We battled sharks/ulua on bigger gear and landed the target species – catch and cook

February 23, 2018 By Scott 10 Comments

Look at the discolored 20lb mono on the Sealine SL20. I even found salt clumps that I hadn’t washed away before storing it. Shame on me.

The last time Frank and I ventured out to the deep I ran into a strong fish that manhandled my light gear. This is what went down. We were advised by my uku sensei to use 60 – 100lb leader and big rods/reels. So I went into storage and rummaged through the gear I brought back from my party boat days out of San Diego that haven’t been looked at in more than a decade. Cleaned and lubed a Daiwa Sealine SL20 conventional reel, put on fresh 50lb Sufix 832 and matched it to a Daiwa VIP boat rod. This was my light setup to cast live anchovies on 20lb test mono back in the 90s before we used fluorocarbon leaders. I figured it would be strong enough for Frank to land big uku and small ulua.

The red marking on the Trinidad’s side plate says “300yds 30lb Sufix” on clear tape. It isn’t a blemish.

I went into the “museum” to pull out the original gold Shimano Trinidad 14 and 7′ 7″ G Loomis Bucara bait rod I had purchased to catch yellowtail on the kayak in SoCal and never used. That combo is at least 18 yrs old and the rod and reel are out of production now. I really didn’t want to scratch the beautiful gold reel but the guys convinced me that the reel was meant to be fished, not to be tucked away in a box on a shelf. Took off the discolored mono and put on 30lb Sufix to get more capacity. Both the Trinidad 14 and SL 20 are really 20 – 30lb test reels but I put 50lb on the SL20 just in case Frank needed to lock down on a big fish.

My uku sensei recommended VMC tournament 12/0 hooks that looked huge to me but the gap between hook point and shaft wasn’t really that big. The intention was to hook the bait on, drop down and raise it off the bottom, away from hage, and just leave the rod in the holder until something hooked itself. The circle hook with the severe turned in hook point was designed to be initially taken deep into the fish’s mouth, and as the fish turned and ran, the hook would slide out to the mouth’s corner, roll into position and hook into the thick cartilage. Layton, at Charley’s Fishing Supply, suggested we also carry a few 14/0 hooks in case our baits were so big the 12/0 hook point wasn’t fully exposed. The 14/0 looks a lot larger but the gap really only is an index finger width versus the pinkie width of the 12/0.

Frank and I both started with the 12/0 hook. He used 50lb mono and I used 60lb fluoro as leader. I figured we had tipped the scales in our favor. Boy was I wrong.

We picked a light trade wind day with a rolling swell due to a big east swell wrapping around the island. Not as glassy as our previous time but still easily fishable. The Garmin 44cv took me to where we started the last time and we put down 5 inch opelu halves Frank had skillfully brined, wrapped in newspaper and froze to preserve the integrity of the soft bait. Not much was biting at the 80ft reef except for an occasional hage that shortened our bait and plucked out the eyes. We kept our baits off the bottom to lesson the hage attack and set up behind the reef where it suddenly drops down. Fishing with a light drag and clicker to allow the fish to run with the bait before getting hooked, we had numerous hard pulls that didn’t set. Some took the entire bait. Others left teeth scrapes halfway up the bait but not at the hook area.

Suddenly Frank got a hard pull and run that almost tipped his SUP over. The fish ran down and hugged the bottom like my fish did the last time, but Frank stabilized himself and quickly learned how to use the conventional reel. He constantly had to adjust his seating position since the fish was pulling him forward, and had to reposition the gear strapped to his board. The drag down fight went on for more than 25 mins and then I saw a large light colored shape at deep color. Looked like a big ulua, but Frank had a better view and he realized he had been battling a 6 ft plus shark! It was another 5 – 10 mins before he could get the shark close enough to cut the leader and salvage most of his line.

This is just a couple mins of Frank’s physically challenging battle with the shark. Can you imagine sitting on a surfboard with no foot rests to push off of, feet dangling in the water with the ocean bottom 130 ft below, as a shark does its best to unseat you? Frank did an incredible job getting that shark to leader. Unfortunately the video of his release, with the shark swimming directly under me, had too many landmarks to use.

