Kona Low 2026: Flooding, strong winds, road hazards, power and internet outages. How I prepared and what I underestimated.

March 16, 2026 By Scott 4 Comments

From Wednesday, March 11 to Sunday, March 15 the State of Hawaii endured a very strong “Kona Low” storm. In terms I can understand, that means a storm system that moves very slowly, dumping lots of rain in the clockwise direction that hits the islands from the south west. The risk of these kinds of storms is that more rain is dropped because the moisture is coming from the warmer south than the normal cooler north, and areas on the north east side of the mountains get stronger winds because the wind speeds up downhill after hitting from the south west.

The storm system first hit Kauai, then Oahu and worked its way down to Maui and the Big Island, affecting those islands on the west side of the island chain more because the storm lingered longer. Maui and Big Island got 20 to 30 inches of rain during this period. Oahu got 8 to 20 inches of rain, depending on the area.

“At the storm’s peak, more than 100,000 Hawaiian Electric customers were without power and by Sunday afternoon, more than 32,000 were still without electricity. But no deaths were reported, the Governor Green said, and only two people were seriously injured. “

“In Honolulu, the amount of rainfall in February and the first half of March hasn’t been this high since at least 2000, totaling at least 12.25 inches. The previous high set in 2017 was roughly two inches less. Friday was the single rainiest day in the state’s capital in more than two decades, with 5.51 inches of rain. At Makapuʻu Beach on Oʻahu, 81-mph wind gusts were recorded on Friday. Kāneʻohe Bay experienced 70-mph gusts.“

Even the economically critical Waikiki area took some cracks.

While the flood and wind damage was very bad in some areas, we thank God that no one died.

How we did

Our property, on the South side of Oahu, doesn’t get much rain normally but is prone to flooding in Kona Low conditions because the ground is graded to the back, and doesn’t drain onto the street. There’s an easement / drain behind the homes and if that fills up, our property can’t drain out. I asked a neighbor to remove obstructions blocking the drain, and removed the plants and debris prior to the start of the storm.

I also widened our yard drainage and sand bagged a garage that floods if the drainage backs up. All those steps plus the fact that the rain wasn’t super heavy over a short period of time, allowed the drain system to take away the water.

During the peak of the heavy rain on Friday and Saturday, I constantly checked Weather Underground to see how much rain was predicted in the next few hours, and watched their radar map.

Also checked NOAA’s recent rainfall totals .

I was so focused on the flood risk I didn’t think about the strong winds that took down transmission lines for power, phone and cable.

We lost Spectrum internet service and power for about 6hrs on Friday night. Friends didn’t have power from mid-day Friday to Sunday morning. A few areas still didn’t have power on Monday.

The HECO Outage Map was helpful in determining when they estimated power would be restored.

Losing power meant we’d be in the dark if we didn’t have a bunch of Ledlenser rechargeable lights (love those!) and couldn’t microwave the food that would soon spoil in the fridge. We kept the fridge shut and just ate bread and honey. 🙂 When I opened the fridge after the power was restored about 6 hrs later, it was at 43 degrees. Food at 40 degrees or warmer begins to spoil after a couple of hrs. so were right at the edge of our food being suspect.

People without food or a means to cook food had a hard time finding read-to-eat food because so many businesses were without power. Hawaii Kai Costco was closed on Sunday because their perishables had to be thrown out. Sadly, this happens often at that location. Longs stores weren’t open because their Point of Sales systems were down.

What I need to improve before the next big storm

I didn’t expect to be without power for more than 4 hrs. With a greater chance of tropical storms this Fall (an El Nino is probable), power outages are highly likely. A gas generator is cumbersome to use in a rain storm so I’m considering getting a Power Station / Power Bank (basically a large lithium battery with outlets) that can run a fridge for a day and a half, and power a microwave a few times. Since online stores don’t seem to ship those to Hawaii, there are only a few stores like Lowes and Battery Bills that have them available.

I will also use my many Arctic Ice reusable blocks in our roto-molded coolers with the most perishable foods. That should keep them colder than the unpowered fridge.

We had partially charged our cell phones before the power went out, but luckily, the Ledlenser lanterns also work as power banks that can charge a phone. I’ll make sure all our rechargeable emergency items are fully charged next time.

Tried Owner, Gamakatsu, BKK, VMC, Shout and Maruto hooks. Here’s my review.

February 10, 2026 By Scott Leave a Comment

Since I’ve been mainly kayak fishing, I have been using small hooks to tie onto sabiki/damashi rigs, hooks for my live bait rigs, and jig assist hooks. I’ve used Owner, Gamakatsu and VMC hooks for a variety of purposes, BKK and Shout mainly as jig assist hooks, and Maruto as gold damashi hooks. Here’s my review of the hooks I have used based on my limited experience with them.

Owner and Gamakatsu

Owner and Gamakatsu are the two best known and respected hook brands in the world. They are made in Japan and are the most expensive brands you can buy domestically. Both are chemically sharpened, and are extremely sharp out of the bag, but if the hook tip gets dinged, it loses it’s sharpness and corrodes.

