Holoholo: 3 Ahi poke recipes

August 24, 2026 By Scott 4 Comments

Freddie, who has shared his Oxtail Soup and Fish Patties recipes, was kind enough to share his proven Ahi Poke recipes.

Freddie:

Ahi is abundant this time of year due to spawning. Most Poke recipes start off the same, but vary depending on your taste. I would like to share the basic ingredients for making the base for what you want to enjoy.

Basic Ingredients:

One pound ahi filet cut into half inch cubes
Tablespoon of your favorite Sesame Oil
One or two tablespoons of Hawaiian Sea Salt (Paakai) depending on your taste
Teaspoon Chili Pepper Powder and or flakes. The Korean style Chili Powder adds color.

This will be the base for making a wide variety of different styles of Poke.

Shoyu Poke

Base mentioned above.

1/8th cup Yamasa Shoyu
3 Tablespoons Aloha Shoyu
Thumb size piece of ginger skinned and ground fine. Big chunks can be over powering. Leave bigger if you enjoy the ginger.
1 cup finely sliced onion or and half cup chopped green onion
Teaspoon sugar. Honey can be substituted. Sugar is to cut salt from soy sauce. Not to be sweet. Mix everything together and let marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Ahi Limu

Base mentioned above.

1/4 cup chopped ogo. Limu Kohu also works, but is harder to get.
1 cup finely sliced onion and or 1/8th cup chopped green onion
2 tablespoons Aloha Shoyu
Sesame Seeds as needed Mix and marinate for at least 15 minutes.

Other add ons include Inamona, Opihi, Garlic Chili Oil, etc

Spicy Ahi

Base mentioned above.

1/4 cup Kewpie Mayonnaise. You can use Best Foods but watch salt content.
1/8th cup Sriracha
Teaspoon Garlic Chili Oil
Teaspoon Gochujang Sauce
Three Tablespoons Masago AKA Flying Fish Roe Mix well and marinate for 15 minutes.

You can also add Imitation Crab and or Cucumber sliced thin half circles. Enjoy

A good rule when cooking anything is to taste! Taste and adjust seasonings accordingly!

Holoholo: Ono-kine Fish Patties

July 30, 2026 By Scott 1 Comment

Freddie is back to share his famous Fish Patty recipe. He previously shared his Easy Oxtail Soup recipe.

In the recipe below, he is using Ahi but any mild, semi-firm fish can be used. Ulua, Enenue, Ono, Mahi, even Kala or Pualu can be chunked and made into patties. Flavors can be added or omitted depending on preference.

Ingredients:

About 2# Ahi, preferably fresh, cut into small chunks cubes. Almost like coarse ground beef.
About two teaspoons garlic salt
Teaspoon black pepper
3/4 bag of fine panko
Two large Tablespoons Best Foods Mayo
Half onion diced small
One egg
Celery and fresh shiitake mushrooms are optional, but I didn’t use because never have.

Mix well and form patties! You want the mixture to hold together like a burger or crab cake. The panko and egg helps to bind but also keeps patties moist. Mayo also helps bind and keeps patties moist.

Fry as you like. Crispy or not. I fried on medium heat with oil and a little butter, browned for flavor. Butter adds color and flavor.

Optional:

Drizzled with Unagi, sweet. Also Kewpie Mayo, savory! Furikake over with rice and we good!

Patties should be consistency of mashed potatoes when eaten. Soft and creamy almost with a little chew and that Ono tuna flavor. Enjoy!!!

Watching his video is gonna make you lick your screen!

Holoholo: The Bait Is In, Realistic Lure testing

June 2, 2026 By Scott 3 Comments

Casden Chow is a 9th grader on O’ahu and is an avid fisherman who fishes from shore and kayak.

Casden:

The last couple weeks, I’ve been able to go on a couple whipping trips after a depressing hiatus due to school. Summer is finally here, and the fishing is heating up! I wasn’t expecting too much on this first trip. I thought I’d just check out what was around, and it ended up being a good recon mission. I came across this reef edge that created a small pocket of calm water and saw sardine piles holed up there, so I threw on a tiny 10g jig that I thought would imitate them well. A nice little kaku ended up biting. It was great to get a little action after a long break. These were probably some of the first bait piles of the season.

This was mid-May, which is pretty early for bait to come in. I asked Scott about this, and he said that this year there’s an El Niño weather pattern, which brings larger warm water currents, more bait, and in turn predators to our waters. I also did some reading and found out that this could be one of the most intense “super” El Niños in a long time. To my surprise, Scott also told me that the oama were already in, so my next trip I wanted to test an interesting lure. This is an extremely realistic oama softbait. I rigged it with a belly-weighted EWG hook. I’m sure we’ve all heard “Some lures catch fish. Some catch fishermen”. They looked really great, so I was excited to see how well they worked. Would they actually swim well and catch fish, or were they just made to look pretty? The tackle shop owner I bought them from said people had gotten action just dunking them and letting them float in the current, pretty nuts!

The next spot I tried was super shallow, so I walked out to a reef ledge that dropped off into deeper water. The weather over the weekend was pretty rough. I was debating whether to go out, but you won’t catch anything sitting at home. At least if you’re out there, you have a chance. It was a bit of a battle with rough winds and waves on the ledge. I ended up getting pretty bad wind knots later in the day and got soaked. The lure was also light, which made things a little hard with the wind. I figured out that a sideways cast kept the line and lure close to the water without it getting blown back by the wind. I didn’t really know what the best way to work this lure was. If anyone has ideas about the best retrieve for this lure, please let me know! I ended up getting bit on a stop and burn retrieve. It was a nice little papio, probably around the 14-inch range.

The lure swims super well and looks like a real oama. Very good start to early summer fishing. I’m excited to see what is to come. Thanks, Scott for giving me the info about the oama and teaching me about these crazy weather patterns.

Editor’s Note: Casden is one of very few people that actually listened to my crazy El Nino ramblings!

Holoholo: How to make easy but ono Oxtail Soup

February 25, 2026 By Scott 6 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
2 – 5 pieces dried star anise, depending on how much you like the taste of 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.

Holoholo: My 2025 Yearly Fishing Challenge

January 1, 2026 By Scott 2 Comments

Jeremy (Oahu shore whipper and frequent Holoholo writer) –

I always loved fishing. I grew up with only using bait, but over time I’ve found my greatest enjoyment came from whipping. I just liked the challenge of trying to get a fish to eat an artificial lure. I also liked the fact that there are a bunch of different lures to choose from, so I started to learn all the whipping techniques like egg lead, bubble float, poppers/stickbaits, jigs, and jig heads. Over many years of trial and error, I became more proficient, but never kept track of all my catches.

One day, I just had a thought that it would be interesting to see how many different species I could catch in a single year by only whipping. I started this challenge in 2019 because I thought it was possible to catch ‘19 different fish with only using artificial lures. I was able to hit that goal, so in 2020 I continued the challenge by trying to catch ‘20 different fish. I’ve continued this until now, but catching 25 different fish in 2025 has been the toughest so far. Thankfully, I was able to complete this goal with only 10 days left in the year.

With the new year quickly approaching, I’m hoping everyone has a successful 2026. I’ll be trying to hit this years goal of catching ‘26 different fish. Who else wants to join me in this challenge? It’ll force you to use all different techniques and make you target specific species. But really, it’s just a fun way to keep things interesting all year long because now you’ll want to catch everything, even the “rubbish” fish 😂. Good luck!

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.

Holoholo: Bucket list fish – marlin on 40lb leader, on the kayak!