That shark didn’t take him too far out from where he had hooked it, but we slowly paddled back inside of the 100ft line. Frank caught his breath, and I dropped my opelu bait down. More strong pulls and baits stolen. Maybe our 12/0 hook was too large for most of the fish below us? Then Frank hooked up with something big again! This fish took him from the 100 ft depth to the 190 ft depth, which is about 350 yds based on the Navionics chart. This fish cut his leader about 2.5 ft up from the hook before Frank could see what it was. At this point, Frank’s arms and lower body were torched from doing big fish isometrics in a seated position on an SUP.

We paddled in to 80 ft, and Frank dropped a bait down, put the rod in the holder and started jigging with a Live Deception jig on his Shimano Stradic 4000 FK XG, which was a whole lot smoother than his old Penn 440SS. He cast, jigged the lure back at an angle and bam! Hanapa’a! Up came a scrappy 2.5 lb omilu! With that kau kau fish in his cooler bag he didn’t feel so bad about losing the second fish. Then his bait rod bent over and he almost went with it. The fish was running so hard he couldn’t get the rod out of the holder, so he loosened the drag, pulled it out and went back to work. This fish fought like the second fish and pulled him out before cutting him off at about the same halfway up the leader spot as the second fish. We’re wondering if the scute of an ulua cut the line so far away from the hook but I guess we won’t know until we land one. I was wondering why I wasn’t hooking them or anything for that matter.

Out of desperation I dropped my opelu half down, cranked up about 40 ft, and held the rod to feel for bait stealers. Soon I felt some hard taps, then stronger tugs, then the clicker sang. After so many missed fish I expected this one to drop the bait but it stayed on and I fought my first fish on the Bucara/Trinidad setup. It felt awkward compared to my short jig rod and bait casting reel. The rod had a stiff tip and long butt, and I had to think about laying the line as I retrieved. The fish felt strong, much stronger than a hage so I was hoping it was the target fish. It was, and the circle hook was securely tucked in the 3lb uku’s mouth. That was the only fish I caught that day, but I was stoked to get my personal best.

In this video you can see that I wasn’t smart enough to put the rod in the holder and hold the leader with my left hand while netting with my right. I kept trying to use the rod tip to pull the fish close enough but the 6ft leader was too long!

We tried to fish that area harder and I finally got a strong, steady pulling fish. Thankfully it cut the leader within 15 seconds and I didn’t have to do big fish isometrics like Frank did. We were nearly out of bait and drinking water, so we trolled our baits in. I put on a whole frozen halalu and it got hit hard but the fish had only taken the back half in its mouth and missed the hook in its head.

When we got to the beach we both had trouble standing up. 6.5 hrs seated makes our old bodies stiff!

The uku had a small fish, a red opae and a crab in its stomach; the omilu’s stomach was empty. Frank gave the omilu to our friend who made my custom transducer rod and mounting plate so streamlined I could pull the large transducer through the water with minimal drag. That Garmin 44cv fish finder/gps has been critical in putting us on the deep water fish.

Frank put slices of ginger and diced chung choy (pickled turnip) into the cuts on the side of the uku and steamed it. After it was cooked he took it out and drizzled shoyu, then poured hot peanut oil over the fish, then garnished with green onions, parsley and shiitake mushrooms. He said was “ono” and he’ll be targeting uku next time and getting his workout on land.

We have to fine tune the size of the hooks we’re using to increase our catch rate, and get better with the conventional reels. I did put a small scratch in the Trinidad, probably while transporting the rods after our long day, but I guess it doesn’t hurt too badly.

Going further and deeper to extend the season

December 13, 2017 By Scott 12 Comments

In the past, our “season” has ended when the water temps cool and the bait leaves the inshore waters. Knowing this end was near, we prepped the kayaks and SUPs to do some nearshore bottom fishing further out than we had previously attempted.

The first outing yielded our first kayak/SUP uku but we had to paddle in to safety against strong winds and deal with having to keep the kayak straight in following seas. This was how that outing went.

