fishing?

In past years we noticed much more water rushing into bays and lagoons, causing silty, turbid waters. The fish didn’t seem to like fighting all that current in hard-to-see conditions, and fishing was very slow until the current slowed at the peak tide.

A friend and I whipped the shoreline a day before this month’s new moon, on the bottom third of the tide and the fishing was lousy! When the tide began to fill in a little, small waves washed onto the flats and churned the mud. Visibility became very poor very fast and we gave up our futile efforts.

We asked around and those who caught fish on these big King Tide days caught them on the minus (slack) period or at the peak (slack) period in areas normally not covered by water.

I personally don’t like fishing the King Tides because it’s so hard to time the short period of decent fishing, but if you gotta fish those days, try fish the slack and let us know how you do.

Early June bait report

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NPS photo – Larry Basch

It’s the first week of June, 2019. Traditionally, the iao have blanketed the estuaries, sardines have been in for a while, and halalu have been in for a few weeks. Not this year. Iao have come and gone, sardines are in at some places but not in great numbers, and small numbers of halalu are showing, then thinning out the following day.

Small pods of fresh-from-the-ocean oama have been spotted running scared along the shoreline. It’ll probably be another few weeks before they settle down and start feeding visibly, and another few weeks on top of that before the schools are large enough to target.

So basically, the season hasn’t started yet!

Holoholo: June Catch Report

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Our hardcore Middle School fisherman, Matthew, provided this timely inshore report.

Matthew: I know I haven’t done a catch report in a while, so here it is. Fishing’s been picking up lately, with more Omilu and Kaku showing up inshore, even some Oio. Moi season is now closed. After going to Japan again, (I know, lucky) and picked up some new crazy good JDM’s, I went fishing.

I walked around half a mile until the crazy things happened. I saw some large Iao jump 20 yards from shore, so I made a cast. I reeled the lure in, but dropped my walkie talkie. The lure is sitting still in the water. I picked up my walkie talkie and there was a Kaku that had apparently jumped on my lure. It put up no fight, and I could see it was a goner. The hook was deep inside its throat and it was bleeding immensely. I quickly got pliers and got the hook out, and made a short cast at the 4 or 5 Kaku that followed the other one in.

Due to the rushed cast, I didn’t notice that the front hook was all tangled with the line until it started moving. The Kaku didn’t notice and didn’t care. A bigger one jumped on the back hook and must’ve been mad it fell for a fouled up lure because it fought extra hard. Tag and release. I thought they would have been tired of the Vertice Z by then, so I switched to the top-secret-sworn-to-secrecy-topwater-lure that has been working insanely well for me recently. A Kaku took a swing for it but popped off at shore. Then I realized in that rushed cast my baitcaster was very tangled. Great. At the worst time possible too.

By the time I fixed it, the school was gone. The lure that worked well that day is the Daiwa Shoreline Shiner Vertice Z, which is also the same lure that Scott opened with in his shop recently. I’ve been getting other mixed action recently as well. I visited a sardine pile on the east side and caught a few, but couldn’t fool the Omilu that were attacking the school. However, I made up for it with an Oio the same day.

That top-secret topwater lure has got me great catches, including some rather odd ones. I caught the biggest Kaku I’ve seen at my shallow water spot, while being smaller than my personal best, it was big for the flats. I also somehow got a Menpachi Papio at midday using that topwater too. Strange, huh? And something that was almost laughable, I landed a big Obake Weke on that topwater. If you want the lure’s name, you’re gonna have to do some real convincing. On the other hand, the Vertice Z is just as good or better at times.

Oama are in at some spots already, as well as sardines. No sign from the halalu though except for the spots that have most of the year. Nehu are getting bigger so time to upsize your lures. Go gettum guys!

JDM vs Non-JDM Round 1

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So, we kicked off our informal comparison of Japanese Domestic Model (JDM) lures vs Non-JDM lures. The plan was to use Erik’s aluminum skiff to take us to promising reefs for wade whipping.

As Erik and I were launching we saw papio blowing up bait fish. We scrambled to put a lure on, and Erik threw a JDM micro jig; I threw a Shimano Waxwing Baby. On the second cast I hooked a papio and was surprised it was an omilu, not a white, in the muddy water. Waxwings are sold in the US and not in Japan, so Non-JDMs were up one! I got another hit that missed the upturned double hook, and the school swam out of reach.