June 2, 2025 By Scott Leave a Comment

Lawrence, who previously wrote about his first kagami ulua he caught on a Duo jig, shares the long battle he had with a 100 plus marlin he hooked on a spinning setup. @DSfishingHI is his YouTube channel.

Lawrence:

I met Elliott at the harbor at around 3:30am and out of the blue he said “let’s go buoy?” Looked at my poles and said to him “I only have 40# and 50# test but I can take a chance”.

Akule was slow but managed to pickup about 10 pieces. Rigged up 3 top (surface) lines with akule (1 long, 1 medium, and 1 downrigger.)

Off we go into the deep, sun at this point has risen but still behind the mountains. At 5:35am, only quarter way to the buoy, my medium-distant pole gets active as my bait gets nervous.

Looking back, I see a splash, then a silhouette of a Marlin. I radio to Elliott “We got action, It’s a Marlin!”

This Marlin starts doing some aerial acrobatic maneuvers at this point, while skipping on the water straight towards me, and I felt like I was in danger with its long sharp bill heading my direction. Although thankfully, it veered off looking like a giant rock that I would skip on the oceans surface as a kid. It also made a sudden direction change which gave me some exciting adrenaline. First visual contact, I estimated this fish to be approximately 100 pounds on my 40 pound fluorocarbon shock leader with 43 pound test wire leader paired with a Penn Spinfisher 8500 LL. It then dives into the depths where we battle it out. 40 pound test against a 100+ pound fish, I only could baby it, let it tire out, and set my mind for the long haul ahead of me.

The first hour was filled with consistently playing a game of tug or war. I then managed to get it within 20 feet of the kayak 4 times. Thinking it was tiring out and this game could come to an end. However it suddenly starts taking line and doing more somersaults. This is the type of action I crave for as a fisherman.

Furthermore, this fight continues now at hours 2 to 3 as this marlin would pull line down to 150′, plateau then I could turn its head and gain roughly 100 feet back. We would do this about 35 times. Marlin is putting up a good fight and I’m showing persistence.

Just after the 3 hour mark I noticed a trend where the Marlin would dive deep. It’s here I was able to get it closer to the kayak. A few more dives and reel ups I got it up next to the kayak, grabbed my kage and speared it, thinking I had the Marlin secured. Oh no not yet, it decides to do some last kicks and slips off my kage. A minute or 2 of it barely swinging and bleeding out profusely I managed to get a holding kage stab.

In my 1.5 years of kayak fishing I carried a short baseball bad and finally for the first time I used it to hit against the Marlin’s head and put it out of it’s misery.

Also for the first time I used my custom gaff matching with my kage, made from Reef Candy Lures. I gaffed the bottom jaw and secured it to the front rail of my kayak with 550 paracord and also tied the tail to back rail.

At this moment I realized I landed a 112 pound striped Marlin on 40 pound test, enduring a 3.5hr fight. I can glady say I caught a Marlin, a fish of a lifetime from a kayak. Check that off the bucket list.

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.

Holoholo: Finally, I caught a shibi!

February 8, 2025 By Scott 5 Comments

Tobias has previously shared his experiences kayak fishing the Windward side of Oahu but had never caught the elusive yellowfin tuna. Until now.

Tobias Tillemans:

A body of water with clouds and sun rays

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

We launched in the dark and peddled out into gently rolling black ink with stars above and a yellow moon low in the west, shining through some thin clouds. Light shimmered faintly off the water, no sound other than the rhythmic swishing of the fins under my feet and my breathing. I followed Max of the Oahu Pelagic Pirates who knew these waters very well, but the akule bite was slow, and we each got only 1 or 2 before heading further out into a breaking dawn to find opelu, watched silently by birds perched on marine buoys. As night softened into dawn, I turned off my headlamp and put out a bait before taking some time to watch the light rise on Oahu’s north shore, a thin strip of habitable land below towering green hills, windmills, and cloud banks to the east and the taller and drier red Wai’anae Range to the west. It was more than 9 months since I’d been on the water, and I was particularly thankful, but those 20 minutes before the sun breaks the horizon are always the most arresting.

When I started kayak fishing, I had this mythical idea of the yellowfin tuna. It was the most beautiful fish I’d ever seen, the most delicious, and the proudest catch a kayak fisherman could make. As I got better at catching pelagic fish I got to know many other species and to appreciate all of them for their unique character – the sly and powerful ono, or the colorful, acrobatic mahi – and I learned that there are many proud catches besides the yellowfin. Still, though, every time I hooked up offshore there was the question: is this the one? Might I finally get to lay hands on a shibi? I would look for the distinctive ‘tuna headshakes’ and gauge the speed and power of each run. But it never was, and then, almost a year ago, I moved back to the mainland with my family. This was highly likely to be my only day fishing offshore this year. I am forever indebted to Bill Ho, my neighbor in Hau’ula, who met me over his lunch break to loan me an offshore kayak, rods, and everything else I needed to fish through the short visit I had on the island. His love of fishing out of a kayak has been an inspiration to me from the very beginning.

We managed a few opelu in the hour around sunrise, picking them out of fast-moving schools that passed under us. I dropped the akule deep with a 4oz weight on a rubber band and sent a fresh opelu 150’ back on a single 5/0 hook and 40-pound fluoro before we moved out closer to 200’ of water where I picked up another opelu and sent this one out on the deep line, replacing the akule. Occasionally through the first few hours the wind would build before losing heart and flattening out again. Every 20 minutes or so, cruising schools of bait would show up on the fish finder.

The morning just felt fishy. Every so often my top bait would completely bug out and fight for its life, peeling my feather-trigger drag. In these moments, I’d open the bail and lay the line across my finger, ready in an instant to drop the bait weightless and let the predator eat. But none of us were hooking up. The pink undersides of the clouds faded to peach, then white, and the ocean went from a brooding, purplish blue to its resplendent late-morning aqua. I was beginning to get comfortable with the idea of heading back to the marina refreshed and with an empty fish bag.

All of a sudden, I sensed panic in the bait, and draped the line gently across my pointer finger. Then it got hammered. I let the line scream off the open bail for about 10 seconds then locked it down, feeling out a conservative drag setting to slow the fish without risking breaking it off. I endured a jolting, sporadic initial run, and then a second. I’ve broken off too many fish in the past at this moment, misjudging the drag with several hundred feet of line out on a fish whose spirit is not broken. After the second run the fish settled into a deep clockwise spiral with gradually weakening runs and, though I’d not seen the fish, all this behavior had me hopeful this was the one. I decided I’d be fine getting sharked, or popping off, but I was not going to break this fish off. It took maybe half an hour before I finally saw the shimmering yellow radiating up from the fins of the fish rising in spirals towards me.

I removed my pedals so the fish could harmlessly spin under the boat, then waited for a circle close enough to kage (pole spear). In this situation I think the behavior of the fish will often reveal the presence of sharks, but I kept a close eye on the deep. The fish was within maybe 8 feet when it surprised me with another run, peeling off 50’ of line. Don’t break it off. I I worked the fish back up to the boat and, after several close calls, got a good opportunity for the kage. I heard the threading on the kage rod zipper through the fish’s gill plate, and the fish went stiff. I hoisted it into the boat between my feet.

I know now that where I normally fished was a big part of why I’d never landed this fish before. The windward side seems ecologically more suited to smaller tunas like the kawakawa or aku, while the broad bays of the north, and especially west, shores of Oahu are more suited to shibi. I’d fished those shores many times, but I fished so much by myself, peddling out into the darkness looking for bait and marks. I was lucky to be out this day with Max, an awesome guy and excellent fisherman, and I will be forever grateful to him for getting me onto my first shibi.