Owner

Owner hooks tend to be thicker and stronger than Gamakatsu, yet are made to be as thin as possible for the desired strength. If you want a hook that will penetrate the fish’s mouth and won’t bend out, this is the brand for you. I use the Gorilla Live Bait hooks as the front hook of my opelu, and the Flyliner Live Bait hook on my larger sabiki/damashi sets. They haven’t failed yet.

Gamakatsu

In general, Gamakatsu hooks are thinner and sometimes have a shorter shank than Owner hooks. They are more of a finesse hook but are still extremely sharp and strong for their thickness. I primarily use the thin wire Live Bait hooks for my medium sabiki/damashi rigs and they hook fish very effectively and unhook nicely despite being offset.

Like the Owner Flyliner hooks, I’ve never had a hook break or bend while landing a strong fish.

VMC

VMC hooks, made in France, are significantly cheaper than Owner and Gamakatsu. They are also chemically sharpened but aren’t quite as sharp as Owner and Gamakatsu, possibly due to the fact that the hook point isn’t as fine. You can resharpen VMC hooks and they don’t seem to corrode as quickly as Owner and Gamakatsu. VMC hooks often have a heavy duty version and are very strong. I use the Heavy Duty Live Bait hook as the front hook on my bait, and the Inline Single 4X as the trailing hook. I’ve never had either open up but I do need to replace the hooks after a few uses because they eventually get dull.

BKK

BKK hooks are made in China using Japanese materials. They are known to be very sharp, strong and resist corrosion well. I mainly use their assist hooks and they’ve worked so well that we sell them in our Store. I like that the assist cord is pliable enough to allow the hook to fall nicely, yet strong enough to not get cutoff. I have used the assist hooks for many trips and the hooks have not dulled or corroded. I haven’t had as good experiences with Owner and Gamakatsu assist hooks and don’t use those brands anymore.

Shout

Shout assist hooks are made in Japan to exacting standards. I really like how pliable the assist cords are, and the hooks themselves are thin and very sharp, allowing for maximum penetration.

The thin, light hooks are not made for very strong fish, however. This ulua stretched open the Shout assist hook I was using although it didn’t snap.

Maruto

Maruto hooks are made in Japan and the shops here import them. I use the gold MZ style hooks for my light sabiki/damashi rig because it is believed that opelu like the gold flash. The hooks are sharp but break under pressure and rust after one use.

My Recommendations

If you have the budget for Owner and Gamakatsu hooks, use them and you will have peace of mind that they won’t fail you. If you want to save some money and still have sharp, strong hooks, go with VMC. In my opinion you can’t go wrong with BKK. They also make very strong jig head hooks and treble hooks. Shout assists are the best assists I’ve used for catching fish but you have to make sure you have a hook strong enough for the fish you may hook. Maruto gold hooks are inexpensive, disposable hooks that work well when used appropriately.

Very calm, glassy day yet the small bottom fish bit, unlike the previous trip. Keeper bottom fish didn’t though. Here’s what I think happened.

February 3, 2026 By Scott Leave a Comment

Last week I fished a calm day on the Windward side that had chaotic lumpy cross swells and the fishing was extremely slow except for opelu biting all day. This week, the wind and the swells died down, and the water was so clear that divers on jet skis were racing out to check the spots normally undiveable.

I didn’t expect the bottom fish to bite well but they did. The big, desirable keepers were smart enough to stay away, though. Big opelu bit all day again. Here’s the quick recap.

I got out to my first spot and hooked a solo opelu. I lost the school after securing it, so I put it out on a weighted line and went deeper looking for bottom fish. The undesirables bit – big taape, nunu (trumpetfish), hagi, moana so I moved further out. I was able to catch more opelu but the opelu out on the weighted line only got its stomach removed.

On the way to the deep ulua / kahala jigging spot at 200ft I came across some good marks and dropped down. A juvenile uku came up on the damashi so I released it and dropped again, hoping for a much larger version. Something hit the damashi and pulled drag, and after maybe 30 seconds it broke off the 25lb hook line. It didn’t feel like an ulua or kahala so I was intrigued.

I put on a 30lb damashi rig, the heaviest I carry, and dropped again.

A juvenile uku and a juvenile weke nono came up. The right species, just not the right size.

Two large opelu, normally line shy, came up on the 30lb rig with large Completely Hooked Lures Sprats. On the next drop I felt the tail beats of opelu and then the line surged down. I fought what I believe was a shark for less than a minute and the hook line cut, but an opelu came up on the top hook.

I put the live opelu out again on the weighted rig but it didn’t get touched. The bite shut down and all I had in the fish bag were fairly large opelu. I checked my shallow bottom fish spots on the way in, and the small undesirables bit. Nothing good like keeper weke nono, yellow spot papio, moana kali.

At the shallow reef shelf on the way in, I dropped down the damashi as a 4th Quarter – Hail Mary attempt and hooked a malu (single spot goatfish). They don’t get too big, and they have very clean, flaky meat, so this one was added to the fish bag.

Summary: The big opelu bit again, predators weren’t balling them up, and the small bottom fish bit in the calm conditions but the smarter, larger bottom fish didn’t. I’m guessing, since the conditions were so calm, the food chain wasn’t activated. And am also guessing that the cross swells during the previous trip just scattered the bottom fish and didn’t set up feeding lanes.