We picked Robert up on the way to the wading spot, and he rigged Carolina-style with a non-JDM soft plastic knob-tailed shad. Erik threw a JDM popper, I threw a JDM hard plastic sub-surface lure, but there was no life on the flat. We got back in the skiff and trolled around for nada.

Then Erik put us on a drift into the shallows and Robert connected with an omilu on his Maria micro jig, followed by a lizardfish. Officially, the jig is not distributed in the US, but sold in some local tackle stores here, so we considered it a JDM jig. JDM 1 – Non-JDM 1.

The sun was sitting on this action-less day so we dropped Robert off and headed back to our launch site. Low light conditions are when the popper really shines and with 5 mins to go, Erik pulled off the last inning rally. His JDM popper got hit as soon as it landed in the water, and the fish pulled drag like a big papio. Turns out the biggest fish of the day was foul hooked, but was released relatively unharmed.

Final score JDM 2, Non-JDM 1. We really didn’t have enough shots at fish to stage a head-to-head lure comparison. We did confirm that the papio really aren’t in yet. More testing to follow!

Ono surprise!

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By Robert Richards

We originally had planned on a “fast” kayaking session of 3-4 hours, starting at about 5am and coming in around 9am. However, the trip turned into a super early launch at 3am to try for Akule (Goggle Eye, Bigeye Scad). Conditions were favorable with light winds and slight rolling waves. Fishing in the dark with rolling waves does not mix too well. Unfortunately, one of my friends, Jay, got seasick and had to go in. I almost got seasick too, but luckily my other friend, Shaun, found the Akule! Nothing cures seasickness better than staring at the land or catching fish!

Catching Akule off the kayak at night is so much fun because we can target them similar to Opelu (Mackerel Scad) but they tend to fight a lot harder. After catching about a dozen, the sun came up and the hunt for Opelu began. I managed to catch 4 and started my trolling around with mixed live bait of Opelu and Akule.

I went far before stopping to rest for a few minutes and to gauge the time I had left and how much further away from the launch point I wanted to go. Then a quick, short “ZZZZZ” happened on my Opelu rod. I thought it was an aha for a minute, but I decided to let loosen the drag and see what happens. Suddenly line starts to peel off the reel, so counted to 3 and tightened the drag. FISH ON! The sweet sound of ratchet lasted for about 3 seconds before the fish started to run straight towards me. For a second, I thought it was either a Kawakawa (False Albacore) or a Shibi (Yellow Fin Tuna under 100lbs). I caught up with the fish and the fight became vertical. Had head shakes and pinwheel runs, so I still thought it was in the Tuna family. Though after another minute, I saw a long striped silvery fish and instantly my heart started racing and I called out “Ono!”. 3 more pinwheels and the classic “PPZZZZ” sound of the kage (straight gaff) finding it’s mark, I landed the fish. Surprisingly, the fight only lasted 2-3 minutes max and I didn’t even get a chance to turn on my GoPro!

This was my second Ono (Wahoo) from my kayak. The first was a much larger 30lber and this one wound up being 12lbs. Though this one was much smaller, I was happy because it was the perfect size to fit in the cooler I had and big enough to share with friends. That ended the pressure to catch fish and I headed in with not much more action. After the sun came up, the conditions became more epic, with glassy water and a light breeze.

Targeting nabeta from the kayak

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It’s been a month since I stumbled upon the stray nabeta and opelu in stormy weather. Here’s how that scouting trip went. This time around, it didn’t rain on us but the winds were a steady 10 mph onshore, with wind swell that bumped up the water.

Our plan was to head directly to the nabeta/opelu spot, and if we caught opelu, we’d troll ’em deeper. Well, the opelu weren’t around so Frank trolled deeper with a frozen opelu. I had started damashi-ing with a CHL Blue Dust Minnow on the bottom hook, and a CHL Obake Purple Minnow on the top hook. Two nabeta hit the Blue Dust Minnow within the first 20 mins so I put a Blue Dust Minnow on the top hook and it immediately got bit, but what came up were deep water lizardfish. The wind kept blowing me off the spot and I eventually let it take me shallower.

Thought I was gonna load up after this but I drifted off the spot.

At 130 ft I hooked something over some good fish marks on the sounder, and there was more resistance than a lizardfish or nabeta could muster. Then drag pulled for a few seconds and abruptly stopped. I was hoping for a papio or uku but what came up was a dead trumpetfish with his throat ripped out and wounds near his tail. Predators in the area! I put on a small frozen opelu but that was ignored. So were tako legs and halalu. The bite went dead and we gave up.