Holoholo: 40g beveled flatty tungsten jig slays Los Angeles Harbor fish!

October 24, 2024 By Scott 2 Comments

(top to bottom) 60g tungsten jig – repainted, 40g tungsten jig – repainted, 40g non-tungsten JDM jig, 40g Daiwa TG Bait

My buddy RJ, of the Promar – Ahi USA crew that took care of me when I attended the Fred Hall Show in Long Beach, had recently started testing the new Promar Ikara jigs and was really getting into micro jigging.

I had some knicked up tungsten jigs we sell, that I had touched up with glow paint and nail polish, and a couple other JDM jigs I hadn’t used in a while, so I sent them to RJ to compare with the non-tungsten jigs he was fishing.

He had a successful outing with them and agreed to share how the tungsten jigs worked on the saltwater bass of SoCal. Thanks RJ!

RJ Oropeza:
My background: Hi Scott. Being out on the ocean, with our lines in the water is where I always want to be. For me, targeting and landing large Calico and Sand Bass is always an option, but when the weather is good, heading offshore is a must. If it’s not Santa Barbara Island, then Catalina Island is the next best location. Fishing for rockfish when it’s in season, hunting for large yellowtails coming up from the South in the summer, and drifting for Halibut can result in big and memorable catches when offshore. When I am not fishing on the boat, I scratch the itch by surf fishing, and kayak fishing. I am open and enjoy all forms of saltwater fishing. I find the ocean to be my mediation zone, and when I am fishing, I am meditating.

On Saturday, we were able to take the boat out for a couple hours to see if we can catch some keepers inside the Los Angeles Harbor. We left the dock at 11:15am, the skies were slightly overcast, with light wind blowing. The outside temperature was 69 degrees, and there was a slight chop. Our first stop was a spot, near the San Pedro Bay Area, inside the break wall. It took about 5 minutes to arrive to our desired location, we shut the engines off, and prepared the trolling motor for a slow drift.

We could see via the fish finder that there were a few fish sitting on the structure, waiting to be caught. I reached for my Daiwa Harrier rod armed with the 40gram tungsten jig (Blue/White/Silver/Pink) with VMC Techset assists. To keep things stealthy yet somewhat abrasion resistant, I was using 30lb Seaguar Premier as the fluorocarbon leader. It didn’t take me more than 2 minutes to get my line in the water. Before I could feel the jig hit the ocean floor, I was already hooked up to what felt like a nice size bass. I was shocked at how fast it took to catch the first fish of the day. This is always a good sign, when you catch the first fish within 10 minutes of starting out the trip. I had a feeling the day was going to be fun.

With the help of the new jig, we managed to put a few more bass on the deck along with a fighting mackeral. I was able to hook them on the free fall, the retrieve, and on the bounce. It was clear to me that this tungsten jig was very attractive to the bass in the harbor. The predators around could not resist the sexy dance that this lure displayed. The beveled edges create a realistic sharp darting motion, and the weight allows you to launch the lure far enough to have a long retrieve back, giving the angler plenty of time to dance the jig back to the boat. The color scheme, with added glow dots, seemed to be very effective.

On several retrieves, I was able to see fish come near the boat as they chased the jig in hope of a better view. This jig made what could have been a slow day, turn into a fun and productive one. Overall I felt that this jig was a must have for any angler interested in slow pitch jigging. The small and simple design could not be ignored by the fish we were targeting. Thanks again, for your recommendation, as always I appreciate the wisdom that you share. You were right, this jig, “slayed the bass in the harbor“.

I look forward to landing more fish in the future, with this sexy piece of tungsten and will give the other jigs their fair shot in the water.

Aloha Scott! Keep your pole bent, and your line tight.

Editor: You can find the 40g and 60g tungsten jigs, dressed and undressed, in the Store here.

Holoholo: Aim, load, cast, repeat.

September 23, 2024 By Scott 8 Comments

Matthew Ikeda started guest posting for us as a 6th grader. He’s our most prolific poster with close to 50 posts so far, and as his shore fishing knowledge has grown, so has ours. Congratulations Matt, on your many high school accomplishments and may God continue to bless and guide you as you go off to college.

Matt: The sun was well below the horizon, and I had gone three hours casting my lure without even a tug. It was so dark that I had no clue where my cast was going, and only muscle memory told me how to work my lure. I thought about packing up – after going through many “whitewash” trips, you sort of know the feeling when you’re not going to catch a fish. But something told me to stay. After all, this was one of my last chances to catch an Ulua before leaving for college. Catching a shore-based Ulua on a lure had been my goal since I started fishing at nine years old. I was now almost nineteen.

I thought about the real likelihood of an Ulua being around. This summer was one of the slowest I had experienced, with many back-to-back whitewash trips. June, July, and August are generally the best months for fishing in the year, but something was different this year. However, all of my doubts soon vanished.

A few casts later, I heard an explosion of water and felt my rod almost getting yanked out of my hands. I immediately snapped to attention, jerking my rod to set the hook and planted my feet to brace against the fish’s first run. I knew this was the Ulua I was looking for.

The fish ran wildly, reminding me of just how powerful Ulua were. Then it stopped. To my dismay, I felt the dreaded feeling of my leader rubbing on the reef. The fish was stuck and not budging. My heart sank. It would really suck to lose my Ulua this way.

Using my headlamp, I could see the rock my line was wrapped around. I opened my bail and frantically ran further into the surf. After taking a couple of waves to the face, I was able to free the line. I immediately started boosting the fish, and after a few smaller runs, I could see the chrome outline of an Ulua in the water. I knew I was close but I knew I couldn’t rush the fish, not wanting to pull the hooks loose.

I kept steady pressure as the Ulua stubbornly resisted, using its full body to ride the strong current. But it had reached its limit, and I could see just how exhausted the fish was. It gave a few strong kicks before finally coming to the surface just a few feet away. I grabbed the Ulua by the tail and quickly retreated to a safe area. I was stoked.

Looking at the Ulua on the rocks, I couldn’t help but think how amazing of a fish it was. This was a fish that had tormented me over the hundreds of hours I spent learning how to catch it, requiring tens of thousands of casts and many, many fishing trips over the years. I had hooked a few in the past, but every one found a way to get loose. But now it was all over.

However, the action was not over. A couple of days later I was lucky enough to land a Pao pao Ulua while sight fishing on the flats, a true rarity and a fish that I never thought I would even get a shot at catching.

Shortly after, I landed a nice 8.5# white Papio and then another Ulua to cap off the most insane two weeks of fishing I’ve ever experienced – a great way to wrap up my time in Hawaii.

As the first to learn fishing in my family, it was never easy. This Ulua is just one fish that represents a lifelong journey of learning, failing, and trying new things. While fishing has been difficult, I’ve never been alone. I started writing for Scott when I was in sixth grade, and I’ve always been grateful for the people I’ve met and advice I’ve received through this site. Thank you to everyone who has supported my passion for fishing over the years. It’s hard to capture in words how much fishing has meant to me, but I’ll always remember the good times we’ve shared together. Until we meet again🤙.

“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”

Holoholo: May – August shore line report

September 13, 2024 By Scott 1 Comment

Merik Chun returns to share how this summer’s bait fish, whipping, shore casting and throw netting season has been. We’re very blessed to get his insight from all the hours he spent on the water.