This separate cooking post details how the opelu were smoked, and how the malu was lightly pan-fried. Both came out winnahs!

Good moon phase, light wind but lumpy cross swells. Opelu bit but pelagics and bottom fish didn’t. Why was that?

January 24, 2026 By Scott 2 Comments

I fished 2 days after the New Moon on the Windward side, which should have been a productive moon phase/tide, and the wind was under 8mph mostly, but there was a weird lumpy rolling East swell and occasional lumps from other directions. With all the surface disturbance, and over cast skies, I would have expected the bite to be phenomenal for bottom fish.

Opelu were at the first stop of the morning, they bit well, and I loaded up with 5. When I dropped the damashi deeper for the good goatfish, there wasn’t much action, which was unusual for the morning. I checked a few more spots before heading deeper to troll the opelu, and they were void too. Nothing hit the live opelu until I dropped it, with a 2.5oz tungsten sliding weight, to the bottom at 150ft.

I hooked something that pulled line initially but came up, which was a good sign. Near that spot was where ulua were wrecking me on the previous trip. Turned out to be a 2lb uku which surprised me because it tried to eat a 10 inch opelu, and punched over its weight class.

Hoping I found the uku honey hole, I dropped another live opelu down and a bigger fish thumped it. The fish pulled line and surged so I was expected a good sized uku, but instead it was a 10lb kahala, probably an almaco/kampachi. I thought about keeping it, but it probably had spaghetti worms and a slight chance of ciguatera so I released it.

Not wanting to battle any more kahala or ulua, I paddled away from the area with another opelu out and ended up over the small opakapaka / weke nono sandy grounds.

I found some but they were too small to keep so I headed back to the shallow bottom fish spots I had checked in the morning.

The bottom fish bite was still extremely slow, with only a few taape, nunu (trumpetfish) and moana hitting. Those are the species that always seem to bite when the better fish don’t. But, big opelu still bit, along with a 1lb kawakawa that came up tail wrapped.

I’m still trying to figure out what caused the fish to have lockjaw, and can only surmise that the larger North swell that rolled through a few days prior moved the food chain out, and the cross swells that day were making things uncomfortable for the fish down there.

1st day of testing the new lead jigs. Wow they work!!!

December 6, 2025 By Scott 4 Comments

The wind was projected to be light for a period of 6 days but I waited for a day with a small N swell and better solar – lunar bite periods. I picked the day before the Full Moon to fish the Windward side and it paid off big time. My plan was to get some fish on the new jigs, and also get a pelagic on live opelu. Kind of a big ask since I rarely get either.

Tungsten on left, lead on right, both 60g

The bite period was supposed to be from 10 to 12:30pm and I was at the first spot at 9:15. It was a shallow 60ft spot that has produced reef fish on the damashi before, so I dropped the 60g Chubby jig painted like a fully lit up oama, hoping the length was small enough for the reef fish, since it was the same length as the 60g tungsten jig that had worked incredibly well in the past.

The Chubby reached the bottom and I jigged it up a few cranks and was shocked when it got slammed.

I was more stunned when I saw two moana kali come up, 1 on each hook! The moana kali ended up weighing 1lb 3oz and 2lb 5oz. You can see the actual strike in this video. I was so excited when they hit, I turned off the camera forgetting it was already on, but luckily I took photos and a short video with my phone after they were landed.

I caught some opelu for bait and dragged em around, and out to 200ft when I saw some some life on the sounder. Dropped the 120g flat sided asymmetric jig painted up like a silver/blue bait fish and got hit immediately. The fish rubbed the jig off on the reef and came unbuttoned, so I dropped again. It got hit after quite a few cranks off the bottom and a smallish kahala (greater amberjack) came up. Man those fish pull hard initially. The video below captures the hookup and landing. I ended up hooking 4 fish and landing 2. Since they weren’t almaco jacks (kampachi) I let them go, not wanting to see their worms.

So far the live opelu, cruising on the surface, didn’t get any attention. I paddled back in to test a 3rd jig.

This one was the 100g Nehu with the curvy spine. It only caught taape, probably because it was a little long for the fish in the 100ft zone.

With the jigging goal accomplished, I focused on using the damashi to catch good eating fish. The bite remained good despite it being so calm, which I attribute to the good solunar effect.

I got busted off on the 20lb damashi set by a heavy fish, and moved up to the 25lb damashi set. Landed two yellow spot papios, which make excellent sashimi, and some big opelu that weren’t line shy. The bite slowed at 2pm and I kept dropping the damashi on the way in but didn’t catch any more keepers.

It was the best action I’ve ever had on the kayak although nothing hit the live opelu besides a small aha that perforated it a bit.

The new lead jigs definitely work when dropped on good marks. They did sustain some bite marks/paint peeling, from all the teeth encountered, but held up pretty well overall.

The jigs are going out to the lure testers. I only had 5 of each of the 10 sizes/colors flown in via air mail, with the rest coming by boat. Almost half of the 50 jigs have been claimed. Please contact me if you’re interested in trying them at the Lure Testing pricing. Mahalo.

All the jigs are described here.