Lead fish in the school is upside down!

Still, it was a successful trip, learning more about what I consider to be the best eating fish in our waters. The nabeta were only at a certain depth on this day, 5 feet deeper was barren, 5 feet shallower was full of lizardfish. And at this spot they love the CHL Blue Dust Minnow. Moving up to a 5 oz lead helped call the sand dwellers with each sand cloud lifting thump.

The bigger one has a puncture wound in its head because I killed it with my long nose pliers so it wouldn’t bite me as I bagged it!

I gave the two nabeta to a friend who gives me fresh tako. He hasn’t tasted the delicious fish for 19 years. Seems like a lot of fishermen heard about nabeta but haven’t seen it for a long time. Still got if you know where to go. 🙂

Unexpected catch of a lifetime!

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Elias Espiritu , aka @kurupt_hawaiian on IG, shared this amazing land-based, light tackle catch. No net, no gaff, no problem!  

It’s March 15, 2019. I’m sitting at home  it’s about 9:30am and I’m bored. I know I have to be back home early to pick up my son from preschool, so I’m unsure if I want to go fishing or not since I’d only have a little while to fish. I love to fish and try to go as much as possible. I decide to go anyways for a quick trip. I grab my light gear, SPX PE1 rod, shimano Twinpower xd 4000 spooled with 20lb test Jbraid. I plan on catching hopefully one or two pan fry sized papios to eat. I pull up to my spot and throw on my go to lure, the daiwa sp minnow with about 5 feet of 20lb fluoro for leader. I’m whipping for about 20 minutes then finally I catch a small 2-3lb barracuda. I snap a quick picture, take it off the hooks and throw him back in the water.

     5 minutes later I’m at the edge of the water and to my left I see 6 big black shadows swimming my way. I’m thinking these are GT’s so I cast out to my right to try and time it so my lure swims in front of them then BAM! One of them takes it and jets straight out into the deep. It rips my line out so fast and hard I thought I was gonna start seeing smoke coming from my reel. I tighten down my drag little by little just to try and slow him down a bit, but I don’t want to tighten it too much or I’ll break my line, so I let him continue to run and hopefully he’d tire out soon. After what seemed like forever he finally stops running but he’s waaaay out there, my spool is really low on line. I slowly bring him in and finally see something. It looks yellow. I think to myself “Is that a yellowfin tuna? Holy crap I need to land this thing!” Now all I can think is, “Awww man if I don’t land this thing nobody is gonna believe me.”

     The fish is finally in close and I have to go down closer to the edge of the rocks and water to try to keep my line from hitting any rocks so I don’t get it cut or snapped off. The waves start surging in and getting a little dangerous as they could suck me right into the strong current, but I want this fish badly. I decide to take a few poundings to attempt to stay close to the edge to keep my line from wrapping around the rocks. The waves knock me down and scratch me up pretty good and my line gets wrapped around a rock anyways. I’m panicking trying to get my line off the rocks before the fish tries to run again and cuts my line. I finally get it off and don’t feel any pressure, I thought I lost it. I start reeling in the slack and oh there it is, he’s still on, I was so happy. But it wasn’t over yet, I still gotta figure out how to land him cause I’m all by myself with no gaff or anything.

Finally another guy walks up to me and asks what I’m hooked up to, I tell him it’s a yellow fin tuna and he sees it right after. I ask him if he can help me land it and he doesn’t even hesitate. He jumps down onto the low ledge with me where the waves are dangerous and waits, I tell him I’m gonna try to get the fish up to the surface when a wave comes and he can try to grab it, I make sure to tell him not to grab the line because it will snap. First a big wave comes and we both grab onto the rock to try to hold on, the wave almost takes both of us in, I’m thinking “damn this is crazy” haha. Finally by the next wave I got the fish to the surface and tried yanking him up with the wave, he catches the fish and hugs it not letting him go, and works his way up the rocks with the fish while I’m dead tired trying to climb back up.

We celebrate, I’m happy as can be, adrenaline still sky high, some tourist spectators came to check it out too and gives me some video footage that they took of me fighting the fish. They ask if I was cut up from the rocks and I said no at first, then one of the guys say “but you’re bleeding.” I’m like “oh I guess I am.”

