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Targeting nabeta from the kayak

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

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

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

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

Lead fish in the school is upside down!

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

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

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

Product Review: Wilderness Systems Heavy Duty Kayak Cart with Beach Wheels

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By Robert Richards

Ever question how to get your kayak easily from the truck to the water? Who hasn’t? After pouring over all the options, composing pros/cons lists, comparing features to cost, reading reviews and observing friends’ use of kayak carts, I finally settled on the Wilderness Systems Heavy Duty Kayak Cart (Wildy Cart).

Why I like it: Simple and functional design that holds a lot of weight and is easy to use!

Coming from using Hobie kayaks with the reinforced scupper holes to prevent scupper hole damage and easy to use scupper carts, I found searching for a kayak cart to be a difficult task. Since I now fill an Ocean Kayak Trident Ultra 4.7 with a fitted cooler and all my fishing gear, weight limits on carts and ease of dragging through the sand were the leading factors for me spend so much effort researching kayak carts. I was looking at about 210lbs (dry) worth of carrying weight. Now I could have chosen a different cart and unloaded gear on the beach, but sometimes that simply isn’t an option.

So, my minimum needs for a kayak cart were to transport at least 210lbs, and have beach wheels. I noticed that most kayak carts rely on kick stands to keep the cart in position and ready for loading. Potential problem with other carts is not being able to balance properly in sand or be easily tipped over if bumped, or the stand could even get broken, since these carts are meant to have the kickstand forward for use. Some carts have 2 stands on one side, which certainly would reduce forward tipping and provide overall stability. Though there still is a chance the cart could tip backwards, and you must start the loading process all over again. The Wildy Cart’s bunker bars are designed in such a way as the bars act as a stand in either direction! If the cart tilts the other way, the bars act as a teetertotter and you simply load the kayak as usual. As a bonus, I have found that I can easily load the kayak onto the cart by simply lifting the tail end of the kayak and slide the cart under the kayak or if I am in the water just slide the cart under the kayak and strap it. This cannot be done as easily with any of the kayak carts on the market.

Furthermore, most carts on the market have a one size fits most frame with little to no flexibility to adjust to fit your kayak perfectly. Here is where the Wildy Cart shines again, because you can not only adjust height (2 settings), you can adjust the width as well. On top of that, the Wildy Cart has the option to swap out the wheels from beach wheels to all terrain and vice versa! Other carts do have wheels that can be used for sand and all terrain, but I found they don’t do as well as purpose-built wheels. For strapping, pretty much all the carts (including the Wildy Cart) are a chore to strap; you must loop the straps around the kayak and cart to hold the cart onto the kayak. Though there are a couple of DIY modifications you can do, which I may cover in a future article.

This brings me to a few observations I have about the Wildy Cart, now that I have spent nearly a month with it. Aside from easily loading it as described earlier, I did notice that the height setting had a huge impact on how you load the kayak. With the higher setting, the higher you have to lift the kayak to put on the cart. This can be a very difficult task if you must lift the kayak onto the cart on the beach. I tend to prefer to slide the kayak onto the cart in the water. I figure it is best to let the water do most of the heavy lifting. You only need fight the buoyancy of the wheels this way. However, this does expose your cart to the salt frequently and I have yet to learn of the possible damage that I will cause the cart from this loading method. With submerging the cart in water, it tends to fill the bars with water and there is no draining that can take place in the bunker bars except at the plastic piece at the four ‘T’ junctions.

Wilderness Systems Heavy Duty Kayak Cart specs (MSRP $199.99) :

-As promised, the cart looks and feels as though it can handle 450lbs

-13” x 7.5” beach wheels

-Bunker bar frame

– Easily adjustable width that does help from kayak twisting upon loading.

– 2 height options

– 2 security straps

– No scupper posts

– Built from aluminum

– easy to load and unload kayak

– collapses with 4 bolts to fit within the hull of my kayak

Specs not listed:

Weight: ~15lbs, Length: 32”, Height- High: 17.5”, Low: 15”

Width: Beach wheels- 33 ½”, Bar adjustment range: 16″

I have got to say that I am loving this kayak cart! I would highly recommend getting one or trying one out. I purchased mine during a 20% REI sale but had to pay extra shipping for the oversized item. It’s cheaper to buy it at $199.99 from Amazon Prime.

Disclaimer: I am not yet affiliated with Wilderness Systems, I did this review purely out of love for this cart!

Caught the target kayak species, but…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

First kayak pelagic!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Paddled to 300ft deep and back and got this mystery fish

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I fished solo on my Ocean Kayak Trident Ultra 4.3 in conditions safe enough to drag my frozen opelu out to the 300 foot line but it was a barren wasteland. I turned around and zig zagged my way back in, and found what I thought was a bait school at a dropoff just outside 100ft. My bait got taken and a spirited fight was on.

When the fish came to color, I first thought it was a small rainbow runner. It was something we caught by boat that I hadn’t caught on the kayak before. Here’s how it looked going into the net.

How many of you guys know what it was? Comment below. If you’ve seen this on IG, please let the other guys answer first.

After landing that fish, a second one cut my back hook off, so I slow trolled to another spot. A strong running strike turned into a long battle with another large galapagos shark, and then the bite turned off. Oh well, it was a nice day to get some paddling exercise in.

Holoholo: Damashi & Jig Mayhem!

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I met Robert on the beach as he was cleaning up after a full day’s kayak fishing outing. He recently purchased a used, big brother version of my kayak and we bonded over that. He scored a big uku that day, here’s that post. Since that day, Robert has been very helpful in getting Frank and me better prepared for the pelagics in the deep.