After that successful but dangerous outing, we tried another deep drop off but the wind came up and was pushing us out to sea. We had to paddle for our lives to get in and were emotionally shook up from the realization that we would have needed to be rescued if we had become incapable of paddling hard for shore.

I had Go Bananas in Kapahulu add a rudder and some convenient bungee “trees” to my Scupper Pro, and I picked up a Garmin EchoMap 44cv fish finder/gps from West Marine on Black Friday. My hope was that the rudder would make my paddling more efficient, especially in windy conditions, the GPS would take us to nearby artificial reefs and mark hot spots, and the more advanced fish finder would accurately tell us what type of fish were below. I also got a Thule Hull-A-Port “J” style cradle to securely carry the second kayak on its side.

Our next outing was back to the deep water spot where we had gotten in trouble. This time we picked a day with almost no wind, and not much swell. The new fish finder/gps accurately told us the depth we were in, and marked what I think were fish on the bottom and a large bait school suspended from about 50ft to 100ft. Nothing was biting our jigs and I paddled further out to mark more bait. I heard Frank yell “hanapa’a” but couldn’t see what he was fighting. He tried to talk over the walkie talkie while fighting the fish but I was just getting fragments. When I paddled back to him, he was getting towed against the wind and current towards me! The fish didn’t want to tire, and he was battling it on an ancient Penn 440SS which was definitely not made to fight fish of that size. I shot video of the long fight and the very difficult landing process.

Frank will write up his recollection of the amazing, miraculous experience but here’s a preview of his catch. We still can’t believe he caught a pelagic on only our 3rd deep water outing. I jigged near the bait school for a few drops for nada and then we paddled in to take care of the prized fish.

On the next light wind day I was dying to return to the opelu / pelagic spot. Frank couldn’t make it but had designed and oversaw the process of fabricating a streamlined transducer rod and plate so I could hang the transducer over the side with as little drag as possible. This thing is work of art!

I tentatively paddled out solo but was relieved to see so many boats around and helicopters above. The bait school was deeper on this day, in 125 ft of water but again, nothing bit my jigs. I even tried trolling jigs and swimming plugs “Frank-style”.

Happy enough that all the new equipment was working well, I let the wind blow me in as I steered with the foot controlled rudder. At 100 ft I had a bite on the jig that came off. I assumed it was a hage but was still glad for that one bite. At 80ft I hooked something that felt like a small hage and winched it up. I was stunned to see a nabeta hooked on the rear treble of the Live Deception 2 oz jig with its swim bladder popped out through its gill. I marked the spot on my GPS and returned to it but couldn’t catch another fish. I’ll have to return with a proper damashi-type of setup.

My friend and fellow kayak fisher, Haru, told me how to gut the fish but leave the scales on and scrub the slime off with Hawaiian salt, then salt and pepper it before deep frying, taking it out to cool, and then frying it a second time to crisp up. My wife used a ponzu sauce and chilli pepper water Frank had given us, and that fried nabeta was ono with a non-fishy, sweet, soft texture.

So far the uku, ono and nabeta we’ve caught in deeper water have been much less fishy tasting than the papio we’ve been catching inshore. Now I understand why boaters often prefer bottom fish to reef fish.

Instead of waiting for the bait fish to return to the shallows, we’re now gearing up to target the bottom fish and pelagics of the winter season. Chee hoo!!

Product testing in 180 to 500 ft of water

September 7, 2017 By Scott 3 Comments

We definitely were past the “nearshore” boundaries on this outing. I wanted to test some heavy jigs with the Shimano Tranx 400, and Capt. Darren and Rey were kind enough to let me join them. I was wearing a GoPro Session on my cap for the first time, hoping to get decent footage of how the Tranx performed, and of our catches since it would be easier to point the GoPro than to take my phone for a still photo.

Darren fished the traditional methods of damashi with lures, and deploying a bonus line with cut bait. He caught more fish than we did jigging but Rey was a close second with an amazing variety of species caught with his customized vertical jig spinning outfit. I just landed a few fish on my slow pitch jigs, jigged slow and also fast, but the catches were memorable. Out of respect for their privacy I’ll just be talking about my meager catches.