New JDM quality jigs are in. Highly effective, custom painted for Hawaiian waters, and very reasonably priced. 60g to 240g. Testers wanted.

December 2, 2025 By Scott 2 Comments

Been trying to procure lures that will catch fish from shore and from boats/kayaks, and be cheap enough where it won’t hurt too much when a fish swims away with it. Lead jigs fit that bill and I had a batch painted in our favorite inshore and offshore colors. Some are designed to cast well and have an erratic retrieve from shore. Others are very compact in shape so they sink as quickly as possible, yet can be made to dance on the retrieve. The jigs look almost too beautiful to fish, but the paint job is very durable so you should be able to admire their looks trip after trip.

We plan to sell these JDM quality jigs at a much lower price than you could find elsewhere. We are in the process of testing/catching fish on the new jigs. Please Contact us if you want to purchase a few at Lure Tester pricing. Check out the 360 degree videos below.

60g Jigs

60g Nehu Wiggle

100g to 120g Jigs

100g Beveled Asymmetric painted like an oama

100g Chubby painted like an oama

120g Beveled Asymmetric in Blue & Silver

190g to 240g Jigs

190g rear weighted Cherry Bomb

Here’s how the first day of jig testing went.

Sent my Avet SX Raptor in for service. This is what they did and how much it costs from Hawaii to California and back.

October 20, 2025 By Scott Leave a Comment

I’ve been using the little powerhouse Avet SX Raptor for 5 years and self serviced it twice. It was fairly easy to do and I didn’t see much corrosion until the reel started to bind recently. When I took it apart I found rust in all the bearings and despite cleaning and oiling the bearings from the outside, the bearings kept spewing rust.

Decided to mail it to Avet in California for cleaning and parts replacement. It cost $14 to ship it via USPS Ground to Chatsworth, CA. The Basic Service for the SX Raptor cost $44 and I included a check for that amount. Avet called me when they received the reel, to ask for my credit card to cover additional costs and shipping. 13 days later, Avet called to ask how I wanted the reel shipped back but since they called at 5:30am (8:30am their time), I missed that call and by the time I called back, they had shipped the reel via USPS Priority for $24.25. I received my reel 3 business days later.

The reel felt brand new, and looked almost brand new also except for a slightly gummy handle ball.

Avet included the corroded bearings and washers to show what they replaced. Man, were they in bad shape.

So with shipping both ways, and the $44 Service with no additional charge for parts, it cost $82.25 to get the reel back fully repaired. I think it was worth it considering this was the first service I paid for in 5 years, but I definitely will clean the reel more frequently to prolong the need for such a major repair.

If you’re interested in ordering an Avet Reel please contact me and I can try to put a bulk order together to minimize the shipping cost. Mahalo!

Hot action before Hurricane Kiko: Big fish on new jig, and 5lb Windward uku (green jobfish) finally caught, unexpectedly

September 9, 2025 By Scott 2 Comments

I’ve been wanting to confirm that the new, bite-sized Duo Metal Force 120g 3.5inch jig would attract reef monsters but always ended up mining the depths with my damashi rig. And for 5 yrs I’ve been searching for a legitimate keeper uku (green jobfish) on the Windward side, but the slopey, sandy terrain didn’t hold big ones, it seemed. The calm winds before the arrival of Hurricane Kiko let me check an area that held a lot of promise, and it delivered!

The light wind window fell on the weekend, the day before the Full Moon, and I normally don’t fish weekends but made an exception. The beach was crowded but surprisingly the water wasn’t. The boats must’ve sped off to the buoys to take advantage of the great conditions. It took more than an hr to paddle to first spot, after 9:30am, and the big fish were waiting. The first damashi drop (15lb rig) resulted in a busted rig, and the 2nd rig (20lb rig) got pulled into the rocks. 3rd damashi rig (20lb rig) came up with a lone 2lb omilu, and the other 2 hooks and lead were gone. The Land of the Giants was living up to its billing.

That spot cooled so I moved down the line to the next spot on my GPS. A 1lb uku and an 8 inch weke nono came up on the 20lb rig.

When that cooled, I paddled to the next spot and dropped down the green and gold Duo Metal Force jig, hoping the monsters below would want something a little more substantial. On the second drop, the jig was grabbed by a fish that ran in smooth, powerful spurts and was really hard to lift off the bottom. It felt like a small ulua and I was wondering why I couldn’t gain much line with the high speed, old school Trinidad 14 reel. You can watch this video and see why I struggled getting it to the surface. The intro, showing the jig, was filmed at the start of the trip when the water was still choppy.

Right after landing the big omilu, I snagged the Duo jig on the bottom. That almost never happens but I guess I really was over a productive, rocky area. I put on the green and gold 120g tungsten knife jig and it got pulled on the way down but dropped. Nothing hit it after that.

I had released all the fish so far, so I put on a 25lb damashi rig with CHL Sprat lures and Owner Live Bait hooks to put something in the fish bag. It was 11am and the solunar major bite period was supposed to start and run to 1:30pm.

Something hit right away that pulled line in jerky spasms but was manageable on the medium light Shimano Game Type J rod and Shimano Calcutta 300TE bait casting reel. I was stoked to see a good sized uku behind a small moana reach the surface. It’s been a 5yr mission to land an uku that size on the Windward side, and only caught juveniles and strafed baits in the past.