Robert: Well to start off, I am Robert Richards, a nearshore/offshore kayak fisherman. Hailing from Wyoming, I spent most of my childhood on Oahu and decided to become a resident back in 2007. Of course, I pursued shore fishing: whipping, dunking and even trying my luck at sliding dead baits. (no luck on the slide for me haha) Eventually I wound up wanting more. Not having resources for a boat, the next best thing was this kayak fishing craze that is seriously in right now. I picked up a kayak and the adventures began! Similar to Scott, I chose the Ocean Kayak Trident Ultra 4.7 after countless hours of deliberation as my current kayak.

Managed to get out this past week with a couple kayak friends, Reece, Jay and Ben. Normally we do an early launch to try and pick up any Menpachi (Brick Soldierfish), Aweoweo (Bulleye) or more importantly some Akule (Big Eye Scad) for the sunrise bite. However, this trip turned into a later launch at 5:30am. We tried to catch Opelu (Mackerel Scad) at the start of light, but none to be found. Hoping to catch the lowering tide, minor bite period at 6:30am to 7:30am and sunrise bite, we decided to rush to one of our spots.

We paddled towards our spot. On the way, Jay and Ben found an Opelu school, but they were too far away for me to try for that school. I tend to keep moving out on the water always searching for bait or good marks. I paddled up on one of my other spots and BOOM fish finder is loaded with the marks of Opelu. Got my damashi sent down just in time into the school. Picked up what felt like 2 Opelu. Started to work them up and then “ZZZZZZZZZZZ” my reel starts peeling line, over 100ft gone in the flash of 3 colors of braided line. I thought to myself: ‘as long as I can last this run, I have a chance at landing this fish’. Well, I did, this battle turned into a 400ft drift and nearly 40 minutes of tug of war before I finally landed a decent 10lb class KawaKawa (Mackerel Tuna) on my 10lb test damashi.

The top hook was hooked perfectly in the corner of the mouth. This isn’t as common in these cases, sometimes they get hooked in the mouth but usually they get snagged on the body somewhere. KawaKawa are strong fighters all the way until the end, no matter the size. The problem is that they rather enjoy stealing your Opelu in the depths and destroy your damashi. To counter this, I usually have a looser drag when I fight my Opelu, fighting the Opelu in a pumping fashion using my reeling hand to cup the spool for added drag pressure.

The day went on and the bait became scarce, though there were plenty of larger marks varying from the bottom to the mid water range. This calls for the jig! I dropped my jig in about 340ft and started to crank. About 12 cranks up, a huge hit and line peels off the reel. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stop this beast and it ran into a cave resulting in line cut in bankrupt fashion…  I quickly tied a damashi and jig then back towards the original spot. However, Reece has been on a jigging binge, catching an estimated 20lb Kahala (Greater Amberjack) and couldn’t help himself but to challenge me to a jig battle! OH, it’s on! We found some good marks, dropped our jigs then, BOOM, Reece is hooked up and I am left with no bite, cheering him on. A battle ensued and Reece landed his PB Ulua (Giant Trevally) estimated to be between 25-30lbs! Caught and released.

We dropped a few more times with no takers, so we headed back towards the first spot. I paddled over another school of bait, this time managing to land one. Threw it out on the live bait rig and trolled. Making to the original spot, I found another bait school and hooked into what felt like one more Opelu. Score! Until… ‘ZZZZZZZ’, another 100ft of line ripped from my spool and the fight on another pelagic on my damashi started! This time I was a bit more impatient due to my time limit rapidly approaching. I wound up tightening my drag a little too much and broke it off. The funny part is the pelagics loved stealing the bait off my damashi this day but none wanted the rigged up live nor dead baits.. Sometimes that is how it goes. The over all conditions, stayed calm with light winds, plenty of sunshine and minimal current. The bite stayed on from about 6:30 until about 9:30-10am. Total trip went for about 6hrs.

Why I bought a Trident Ultra 4.3 to fish offshore

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We’ve been fishing further away from shore, and my Scupper Pro felt tippy and overloaded with gear. I wanted a kayak that could handle wind and cross current if those conditions came up, would be efficient enough to propel (paddle or pedal) with the least amount of parts to break down, and have a center hatch large enough to store gear and fish. A transducer cavity under the hull, large enough for my Garmin EchoMap 44CV would close the deal.

I looked at a lot of offshore kayaks and narrowed my list down to the Hobie Revolution 13 (which Frank has), the South African fiberglass Stealth Profisha series and the Ocean Kayak Trident series. I realized that I probably would forget to take out the Revo 13 mirage drive when landing on the beach, or take it out while fishing and drop it over the side, and I’d gouge the fiberglass Profisha on rocks, or drop it in the parking lot. Those two kayaks are beautiful and pricey and even if I didn’t destroy them I’d be too worried about theft.

So instead I went to Go Bananas in Kapahulu to see what Trident models would work for my needs. John Enomoto explained that the discontinued Trident Ultra series was modeled after the hardcore New Zealand Trident series, sporting a much larger center hatch and huge tank well designed to carry loads of fish and even a bait tank. The new Trident 13 and 15 didn’t have as much storage and the rails were cluttered with track mounts that wouldn’t be strong enough to hold an offshore rod.

So for quite a bit less money than the Hobies and Stealths, I could get a very seaworthy, durable kayak that could carry a lot of gear and fish. I was sold.

John installed/improved the bow and stern handles, front rod holder, center hatch, seat and rudder, and my fishing buddy Frank fabricated a stainless steel mount for the transducer to fit high and tight in the transducer scupper hole.