I started with an “inchiku” type jig that had an octopus hanging off a chunk of lead. A small yellow spot papio hit that but the action slowed so I moved on to the new Live Deception jig with UV paint and a stout assist hook off the front eye. The original Live Deception had always caught fish so I was surprised with nothing hit the new one. I switched to the original and didn’t get bit either. I tried other jigs that had worked in the past and still came up empty. An oddball looking white jig with pink stripes got hit as I lifted off the bottom and a hage made it to the surface. That gave me some hope. On the next drop a yellow spot papio hit it on the first lift.

We drifted past 220ft so I went with an 80 gm tungsten jig that was very dense and fell quickly. That got slammed by something bigger as I lifted it off the bottom also. Still, it didn’t feel too big because the Tranx’s smooth drag and big gears. We didn’t measure the white papio but it looked bigger than 7lbs.

Rey was doing really well fast pumping through the water column so I tried a medium – fast pumping retrieve. The slow pitch jigs wouldn’t swim well at this pace so I had switched to a swimming/casting jig from Japan. It was easy to to tell if the jig got bumped as it fell to the bottom, and a turn of the handle engaged the Tranx’s gears. In the video below I’m clumsily lifting and cranking to make the jig shoot up and then slide a bit before shooting up again. A smoother retrieve would have been to life and crank in an exaggerated circular motion.

About 2/3 of the way up I got hit by something with head shakes and frenetic tail kicks. It felt like a small kawakawa but then headed for the bottom with authority. I thought a shark or ulua got it as you can hear on the video. Turns out this same jig had caught a smaller kawakawa on a previous trip.

The 14lb kawakawa was a fun fight but the Tranx 400 had things under control the whole time. The Game Type J rod and Tranx reel were so light and comfortable to fish the whole day. I also had the Tranx 500 on a Shimano Trevala TFC medium action jig rod, but that felt a little bulky for the size fish I was catching. If something big showed up, I was ready to grab it though.

Rey’s unique vertical jigs and refined technique outfished me 3 to 1. My gear and lures were really meant for slow pitching but the fish didn’t want to eat slow pitched jigs that day. The Tranx 400 was plenty fast with 41 inches per crank but the Game Type J rod didn’t spring back fast enough for a heavy, fast jigged lure. In hindsight, maybe I should have used the heavier Trevala jig rod, but the fights wouldn’t have been as fun.

The GoPro head cam wasn’t always pointed where I wanted, and I found out it takes a long time to go through and process the worthwhile clips, but all in all it was a successful equipment testing trip. Much Mahalo to Capt Darren for being so tolerant as I bumbled around the boat, and for Rey to fill in for me when I should have been helping more. I started the day off getting seasick (first time ever) and my back tightened up fighting the kawakawa. That made me even more impressed with how the guys could power through with little sleep on a constantly rocking boat.

Big Island Bottomfishing Trip 2017

June 17, 2017 By Scott Leave a Comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jeremy, Neil, Scott and Capt Braiden

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

Jeremy, Neil, Erik and Scott

Sheet glass conditions on a big moon day

March 15, 2017 By Scott 1 Comment

Erik invited me out on his small aluminum boat again since the conditions were too good to pass up. Sheet glass, no wind for a few hours, and small surf. The water couldn’t be any flatter than this. Only concern was the big moon the night before.

The plan was to fish upwind of the normal wind pattern and work our way back. On the way out Erik saw aha attacking bait and threw his sinking JDM swimmer. An aha went airborne with it and shed the hook. The heavy, calm air transmitted sounds for miles, it seemed. Whales were breaching and expelling air, turtles were startling us with their snorkly exhales and big 10″ to 12″ malolo were being chased around. We even saw a dolphin school playing a few hundred yds off. All that life got us pumped up.

We kept motoring upwind but the deep reefs were just too tempting. Erik hooked up his portable Huminbird PiranhaMax fish finder and we trolled around until we found the edge of the 100 ft drop off. Down went our small jigs but nothing was interested in them. We kept heading upwind while watching the fish finder. Fish were stacked up so we dropped the jigs again. Erik jigged his lure erratically after reaching the bottom, then let it hit bottom again. His lure looked lively on 10lb braid and he felt something heavy. Hage! But at least we found fish.

