Big Island Bottomfishing Trip 2017

June 17, 2017 By Scott Leave a Comment

Continuing the tradition started last year, the Pacific Islands Fisheries Group (PIFG) guys, Neil and Erik, traveled to the Big Island to boat fish the day before the Tokunaga Challenge weigh-in. We stayed with Neil’s childhood friend Jeremy, who chauffeured us around like celebrities. The moon was a lot bigger than last year’s half moon conditions, and there was a 5.3 earthquake the day before. We were eager to see how that would affect our jigging prospects.

Capt Wes was fishing a tournament in Kona that day so Capt Braiden, last year’s first mate, took us out on the 19 ft Glasspar he recently purchased. The wide beamed boat easily handled the five us and provided a stable platform to bottomfish. We started at the jigging spots that were productive last year, and came up empty. Capt Braiden, who doesn’t normally shallow bottom fish, worked the sounder and GPS to find other likely spots. Jeremy fished cut shrimp, Neil and I jigged, and Erik switched between jigs and damashi with flies. Jeremy hooked something solid and carefully brought a big, thick yellow spot papio to the net. That gave us hope, but the lure bite didn’t materialize.

Slowly the guys switched over to shrimp on damashi and went through the initiation of hage and lizardfish. Erik hooked something big on the bottom hook of his light damashi setup and gingerly worked it up but it eventually bent the hook and swam free. Capt Braiden tirelessly worked the various reefs and drop offs. The tide was halfway through its rise and Neil got a small nibble that felt different from a hage, and heavier than a lizardfish. Nabeta! It was on the small size but very welcome since nabeta were the best eating of the first we had caught last year. Soon the guys were bringing up singles and doubles of larger nabeta as Capt Braiden carefully plotted his drifts.

Neil continued his nabeta pioneering by landing a black fish that we later realized was a nabeta, followed up with a second black nabeta. Turns out black colored nabeta are of the same species we were catching, but a very uncommon catch. The two black nabeta were smaller than their lighter colored siblings, but pulled harder.

Live Deception green mackerel, left most. Flat Fall 80 gm, 4th from left.

I stubbornly kept jigging, using slow falling, fast falling, larger bodied and very small bodied jigs, eventually trying 9 different lures. Earlier something small was on, shook its head pretty actively and came off. Then a larger fish took drag repeatedly but slipped off the debarbed hooks when I paused to try to find the “on” button of Erik’s Go Pro camera strapped to my chest.

My jigging muscles were tired after hours of non-productive lifting and cranking. I felt bad that I wasn’t contributing to the nabeta pile so I bummed a homemade 2-hook dropper rig from Neil and baited up with shrimp. Once I hit bottom I felt a strong tug and cranked what I thought was a whopper of a nabeta to the surface. Turned out to be hage and so was the next fish I brought up. The guys said I had to go through the hage initiation and thankfully the third fish I brought up was a nabeta. At this point we had run out of shrimp and were chunking lizardfish for bait, and I added a couple more nabeta. The others were much more effectively adding to the community catch.

Out of cut bait and an hr left to fish, we worked our way back towards our launch spot. Capt Braiden stopped in the general area where we caught the ulua last year. He must’ve dialed it in perfectly because the first drop of the 2 oz Ahi USA Live Deception in Green Mackeral (last year’s magic lure) got walloped a few lifts off the bottom. It felt awesome to have something bend the rod and pull drag. I babied it a bit since it would be my first jig fish of the day if landed, and it took me around the stern. It came up very shiny and Neil expertly netted it. Kagami papio/ulua, the first jig fish I caught last year too! This one was smaller than last year’s and the guys decided it was too beautiful to kill. We tagged the 20.5 inch (FL) kagami and set it free. Erik blended my chest cam’s footage and his stick cam to create this beautiful video.

The guys were pumped and Jeremy dropped down a frozen oama Braiden’s wife had caught the year before. It got inhaled and he calmly battled a stronger fish than the kagami I had just released. After a series of powerful runs a larger, slightly less shiny fish surfaced. 21.5 inch (FL) white papio/ulua. That one was headed to Capt Wes’ smoker.

We drifted out to deeper water and my 2 oz Live Deception took longer to hit bottom. The “scope” of the line was greater than I preferred because my lifts couldn’t make the lure fall as intended but the jig got picked up and the fish made an initial run. Thinking it was another papio, I was waiting for a strong dive as I tried to smoothly bring it to the surface, but the fish was whipped. It turned out to be a weke ula, maybe a couple of pounds. Erik had been telling me to eat the weke ula raw instead of steaming it, since it’s a little firm and crunchy when cooked, so I kept it.

Nothing hit my Live Deception on the next drop and since we were in deeper water I put on an 80 gram (2.8 oz) Shimano Flat Fall. It got picked up and I felt tugs as I reeled it in. Hage on both assist hooks! How’d it fit such large hooks in its small mouth? That was a sign that it was time to head for the barn.

We suspect the slow jig bite was due to the full moon the night before. The predators may have fed at night and were resting up for the next night bite. Big ups to Capt Braiden for putting us on the most productive nabeta harvest we’ve ever experienced and over some big papios. Much Mahalo to Jeremy for the Big Island Hospitality.