In the 4 trips so far, I’ve felt much safer and have caught my PB uku and first pelagic. I really feel comfortable out deep on the Ultra 4.3.

In this video, I do a brief intro as to why I chose the Trident Ultra 4.3, and John of Go Bananas walks through the improvements he made. No laugh, I nevah like be in front da camera!

Big Moon Day: Sharks and bait stealers not around but the uku were!

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The last 3 deeper water kayak trips were plagued with sharks and bait stealers. I went out solo this week, in light wind, but wasn’t too optimistic because the moon was so big. My plan was to catch opelu (which I have yet to accomplish), then drag them around to entice the sleepy, pelagics with full bellies.

A school of 8 inch opelu actually swam by me, 10 ft below the surface, but I wasn’t quick enough to drop the damashi down, and they didn’t look like they were feeding. When I did find some marks on my Garmin Echomap 44CV, nothing bit my damashi. I could hear other kayakers on the VHF expressing how hard the bait bite was so I gave up and paddled to my spot that has yielded an uku before but lately has been the shark fighting gym.

This was still the bottom of the tide, and the current was slack. Even more reason not to expect any action but soon there was the tell tale “tap, tap, tap, yank, tap” of the uku. The yanks were harder than I had been feeling in the past, so I kept the rod in hand, with light drag and clicker on, and soon the line took off. But the fish felt too strong for an uku and I thought I was fighting another shark. Sigh. At least this one stopped after its first run and didn’t feel like it would be a half an hr battle. Then I felt the spastic headshakes of an uku, much quicker than papio headshakes, and began to hope.

My GoPro battery was drained ‘cuz I forgot to turn off the “connection mode”, so I wasn’t able to video the battle. The fish battled longer than any other uku I fought so I was still unsure what it was. When I saw my biggest uku at color, followed by a free swimming uku about the same size, there was no one to yell out to. I unsheathed the kage Frank “The Fabricator” had made for me, and was stoked to use it for the first time. Course my first stab missed the head and just caught the tip of the nose, so I pulled it out and stabbed it again. This time I got it in the collar, so it wasn’t brained but I pulled it onboard.

Used the kage again to try to kill and bleed it, hence all the holes you see in the pictures. A kage really is easier to use than a hook gaff, to penetrate fish with thick scales and skulls. Thanks Frank, it felt good in my hand. Just need more practice. 🙂

I had drifted off the spot, fighting the fish and stowing it in my fish bag, but had marked where the uku bit, so I was able to return up current of it. Dropped down, and felt the strong taps again. Maybe it was the one that came up with the first fish? This fish ran with the bait eventually but managed to shake the hooks. I planned to fish the reel in freespool with no clicker the next time a fish tapped, but that was the last bite I had for the rest of the day. The bite ended right before the tide started rising. Odd huh? Not even the pesky aha took a swipe at the bait. Is that how it works on big moon days?

I sent this pic to the guys the night before saying I hoped to catch something worth sticking

Well I had two goals for the day. 1) Catch more than 1 uku since I have never done that before, and 2) poke something with the kage Frank made per my specs: short and light.

This is how Frank ate the uku

And while I only caught one uku, it went 21.5″ in fork length and weighed about 6lb, and 5 different families got a taste.

Sure looks like the deep water kayak season has turned on!

Red hot bottom bite on the kayaks!

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Fishing had been slow onshore and nearshore for the past two months due to the drop in water temps. It’s been warmer on land lately, so it was time to check for improved water conditions. My fishing partner Frank invited his friend Christine to fish off his Hobie Revo 13 for her inaugural kayak fishing outing, and Frank tied lines, rigged baits and provided safety support on his fishing SUP.

We couldn’t have picked a better day to take a rookie out to the deep. The waves were small and the wind stayed under 8 mph most of the day, and when the west wind did blow, it was countered by the east current that bumped the water but kept us from drifting much. There even was a small rising tide to stir the fishes’ appetites.

2nd, smaller shark. Photo by Frank, off his SUP.

My first 3 drops in 130 to 170ft of water resulting in instant shark hookups. Well, the first could have been a fish (wishful thinking) because it never stopped running and popped the uni to uni splice of my Sufix 832 about 75 yds in. The other two back breaking battles were confirmed sharks that I brought to color. The 3rd shark was bigger than the 2nd, and popped the line when it saw the kayak. I licked my wounds and paddled shallower, taking Frank and Christine with me.

Bait and small predators showed up on the fish finder at 80 ft so I put a 7 inch frozen opelu down. After some hard non-hage (triggerfish) tugs only the head came back. Next opelu resulted in a wahanui, my first at this spot but Frank has caught them on past trips. You can see why the Hawaiians named the fish wahanui, or big mouth. It’s a jobfish/snapper, related to the uku, or green jobfish, but can swallow much larger prey whole.

Photo by Frank, off his SUP

Frank changed Christine’s bait from oama to small opelu and the bite was on for her! She added a thick wahanui to the aha (needlefish) she had caught trolling. I dropped down another opelu and patiently waited as my rod tip went “tap, tap, yank, tap…yank” and the ratchet went off. The fish was shaking really spastically, and running but didn’t feel too big. I was thinking it was a small, angry aha but was stoked to see a small uku, hooked in its side, come to the surface. During the frenzy with the other bait stealers, it must have run into one of the hooks.

Meanwhile, Christine was hooking and landing more wahanui and a toau (blacktail snapper). I missed a few more fish that pulled line and missed the hooks. I even fed line in freespool to a fish that eventually was hooked but had swum into a cave. Soon we were out of bait and happily headed in with fish in our cooler bags.