     

I get home and weigh the fish a few times to make sure the weight is accurate, he’s a steady 34.5lbs. I’m so stoked, and can’t believe what I just pulled off. Adrenaline ran high for the rest of the day. I don’t even realize all the cuts, scrapes, and bruises I have until I take a shower. It wasn’t until the next day that I felt all the pain in my body from falling on the rocks and fighting the fish. It was all so worth it though. I don’t recall exactly how long the fight was, but from the time I took the picture of the barracuda at 10:44am and the first picture I have of the shibi at 11:25am, I just estimate it around 30 minutes.

Ulua Fighting Championships

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This plugging catch of a lifetime story originally ran in the Hawaii Fishing News, July 2015 edition. The author Gary Soma, aka @sakana_sniper on IG, gave permission to run this on Hawaii Nearshore Fishing, for those who may have missed it the first time. Enjoy!

At 6 O’clock on a midweek morning, I got a text from Kaimi reporting that the conditions were prime for a late afternoon plugging sesh. We had just finished a batch of experimental lures we’ve refined over the last year, and I had just finished wrapping a factory sample of our 8’6” Medium Heavy Popping Rod. This would be our chance to give them a trial by fire. The variable winds made work miserable and I couldn’t wait to punch out and get on the water. As soon as the clock struck 4, I was out like trout! Once home I quickly gathered all the necessary equipment and headed out to gas up. On the way, I got a call from Paul saying he’d be joining us but got held up at work, so he’d be a little late.

After launching the Whaler, Kaimi and I decided to bust out the light tackle for a Papio hunt. We cruised to one of my spots that I’ve nicknamed “Papio Pass,” which usually holds a good size pile of whites. Just like we hoped, school was in session and they were looking for a fight. On Kaimi’s first cast he hooked a good size fish with his bubble and grub rig. After a great fight Kaimi landed the Omilu and we both took a moment to admire the beautiful two pounder’s electric blue, neon green and lemon yellow hues before gently releasing it. We always let the first fish of the day go for good luck, because as everyone knows, a little luck can go a long way when fishing.

Next it was my turn to get on the board. Soon after my lure hit the water on my third cast, something decided to annihilate my 3 ½ inch Yo-Zuri Sashimi 3D Popper. I fought the bugger for around 5 minutes and the white ended up weighing around 3 pounds. The “Scrap and Release” action was awesome that afternoon and we managed to land half a dozen Papio before it was time to scoop Paul up. With the tide rising, I couldn’t wait to see what the big game spots had in store for us.

On our way to the “Proving Grounds” we readied our new weapons for battle. I hadn’t had time to properly connect my 100# braid to my 150# mono leader so I went with the second best option tying a double palomar knot to connect my braid to a heavy duty swivel and palomar knots to connect my leader to my lure. This knot is my go to knot and has proven to be bullet proof when tied correctly. On Paul’s rod, our newest prototype, he had tied an FG knot linking his 80# braided line to 8 feet of 150# mono leader.

Upon arrival at the Proving Grounds we all commented on how epic the conditions were and the anticipation of action was as thick as the voggy Kona wind air. I was the first one with his lure in the water with no takers, but it usually takes a couple retrieves to wake the big boys up. With the commotion of three lures splashing and splashing it didn’t take them long to hear the ringing of the dinner bell. On my fourth I cast really leaned into one and sent my 6 oz. prototype popper on a first class trip. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. The line took forever to float down to the slick cobalt surface and I slowly picked up the slack. Once the line came tight I up jerked my rod and made a perfect pop sending a shower of liquid fire set ablaze by the setting sun. My next jerk created a textbook chug sending a bellowing “boop” resonating to the depths. Just as I was about to follow up with another pop a large shiny submarine half breached, creating a ten foot radius of foamy wash followed by a thunder clap of a tail slap. All I could do was hold onto my rod with a death grip. The fish immediately dove with all of its might as I desperately struggled to get the butt of the rod into my fighting belt. Luckily the fish took a half second break in between runs allowing me to get my rod into its fighting position. I tried my best to slow the fish down by turning up the drag, but my feeble attempts failed miserably. On its second blistering dash the fish managed to find the reef, and my punishment came to an abrupt end. The release of pressure sent me reeling back and fortunately the center console saved me from taking a plunge over the opposite side of the boat. The feeling reminded me of when the opposing team released the rope in a match of tug of war. With my tail between my legs I retrieved my line minus my swivel, leader and defiled lure with about ten feet of the end of my 100 pound braid showing sure signs of being cut off by the jagged ledges below. This first round had gone to the heavy-weights.