Merik:

Potentially the most rewarding time of the year for any fisherman. The summer months. This usually ranges from mid-April into May, and can last all the way till August, and as of recently maybe even September.

Throughout these last few months the primary focus was shore fishing. To be specific bait casting and even throwing net (ʻupena). There was definitely a presence of fish, but knowing how to catch them is always the tough part.

The first form of baitfish to show up this year were the nehu, followed by small schools of halalu and sardines. This attracted predators such as papio, kaku, and moi. This summer the main baitfish which I had focused my attention toward was the halalu and sardine piles. I usually target these baitfish by whipping for them, using a light game rod, with a smaller size reel. Using a California style rig with at least 2 arm spans of 2# mono to a small hook with an aqua strip, with the right stroke it was possible to catch these small baitfish. While the halalu in particular are good eating fried whole, I usually just caught enough to free line in hopes of Papio or other predators. The best time of the day I’ve noticed was right as the sun was going down, and that’s where the action came. I managed to get lucky with a few small papios, the occasionally kaku snip, and even an out of season moi, all on live sardine/halalu.

This summer has also proven to be productive in the shore cast category, which was primarily baitcasting with the occasional slide bait. Baitcasting is a popular way to catch a large majority of Hawaii’s nearshore fish, using a long casting rod, and a reel (conventional/spinner) usually spooled with monofilament line. From the beaches to the rocky shores, bait casting has proven to be productive. I managed to get lucky with everything from Oio’s to mu’s and even another out of season moi! While baitcasting, I usually like to fish around the tide changes around 2 hours before and 2 hours after the slack tide. This is when I’ve noticed fish feeding actively consistently, but it’s also a variable which is heavily dependent on location and time of year.

Another focus for myself this year was throwing net (ʻupena kiloi) which is the art of using a cast net to target fish along the shoreline. In Hawaii, there is a legal size requirement for the eye of the net which is 2”. This ensures that smaller fish are able to swim through which would be too small to take home. Knowing the size requirements of your net and the fish you’re after is a must. For the most part, the fish population in the areas I usually try are quite normal. Schools of kala and manini grazing on the reef was a sign of a healthy reef, but were not my main targets. One thing I’ve noticed this year was an influx of uhu and pananu close to the shoreline. This is a fish I haven’t seen much of in the past. Everything from blue and brown pananu, to even red whiptail uhu’s were plentiful in numbers in an area where I haven’t seen them before. They proved difficult to throw on always sitting right out side of throwing range. Though every once in a while when they climb up the reef or a flush of whitewater covers them, I’d get lucky. This was a good sign that the parrotfish population was present in what seemed to be sustainable numbers.

When it comes to throwing artificial lures, I hadn’t gone on as many trips as I would have liked. I would go on the occasional flats trip bringing along a light-game setup with the hopes of hooking into an oio, while really the main goal was to find some fresh bait! Ironically although I wouldn’t have much luck in the bait department, I happened to consistently get lucky with oio strikes. It’s always the case when you go out with a goal in mind, and it happens that you get lucky in some other way shape or form. Whenever I walk the flats with the hopes of targeting an oio, I end up finding tako. I guess that’s why the Hawaiians never speak about what they’re targeting and just keeping it simple by saying that they going go “holoholo”. I was quite surprised that I was hooking into so many oio as during the summer months they usually are a bit harder to come across. In the few trips I had gone on, I managed to get lucky with a handful of strikes, and a few solid fish landed. A fantastic sign that the oio are still actively feeding and are around.

Before the summer months came around, I told myself that I was going to try go on more plugging trips. That never really came to fruition as I only managed to get out and try three times. Although I never landed any fish, I did get action two out of the three trips. These trips were dawn patrol trips which I’d get out to the spot at around 5:00 in the morning before the sun peeks over the mountain. I would work a stretch of grounds where I have gotten action in the past, until around 8:00 where I’d feel like the action had shut down. The first of the three trips came in early June, where the grounds looked fishy, only to find myself cast after cast with no action. I had seen one small omilu in the 5# range and casted at it only to have it ignore my lure and swim off.

14 inch White Papio on Live Sardine (Freeline)

The next two trips came around Mid-August and these trips are where I had noticed an influx in fish activity. As soon as the sun peeked over the horizon, I’d find myself watching omilu in the 10+ pound range following the lure up to my feet. Then no more than five casts later, Hanapaʻa! The strike came following the sweep of my stickbait, and was strong enough to pull me off my feet. I had a hard time keeping the rod up as it stripped line from my reel, but out of all my strikes this was the first where I felt like I had a chance. But to my disappointment with the dense reef structure and intricate ledges it managed to get pinned down and spit the hook.

After the action from that day, I decided to try again two days later. Same plan with similar conditions, get to the spot crack of dawn, and play the rising tide. This time the action came later in the morning around 7am. It’s a type of excitement that you must experience first hand in order to truly appreciate. Being able to witness an ulua chase after your lure. In this case I was able to watch the fish swimming chasing my lure only to take a single swipe at it and miss the hooks completely. Immediately next cast in the same area, I had another black Ulua follow my lure up to the ledge only to turn last second. These two fish were just above rat size around 20-25 pound range, but the excitement was there nonetheless. A few casts later, a pair of proper Omilu around the 15# range followed my lure up to my feet, only to lose interest in my figure eight’s. This amount of action in Mid-August was no surprise. During this time about a week prior, oama schools began appearing at some spots in the area. The past few of years the oama have been making a late summer appearance in around Mid-August to early September, which would make sense on why the omilu seemed to be more plentiful at this time. Soon enough oama and papio action is going to be a part of a Winter report.

The action during these summer months never ceases to amaze. From slinging lead to casting lures, there is always something to do. This year’s summer had been filled with action in every shoreline department. Main thing is that you just get out there and try. Just remember, it’s an amazing gift to be around the ocean, and any catch is simply a bonus. With the winter months ahead and oama still around there is a good chance that the action will continue. Just gotta get out there and go fishing!

Holoholo: I caught a Kagami ulua on a Duo jig I was testing!

September 10, 2024 By Scott Leave a Comment

Editor: I had picked up some Duo Drag Metal Force Semi Long jigs from our local Duo Distributor to try out. If they proved effective, I was gonna order some for the Store. I shared an asymmetric sided 155g pink with glow stripes jig with my friend and occasional kayak partner, Lawrence, who consistently catches fish jigging off his kayak, when the pelagics aren’t biting his live opelu.

Lawrence:

Here’s how it it all went down… I paired the jig with a JI Fishing Co assist hook and dropped it on a school of fish. No immediate bite, but did see a mark on the fish finder and noticed it was chasing my jig on the way up. I let my jig back down to the bottom of the ocean and the fish hit my jig. The fight felt like an ulua and during the fight one of my other live bait poles goes off. I’m double hookup. Focusing on my jig rod, I let my live bait rod fight alone and hoped it could handle the constant pulling. Unfortunately the fish pulled really hard and broke the line.

Refocusing on the jig line, I get to the point that I see color and first thing to my mind is ohh, white ulua. Nothing wrong with white ulua but I’ve caught a few, along with kahalas. Once it got to the surface, I realized it was a Kagami (African Pompano). Quickly grabbing my Kage (Hawaiian Spear), I stabbed it in the gills and brought it on board. Super Stoked to catch this dream fish of mine.

The kagami ended up weighing 11.24 pounds. I liked the Duo Semi Long jig so much I bought another one in 155g and a smaller one in 105g from HI Fish Gear in Ewa Beach!

Here’s the video of the action.

Note (9/29/24): The 155g jig I bought caught a small kawakawa!