When the fish finder found clumps of fish we fished harder. I tried my 20 gm jigs, 30 gms jigs and 60 gm jigs until I finally got a hage too. By then Erik had let go a few.

Then we stumbled on a spot where Erik hooked something 1/3 of the way off the bottom. It felt small but had a consistent tail beat. Baby weke ula!

I was able to get one also, then Erik hooked a stronger fish with his erratic jigging motion. It tried its best to stay on its deep, home reef but Erik coaxed it up. Omilu! It taped out at 11 inches, head to fork of tail, and was tagged and set free.

We drifted off that productive spot and Erik had a hunch the deeper drop off would be even better. At 140 ft the finder was marking fish a little suspended off the bottom. I ended a dry spell with the lowly trumpetfish so we moved a bit and Erik hooked two more juvenile weke ula, and I brought up the ubiquitous hage.

Erik quickly dropped his jig back down on this productive spot and something strong ripped line for about 5 seconds but the hook pulled. Arrggh. We’re thinking it must’ve been a big papio or ulua.

He even caught a medium-sized moana on a deep reef with his active jigging action. My slow pitch on 17lb mono wasn’t even attracting the hage anymore.

We had an hr left of fishing time so we tried throwing poppers and swimmers on the shallow reefs but there were no takers this time.

I think the bite was slow in the shallow water because the water was so clear and the moon was so big the night before. The big predators had been chasing bait the night before and the smaller fish were running from the predators. They all must’ve been resting in their hidey holes until the big moon evening activity started again.

But wow, what a beautiful day to be on the water. All the fish caught were released.

Here’s how we did last week on a flatter tide but smaller moon.

Latest issue of Lawai’a is on the newsstands

December 9, 2016 By Scott Leave a Comment

Admittedly, I’m biased, but this issue is the best one yet. I know I’ve said that before, but the magazine, behind a team of dedicated volunteers, just gets better and better.

Besides the reader contributed fish stories and historical and educational pieces, here’s a couple nearshore lure reviews:

Eric Parubrub breaks down the GTFC popper lineup to help you decide which model is best suited for your ability and fishing conditions. In the next issue he’ll break down the GTFC pencil type lures in similar fashion. That’s Erik’s dad Ed in the photo. Handsome buggah yeah?

And I describe how the Live Deception jig has out-fished live bait in shallow jigging conditions all the way out to 300 feet. For $5 to $7 depending on the jig size, it’s a no brainer to keep a few on hand just in case.

Sorry for shamelessly plugging my own article.

Gear shake out

July 12, 2016 By Scott 2 Comments

Finally, after a month of gusty days, the wind slowed enough to kayak fish. During that time off the water I had repurposed two reels I hadn’t been using, purchased a light, sensitive jig rod, and assembled some eye catching micro jigs from Japan. With so many things to try out I left the frozen oama at home.

(L to R) Calcutta 200TE, Calcutta 300TE w/Trevala rod

I started by whipping the black/chrome Waxwing Baby with an upgraded Calcutta 200TE. The level wind reel was great for fishing bait but too slow for retrieving Waxwings, so it hadn’t seen use in months. I came across a 200TE main gear upgrade sold on a Japanese Domestic Model (JDM) website that increased the line retrieval from 25 inches to 32 inches per crank. The downside of that retrieval increase is a proportional decrease in torque and drag (level wind reel have drag washers on the gear stack and are affected by gear ratio). Sure enough the Waxwing was zig zagging like it does on the high speed Shimano Curado 300EJ, but on the discontinued Calcutta 200TE that sports a stronger frame and better centrifugal brakes. I did feel one bump and a miss.

I put the whipping rod down and picked up the new lightweight jig setup: A Shimano Trevala S rod so thin and light that it made the compact Calcutta 300TE reel look big. The 300TE, one size up from the 200TE, was gathering dust in a box since I stopped using it as a small trolling reel. I added a longer power handle to replace the two-knobbed paddle handle and could immediately feel the increase in cranking efficiency.