Jeremy, Neil, Scott and Capt Braiden

Here’s the crew. We couldn’t all be in the same photo because someone had to take the picture! Neil plans to donate one of the black nabeta to the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, and eat the other to compare to the normal colored nabeta.

Jeremy, Neil, Erik and Scott

My favorite nearshore and semi-nearshore lures – 2016

October 20, 2016 By Scott 14 Comments

Please keep in mind that my recent experience has been limited to fishing

knee high water from the sand
the tops of shallow reefs from my surfboard or kayak
jigging from a boat in 50 to 300 ft

and I use a 7’6″ to 8′ bait casting rod so I like lures I can hang a few inches off the rod tip. I don’t cast the bubble and grub even though that method works very well for folks with long rods.

In my limited experience I stumbled upon some relatively new lures that out performed the old standbys.

Shallow shoreline, light winds, clear water, low light:

I’ve recently tried a number of finesse top water lures from Japan and have been amazed at how they draw strikes from papio and kaku when other mid-column lures have failed to produce. The slender Japanese lures mimic the small inshore baitfish well and don’t have thick bodies to get in the way of their hooks. On days when the fish are being finicky, the gurgles and dips of these works of art draw strikes. The fact that these lures float make them safe to use in even the skinniest of water.

Shallow shoreline, off color water, choppy conditions:

When the fish can’t see the top water lures well, the sub-surface Shimano Waxwing shines. In really murky conditions, the fish are still able to see the bone color Waxwing and feel its tight zig zag swimming pattern. Slow down a bit to give the fish a chance to zero in on the lure.

Covering a lot of relatively shallow areas:

The Waxwing can be fished pretty fast and stays safely out of the rocks at that speed, so it’s a good lure to use in search mode.

Around bait schools when predators are crashing the pile:

Small to medium sized poppers like the Yozuri Hydro Popper work well in imitating a predator boiling on bait. The most aggressive predators will explode on the popper as it noisily makes its way back to you.

Fishing vertically in 50 to 75 feet of water on a slow drift day:

Break out the shallow water micro jigs and “slow pitch” them. Keep them in the strike zone by smoothly lifting and lowering your rod tip a few inches at a time. Most strikes come as the jig flutters down. If the current isn’t running too fast, a 1 oz jig or lighter should work. Go with as light a jig as you can get down to the bottom.

Fishing vertically in 75 to 300 feet of water on a slow drift day:

The Shimano Flat Fall and similar center keeled lures designed to fall slowly by zig zagging their way down the water column provide an enticing action and still make it to the bottom. Start with the 80 gm size and if the currents prevent it from reaching the bottom, go up to the 100 gm size. Slow pitch these larger lures like you would a micro jig and speed jig them after you’ve covered the bottom fourth of the water column.

Don’t forget to drop a 2 to 4 oz Live Deception jig also. I still don’t understand why the lure works so well but it just does. If you want it to fall slower, bend the jig in a wide “U”.

There you have it. To fish the shoreline out to 300 ft deep, you just need an inshore top water lure, sub-surface Waxwing, small popper, micro jig and a couple heavier slow pitch jigs. You probably could get away with just 2 rod setups: a medium action whipping / jigging setup, and a heavy action jig setup for the deep water but if you want to splurge, add a light jig rod to make the small to medium sized catches more enjoyable.

Jigging and popping for pelagics and ulua

May 17, 2016 By Scott 11 Comments

(top) Shimano Trevala with Daiwa Lexa HD400XS
(bottom) Shimano Terez with Shimano Tranx 500

Erik and his dad, Ed, invited me out on their 16 ft center console catamaran to troll to the nearest buoy, hit some deep and shallow jigging spots and finish up with some evening ulua plugging. I brought the Shimano Trevala jigging rod and Daiwa Lexa HD400XS reel to jig and the Shimano Terez Waxwing rod and Shimano Tranx reel to plug. Both setups were untested because I hadn’t been able to target large enough fish in the past. We definitely exceeded the nearshore range on this trip but hopefully you guys will find this report interesting from the tackle and technique perspective.

80g blue sardine flat fall

The wind was light and seas fairly calm so it was relatively smooth sailing to the buoy. Unfortunately nothing wanted our trolled lures or dropped jigs so we headed back in to their 200 ft plus jigging spot. They had caught big kahala and pelagics at this spot before so we rigged up with the heavier jigs. Ed went big with a 280 gram Shimano Butterfly Flat Side jig, Erik went with the 130 gram Shimano Butterfly Flat Fall jig, and I went with the smallest Flat Fall in the 80 gram size. 80 grams are equivalent to 2.8 ounces, so my jig wasn’t exactly small either. The Trevala medium heavy action jig rod has a soft tip with a lot of backbone and the Daiwa Lexa HD400XS brings in 43 inches of line per crank with a max of 25lb of drag. I slipped on a belt gimble and an extra pair of assist hooks to the front of the flat fall, and was hoping for something larger than a hage to test my gear.