A bunch of kayak fishermen had landed before us and I noticed one of them had an Ocean Kayak Trident 4.7, the big brother of my Trident Ultra 4.3. His name was Robert, and it was only his second outing on his Trident (was my 2nd outing also) but he did a lot better than I did. He caught a few live opelu and fished near the area I was doing shark isometrics, and caught an 8.8 lb uku, his PB. Robert also had a kawalea (deepwater cuda) and some aweoweo. All really good eating fish!

For her first kayak fishing outing, Christine really did well. She and Frank planned to share the catch with friends and family. I did brief Frank on the perceived concern of ciquatera poisoning regarding wahanui and toau, but those two species probably aren’t any “hotter” than papio and uku. The fish weren’t too big, and the consumers weren’t people who ate a lot of reef fish, so they should all be ok.

Sure looks like the Winter Doldrums are over and it’s time to get out and fish hard!

Fred Hall Show 2019 – Part II

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Axel Valdez of Hotel Buena Vista

Last year, Steve of Promar / Ahi USA introduced me to Axel Valdez, co-owner of the renown Hotel Buena Vista on the East Cape of Baja Mexico. Steve highly recommended the family owned hotel for their hospitality and fish catching prowess.

Felipe Valdez of Felipe Valdez Sport Fishing

This year, I was able to meet Axel’s brother Felipe, who recently launched his independent guide service, Felipe Valdez Sport Fishing. Felipe puts together customized trips that could include surf fishing for roosterfish, panga (wooden motorized skiff) fishing for nearshore and bottom fish, and cruiser fishing for pelagics. He could even take a kayak out on a cruiser and put us right on the fish, equipped with live bait. East Cape trips are very affordable compared to farther destinations, and because the Hotel Buena Vista is rustic, clients don’t have to pay 5 star prices. Since their warm water species are similar to our jacks, grouper, mahi, tuna and marlin, we could use our own gear and techniques to try to land them. Makes for an easy destination fishing trip from Hawaii. Our crew is trying to see if we can put together a trip for next year’s prime season!

I sought out Ali Hussainy of the Bloody Decks website and the Local Knowledge fishing show. Bloody Decks started as a fishing forum, I believe, and is now the world’s largest saltwater fishing website. If you haven’t watched their tv show Local Knowledge on YouTube, the focus is to compare and contrast SoCal fishing with Florida fishing. Makes for some interesting background on the two fisheries and some serious smack talking. I told Ali I manage a tiny Hawaii based fishing website and would welcome any advice he had on how to grow it! Traded him a box of Hawaiian Host Caramacs and a couple NOH Poke Mixes for the original Bloody Decks t-shirt. Unfortunately they were out of the Local Knowledge shirts.

Stumbled upon the Anetik booth, maker of the world’s only UV protectant leg sleeves, as far as I know. I had read about them in a kayak fishing review when I was looking for leg protection from Man Of War stings. The “Shade Socks“, as they’re called, provide UPF 30+ coverage on feet and legs, in an ultra breathable way, and have a rubber grip at the top of the sock to keep it in place.

Pete walked me through the fashionable lineup of fishing shirts, polos, hoodies and face masks in their breathable UPF 30+ material. The show pricing was so good, I got the shade socks ( no need to put sunscreen on our legs now!), performance shirt and shade mask and will be testing them on the kayak soon.

I like the contoured fit of the shade mask. Won’t catch a lot of wind when kayak fishing. Turns out Anetik’s products are sold on Oahu and the Neighbor Islands. Check out their Hawaii retailers here.

In the outdoor perimeter of the Long Beach Convention Center, there were wading pools filled with hatchery rainbow trout kids could catch and take home, and trained dogs leaping off a ramp to catch a ball before landing into a pool of cold water.

This little pooch was just getting acclimated with the chill.

Ended the trip with a stop at an REI (Recreation Equipment Inc) store, to bring home reusable canvas bags for the wife. She loves these because they wash and dry without distorting as they shrink. For $5.99 they are a pretty good deal to be used as grocery bags and gift satchels.

Fred Hall Show 2019 – Part I

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Being able to talk with the major fishing brands in one setting was too hard to pass up. The crew who provide reviews for this website couldn’t make the trip so I went solo and opted to use Lyft to get around.

I hit up the vendors on the first two days of the show, Wednesday and Thursday, while they were still fresh. Last year, when Erik and I hit the show on the weekend, the guys in the booths were swamped and glassy eyed.

A lot of the guys we met last year weren’t there this year, but I did meet some new folks and learned a lot about the products we use and hope to use. The show focuses on Southern California fishing and Alaskan / Mexican destination fishing lodges, but I was able to see a bunch of products and services that would interest us back home in Hawaii.

I had been tracking the Bixpy electric “jet” motor that mounts to a kayak’s rudder for a while. The jet motor has such a compact footprint on the rudder and the lithium ion battery is so small and light, that someone could paddle around without running the motor and not be negatively impacted.

My concern was how long the jet motor and lithium battery would last in the salt since together they cost $1000. The Bixpy rep said the motor should be able to run maintenance free for a few years, and then would be easily repairable at the factory. The lithium battery, however, would need to be replaced after about 3 years of normal use, and a replacement battery would cost about $500. That’s still cheaper than the $1800 plus Torqueedo kayak motor.