The uku was hooked from the outside, in its gill plate, and that must’ve allowed me to steer it to the surface, unlike the big omilu that was planing against the water. The very cooperative uku even sprinted into the landing net, as you can see in this video. It was 21 inches from head to fork, and weighed 4lb 12 oz after bleeding. I’m calling it 5 pounds! 🙂

After the ground breaking uku, the bite slowed with small nunu (trumpetfish) and moana, and really cooled down after 12 even though there was a lot of the brown plankton debris on the surface. Nothing else was kept.

These are the CHL Sprats and Minnows I used this day. I use the 1.5 inch Minnow for opelu and go up to the 2.25 inch Sprat to target larger fish.

I’ve tried the Duo Metal Force 120g jig 3 times now. The second time something cut it off the line. This time it caught a fish and then I lost it. So there are currently just 2 left in the Store at Intro Pricing. If they sell out, I’ll order more. The Green and Gold 120g tungsten knife jig was so easy to pull through the water. That will be the go-to jig on the next trip.

Thank you Jesus for such a beautiful, safe, productive day on the water!

Summer Report: Shore to Boat

August 26, 2025 By Scott Leave a Comment

Here’s a quick summary of how the summer fishing has been.

Shoreline:

Oama and halalu came in early and are still around but in fair to average, not great numbers. Papio are being caught off the bait piles, but again, not in great numbers. Whippers have had to work hard to connect with the seasonal predators.

Kayak:

Spring was good for shibi (yellowfin tuna under 100lb) but that bite has slowed. Not much kawakawa or mahi have been caught. Opelu have been hard to catch in the Spring and Summer but are beginning to bite better lately. Shallow bottomfish bite has been slow but should pick up in the later Fall.

Boat:

May through June, the Ahi bite was on fire, starting on Westside and ending on North East side. Lot of big aku (otaru) and school sized aku were caught during this time frame also. The bite on those big fish has slowed in the summer.

Mid August: Oama still biting good – maybe I was wrong?

August 19, 2025 By Scott 8 Comments

Oama came in very early this year, at the beginning of June. That’s at least a month earlier than normal. I thought the oama season would wane by now but it looks like more waves of oama have come in to some, but not all the regular spots.

There aren’t a lot of oama in these spots, but the ones there are catchable with the right tide, bait and technique. Papio are having a hard time passing up a live or fresh dead oama. The tackle shops are kinda low on the oama poles, hooks, bait buckets etc so you may have to shop around to replenish your gear.

Normally most spots begin to dry up by the end of September so you still have a month to get some oama for bait or to eat.

Avet MX Raptor and LX Raptor long term reviews. Needs minimal maintenance but it does rust if you neglect it.

August 4, 2025 By Scott Leave a Comment

Avet reel frames are precision machined from marine-grade aluminum in 1 continuous piece, and have stainless steel parts, but do need *common sense* reel maintenance. The reels are compact and light weight, yet capable of landing large fish.

I asked 2 customers to share their long-term experience, and end with my story of what happens if you don’t clean them for 2 years straight. While the 3 of us are kayak fishermen, the reels would also do well from shore or on boats.

Lawrence – Oahu kayak fisherman

The Avet LX Raptor is my favorite kayaking conventional reel. In my opinion, the size is just right and not too bulky. My setup line capacity holds 2000′ (667 yd) of 65 pound power pro Depth-Hunter braid and 25′ yards of 50 pound fluorocarbon leader line. The drag is very precise and the lever drag makes it a highlight to swing into fight drag. The 2 speed option is great, I normally fish with the high speed retrieve, however battling a 118 pound Marlin, and stubborn ulua, the low gear made the fight much easier. I’ve self service the LX Raptor with no problems. In summary, I definitely recommend the Avet LX Raptor to any kayak fisherman.

Oahu kayak fisherman who has been using 2 LX Raptors for 3 years:

This is just my personal opinion, but the LX, HX and HXW Raptor 2-speeds, partnered with custom Rainshadow acid wrap rods are hands down, the best reels for offshore kayak fishing because of their size, weight, and line capacity. The Raptors are easy to self-service, and I have replaced bearings after hard use.

Scott – How I abused my MX Raptor and regretted it:

Sadly, I am the example of how not to take care of your Avet reel. I have been using the smallest Raptor, the SX Raptor, and when I clean it after a year’s use, there’s usually very little salt crystals and corrosion. I started using the next size up, the MX Raptor about 2 years ago. I’d take it out on my kayak with my other reels and almost never use it because I didn’t put out a live bait. It got splashed on and I just rinsed it off, but I kept the drag pretty tight, and it turns out, the drag assembly didn’t have a chance to air out.

I recently felt the drag “binding” and when I opened the reel up, there was salt and some corrosion under the drag lever and stack.

The drag washer was actually rusting because the drag plate had been stuck on it for so long. The binding I was feeling when cranking the reel was actually the rust particles on the drag washer!

I cleaned the plate and washer off with Corrosion Block and the binding sensation went away, but am ordering replacements for them. The corrosion came off the other parts after cleaning with Corrosion Block, so my negligence didn’t have lasting effect.