Thanks for reading!

Editor: I plan to put my compact tungsten jigs away for a while and fish these larger Duo jigs. I’ll also rig them with BKK or Shout assist hooks and put some in the Store. Stay tuned!

Holoholo: Plugging Report Summer 2024

September 7, 2024 By Scott 4 Comments

Thad, our JDM product expert, breaks down how his papio/ulua season has played out.

Thad: The plugging season at the spots we frequent on Oahu began a little later this summer than in the past couple of years. My fishing buddies Dino, Travis and I devoted a few sessions here and there from early April with the hopes that we would catch the start of the season but to no avail. On a whim, Travis wanted to try plugging a brand new spot in early June and convinced me to skip the flats fishing that day and I’m glad I listened.

We walked out near the edge of the reef and began casting our lures at the crack of dawn. It was still mostly dark with just a slight glow of the sun on the horizon when on my second cast, something came up from the deep to attack the new popper I had ordered from Japan. As it tried and missed three times, I could barely make out the splashing in the dark even though it was only 20 yards from me, but I could hear it. As the lure reached the tip of my rod in an area about shin deep, I kept the popper in the water and swept my rod back and forth to keep it moving with hopes the fish was still around. The ulua came up onto the reef shelf and while swimming sideways in the thin water, grabbed the lure and took off for the deep! It may have been the most exciting eat I’ve ever experienced. Unfortunately, after a hard 5 minute fight, the ulua popped off and got away. Based on the strength of the fish, it was a good sized one and definitely the largest I hooked this year.

I checked my lure and hooks and everything looked ok so I cast it back out and proceeded to show Travis the retrieve style I was using for the first hit when I got another one. This one felt smaller and I quickly brought in a 4lb white papio. After a few pics, the fish was released. I ended the short morning session with another catch and release 4lb white papio before we called it a day. Overall, it was an exciting start to the 2024 season.

The next weekend, Dino and I decided to try a spot on the opposite side of the island from the previous week. I lucked out again and within the first few casts, I felt a tug as the lure was nearing the rocks I was standing on. I set the hooks several times – harder than I did when I lost the first ulua. This fish felt heavy but wasn’t running nearly as hard. As it neared me in the whitewash, I pointed my headlamp towards the area of the fish and I could see that it was a small ulua foul hooked on its side. No wonder it felt heavy. I was able to tag my first ulua of the season with a PIFG tag and safely release it to grow some more.

The next two weekends in late June were spent traveling in Japan with my family and friends. I didn’t do any fishing there and constantly imagined all the ulua swimming around our Oahu shores just waiting to be caught. I returned home on a Saturday in early July, determined to get back out the next morning. My friends and I don’t normally fish the same spots very often and enjoy rotating them or testing new ones so that Sunday, Dino and I decided to try another spot, different from the ones I recently went to. As usual, we met early in the morning before sunrise and started our walk to the spot. It was a dark moon that weekend with small surf and light winds. Excited to be home and fishing again in near perfect conditions, I told Dino I had a very strong feeling one of us would be hooking up.

We were throwing our lures for about half an hour and the sun was just beginning to glow on the horizon when I felt a strong tug in the distance on my second sweep of the cast. To ensure a good hookset, I yanked hard several times. This fish also felt like a good one on the initial strike but I was using a slightly heavier set up than before so I boosted the fish in quickly – so much so that at one point I told Dino I didn’t need help landing it because it might be a papio. When the fish in front of me, I shined my headlamp at it and to my surprise, it was a decent sized ulua. I yelled to Dino that I needed his help after all so he quickly got to the water’s edge, grabbed the ulua’s tail and brought it up on the rocks. What a great feeling to start the season 2 for 3. Unfortunately I forgot my PIFG tags so after taking a few pics, the fish was released tagless.

The rest of July and August was filled with more missed ulua strikes and papio landed without any slow down in the action. It seems the late start to the ulua bite this summer means the action will continue later around Oahu as well.

Holoholo: Urban fishing Honolulu 2024

August 26, 2024 By Scott 14 Comments

I had been asking my friend and Christian brother, Wayne, to share a little about his quick after-work fishing trips in town. Humbly he complied.

Wayne:

According to Wikipedia,
Urban fishing is a type of recreational fishing that takes place in urban areas such as inner cities.

In Honolulu, the main body of water that has public access is the Ala Wai canal.

I’ve been fishing the Ala Wai for about 20 plus years. I started fishing there after work or when waiting for my daughter while she took violin lessons close by. Prior to fishing the Ala Wai, I used to fish along the Eastside shoreline using a bubble float setup which is common in Hawaii to use for “Whipping”.

I had found a magazine at a bookstore in Kahala mall called Shallow Water Fishing. Also known as inshore fishing. The articles in this magazine featured fishing mostly in places like Florida and Texas.

I started reading these articles and started incorporating what they used for lures and adapted them to my fishing style. I started using jigheads with different types of plastics.
Paddle tails, straight tails, curly tails, shrimp etc.

I started using braid as my main line with a fluorocarbon leader
My current set up is a spinning reel 2500 size.
7 feet med power extra fast spinning rod.
10 lb braid with 15 lb fluorocarbon leader.
I usually tie a 1/8 oz jighead and use different types of plastic baits.
I’ve been using this setup for a while now.

I like this set up because it’s fast and easy to set up and get to fishing the Ala Wai.
Especially if you don’t have much time.
I like to go after work.

Sometimes I don’t catch anything, but I get to watch the sun go down, meet interesting people and also I am intrigued by the different birds that inhabit the Ala Wai.

Till next time…….
Happy fishing and God bless,

Wayne

Holoholo: Shoreline Catch Report 7/1/24

July 2, 2024 By Scott 8 Comments

Matthew Ikeda is back with a much needed shoreline catch report and bait update!

I hope you all are doing well. It’s been a while since my last write-up in August. With a busy senior year, I haven’t had as much time to fish as I’d like, but I always keep some time to go fishing. With that being said, let’s get to the catch report.

The O’io bite was on fire for the back end of 2023, all the way into January and February. The winter bite wasn’t slow at all, and I was picking up 2-3 O’io per trip pretty regularly. Unfortunately that all changed around April, when the O’io seemed to vacate the flats. At times, I faced multiple whitewash trips in a row, something that I hadn’t seen since I was first learning how to catch O’io. Several of my best spots had suddenly turned dry, and I couldn’t find the reason no matter how hard I tried. One of the only successful trips I had from April-June was one I ventured all the way out to the breakers, attempting to sneak up on the O’io in the choppy whitewash. I caught 4 that day. I don’t normally fish that close to the breakers, but I figured that I should try since nothing else was working. Perhaps the O’io playing hard-to-get is a result of increased pressure, or some seasonal change that I don’t understand. All I know is that the O’io bite has been much slower than last year at the same time.

Interestingly enough, my best catch of 2024 so far came on a day I probably shouldn’t have been fishing. On that day, I brought my friends and a couple of dunking rods to the beach, hoping to get them on an O’io or two. I also brought a “just in case” rod rigged with a grub and jighead in the event that I had some sight fishing opportunities. Before I had even set up the first dunking pole, I saw a huge O’io swimming in the shallows. I quickly grabbed the “just in case” pole and ran into the water, stalking the fish from a distance. I hadn’t sightfished in a while and I realized that it was my first real chance at a nice fish in months. Luckily, it was a windy day so the splash was muffled when my lure hit the water. The O’io pretty much rushed over to the lure and swallowed it. I was on.