Since one of my favorite sales guys, Rick Carr, was repping Minn Kota electric motors at the show, I stopped by to understand how much it would cost to mount a salt water trolling motor on my new Ocean Kayak Trident Ultra 4.3. Rick recommended the Minn Kota Riptide Transom Mount 45lb thrust with “Digital Maximizer” that efficiently conserves battery power. List price is about $320, and it would be mounted off the right side of the kayak, behind my seat, and I’d control it with an extended tiller. Sounds like I know what I’m talking about huh? I’m not a boat/motor guy so it took a while for me to understand the terminology. This would be the least expensive way to add a motor to my yak but the downside would be the added weight of an SLA battery and the weight/size of the electric motor hanging off the side of the kayak.

Steve and Peter Oropeza working hard and having fun in the Promar booth

Steve Oropeza, of Promar / Ahi USA, helped me get situated with the locations of the 500 plus exhibitors, and told me that Chase Baits and Hookup Baits were two of the hot lure makers this year.

Chase Baits makes very realistic swimming soft plastic squids that look like they would be effective to fish vertically. The squids were about the size of our Hawaiian cuttlefish and could be killer in low light but I opted not to get any since I still have a few lures I haven’t tested from last year!

At first glance the Hookup Baits just looked like beefed up freshwater tube baits with better hardware. But the owner Chad explained how the lures were properly weighted with Owner jig hooks to swim optimally and the durable plastic bodies were infused with fish attracting scent. Their photos of the saltwater bass, yellowtail, and tuna with Hookup Baits hanging out of their mouths spoke to the effectiveness of the easy-to-fish lure. The lures could be cast and retrieved like you’d retrieve a weighted soft plastic, or fished off the bottom in a hopping manner. The silhouettes really replicated the bait fish they were imitating. I picked up some 3/8 oz jig head versions to whip with, and some 1 oz jig head versions to fish vertically.

A friend wanted me to pick up a Nomad Design DTX Minnow in the 6.5 inch, 3.75 oz size to troll fast and deep for pelagics. They are the hot offshore brand of lures from Australia that are encased in hard plastic, wired throughout the body, and rigged with heavy duty inline single BKK hooks. I can’t troll a lure faster than 3 mph so I decided to try the Nomad Design Maverick, in the 5.5 inch, 1.5 oz size. The Maverick is a very versatile lure that floats, and can be popped, walked or retrieved so it swims underwater in a gurgling S-shaped pattern. I’m thinking I can put the Maverick out as I paddle around, and retrieve it on the surface when I get to a fishy spot.

Stay tuned for Part II covering a Mexican destination bucket list trip, UV protection leggings for kayak fishing, dogs jumping into frigid water on command and more!

Maiden voyage of the NEW kayak!

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front view: Hobie Revolution 13, Ocean Kayak Trident Ultra 4.3
rear view: Ocean Kayak Trident Ultra 4.3, Hobie Revolution 13

I’ve been shopping for a true offshore capable kayak for more than a year. The ideal kayak would need to be stable in surf and chop, paddle or peddle efficiently, have easily accessible gear and fish storage, and still be car top-able. It came down to the Hobie Revolution 13 and the Ocean Kayak Trident series.

In the end I purchased one of the last Ocean Kayak Trident Ultra 4.3s Go Bananas in Kapahulu had been socking away, since the Ultras have been discontinued. I opted for the Ultra, closely modeled after the New Zealand version of the Trident, because of the large center hatch and large rear tank well that the current Tridents lack. The “Revo 13”, which my fishing partner Frank has, could probably out distance the Trident Ultra with its peddling ability, but I wanted to keep moving parts to a minimum and use the required paddling to get much needed total body exercise.

I sea trialed the Ultra with Frank on a day after a massive full moon and cold wind. As expected, the bite was really slow. The Ultra was roomy, comfortable and much more stable than the Scupper Pro I’ve been paddling, and it was easy to open the center hatch to get to gear and bait. On flat water with no wind, it required more paddling energy to get it moving than the lighter, thinner Scupper Pro, but the Ultra punched through a head wind and choppy seas better than the Pro, because of the sharp upturned bow.

Can’t wait to fight a good sized fish on it, and store said fish safely on board. Stay tuned for walk around video where John from Go Bananas talks about the merits of the Ultra and all the mods he made to my boat to make it safer to use.


Catch report: 2 different solar/lunar conditions, 3 separate locations

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The last few outings in the deep have been slow so we decided to mix it up.  tides4fishing.com said the major bite period was during the afternoon on a day forecast to have winds under 10 mph so Frank and I gave the afternoon a try.  Turns out was very slow, with only one shark interested in our bait, and the east winds cranked up over 15 mph as we struggled to get in.  Then we had to rush to rack our yaks before dark. Never again.

3 days later, the winds were supposed to be light again so Frank, Kelly and I fished separately on the morning falling tide. tides4fishing.com said there wouldn’t be a bite in the morning, yet we all caught our target fish.  So much for the solar / lunar activity predictions.

 

Kelly: I fished the early morning top of falling tide, past the surf break on my SUP and landed 2 omilu. Released a nunu (trumpetfish).  Lost another estimated 2-3lb papio.  Had many small nibbles.  Was action.

 

Frank: Fished for a few hours in the morning.  2 baits were stolen, got rocked once. Caught one omilu along the reef edge and caught two on the outer reef.  Action picked up on middle of falling tide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scott:  Tried to catch opelu over a medium sized bait school. Only managed a baby moana.  Tried hard for uku at the depth I’ve found them before and finally got one to end my 3 trip uku bolo.  Wind blew me off the spot as I was securing the fish and I couldn’t safely return to fish it. Landed 3 out of 4 aha on the back single hook on the way in.  Action was on middle of falling tide.