Lesson learned: Back off your drag after washing the reel down, and open it up and clean it if you dunk it badly. At the minimum, service it once a year and it will last forever.

If you’re interested in ordering an Avet reel, please contact me through the Contact Page. Shipping the reels from California are increasingly more expensive so we try to order in bulk. Mahalo.

Early Summer Report and Prediction: Shore, Kayak and Boat

July 7, 2025 By Scott 6 Comments

I’m writing this in early July, with the peak fishing season a month away. Here’s how it’s been going so far, and how I think it will end up, based on weather indications.

The La Nina pattern of cooler water has ended and water temps are returning to “normal”. We didn’t get much rain in the Winter, and the mango crop wasn’t good. That usually means that the bait fishing season won’t be very good either, and without bait, the predator fishing will be a challenge.

Halalu have been in, and the oama began to show in early June, which is a month and a half early. The oama schools have been small, so that seems to be an indication that this oama season will be brief. Hope I’m wrong.

The early, larger papio have been whacking the piles so get out before they’re gone.

The ulua season, normally peaking in the late Spring hasn’t been so good either. Neither has the offshore boating season been. But kayakers who can get live bait early in the morning, continue to defy the odds and get shibi ahi (tuna under 100lbs).

Being out of a La Nina period is good news, so the coming Fall should be an improvement overall. Keep fishing; can’t catch fish from the couch!

Shore, kayak and boat jiggers been doing well on the jigs. Get yours before we run out.

June 16, 2025 By Scott Leave a Comment

It’s no secret anymore that the micro-sized flat, beveled 40g and 60g tungsten jigs have been extremely productive. These were recently caught on them.

Long Beach, CA sand bass from private boat

We still have a few left of that style but won’t be getting more for a while.

Instead, we are in the process of ordering these stubby-style tungsten jigs that we had brought in a few years ago. The 80g and 100g sizes sold out so quickly and this time we’re bringing in the 120g size.

120g would be perfect for the boat guys fishing the buoys for aku and shibi, and the kayak guys who want to fish 100ft to 300ft with a small profile jig. Even the cliff fishing guys could use these to get out far and deep.

The Duo Metal Force Semi Long jig (non-tungsten) worked again for Lawrence who got his first kagami ever on a 155g Semi Long last year. This time he used a 125g Semi Long, for his 2nd kagami, which came in just shy of 10lb. He jigs a lot and catches shibi, ulua, kahala and uku, but the only kagamis he ever caught were on the Duo jigs. Coincidence or is there something special about the jig that kagami like?

He followed the kagami up with a 48lb ulua bruiser.

And finished off his jigging with a nice omilu.

So far, he’s the only one who has fished the Duo Semi Long but some 250g jigs are on their way to California to be tempting Bluefin soon.

The Jig Testers will also be dropping down the 120g and 180g tungsten knife jigs.

I haven’t been able to help test the new jigs because I’ve been doing emergency body work on my rusted out 26 yr old Subaru Outback to extend its life for a few more years, so I’m super grateful that the much more talented Jig Testers have been able to provide proof of the jigs’ effectiveness.

You can check out all these jigs in the Jigging section of the Store here.

Shore and Nearshore fishing is slow in the Spring. This may be why.

May 8, 2025 By Scott 7 Comments

Juvenile moano and moana kali caught in the Spring

Traditionally, shore fishing is best in the Summer and Fall when the bait fish are close to shore and attracting predators. Those predators feed away from the shallows during the other times of the year, so they aren’t seen as often.

But fishing in the deep reef is also slow from Spring to early Summer. Here’s what I have been noticing in past years.

There are less concentrations of fish on the fish finder and underwater camera, and the fish seen and caught are smaller.

Fish spawn in the Winter and Spring and there’s lot of smaller sized fish on the reef. They are quicker than the larger individuals of their species and may be getting to the food first. There’s less plankton available due to the shorter periods of sunlight so the larger fish move deeper so they have a better chance at larger food.

Lower water temp and amount of sunlight may be the triggers that tell the fish to spawn. So it seems like Spring is the period that Nature uses to allow juvenile fish to mature safely, with less chance of being eaten.

What does this mean for our fishing prospects? Either wait ’til Summer or fish where the larger fish are still found.

Tried a new spot for a new goatfish and struck out. But found juvie opakapaka, weke nono and moana kali and the underwater camera revealed why they were there.

March 28, 2025 By Scott 4 Comments

Went north from my normal Windward launch since a friend said there were plentiful munu goatfish, nicknamed Joes, at the end of the reef. Water quality was excellent in 50ft of water and I could see the bottom, so I think the wary Joes could see me too. Only big moano were caught so I went out to the deep sandy area and stumbled upon juvenile opakapaka. They were about 12 inches, measured head to tail, which is the biggest they seem to get before they migrate out to where adult opakapaka live. 10 inch weke ula/weke nono were mixed in with them, too small to keep, and some fish ganged up and broke my 15lb damashi rig so I dropped the CanFish CamX underwater camera rig down to see what they were doing.

Surprisingly, the fish were spread out but a weke nono would always swim up to the rig, get hooked, and then a paka would bite the 2nd hook. Check out the short video.