An Ulua strike is about the only thing that can get my heart to jump out of my chest. Every blow up never fails to catch me by surprise and there’s nothing that cures the fatigue of throwing a 6 oz. lure a hundred times better than that. Based on the strike, boil and run, we estimated the fish I had just lost to be at least 80 pounds. Even though I took some cracks I readied my gear for the next fight.

The sun was fading behind the Koolaus when the bell rang signaling the start of round two. I was casting off the bow so I was first to get my lure into the zone directly above the Ulua mansion. Every bit of my attention was on my lure and it was as if it was an extension of me. I took up the slack in my line as my lure surfed down the face of the swell. I gently twitched my rod trying my best not to jump and tumble the lure which could tangle my barbless 4/0 trebles around my leader, ruining a perfect cast. As my popper began its uphill ascent I popped with full force creating the ideal series of pops. Nearing the apex of the wave my lure duck dove through the swell and I was startled by a Titanium Ulua side slashing with murderous intentions aimed at its next victim. With deadly precision the fish smashed my popper and plunged downwards shaking its head with its brand new chew toy tightly gripped in its jaws. This pitbull of the sea surely had motives of hanging another lure on its wall of trophies but I was not about to let one more of our home lathed lures suffer the same cruel fate as his brother did minutes earlier. I forced the butt of the rod into my gimbal and locked the drag down. The added pressure only seemed to enrage the Titanium Ulua and its burst of power caught me off guard,  nearly jerking me overboard. Luckily still dry I regained my fighting stance, feet staggered with hands locked high on the rod. The last bits of sunlight were vanishing quickly and I knew I would soon be fighting with the lights out. Luckily Paul was on top of things and gave me an assist by placing my headlamp on, helping me to be as safe as possible. While I exchanged blows with the Titanium Ulua, Paul decided to swap out his lure for one of our experimental nocturnal prototypes for Kaimi to sample. With the fish still diving, I decided to try and turn his head with some heavy upward jerks. I slowed its momentum and thought I had my opponent on the ropes but playing possum the Ulua’s next sprint literally forced me to take a knee. My line was straight down and each inch of line gained was back breaking. Amazingly I endured the barrage and finally got to see color about 20 minutes into the battle with the aide of Paul’s 300 lumen headlamp. About a minute later Paul had the fishes tail in his grasp and lifted it over the gunwale. Once in the boat we realized why the fish fought so hard. It was foul hooked with the front barbless treble lodged in the collar area under the gill plate, unfortunately piercing several gills. Once I removed the hooks the fish began to bleed out and I could tell it was in too bad of shape for a release. I reluctantly dispatched the fish and put it in the cooler. Round two was one to remember.

As I shut the lid of the ice chest I heard a tiny splash behind the boat. With my headlamp I searched the boat and was surprised by a shout of “Hanapaa!” Kaimi was hooked up on his first cast! I immediately put the fighting belt around his waist as the beast ripped line full steam ahead. Kaimi made his way to the bow and I did my best to clean the deck of the blood and slime from the previous fish. Kaimi tried to stop the monster from running home but its charge was one of those freight train screemahs. Paul was right beside Kaimi and told him to brace himself because Paul was about to turn up the drag to the max. Paul coached Kaimi and urged him to jerk the rod to attempt to turn the brutes head. Fortunately Paul’s tactics paired with Kaimi’s strength succeeded in turning the fish and it detoured towards deeper waters with us in tow. The bend in our newest rod was a sight to see. The way it shouldered the burden of whatever was on the end of Kaimi’s line was simply beautiful. I wanted to see what this rod was capable of and yelled to Kaimi, “Boost! Boost Um!!!” Kaimi’s efforts only seemed to aggravate the fish and its next dash for the deep was insane. The pressure was impossible to weather and Kaimi’s rod began to get closer and closer to the rail. I placed my hand between the rod and rail to prevent the rod from snapping in two. Kaimi tried cranking and said,” the reel is broken I can’t crank!” The reel he was using had a 6 to 1 gear ratio, so I told him,” you gotta boost, then crank! The reel no more torque!” Once he figured out how to gain line, the tug of war began. At this point I remember Kaimi saying,” What the hell did I get myself into!” Kaimi would gain 10 yards and the giant would steal 20 in return. The struggle was real! This back and forth punching and counter punching went on for the next 15 minutes. At that point the reel looked half empty so there was still quite a bit of work to be done. Every so often Paul and I would shout battle cries to Kaimi ordering him to keep the line tight and to BOOST! The strain on his back and arms were beginning to take its toll, mirrored by the looks of agony on Kaimi’s face. I told Kaimi to move the fight to the rear bench to alleviate some of the strain on his back. The seated position was also a safer alternative with darkness upon us and his strength fading. Fueled by adrenaline the fight began to slowly tip in Kaimi’s favor and the leviathan started coming in. Once Kaimi gained a fair bit of line back we knew we’d soon see color. Every so often we’d shine our lights into the midnight blue depths as Kaimi continued his give and take battle with the monstrosity on the end of his line.