So on this comparison of two separate days, morning with a moving tide trumped the afternoon “major” bite period.  Having hours of daylight to clean up was a nice bonus.  The omilu seem to be just outside the surf break since there isn’t any bait to lead them inshore.

Choke strikes, back breaking fight and a jelly fish sting!

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We picked a perfect light wind, small surf day on the South Shore for our last outing of 2018.  Frank on his Hobie Revolution 13, Kelly on his Costco SUP softy and me on my Scupper Pro were safely able to fish 2 miles out.  Frank was on a mission to catch live opelu, and Kelly paddled frozen oama around.  The opelu were spotted but didn’t bite for Frank and me.

I gave up trying to catch bait and put on some small, frozen opelu.  The baits were hit hard, with drag pulled but most didn’t stay on too long. The ones that showed themselves were aha so I paddled out deeper and dropped down on a spot we’ve caught uku and lost screamers before.

Instantly I got picked up by a strong, fast running fish that took half my line, more than 150 yds.  I was hoping it wasn’t a shark but the leader eventually cut at the rear hook and had some nicks in it.  I paddled back to the same spot, assuming “if got sharks got fish” and dropped another bait down. This one got picked up by what felt like a shark from the beginning.  I tried to break it off but it stayed on for more than 30 minutes as my back strained and my left bicep cramped.  And a not so funny thing happened.  As I was trying to pull the shark from the deep, what looked like a clear jellyfish tentacle was clinging to my main line (braid). I swished the tentacle free in the water but it must have drifted over to my ankle I had over the side of the kayak, and stung me. I felt the sting hours later on land.

 

I got the shark to color but it didn’t want to come up higher than 7 ft under the water.  It looked bigger than 5 ft to me, but at that point I may have been prone to making this gladiator sound bigger than it was. Didn’t feel safe unhooking it on my tippy Scupper Pro so I cut the line and it swam free.

The shark had dragged me about a quarter mile from where we started, and I didn’t want to hook another in the shark hole so I paddled in shallower. Felt good to shake out my tired arms that way.

Dropping another 6 inch frozen opelu down resulted in a foul hooked aha so I put on a 10 inch opelu.  Shark number 3 grabbed it, but I was able to pop it off.

Meanwhile, Kelly was slow trolling his oama on the way in and landed 4 of 6 aha strikes, mostly on the rear hook. He consistently has a very high landing ratio, and does it all standing or sitting on a foam SUP with no rod holder or net.  He kept two of the aha, fried them up as fish nuggets and will write up a catch and cook soon.  Frank stuck to his plan to damashi for opelu but just got incidentals for his efforts.

There was so much bait around  (opelu, flying fish, etc) I was really hopeful that we’d connect with a pelagic. At least 15 of my opelu baits were slammed.  Just didn’t convert those strikes to the target species.  Next calm weather day we’re gonna go even further out to avoid the aha, and maybe troll faster to attract pelagics instead of sharks.

I have purchased a wider, more stable offshore kayak I’m hoping will feel much safer battling big creatures in the deep.  I’m tired of using my legs as pontoons to stabilize the Scupper Pro and getting stung by jellyfish in the process!

 

Bad solar/lunar day vs good solar/lunar day

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Lately I’ve been comparing my fishing results to the predictions on Tides4fishing.com and I seem to do better on the days with more solar (sun) and lunar (moon) activity.  In simple terms, the position of the sun and moon affect tides and, it’s believed, fish activity.

Opelu victim #1

Opelu victim #2

This past week I fished 4 days after the full moon and Tides4fishing had a dismal prediction. To compound matters I fished the mid-morning last half of the falling tide and the wind was blowing 10 – 14 mph.  The bite was really slow and I just had three 8 inch frozen opelu stripped at the gills.  This happened at 70ft and twice at 30 ft, and I suspected a big kaku.  Note that both fish just missed the second hook. I suspect the didn’t hit the baits hard, and just pulled the back half away.

The wind was much lighter 3 days later, 7 days after the full moon, and the solar/lunar activity was predicted to be much higher.  I was able to fish the first half of the falling tide, and the current was almost too slack. To get a better shot at landing the bait stealer, I lengthened the line between the two hooks and buried the second hook in the tail.

 

 

 

 

 

My left hand was getting ready to pull its teeth out of my shin!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sure enough, there was much more bait activity spotted on the fish finder, and 3 fish were solidly hooked. Unfortunately, the culprits were big aha or needlefish. All were hooked on the back hook and the first one eventually bit through the 40lb fluoro leader, which was fine with me.  The second unhooked itself, even better.  I couldn’t shake the 3rd and smallest of the 3 so I had to unhook it.  I kept my feet out of the water and still, the aha rammed into the side of the kayak and then hit my shin with the underneath of its jaw.  Glad it didn’t jump into the yak with its mouth open.

I also missed a couple more drag pullers while trolling, and had my baits pulled off with hard jerks when I bottom fished but couldn’t hook what I hope were small uku. The two days varied in wind speed and tidal movement phase so it wasn’t an apples to apples comparison, but I believe that the fish bit much better on the second outing because the moon was smaller and I was able to fish right at the high tide drop.

How does the size of the moon affect your catches?

 

Getting it done on the inshore and nearshore jobfish (snappers)

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Frank and I finally had a kayak outing with light wind and small surf conditions that lasted all day.  I started out by breaking off my transducer mount that hangs over the side, but Frank did a quick repair with zip ties and duct tape to restore my eyes beneath the kayak.  Can’t beat a fishing partner that keeps you safe on land and water, and can quickly repair stuff you break in the field!