The guys let me fish the starboard (right) side of the bow, which had a lot of open space and allowed me to cast right handed. On the second drop, about 20 ft off the bottom, I got hit. The fish pulled a bit of line and then I could feel frenetic tail beats. The soft tip of the Trevala rod made it a fun fight and soon we saw a tuna-shaped fish swimming in circles. Kawakawa for Erik’s grandma! The guys were stoked that I was able to get my first flat fall fish and we resumed jigging and cranking with anticipation.

After a couple of drops we weren’t seeing anything on the fish finder so we were about to move. I burned the flat fall back in and got hammered about a third of the way up. This fish took drag and kept the rod bent. I wasn’t sure-footed enough to stand and fight the fish so I sat side-saddle on the bow’s platform (I don’t know the proper boating terms) and tried to short pump it up. It felt like a decent sized jack and made some powerful runs straight down, but the Lexa’s smooth drag eventually tired it out. Erik got some great underwater shots of the fish and then deftly lifted it over the side of the boat. My first kahala ever.

The strange thing was my flat fall jig was missing and the kahala was hooked on one of the assist hooks I had clipped on to the Tactical Anglers Power Clip. (zoom in to the top photo of the Flat Fall jig attached to the Trevala rod to see how the lure had been attached). The clip was slightly bent. It’s pretty hard to slip off a lure to remove it, so I was stumped as to how the jig was pulled off and the kahala was still hooked. One optimistic theory is that another kahala had hit the jig on its rear assist hooks and the kahala I landed tried to take the jig away and was caught on the top assist hooks. They pulled against each other and somehow the flat fall was pulled off the power clip.

We didn’t measure or weigh the kahala but Erik estimated it to be at least 10lbs. Because of its reputation as a worm-filled ciquatoxic fish, it was released to battle the next angler. I replaced the clip but made a critical mistake that you’ll read about a little later.

Ed scaled down to the 130 gm blue sardine flat fall and resumed his speed jigging with big rod sweeps. Something heavy stopped his jig about 1/3 from the bottom and repeatedly yanked the rod down but didn’t run too far before the hook slipped. The guys think it was a fairly big kahala that successfully shook the hook off.

The action slowed so we moved to a shallow water spot (50 ft deep) that produced ulua on the poppers for the guys before. Ed went up on the stern’s deck (I really need to learn the proper boating terms) and started throwing a 150gm Pelagic Warrior Gladiator blue/green Lumo popper with his Okuma Makaira heavy jigging rod and Shimano Saragosa 10000 spinning reel, spooled with 100lb braid and a 150lb fluoro leader. They’ve learned from past battles that a strong, abrasion resistant leader and main line that can handle a very tight drag are requirements against the scutes and tail of ulua and coral reef caves. Ed heaved the heavy popper and noisily gurgled it back to the boat, and Erik and I jigged with micro jigs but there were no takers at this spot.

Erik moved us to another shallow reef and Ed woke an ulua from its slumber. The beast came out of the water to intercept Ed’s popper and tumbled tail first. The fight was on and Ed was able to stop the fish after its initial run, but then it made it to the reef below and ran through the rocky valleys until it could expose the braid to the sharp rocks. CRAAACK! The line popped like a gunshot and Erik caught his dad as he fell backward. While we were disappointed, we were pumped to witness such raw power.

The spot we were in didn’t leave much leeway to safely fight large ulua but appeared to hold fish. Erik decided to risk his favorite 125 gram Spartan blue Lumo GTFC popper on a Shimano Tallus Bluewater Series extra heavy rod and Saragosa 10000 spinning reel packed with 80lb braid and a 150 lb fluoro leader. He set his drag tight and launched the lure as far as he could. Sweeping the rod explosively, he created a bubble trail that called up another ulua. The ulua turned and headed back for his cave. Erik cupped the reel spool, crouched and leaned back hard against the rod and hoped against hope that his line would withstand the razor-sharp live coral below. CRAAACK! Just like that two favorite poppers donated to the depths below. The guys felt bad that they left lures in the fishes’ mouths and hoped the hooks would soon be worked free.

We moved to a deeper reef that provided a little more cushion and Erik resumed plugging while Ed and I micro jigged. I had a 30 gram blue and silver Jigging World jig clipped on to a 60lb flouro leader and 65 lb braid. After seeing Ed and Erik get rocked, I set my drag pretty tight, to where I could barely pull line off the reel. Something slammed my jig as I did a fast lift-crank-drop and burned line back to the bottom. I was shocked to feel such power and speed and called out to the guys. It surged a second time and then the line went slack. Rocked on the bottom? No… The leader’s end was in loose curls. Not quite like how it would look if the knot unraveled but why else would it be curly? I’m thinking that when I tied on the power clip after replacing the bent one, I didn’t use pliers to pull the 60lb fluoro leader tight. Rookie mistake made while rushing to get back in the action. The surge that popped the line was strongest I’ve felt in years.

What a versatile, action packed trip. I am so grateful for Erik and Ed’s hospitality and generosity. And I have to admit, after seeing the ferocity of the ulua strikes on the poppers, I wasn’t ready to throw a big Waxwing at ’em and risk getting pulled off the deck.