(top to bottom) Live Deception, After Burner Japanese jig, Jigpara Japanese jig

I lobbed the shiny, nehu looking Jigpara jig (bottom lure in the photo) from Japan and lifted and fluttered it back. Not a single bump. Odd. So much activity on the fish finder and so little interest in the lures. In the distance, 2 guys on a boat were whooping it up like they landed an ulua, so that made me fish harder.

Switching back to the WW whipping setup, I cast onto the shallow reef top, hoping I wouldn’t backlash and get my lure stuck. A long fish lunged for the WW and missed the hooks. On the next cast, the lure was sucked down and a fish swam through the shallow crevices in the reef. I was relieved to see omilu blue instead of aha gray. The omilu ran line out against the drag and I had to tighten it further. The drag really was diminished by the higher gear ratio, and didn’t feel as smooth as it normally did. Because I was “practicing” tagging papio, I had planned to take a photo while the fish was still in the water, measure the fish against the markings on my kayak, and let it go. The fish wasn’t aware of my good intentions and literally spit the lure at me. It missed me by about a foot to the right. The freed omilu, which I got a good look at, was at least 2lbs, maybe even 3lb.

Nothing else was on that reef top so I paddled out a bit and cast over another reef edge. A pretty big aha grey hounded across the water like it’s nickname “poor man’s marlin” and also spit the hook. I was relieved my lure was still attached and I didn’t have to release that toothy demon. To give the jigs an equal chance, I switched back to the jig setup, changed to the Live Deception jig and bounced it off the shallow bottom. Still no interest. Back to the Waxwing and I got another hit and drop of either an aha or kaku.

It was about time to see if the white papio were gonna swarm at dusk like they did the last time they hit every micro jig dropped in the water. The fish finder picked up breezing fish gathering close to shore, but they didn’t take the Waxwing or the Live Deception jig. Maybe it was too early? I waited for the sun to drop lower and then “poof” they were gone. No fish on the fish finder. I paddled around not believing that they would suddenly pick up and leave but appeared to be what they did. The whites must’ve gotten bigger and headed somewhere else to attack bait.

Look at what 3 fish did to this lure! (zoom in)

Maybe I had missed other fish and didn’t realize it?

No fish landed but I was glad my confidence in the Waxwing was restored. It had recently been outfished by surface poppers and heavy jigs, but proved once again that in shallow spots holding bait, there is no equal to a well-retrieved Waxwing. And the Calcutta 200TE with higher gear ratio was fast enough to make the Waxwing look enticing.

The Trevala S light jig rod could cast jigs well despite it’s short 6’3″ length due to its soft tip. I guess I’ll have to see how well it holds up to a fish some other time.

Note: Charley’s is running a jig combo special, which includes the Trevala S jig rod and the Shimano Curado 300EJ reel I used on that Big Island jigging trip of a lifetime. Trust me, it’s a deal you don’t want to miss out on.

Big Island boat jigging trip of a lifetime

June 16, 2016 By Scott 12 Comments

Warning: This post will cover action beyond the “nearshore” boundaries and may take a while to read.

I was invited by Neil, the President of Pacific Islands Fisheries Group (PIFG), to boat fish the Big Island the day before the Tokunaga Challenge weigh-in. We would be working the weigh-in, collecting nearshore tagging data and selling Lawai’a magazine subscriptions. I almost declined the invitation because I had gum surgery 2 days before the planned fishing trip and hadn’t eaten solid food since. I’m glad Neil encouraged me to go. I decided to bring a 3-piece Cabelas travel casting rod instead of my 1-piece rods, to avoid paying for oversized luggage. The rod tip was pretty stiff to jig with but I had no other option. I paired the rod with a medium action Curado 300EJ, filled with 15lb fluoro and backed by 50lb braid. There was about 175yds of line in total, and I attached a 25lb fluoro leader. I was hoping for some goats, papio and maybe even an uku on my relatively light gear.

We had Captain Wes at the helm, first mate Braiden, Neil and myself aboard the 19.4ft Alii Kai named the Akemi K. We started by trolling frozen oama but they were quickly mauled by hage so we replaced them with Crystal Minnows. A just-legal yellow spot papio was landed during a long dry spell so we stowed the trolling gear and zipped out to the first bottom fishing spot.