We trolled halalu out to the deep and our baits started getting mauled at the 70ft depth, but nothing stayed on the hooks.  Then Frank landed a good sized wahanui (smalltooth jobfish), common on the Big Island but not so common on Oahu anymore.  He has a knack for catching them; he caught one trolling at the exact same coordinates back in February.

More baits were stripped so we hit a deep area I had marked on the GPS.  I kept bringing up just the head of my halalu bait after feeling slight taps, despite the trailing hook tucked in the tail section, so I dropped down to the bottom and brought the bait a third of the way up.  This time I got some hard tugs and the bait was completely gone.  I put on a whole, 8 inch frozen opelu out of desperation and lowered it to what I thought was more than half way down.  Got a hard tug that pulled a bit of drag, and I waited a few seconds and got another tug and then line pulled off quickly. Finally something was solidly hooked!  The fish made some smooth, straight runs away from me and I wasn’t sure what it was until I saw color. Uku, or blue green jobfish, as it’s known in other places!

Until I pulled this photo off the GoPro, I didn’t realize that my paddle, net and shirt sleeve match the uku’s shades of blue!  I dispatched it with my bat, and squeezed it into my small 20 inch long fish bag that was stuffed with frozen bait and a frozen water bottle.  Pressure was off, with each of us putting a good eating jobfish in our bags, and we resumed the job of catching more fish. See what I did there? 😉  Instead, we missed fish and I went through my frozen bait supply and drank my bottle of water.  The uku sat in the bag for 3 hrs with just a block of Arctic Ice and wasn’t as chilled as the one I caught a week ago.

I cleaned it when I got home, and the guts smelled a little fishier than the last time too. It measured 19.5 inches, 1 inch shorter than last week’s and this one had male gonads like the previous one.  Kelly advised me to filet it right away, wrap it in paper towels, and store in the coldest part of the fridge. My parents cooked one filet on day 2, and I changed the paper towels daily on the other filet. 3 days later it still smelled fresh despite my oversight in not cutting out the blood section under the skin and was made into seared uku poke and deemed “super ono” by Thad our JDM expert.

Pay it forward uku – Catch and Cook

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My family was stuffed with fish Capt Darren gifted us the day before, but the wind was supposed to be down on the Eastside and the surf manageable.  It might be one of the last days I could kayak fish that side before the winter swells made the surf unsafe.  Right before I jumped in the car, Kelly alerted me that the rivers were at risk of overflowing on Kamehameha Hwy.  About 10 mins into the drive I heard on the radio that the rain was stalled against the Koolaus and flooding was imminent. I pulled off the freeway and headed home.  The south side was dry and surf was supposed to be about 2-3ft plus.

Drove to the beach Frank and I had luck at this winter, and the reef passage looked safe.  Shoots! At about the 30ft depth I dropped down a fresh dead halalu Capt Darren had given me the day before.  The halalu was rigged with a sliding weight, an Owner Gorilla hook through its lower jaw and out its forehead, and a rear VMC inline hook tucked in the skin by its butt.  Before I reached the 50ft depth my reel screamed!  By the time I stopped paddling, turned on the GoPro, and it started recording, a few seconds elapsed so I think the fish ran for at least 5 seconds.  The run was so strong and sustained I thought I had hooked a shallow water ono!

The fight was odd, though.  There were some head shakes but there were also spastic twitches and the fish wasn’t resisting as much after the initial run.  When the fish was below me, It felt like the line was rubbing against the reef.  It didn’t feel like a papio and because the water was so shallow, I didn’t expect a pelagic.  Maybe a big kaku that got tired out?

I was surprised to see a big uku (well, big is relative to me since my biggest was at most 3lb) at color.  Normally they circle when I try to net them but this one was pulled in easily.

When I tried to unhook it I saw why. The size 2/0 VMC Inline hook was at the opening of its gullet!

No wonder it took off when it felt the hook, and I was feeling its teeth on the 40lb Seaguar Blue Label leader.

 

 

The water was already a little choppy and then the trades picked up soon after I landed the fish. I paddled into the wind and drifted back with it, but only had hage and small papio mess with my bait.  Water was coming over the side of my Scupper Pro so with my biggest kayak caught uku to date, I paddled in.

Here’s a short video of the strike and landing of the fish.

Hope you’re not squeamish! The stuff that looks like Chinese wide, flat noodles are the gonads.

VMC Inline 4X hook size 2/0

 

 

 

 

 

The uku measured 20 3/8″, 1/8 shorter than the uku Darren gave me the day before! Mine had a distended stomach and weighed 4.25lb.  Turns out it was filled with male gonads (reproductive organs) and nothing in its stomach but my hook! Poor guy.

Paying it forward after the previous day’s generosity, I gave a filet to my church friend so he could compare with the yellowspot he received the day before, and gave the rest to Kelly who gave me the flood alert and hadn’t had uku for a long time.  Kelly is really efficient in his fish cleaning and can stretch fish like Jesus did in the bible!

Kelly:
Thank you for the uku Scott! We made it in a variety of ways, however most were raw because you took such good care, it was uber fresh.

 

 

 

 

 

First we made sashimi, that is the best way to get the true flavor of a fish (and the easiest prep method).

 

 

 

 

 

Then we made chirashi sushi, which is a big tray of sushi topped with various ingredients. My wife made the sushi and it was amazing. She topped the lightly vinegared rice with shiitake mushooms, egg, cucumber, salmon, tobiko and fresh uku!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also made the head and bones into arajiru, which is a miso soup that sushi restaurants in Japan are renowned for. The sushi was enjoyed by my extended family (6 people) and also some folks who attended the potluck that night (about 12 people), so it fed many appreciative folks!