I then went to my heavy damashi rig with a 6oz Promar Ahi Live Deception jig as the bottom weight, to handle these bruisers.

The paka’s swim bladder would push out when the fish got to the surface, so I just kept 5 paka (limit for Deep Seven species without a commercial license), released the small weke nono, and left them alone.

I paddled a mile south, with the help of my Bixpy motor, back to my normal grounds but it was slow. Only the taape wanted to eat. So I moved shallower on my way in, hoping to find opelu or a good goatfish.

Sure enough, a nice moana kali hit the top damashi hook of the heavy rig with the jig on the bottom, and got foul hooked on the 2nd hook. That beautiful fish saved the day.

I dropped the underwater camera back down and another moana kali was spotted as well as packs of moano and omilu, so it was confirmed that the rocky reef held a lot of predator fish.

Switching back to the heavy damashi rig with the 6oz jig, a big nunu (trumpetfish) hit the jig itself! Man that fish is slimy. I ended up getting the rig snagged and breaking off everything, DOH!, so I went back to the regular damashi rig with 20lb line.

I landed what looked like a wahanui that had its forehead and mouth spray painted with yellow paint. Maybe it was a male fish that was showing mating colors? Anyone ever see this before?

Something slammed the hooks and a 1.5lb omilu came up on the top hook with the rest of the rig busted off. I’m guessing multiple omilu got hooked.

With only the underwater camera rig still intact, I made the trek in.

After more than 7hrs on the water, this is what I ended up with. It was a beautiful, calm day and I was able to confirm some underwater hot spots, so I went home very happy. Here’s what we did with the fish.

I filleted the juvie opakapaka with a sharp, flexible knife. My wife pan fried it and said it was very good but she did have to pick out the pin bones. She liked ’em enough to want to eat more tonight! Next time, I’ll have to pull those out or cut out those pin bones, without wasting much meat.

The other 3 paka were given to a friend who also fried them, whole. Opakapaka, especially when young, is a clean, non-fishy tasting fish since they are eating plankton and critters they find in the sand.

My neighbor Brian has gotten deep frying the nabeta down to an art form. He actually fried this moments after I gave it to him.

The star of the day’s catch was the moana kali. Brian steamed it Chinese style, pulling the fish out of the oven when it reached a core temp of about 115 – 120 degrees, and then let it rise and balance out on the plate to finish.

Fished the New Moon with damashi and underwater camera and brought home fish to share with neighbors

March 5, 2025 By Scott 5 Comments

The New Moon, light wind and small swell was looking epic last week for the Windward side so I had high hopes of finding some really good fish. Well, there ended up being a strong South wind that chopped up the water and the bite wasn’t as good as previous New Moon days.

But I was able to drop the CanFish CamX camera down on the spots that had yielded fish before, and was surprised at what I saw. I launched at 8:30am and landed at 4pm, my longest trip ever, just to bring home enough fish to share.

The camera rig with just one hook below the camera, spooks the wary fish so I made sure I caught a couple opelu, a good size moano (manybar goatfish) and a 1lb 2oz malu (side spot goatfish) on my regular damashi rig before deploying it. Check out the above and underwater views of the malu in the video at the bottom of this post.

Two juvenile omilu circle the camera rig on slightly raised hard bottom

The fish finder marks were not that pronounced, and the bite was relatively slow, so there weren’t a lot of fish recorded but seeing what kind of bottom was holding fish was very interesting to me. In 100ft to 130ft, it was mostly barren, hard packed sand and the areas that had slightly raised rock and coral were holding fish.

An opelu school was over one of the hard bottom spots and I thought they ignored the camera rig’s lure but it turns out they missed the hook!

On the way in, at 3pm, after the solunar period ended, the bite turned on for more large moana and a nabeta, so I was able to fill the catch bag a bit.

My neighbor Brian, who is a great cook and provides really detailed descriptions of how the fish turned out, said the malu had good, tasty meat but had smaller pin bones than the moana kali and did dry out a bit when steamed.

He left the scales on the nabeta and scored the flesh in a diamond pattern to enure that the inner meat cooked crispy. The moana had its pin bones removed and the fillets were fried separately from the body. Both fish were very good deep fried, but of course the nabeta was better.

I gave the two remaining moana to another neighbor and his wife who had never eaten moana before. They pan fried it and found it “very good eating” despite having to avoid the small bones.

Lastly, I removed the fillets from the medium and small opelu for a friend. It made less than a fist sized pile of meat but my friend seasoned with shoyu, Hawaiian salt, minced Hawaiian chili pepper and sesame oil and said it had a good taste with good consistency, and wasn’t fishy at all.

The bottom terrain views of this area confirmed why I’m not catching big uku there. Not enough rocks and structure to hold the food they need. Maybe I have to check the actual coral reef that’s in 50ft of water?

Here’s the above and underwater video of the malu.

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

February 25, 2025 By Scott 2 Comments

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

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

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

Merik (shore, boat and throw netter):

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

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

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

Pono (shore fisher, diver, boat fisher):

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

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

Lawrence (kayak fisher):

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

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

Scott (kayak fisher):

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

Erik (boat fisher):

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

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

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

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

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

Small moana, like oama are best deep fried crispy.