I can honestly say that If I was the one doing all the heavy lifting I probably would have thrown in the towel by now, but Kaimi has the strength of a bull and the “Cojones” to match. If you’re curious about how it feels, grab a broom stick and tie a thirty pound dumbbell three feet from the tip and have someone push down on the tip every so often. Time yourself to see how long you last.

After a dozen peeks over the side of the boat we finally saw something silver down deep and yelled, “Ulua! Boost! Bring Um Up!!!” The beast had other ideas. Startled by the alien lights above it went on another blistering tear. I again had to cushion the rod from the rail with my hand, otherwise it would be “Sayonara!” Kaimi endured the run and had to pivot as the fish ran to the opposite side of the boat. Gaining line, the weight of the fish was more of a dead weight now. We knew the fish was coming to the surface this time. With Paul’s light penetrating into the abyss, we could see the sterling shape making its death circles on its way to the surface. When given the opportunity I planned on tail grabbing the Ulua. As we watched the beast’s ascent, the reflective shape kept growing and growing. When it finally surfaced I stood in shock stunned by the size of the fish. Paul yelled, “F@#&ING BEAST,” snapping me back to reality. I was not about to tail grab the giant and risk a dislocated shoulder should it decide to flick its tail. I yelled to Paul, “get the gaff!” and he scrambled to find it and eventually found it near the fuel tank. With surgical precision he sank the gaff in the behemoths gaping mouth and the cheering began. Kaimi had triumphed in the 30 minute Super Heavy Weight Main Event, giving him the Ulua Fighting Championship Belt.

On our first attempt Paul and I failed in lifting the titan into the boat but with Kaimi’s help we heaved its enormous head out of the water and slid its torso into the boat. Seeing the fishes length span from one side of my boat to the other I’m sure every curse word out there found its way out of our mouths. I quickly grabbed the measuring tape off my console and measured the fish from nose to fork. We couldn’t believe that the number under the center of the tail read 58 inches (147.3 cm). The fish was guaranteed to be over the hundred pound mark, every ulua fisherman’s dream catch. Several years ago I had landed an 80 pounder while spearfishing and this thing made that one look like a pan fry papio. Paul and I then assisted Kaimi in getting the fish on his lap for some quick photos before the release. After snapping some souvenir pics I gave Kaimi the green light for the release and Paul gave him a hand with sliding the fish back into the water. The momentum of the fish sent it five feet below the surface and we shared a round of fist bumps and “Chee Hoos!” Kaimi soon noticed that the fish had floated back to the surface and was on its side with no signs of life. Occasionally after a strenuous battle it takes a bit of reviving to help the fish recover. I started the boat and we guided the fish, flushing fresh ocean water through its gills for 5 minutes before Paul released it once again. The fish just floated again as it did before. We tried again but the mighty Gladiator had fought to its death. We were bummed that the fish had died, and looking back, the fish never kicked once after it surfaced. The great champion had likely perished on its last ditch run for the reef. We took solace in knowing that the fish would be feeding our families and friends for weeks to come.

Out of curiosity we decided to get the fish weighed before we cut it up the following day. At Nanko’s Fishing Supply we weighed the smaller of the two first. It weighed a solid 43 pounds which was much heavier than our closest guess. It’s funny how small it looked sitting next to Gladiator. Next it was time to weigh in Gladiator, with all three of us struggling to get the Ulua’s tail rope onto the hook of the scale. Once the behemoth was fully supported, our eyes instantly found the digital screen, with mine nearly popping out of my head. The certified scale read 130.1 pounds, a true colossus. I never would have imagined that we would land an Ulua over a hundred pounds, yet alone one that weighed a hundred thirty. After weighing the fish I made a Gyotaku of Kaimi’s catch of a lifetime. Hearing the story is one thing but seeing the true size of Gladiator immortalized on rice paper leaves most speechless.