After a pretty tense 10 minute fight, I was able to see that it was pretty darn good for a “welcome back” fish. I never carry a scale on me, but judging from the size, it was probably a double digit fish. I landed the O’io, took a few pictures with my friends, and sent it back on its way. After a few long months of low to no action, I caught a near PB O’io on a trip where I hadn’t even planned to fish. It was high noon, the tide wasn’t great, and I hadn’t even bothered to retie my FG knot from a few trips back. Sometimes fish just seem to have their ways of doing things.

As for everything else, I’ve been doing a bunch of stream bass fishing over the last few months. It’s been a great way to cool down after tennis practice and school, and the bass always seem willing to bite. If you’d like to try sometime, make sure you prepare some sort of defense against mosquitoes. I usually just wear long sleeves and long pants.

I’m hoping that it will be a great summer of fishing as I look to transition into more Papio fishing and maybe even plugging (I really want to get my first shore Ulua before college). It doesn’t seem like the Oama and Halalu are quite in yet, and the Iao seem to be absent from the shorelines. It looks like it will be a late season, just like the last few years. Hopefully that means the Oama and Halalu will stay all the way through October. Wishing you all good luck, have fun, and please stay safe out there!

Holoholo: We’re Deep 7 Bottomfishing now!

January 18, 2024 By Scott Leave a Comment

Holoholo writer Hunter Young has evolved from a shore fisherman to a diver and now a boat fisherman and is still in high school. He’s recently been focused on getting better as a Deep 7 fisherman.

Hunter:

If someone told me 4 years ago that in 4 years I’d be primarily targeting deep bottom fish on my boat, I would probably have asked them “what’s a deep bottom fish?”.

When I first started fishing many, many years ago, I stayed simple, targeting reef fish. During summers I would catch oama and halalu and use them as live bait for papio. During winters I’d baitcast tako legs for oio. Main point being I was a very casual shoreline fisherman, and it remained that way for a while. Throughout the years, I gained knowledge from experience and old timers at the spots.

During the summer of 2020, my dad brought home a small 15ft Mikuni boat. It had an old and beat down outboard which would die out every 5 minutes.

Though I now look back and realize just how sketchy that boat was, at the time I thought that I had just unlocked an entirely new world of fishing. We owned that boat for a little over a year but during that time, I discovered the deep bottom fishery. My first time hearing about the Deep 7 was when I saw one of my friends post a picture on Instagram with a lineup of weird looking yellow striped fish (gindai). I was intrigued by the colors on this fish so I did some research and found out about the Deep 7. I kept researching and the deeper I went the more and more amazed I became. To me, it was absurd that fish could even thrive in waters that deep. From that day on, I made it a mission to learn how to catch these fish.

We were lucky enough to be gifted two Daiwa Tanacom electric reels from a friend of my dad. These electric reels allowed us to explore the deep dark waters 600 ft deep. On our first trip I vividly remember catching a big gindai on my first drop. I was so happy that I kept looking in the cooler and staring at the colors on the fish. I was so happy in fact that I forced my grandma to cook it up that same night I caught it!

Fast forward 3 years and we arrive at the middle of the summer of 2023. During the 3 years that have passed, I learned tons of techniques and information on bottom fishing. Still, I was only catching small fish, like ehu (squirrelfish snapper), kalekale (Von Siebold’s snapper), gindai (Brigham’s snapper). I hadn’t caught anything big yet. This was also around the time that I made my first trip to the infamous Penguin Banks. Funny story, on that first trip to Penguin Banks, I didn’t catch a single bottom fish! Just a bunch of aku.

On my second trip I decided to try a pinnacle that came up to 800 ft from around 3000 ft. I ended that day with a good lineup full of big ehu and hogo (scorpionfish) . My trips remained this way for a while. Catching ehus and hogos, but never really hooking any big fish.

Until one day I decided to try a different rig and change up my bait. It seemed like the trip would be another lineup and ehus and hogos but on my 5th drop my line went slack on the bottom. “What?” I thought to myself, there was no way I could be on bottom because I had brought my rig up 40ft. I pushed the jog lever on my electric reel up to bring in some line. When the slack disappeared and the tension came back my pole tip started going crazy! Then the line from my reel started peeling out. I quickly tightened the drag and stepped back. I waited anxiously on the boat hoping the fish would not come off. When the number on the reel screen read 30ft I still could not see a fish in the water.

As I reeled up the last few feet of line I grabbed my rig and started handlining it up. I was confused because it seemed I had lost my lead and my rig was floating up. Then all of a sudden this big mass of the most beautiful hue of red I have seen in my life appeared out of nowhere. Onaga (longtail snapper)! I quickly reached down and grabbed the gills of the fish pulling it up into the boat. “NO WAY!” I screamed over and over. The onaga ended up weighing just over 12lbs. That was my first experience with the true intensity of deep bottom fishing.

Every trip after that provided me with onaga ranging from 3lbs to my biggest ever 16lbs.

It seems like the closer we get to the winter months. The more onaga are caught and the bigger they are. Around the end of November I had an especially crazy day where the onaga seemed to bite on every drop. I even got a triple onaga on one of my drops!

During one of my trips at Penguin Banks It seemed like the onaga bite had slowed down early, so I decided to take some dead opelu onto the banks in 150-200 ft of water. I hooked up an entire opelu and dropped it down onto some big marks on my gps. As soon as I closed the bail on my reel, I was hooked up! And it was big. As I brought the fish up I saw the silver flash of a big uku. That was my first uku weighing over 10lbs. After that day I devoted some time to learning how to master this, and although I have only dedicated one day to strictly ukus, I managed to get some good sized ones. My biggest one weighing in at 18 lbs.

I’ve learned quite a few things over the past few years but I have 3 tips which I think are the most helpful for people starting to get into bottom fishing. These tips might not work for everyone but in my experience they work for me.

Bait quality matters. Don’t leave your bait out in the sun on the boat and don’t use bait that’s been sitting in your freezer for a year. Fresh bait is always best, and I’ve found bottom fish like bloody baits.
Check tides and current. Bottom fishing in strong currents is like asking for trouble. It’s harder to stay on the spot, easy to tangle lines, and I feel like the fish just don’t bite as good. You can’t control the current but if it’s too strong you might be better off trolling around the area until it calms down.
Rotate spots. I made the mistake of hitting the same spot over and over again and I regret it. You should be giving your spots time to replenish themselves. This will ensure that there are fish there in the future and those fish bite well.

Oh also if you’re getting sharked, move spots! The sharks will keep taking your fish without mercy.

Holoholo: Urban JDM lure testing – Papio, broken rod and Tilapia

August 22, 2023 By Scott 5 Comments

On summer break before his Senior year of high school, Matthew Ikeda accepted my plea to test some of the oldie but goodie JDM whipping lures and give his feedback on an Anetik shirt. I had previously posted about the lures we had tested that day here.

Matthew:

A little while ago, Scott messaged me wanting to find a test spot for some JDM lures. We played around with a few options at first, but not wanting to show any landmarks, we chose a secret-not-so-secret spot that we were sure wouldn’t upset anyone. When Scott picked me up, he gave me an Anetik hoodie to try for the day. The sun was high and scorching by the time we arrived at the spot, so the semi-porous fiber of the shirt felt pretty good. I decided to start off with a Duo Tide Minnow Slim SSR, which was around four inches and in a pearl color. It casted well, despite there being a crosswind and its lack of an internal weight transfer system. In the murky water, the pearl color really stood out and because of its enticing side-to-side action, I felt confident using it.