We wanted to field test a few different jigs so I handed Neil a 42gm (1.5oz) Shimano Coltsniper, one I hadn’t fished before. He dropped it down with his medium spinning rig, got a bump, had a fish pull line and come unbuttoned. That was promising. I free spooled a 2oz Promar Live Deception jig, a size I had never fished, and dropped it to the bottom. Jigged it up and down as best I could with the stiff rod tip, and began to do the slow lift and crank. About 15 feet off the bottom the line took off.

It felt like a good-size papio, making smooth runs, shaking its head and resisting being pulled up. The Cabela’s travel rod had a good parabolic arc, bending from the middle of the rod, and performed much better than expected. After about 5 mins we could see what looked like a big omilu making deep circles under the boat. As it got closer we couldn’t believe our eyes – Kagami Ulua (African Pompano), a relatively rare and delicious catch. Braiden gaffed the fish and it was official. Kagami on the first drop of the Live Deception! My first ulua ever. Neil and Wes looked at each other in disbelief, then Neil quickly dropped his Coltsniper back down.

Neil got picked up and the fish fought stubbornly but didn’t shake its head. Uh oh, hage action! That was his introduction to micro jigging.

I dropped down again, jig/pumped and about 20 ft from the bottom, felt a hit. A few nice runs, abrupt headshakes, and a 3lb omilu was boated. I expected a larger fish from the way it ripped line and shook its head. Man those omilu are tough. I checked the line and the 25lb leader had a couple small nicks so I changed it out and made sure the uni-to-uni knot connecting fluoro main to fluoro leader was cinched down. I didn’t want to lose another big fish to a badly tied knot like I did a few weeks ago.

Captain Wes re-positioned the boat and Neil hooked into something that pulled stubbornly but not like a papio. After a fun fight, Neil hoisted the largest cornetfish I had ever seen. Cornetfish are often confused with the trumpetfish, but the cornetfish can get much larger. It was shaken off the jig and set free.

Neil followed the trumpetfish up with a moana and was definitely catching on quickly to this “shallow water” jigging technique.

We moved to a new spot; I dropped the Live Deception down and before it hit the bottom the jig felt like it got picked up in a strong current. I engaged the reel and line peeled off the drag. The line angle looked straight up and down but the water wasn’t as deep as the amount of line out. 75 yds of 15lb fluoro top shot was out and the fish wasn’t slowing. Captain Wes quietly said “this is a big fish”, telling the others to clear their lines. I tightened the drag carefully and the fish still kept going. Finally I tightened it to the point the line started pinging and there was maybe 25 yds left on the spool. The guys were coaching me but we all figured the fight would end in a few seconds. Miraculously the fish slowed and I started making very small pumps, gaining one or two turns of the handle at a time. The fish rested and I got back 1/4 of the braid backing. It surged again, but didn’t take out too much line. I then started doing the drop a few inches and crank quickly method and the Capt remarked that he never saw anyone boost an ulua with such small gear. I took that to mean “be very careful” so I slowed the pumping action and tried to be as smooth as possible so the fish wouldn’t realize it was being yanked out of his home.

The travel rod’s foregrip was half the length of my other rods so my left hand spilled over the ends and was beginning to cramp. My left bicep was engaged the whole time and felt like I was doing a really long isometric curl. But I could hear the voices of ulua vets in my head saying “kill its spirit, don’t give him hope”. So I kept the tension in the rod, hoped my back would hold out, and short pumped when I could. Halfway up, the guys decided to resume jigging cuz they figured it would either be awhile before the fish was landed, or the line would pop soon. The travel rod seemed up to the task but I was worried about my uni-to-uni knot joining the braid to the 15 fluoro main line that I tied months ago. I really hoped I tied that knot well! The fact that I hadn’t eaten real food in almost 3 days also wore on my mind.

At around the 8 minute mark the uni-to-uni splice was on the reel and I had about 75 yds of 15lb fluoro left. The big fish saw the boat and tried to make it down to its home but only took about 30 yds of line. That was the last big run it made. The rest of the way it planed its body and resisted getting pulled into view. We still didn’t know what was on but thought it was some kind of big jack. I had only caught one kahala before, a little more than 10lbs, and just caught my first actual ulua, but strongly felt that this fish was an ulua not a kahala. The one kahala I fought didn’t seem to have the leverage of a wide body that this fish did.