After printing the fish, we quartered the pair of Uluas with the majority of the meat going into a cooler for an icy bath in my secret marinade. After a two day soak I smoked the strips low and slow for at least four hours. Everyone can’t seem to get enough of the stuff and by the time it comes out of the smoker all bags are always spoken for.

When recounting our greatest fishing tale, people still find it hard to believe that Gladiator was landed on an eight foot six, medium heavy popping rod and a budget spinning reel. With this type of tackle we are clearly underdogs when brawling with large Ulua, but that’s what makes this type of fishing so challenging, exciting, and ultimately rewarding when you do land that one fish after losing countless others. All out scraps with the monarchs of our Hawaiian reefs is what we live for. For us its all about living the Plug Life.

Caught the target kayak species, but…

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The offshore kayak guys who consistently catch pelagics (ono, small ahi, mahi mahi, kawakawa, etc) do so by catching live opelu and then trolling ’em. Frank and I have specifically gone out to try to bring up opelu on our damashi rigs, and failed. The few times the opelu school was under us, they kept moving and we didn’t drop our damashi rig in time.

We always start our day by trying to catch bait, and eventually give up and put on frozen bait. Our latest trip to the Windward side started that way, and Frank brought up some taape on the damashi for the frying pan. I was just getting my CHL Purple Obake colored Minnow bitten off, so I put on a light green, translucent Minnow. A small brown hage took that Minnow so I put on a jade colored CHL Blue Dust Minnow with blue flakes.. Frank then hooked something strong that broke his damashi branch line, but the bite in that area stopped shortly after.

Remembering that Capt Erik and I stumbled upon deep water gold (nabeta) on his tin boat months ago, I paddled out to that mark on my GPS but didn’t see anything on the fish finder. Here’s that epic nabeta trip post from last fall.

I dropped my 2 hook damashi rig with 4oz weight down, and because the rain squalls offshore were generating gusts, I started drifting before my weight hit the bottom. Immediately it felt like I snagged a small bag and could feel the slightest twitches on the line. I cranked the rig up and brought up a deep water lizardfish. Next drop yielded another instant lizardfish. By now I had drifted about 50 yds off my mark, and into shallower water.

Dropped one more time before paddling back upwind and felt more twitches but less resistance. Yeehah!! Deep water gold was mined! I called Frank on the VHF and he paddled out but the rain and wind really made things cold and choppy. I tried paddling back to my original mark but it took so long I dropped down in slightly shallower water. Frank had headed to the less windy inshore grounds and I told him I’d give it a couple more tries before meeting him. Lizardfish, trumpetfish, lizardfish, lizardfish… Every drop, even though my line was sharply angled by the time it got to the bottom, yielded some bottom dweller but not the delicious nabeta.

A larger rain squall came through, and I made my final drop. This time I lowered the rig after feeling a fish hook up, then felt it get extra heavy. A lizardfish was on the top hook but an opelu was on the bottom hook! I could not believe my eyes. After specifically trying for opelu in much better conditions, I catch one in torrential rain while bottom fishing for nabeta. I wanted to troll that opelu around but my trolling rig was wrapped around my rudder because I neglected it as I was pushed around in the wind. I couldn’t free it while seated and decided not to get in the water with the wind pushing me at 15 mph plus. I paddled in so Frank could free my rudder, and the opelu stayed alive with splashes of water wetting its gills but died after 10 mins. Just as well, more rain was about to drench us.

Despite the rain and wind, I’d consider this a successful exploratory trip. There were huge barren spots in the deep, but the “nabeta spot” had so much life for some reason. Just no predators who wanted to eat my frozen halaluu. Definitely worth exploring again under calmer conditions.

The nabeta and opelu were both on the smaller size, about 6 or 7 inches. Smaller, thinner nabeta fry up easier, and because the sun never really came out, the nabeta was so fresh it didn’t taste like fish at all! My wife and I don’t like “fishy’ fish, so fried nabeta is our favorite fish to eat. The junior opelu will hopefully prove to be lucky when I troll it next time. And I’ll start with the CHL Blue Dust to see if its success was due to the overcast conditions, or if it’s an even better color than the Purple Obake.

Holoholo: First ulua!