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. I bought a JDM Shimano jig rod, saved money and caught some moana kali on it!

February 13, 2025 By Scott 2 Comments

We are Phenix Rods, and Ocean Legacy dealers but the shipping cost for 1 or 2 rods from either of their warehouses in Texas has become prohibitive. A number of friends have been buying JDM rods online from Japanese stores because of the favorable exchange rate, so I looked at the inventory of eBay Japanese stores and found a JDM version of the two 2015 Shimano Game Type J jig rods I have.

The rod is a 2020 version made with a 2-piece design that I don’t believe we ever saw in the US. The current 2021+ version we have here has a redesigned blank in 1-piece frame. Since the 2020 version is discontinued, and shorter to ship, the Japanese eBay seller ships for free. FREE from Japan, unlike $100 from Texas, effectively on sale because of the strength of the dollar.

I had been trying for years to bring in very good, affordable, domestic rods we don’t have in our tackle shops here but I guess I am giving up. There’s a reason why we don’t have a wide variety of rods here. The stores need to be able to easily sell what they ship here, which means the mainstream Ugly Sticks and Penns.

To sweeten the deal, the eBay seller I was watching notified me that he was running a 10% off sale. That sealed it. I ordered the Game Type J B604 which is between the B603 and B605 I have. The “60” stands for “6 ft 0 inches” and the “4” is the rod strength rating. The heaviest rod in the 6ft length is the “5”, and I wanted the “4” do handle a 6oz weight when I damashi fish, and land bigger fish quickly.

The rod arrived from Japan in 4 days! Free and fast!! And, inside the custom made 4ft 9in rectangular box was a $20 coupon for the next purchase from the eBay store. Gotta love the way the Japanese do business.

The top section of the rod slides into the section with the reel seat and rod butt. Putting the joint there doesn’t weaken the rod because the rod flexes higher up the blank. That design actually saves on blank material since the rod butt doesn’t need to be on a continuous 1-piece blank.

I was able to fish the full moon day this week, and the winds were light but 2 opposing swells and rain squalls really bumped up the water. The solunar bite period was supposed to start at 12 noon but the overcast skies and rain got the fish in a feeding mood and the damashi bite was fierce. I popped off a few drag pulling fish before realizing the B604 has a less forgiving tip than the B603 and I needed to lighten the drag a bit. Then a 2lb moana kali and a moana came up together.

Next a 3lb omilu was manhandled by the new rod and released.

3 live opelu were put out and taken, but eventually spit. Seems like the predators are still not big enough to find the hooks on a whole opelu.

The afternoon bite never really took off. I put some opelu skin on the damashi hook and a 1lb moana kali jumped on. It took a little while to unhook, and I tried to release it but it wasn’t looking too good so I kept it.

On my way in I checked the nabeta spots but looks like they moved to a safer neighborhood to avoid the winter swells.

I have mixed feelings about my new JDM jig rod. I absolutely love it and think it was well worth the price, but feel sad that I’m giving up on selling domestic rods in Hawaii.

My neighbor Brian beautifully prepared the larger moana kali for his family, 2 days after it was caught.

The site was down for 3 days

February 6, 2025 By Scott 6 Comments

It wasn’t looking good for a while and I began to think that the site couldn’t be restored. Initially, all the content after March 2023 was missing. I requested that the website hosting company restore the site from backups, but the daily, weekly and monthly backups all brought up errors when they were restored. Finally, I fixed the errors on the Jan 9th monthly restore but almost a month’s data was missing.

I had the hosting company restore the weekly backup of Jan 30, and did some tweaking to get the plugins (additional functions added to the site) to play well. Whew…

This made me realize that the site has been up for 10 years. It started as a way for me to keep my technical skills up, and share some oama / papio catch reports and tips. Along the way, the cost of running a website has gone up significantly because now I need to protect the site from hackers, malware, and pay extra to view usage analytics because the number of daily views passed a threshold. Because of this recent problem with data disappearing, I now have to pay for a premium data backup and restore service I can operate myself. The total cost to run the website safely is close to $1,000 a year. No wonder there aren’t any small time, non-commercial fishing blogs anymore.

The site has been a knowledge base of tips and how-tos, fully supported by Holoholo writers who have filled in the many gaps in my fishing experience. It would be a shame to have this information disappear one day. Maybe I can eventually archive the site to one that becomes static and requires very minimal hosting services?

For now, the proceeds from the licensing of the shark video have helped cover operating costs. Mahalo nui loa for supporting the website over the years.

Reminder: Check the real-time radar map and recent rainfall totals with these links

January 30, 2025 By Scott 1 Comment

Just a reminder, if you want to see the real-time radar map of rain falling over the Hawaiian islands, and/or want to want to see how much rain has recently fallen, check the links below.

Might want to bookmark it so you can find it next time we’re going through a torrential flood.

National Weather Service radar map of Hawaii (pan and zoom to your area of interest)

To confirm how much rain has recently fallen, go to National Weather Service Rainfall Summary page and check the 3hr totals for the areas nearby.

With these tools, you not only see how much rain was falling that instant but also how much rain has fallen recently.