Product Test: Gerber Crucial Multi-Tool for kayak fishing

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Gerber Neat Freak

A critical piece of kayak fishing safety equipment is something that you can use to cut yourself free from tangles in an emergency. I used to carry a serrated saw type knife on my vest but wanted something that could also cut bait and trim line tags.  So I added a Gerber Neat Freak scissors I got at the Fred Hall Show that is designed to cleanly snip braided line. Since the Neat Freak is tethered to my vest, I’d be able to cut myself out of tangles also.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I liked the construction of the Neat Freak so much, I checked Gerber’s other products online. They had a bunch of well made knives and fully loaded multi-tools I didn’t need, but then I came across a very basic multi-tool, the Crucial.  It had a half serrated knife that could be opened easily with one hand, flat and phillips screwdrivers for tightening mounts on the yak, and needle nose pliers.  Best of all it was made out of stainless steel so it wouldn’t rust in my vest pocket.  Everything I needed to carry and nothing I didn’t, in a very compact package. I guess that’s why they named it the Crucial.

 

 

 

 

 

There’s a raised edge on the knife blade that allows you to flick open the blade with one hand.  Very handy if you’re holding onto an overturned kayak with your other hand, and your legs are wrapped in fishing line.

Amazon Prime is currently selling the Crucial for $25 to $35 depending on the color.

Product Test: Flotation added to sunglasses and GoPro cap

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The general rule in kayak fishing is to tie everything down in case your kayak goes bottom up.  But what about the things on your body like  sunglasses, and GoPro hat?

Last month, I had put my unstrapped Maui Jim prescription sunglasses on my head to tie a hook and the strong winds blew it off without me even knowing. No where to be found.  Very sad day.  I’ve been a bit more careful with my  GoPro cap.  Been using a bright orange floating cube around the GoPro, but it’s so heavy and glaringly indiscreet.  I needed to improve on those two items’ flotation.

I purchased a Chums Classic Glassfloats Sunglass Retainer on Amazon Prime for $8.95 (price varies based on color). The strap is comfortable enough to wear and allows me to let the sunglasses hang down on my chest when I need to do close work (the prescription lenses are too strong to tie knots).  The straps should prevent the sunglasses from blowing off me and if I huli the kayak hopefully the bright orange floating retainer will float my sunglasses in a highly visible manner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also purchased an Action Hat DIY Kit, $29.99 on livelivegear.com. It comprised of an 8mm thick foam frame you add to the inside of your own hat for flotation and a GoPro mount you screw into the frame.  I installed it in my good luck G Loomis Coolmax cap and it looked almost stealth in comparison to my previous setup.  The frame blocked a bit of ventilation when I paddled for 4 hrs on a hot day but otherwise was very comfortable and functional.

I need to test the sunglasses strap and Action Hat DIY kit further to ensure my stuff floats. Will keep you guys posted.

 

Product Test: Buff® Elite Gloves

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It was less than 10 years ago that long sleeve UV blocking “performance” fishing shirts were a rare sight here.  As they caught on,  those ninja mask looking “neck gaiters” began to gain popularity around 5 years ago. Buff® was the company that introduced the face and neck protection sleeves to the fishing world.  Now it’s fairly common to see sun exposed fishers covered up with cap, neck gaiter and long sleeve shirt.

Fly fishermen have always led the way with UV blocking clothes and they were the first ones to wear fishing gloves for sun protection as well as finger protection since they are constantly guiding and stripping line.  Kayak paddlers have been wearing paddling gloves for years also.  I’ve been taping my left thumb and forefinger at times to avoid line cuts from wet braid when I whip with my bait caster, but couldn’t justify wearing gloves to fish. Mostly I though they’d reduce feel and look a little *funny*.

 

 

 

 

Fishing gloves with the finger tips exposed sounded like a “kill two birds” kind of solution to pad my palms from paddling blisters and protect my fingers from line and fish cuts.  Buff® has an “Elite” glove made to provide UV, blister and cut protection, reduce bacterial growth (stink) and provide grip.  They aren’t paddling gloves per se, but seemed padded enough on the palm to serve that purpose.

The Elite gloves were light weight, breathable because the backs are made out of the same material as the neck gaiters, and I could still use my finger tips to tie knots, manipulate my reel, unhook fish and wipe my sunglasses.  I broke them in on that 6 hr kayak fishing trip I tested the Columbia PFG Terminal Tackle shorts. My hands felt much less fatigued from paddling and weren’t cut up from handling fish fins / spines and hooks.

 

I inadvertently dropped an omilu that I thought was bonked out cold but came to life as I was trying to put it in my fish bag.  Luckily it landed on my foot that was straddling the kayak, and I was able to slide my gloved hand down the pokey scutes and secure it by the tail.  Without the gloves I would have been poked and slimed and for sure the fish would have gotten away.  I felt like an NFL wide receiver catching a slippery football one handed!

I’ve worn the gloves a couple of times now and haven’t experienced any downsides. If I really need my fingers free I can quickly take the gloves off and put them on again. And when they get stinky I can machine wash them. Definitely gonna wear gloves whenever I kayak fish, and want to try another pair with more of the finger tip exposed.

The Buff® Elite Gloves sell for $45 on the buffusa.com website.  I’ve worn them twice and machine washed them twice and they are holding up fine.  If they work out as well as I expect I’ll add a product endorsement.