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Middle school fisherman Hunter keeps catching bigger and bigger fish! Here’s his short recap of his recent, first ulua.

Hunter: I woke up at 5:30 to go to Kaneohe with my Uncle Dean, not expecting to catch anything big. I arrived and set up my pole for omaka and caught nehu. I then dropped down some sanma I bought from Times and some uluas came up and ate it, which was a good sign.

I dropped down my bait but the uluas didn’t want to play. Uncle Teddy came and saw the uluas. He came back and told me he was going to help me catch one. He helped me and showed me what to do. We waited for about an hour.

The uluas kept circling the bait but not daring to go for it. Eventually an ulua made a mistake and bit. I pulled as hard as I could to set the hook.  It was a 30 second back and forth tug of war battle but eventually I brought him to the surface and the battle was over. Uncle Al netted the fish. It came out as 11.30 pounds. Decent size for my first one. I released it because I think that releasing your first ulua is good luck and I was happy about that but my grandma was not lol.

First kayak pelagic!

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The plan was to catch live opelu and troll ’em deep since the kayak guys have been getting shibi (small ahi), ono and mahi mahi recently. I struck out on the opelu, had some strong hits bottom fishing tako legs that pulled but didn’t get the hooks in the mouth, so I headed deep dragging frozen opelu.

Got to 300 ft and hadn’t seen anything on the fish finder, so I turned around to get back to the tako stealers. Halfway in, my ratchet went off the way it sounds when an aha takes the bait for a few feet, stops to reposition it, and runs again. I figured I was in water too deep for aha to feel safe (pelagics eat aha if they can), so the fish had to be something good! I heard the splash of a fish landing in the water, and could just make out something greyhounding. I was thinking “ono” and it looked kind of silvery at that distance so halfway through the 10 minute battle I began to worry that the ono would cut through the 40lb fluoro leader. (check out the 35 sec video at the bottom of this post)

I was relieved to see the brilliant yellow-green of a cow mahi, and could feel the mahi’s teeth on the leader. It used its flat body to provide maximum resistance, and did one lap around the kayak but I eventually pulled it close. All the previous bouts with sharks had prepared me well.

It was tired and still I missed the solid part of its head on my first strike with the kage.

The Anetik shade socks kept the sun and mahi blood off my legs!

When I got the mahi on the kage and put a gaff in its head to pull it aboard, I could let out a “YEEEE-HAAAAAA”. After all the trolling time we’ve put in, it was almost a relief when it finally happened.

I missed what felt like an uku when I went back to bottom fishing, and paddled in since I wasn’t prepared to ice down a big fish.

Stopped by Times to get a couple bags of ice, and kept it chilled ’til Kelly could come by to teach me how to skin and filet a mahi.

The skinned fillets went to family and to friends who helped outfit the kayak and provided fresh tako.

This is Kelly wearing my fishing shirt and getting blood on its sleeves…err, artfully prepping the fish for distribution

They said the fillets were mild yet good. I’m stoked I got my first pelagic but not sure if I can fool an ono or shibi with frozen opelu. And I do want to land what was pulling so hard on the tako legs.


Holoholo: Personal best ulua, fishing wit da Uncles

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I met Mako through the Tag It fish tagging program and we talk story over text all the time. You can follow his feel-good IG posts @makosr. He likes to shorecast with “da Uncles”, making sure they’re safe when they’re landing fish at the water’s edge at night. He even brings live oama for the crew. Mako caught his personal best shore cast fish and relayed the details back to me over text message.

Mako: At first strike, scream my Penn Senator. I all ready knew was one Ulua. But my stiff Ozone pole brought it in in about 15 minutes. Seemed like 30 minutes tho. 🙂

Anyway I hardly fish for Ulua. Mostly small game, more fun. Ulua Fishing is really slow n boring!! Well, for me that is. What got me to slide bait was because I ran out of bait in freezer. BUT, I had 2 pieces of eel about 4 months old. My friend always let me use his tako but this time I actually wanted to go with Uncles and sit n cruze. Was lazy already. So I cast out only one pole. Slide my eel. And figure ok time to relax and talk story this time. Instead of always checking my poles. Catch baby eels etc. Not two hours in, my ratchet just took off like I never heard before. I grab my pole n felt its head shaking. That’s when I knew was Ulua!

The fish weighed 15lb, my first ulua. Dream fish, I’m having it Gyotaku’d. I cut it up in my small kitchen and gave it away. My next dream is to tag n release one.