This spot is extremely dependent on the tide, so I was wondering if the tide was right for the Papio that sometimes run through. I began getting bites from Kaku early on, but there was no sign of the target species. The tide was rising fast, so I was depending on the influx of water to bring the fish into the canal. I got my wish 20 minutes later, when I felt a violent take that nearly ripped the rod out of my hands. I set the hook and let the fish take its first run. With the headshakes, power, and quick movements of the fish, I was pretty sure that I had just hooked a nice Papio. As I brought it closer in, I could see that I was correct. It was a good-sized white Papio (GT), larger than any I had hooked at this spot before. I babied the fight on the way in, unsure of how secure the hooks were, but the Papio eventually got tired. I grabbed the line and pulled it over the wall, landing the fish. Scott took some pictures, recorded a short video, and it was released back into the nasty water.

We fished pretty unsuccessfully for the rest of the time, as the bite went completely dead. We were just wrapping up when I got another bite. I set the hook and my rod crumbled. Shocked, I reeled the fish in with half of a rod, and I was pretty disappointed to see that the fish was just a snagged tilapia. It really sucked because the rod was my go-to O’io rod for the longest time, and there was a lot of sentimental value to it. To break a favorite rod on such a trash fish sucks, but that’s fishing I guess. In all, it was a good trip but the broken rod kind of killed the vibes.

Reviews:

The Anetik Remix Tech long-sleeved shirt had great ventilation and felt soft. I never felt like I was sweating despite the midday sun. It fits my body well and is better at adapting to slightly different sizes than some other brands. It comes with a hoodie and drawstrings if you need to tighten it. One thing that the Anetik shirt does lack is a face covering. Nearly all of my fishing shirts come with a face covering (attached to the shirt) that I can cover my face with. If you need to cover your face while wearing the Anetik hoodie, you will need to buy a separate face buff, either from Anetik or another brand. However, Anetik shirts have some of the softest material I’ve felt while also fitting me perfectly, making it worth the hassle. The sizes tend to be small, so you may need to buy one size larger than usual. For example, I am normally a “large” but I needed an “extra large”. Rating: 9/10, just find a buff to go with it.

The Duo Tide Minnow Slim SSR is an intriguing lure. It has a thin profile that matches a lot of our young baitfish. Some other common lures like Rapala X-Raps have fatter midsections, which I’m not too fond of. It casts well despite not having an internal weight transfer system and moves well in the water without needing too much attention. It dives around 1-2 feet deep. Lighter lures like these are good, but are best suited for harbors, canals, and calm areas without wind and choppy surfaces. In other terms, I wouldn’t use it anywhere with waves and lots of water movement. Lures like these would probably struggle to cast directly against the wind, due to the lack of the weight transfer system. However, when used in the right areas, or casted downwind, it should be very successful. Rating: 8/10, need to use it in a calm area.

Holoholo: DOUBLE – Double Digit Oio!

July 20, 2023 By Scott 6 Comments

Matthew Ikeda, our young, on-the-water intrepid reporter, shares the details of his back-to-back fishes of a lifetime catch.

Matthew: I was in bed when Sean from Nervous Waters Fly Shop asked me if I wanted to tag along with him and Frank to their spot, which I was only vaguely familiar with. I had just got my wisdom teeth removed hours before, so I was in a lot of pain and bleeding quite a bit. While I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able in a day’s time, being able to watch fly fishing masters at work was an opportunity I didn’t want to miss. I accepted the offer and arranged to meet them at the spot.

That morning, I was still bleeding a little bit but most of the pain had subsided, so I figured I was okay, plus I figured the adrenaline of sight fishing would help numb the rest. I met them at the spot and we walked out into the water. I had brought both my fly rod and a spinner rod, but I decided to start off with the spinner as I got used to the spot. We split up pretty far from each other at first. I decided to take a long loop around, wasting 15 minutes just to get in position to cast with the wind into a spot that looked good. I saw a few fish initially, but they didn’t want anything to do with the neon orange grub I was using. I switched to a darker grub that looked more natural, and immediately the fish started to show more interest. I started to feel pretty good about my chances.

Twenty minutes later, I was on my phone changing the music when I saw the outline of a big fish passing just 15 feet in front of me. I quickly put my phone in my bag and flipped an underhand cast in front of it. To my surprise, the O’io rushed the lure, ate, and immediately took off at breakneck speed. Within seconds, half of my line was gone and the fish had almost made it to the ledge, which would make my loss certain if the fish reached it. I started backpedaling and tightened the drag a little, trying to slow the fish in any way. Eventually, it did slow down and I was able to regain some line. But I had a long fight ahead of me.

Because I chose to carry two rods on me, I had to bring the smallest spinning rod I owned (so it fit in my backpack). I’ve used the same rod to catch Halalu before. The rod, a 7’10” light action, is perfect for sight casting accuracy, but that combined with the 12 pound test I chose to run made for a challenging fight. Over the next 40 minutes, the O’io ran in circles, taking line before I would eventually regain it, like a never ending game of tug of war. But the fish eventually got tired and I was able to grab it by the tail, and that’s when I realized how big it was. “Double digits” immediately came to mind as we took some pictures. Sean had a boga grip so we hooked it up, and I was stoked when the scale read right at 10 pounds. We took a couple more pictures before I released it. I took some time to relax and take it all in while Sean and Frank went back to fishing, completely satisfied with the day.

Sean and Frank had started to walk into the wind, and were pretty far away so I decided to follow them. I decided to look in the shallows for some tailing O’io, because I had never hooked a “tailer” before. I saw one pretty quickly and casted at it… but was disappointed when the lure landed right on top of the fish and spooked it, causing a big explosion. I continued on, trying to catch up to the guys. The water started to get very skinny and even though I knew O’io could get up that shallow, I questioned whether it was reasonable.

I was watching Sean, who appeared to be taking a shot at a fish when I spotted a big tail around 30 yards out. It was at a bad angle, directly into the wind, but I decided to stalk the fish. Luckily, some clouds had come in, so I hoped that they would help mask my presence. As I creeped up closer and closer I realized that this was another big fish. Its back was nearly out of the water and it seemed really occupied with digging at a specific patch of seaweed. I made my first cast at it, which was terrible and landed nowhere near, but luckily it didn’t spook the fish. I reeled in the lure quickly, made the adjustment, and casted. This time it was a beautiful line-drive cast, flying just two feet above the water before landing at the perfect distance in front of the fish. I dragged the lure along the bottom, making puffs of sand in an attempt to divert the fish’s attention. The fish jerked and moved suddenly, and then, wagging its tail, it swam over to my lure. I kept dragging the lure, so sure that the fish would spook, just like all the other skinny water tailers I had casted at in the past. But this time there was a small tug, and then a tap-tap-tap. I set the hook hard, and there was a big explosion as the fish took off even faster than the last. Luckily I was all the way on the inside, so the fish would have to spool me if it wanted to get over the ledge. For a little while, I thought it might just do that. But it stopped and started to come back in, much faster than the previous O’io. Within 10 minutes, I had it doing circles right around me. I walked into even shallower water as I tried to beach the fish. The tactic worked and the O’io tired fast, allowing me to grab it. I was shocked. It was another very big O’io and the stoke was high once again.

Frank took pictures of me holding the fish up as he called Sean to get the weight. This time, the fish tipped the boga at 10.5 pounds, making it another double digit O’io to make the day even more special. We took a pretty cool release video and the fish was on its way. Again, I stayed back to rest because I couldn’t really believe what had happened. Sean caught a good sized O’io on the fly, and Frank sightfished two puffers and an eagle ray, so we all ended up catching. We talked story on the way back and then parted ways.

The high didn’t last forever, and when I got home my calves and forearms were cramped and my pain from my wisdom removal reappeared. But the memories of that day will definitely last forever, and it was well worth it to get out there. Catching two double digit O’io on the same day is something I’ll probably never do again. I’d be happy if I caught one a year. It was a crazy day for sure and I suppose the lesson is that you just have to get out there and take some chances. Sometimes, you might just get lucky. My thanks to Sean and Frank for inviting me to tag along. I learned a lot from watching the true masters of the art, and I am very lucky to have that chance. Stay safe, have fun, and good luck out there!

Holoholo: Finding solitude and fish on the Windward side of Oahu

July 6, 2023 By Scott 16 Comments

I met Tobias on the water once, just weeks before his 2 year high school teaching assignment ended. While we didn’t get to team up and fish together, he left this treasure trove of vivid memories for the rest of us to enjoy.

Tobias Tillemans: I grew up in New York and Minnesota and fished obsessively in both places, dunking worms off docks or, later, chasing trout. I had a spell guiding flyfishing in Alaska before I started teaching High School science in Seattle, where I started fishing from a kayak. I’ve done some paddling expeditions in Baja and Alaska, always chasing fish.

A few weeks after I moved to Hawaii, I bought a 2017 Hobie Compass Outback and an old pickup to haul it. I was psyched out of my mind to fish; there is no better way to put it but, though I’ve fished my whole life, I didn’t have a clear grasp of how the ocean or the marine ecosystem behave in Hawaii. I figured I would just have to figure it out. I joined the Oahu Kayak Fishing Club Facebook group, read everything anybody posted, asked some occasional questions, then just fished a lot.

I quickly learned that nobody kayak fishes from where I lived in Hau’ula, on the windward side. In two years of fishing, I never saw another kayak. Occasionally there was a skiff. The weather’s not good, it’s sharky, and there aren’t many shibis, but it was quick and easy for me to launch from the beach. Kayak fishing is only partly about catching fish for me anyway, with the rest being a mix of a desire for solitude, independence, and a connection with some great power that occupies the blue-water ocean and also the mountain ridges of the Hawaiian Islands. Hau’ula is an excellent place for seekers of these other parts of fishing. The dripping wet rainforest backdrop is shot through with basalt cliffs, sliced occasionally by waterfalls, and capped by an ever-changing tapestry of clouds in shades of gray, peach, white and purple. Solitude is found in great abundance. The place has mana, and using a motor to get out there would have diminished the experience for me and the reward of every fish I caught. I also worry about the impact of over-fishing and motor noise, and I can rest easy fishing a self-powered boat.

As a teacher, I had to work from 9 am-4 pm, but if I was quick, I could fish before or after work. I gradually made it further offshore until I was maybe half a mile out, guessing that, with such a productive nearshore ecosystem, I’d easily find predator fish. It didn’t work that way. This part of the ecosystem is just too heavily impacted by overfishing. I was not that excited about this kind of fishing anyway. Outside the reef, a different ecosystem exists that is part of that high mountain and deep ocean spirit, and I hoped to have a brush with it. The elegance, beauty, and power of the pelagic fish are undeniable, and I knew that catching those fish would be a way to commune with the energy I was out there seeking.

My first visit to what I considered proper pelagic fish habitat, about 200’ of water, was spooky, and I didn’t even fish. I just peddled out there and sat for about 10 minutes, wrapping my head around the deafening aloneness of the place, and trying to build a sense of safety when I felt pretty unsafe. The swells rolled under the boat, I watched clouds form and dissipate over the Ko’olauloa range, and I peddled back in. From then on, getting back out there was pretty much all I could think about.

Eventually I started catching bait. I tried for akule in the dark, but those were some of my least safe experiences and, after losing my navigation before sunup on a not-good weather day, I gave up on them. For me, opelu hold some of that deep ocean mana which, for whatever reason, the akule do not. I found that 10 mph winds and 5’ swell were the worst weather forecast I could fish in. Soon I was comfortable offshore by myself, and I found some deeper structure, maybe old buoys or wrecks, and a jigging spot in 300’ that held a lot of 10-15lb papio and kahala.

I watched the birds head offshore in the morning and back in at night. I missed and broke off lots of fish but I caught lots of kawakawa (mackeral tuna). I was getting harassed sometimes by what I later learned were ono, and always by sharks. The sharks and the whales are both part of the beauty of the offshore ecosystem though, and I tried to appreciate them equally. I learned a lot from Bill Ho, Facebook, and YouTube, and was just having an amazing time out there.

In the spring, some aku (skipjack tuna) and mahi-mahi turned up in the mix. The iridescent aku are carved by the ocean from polished aluminum and could beat their tail fast enough in the boat to create a hum, like a mosquito.

The mahi-mahi is part tropical bird: social, prone to flight, and sometimes green, yellow, silver, orange, or blue, depending on its mood.

The weather was always an issue, and sometimes I would be stuck on shore for weeks, but I got amas in the fall of 2022, which extended fishable weather for me up to my tolerance for nausea. I got better at running two lines, one deep and close and the other shallow and 200’ back, turning slow circles to keep them separated in the water. I learned to clear the second line before trying to fight a fish on the first and to give a fish time to eat before setting the hook.

I finally landed an ono one morning in December 2022 before work. It was a little over 40 lbs. It hit at dawn on some structure in 160’ of water, and there was no mistaking what it was. It took half my line in 8 seconds. I played it gently, but I always felt I was on a ticking clock with sharks in that area right up until the fish was on the boat. I got a kage shot on it after about 20 minutes, hoisted it onto the boat, got covered in ono slime, and still had time to make it to 7-11 for more ice before taking a shower and hustling to class.

This spring, I got serious about missing fewer fish. If I can get fish to eat my opelu, I wondered, why are so many of them making off with my bait, my hook, or both? I stopped fishing stingers or wire unless there were ono around and I downsized hooks, figuring this would lead to more confident strikes and less suspicious nibbling. I got picky about how the hook went through the opelu nostrils to keep the gap of the hook open, and changed how and when I set the hook: late and hard. I started to understand the changing daily and seasonal behavior of the opelu, and learned far too late that 10 lb floro catches way more bait. In a kayak, you can carefully study the behavior of bait and predators in a specific spot or piece of structure to learn how they react to bathymetry, currents, tides, and weather. I enjoyed puzzling out this ecology while feeling part of the greater Polynesian ecosystem, verdant and fragile, isolated in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean. I explored new areas and occasionally fished with guys like Bill Ho and Max Reyes.

In June, I sold my truck and boat to move back to the mainland with my wife and two girls, who harbor a deep and abiding desire to live closer to family. Once the kayak was gone the daydreams I would drift into of the sewing-machine twitch of an opelu on a damashi, or the scream of a rod going off, felt raw and painful. I sold the boat as is, right down to the damashis, rubber bands and 5oz weights, rods, 5/0 hooks and wire rigs, but I brought back with me a full toolbox of skills. Now I live on a narrow but 700-foot-deep lake with schooling bait fish that are harassed all day by salmon and a supporting cast of trout species. They seem to set up on shelves on about 100’ of water, heavily influenced by the thermocline. There are no sharks, but also no whales. I’ve seen some guys out there in decked-out Hobies, hunched over their fishfinders. The bird behavior is different, but I can read it with a whole new eye, and I am once again trolling Facebook Marketplace for a kayak and an old pickup with which to haul it.