When it was finally at deep color, it looked brown and long like a kahala. Ugh… I was disappointed but still wanted to see how large it was. Then as I pulled it closer, the body shortened and color darkened. Black ulua? It looked huge, even larger than I had imagined. I had always said that I’d photograph and release a large ulua but the Capt had plans for smoked ulua to share with the ohana, so he told Braiden to gaff ’em. Capt Wes had given us smoked ulua and was super ono so I knew the fish would feed a lot of people. The Live Deception’s treble hook was hooked on the outside of the fish’s head and so was the assist hook. This caused the lure to bend but also prevented the fish from chewing through the 25lb leader I had just tied on. Lucky-Lucky. The leader and main line didn’t have any nicks at all. I removed the 2 oz Live Deception to ensure I wouldn’t lose it to a fish or a snag. It was going into “the museum”. I didn’t have any other 2oz lures so I put on a 1 oz Live Deception.

Upon closer examination, Capt Wes said that the fish was a dark, white ulua or GT. Oxymoron, I know, but I guess they can get dark if they live in the black lava tube caves. I would not have believed that my tackle and lack of big fish catching success would’ve allowed me to land that. All credit goes to the Capt who put us on the fish and maneuvered the boat. Near the end of the fight he backed down to help me gain line, deftly keeping the line away from the props.

I told the guys to use my bait casting setup cuz I was done for a while! My left arm felt useless. Neil declined and promptly brought up a monsta hage on his spinning setup. He said he was doing his best to keep the rubbish fish away from the rest of us. What a nice guy! Actually, what he didn’t know was that I rubbed hage-attractant on the Coltsniper before I gave it to him and it appeared to be working. He brought up a good sized moana next that jumped off the hook. I actually saw it break the surface! He still refused to use my bait casting rig so I dropped the 1 oz jig down, did one lift and a fish was on! I had never fished with Neil before and he was beginning to think I could catch fish at will. If you have read my blog you know that was far from the truth. In fact, a fishing buddy Kelly has never seen me land a decent fish. Here’s a classic outing.

zoom in to see the treble near its tail

So I asked Neil to fight the fish on my line and he said “no, no need” (translation: I don’t need your pity, I can catch my own fish). I told him I’m just gonna put the rod in the rod holder and let the fish come undone so he took the rod and skillfully battled the fish. Turns out the omilu was foul-hooked. Neil said “you knew was foul-hooked you buggah, that’s why you nevah like fight ’em!”. He was beginning to think I could catch fish at will and tell how they were hooked!

The Capt had seen enough and took his turn with my bait caster. He had used large conventional trolling reels with right hand cranks, and smaller spinning reels with left hand cranks, and had to adjust to cranking such a small, light reel with his right hand. On the first drop he got used to the action of the rod, the quick free spool release and the level winding of the Curado. On the second drop he hit the bottom, jigged once and was on! The pole bent in its parabolic arc and line peeled off the spool. Another big fish, surely an ulua. Capt Wes took his time and played the fish like he catches ulua every day, which he probably could do if he wanted to. After a patient battle he landed a beautiful omilu ulua, about 15lb. Capt Wes was very impressed with the gear and the way the 15lb flouro held up to such a strong, heavy fish with sharp scutes.

Neil and Braiden switched to damashi to target the tasty kau kau fish. I wanted to see what else the Live Deception lure could catch and dropped down again. Neil started catching legal yellow spot papio, which are tastier than omilus and whites. Braiden started off eradicating a few taape. I felt what I thought was the jig getting fouled on itself and brought up a deep water lizardfish. Uh oh, maybe Neil rubbed some lizardfish-attractant on the jig when I wasn’t looking. The boys started bringing up nabeta (razor wrasse), which were the best eating fish caught on the trip. I hadn’t eaten nabeta before but grew up hearing how it just melts in your mouth when you fry ’em scales and all. Then I actually foul hooked a nabeta on the Live Deception! Man that lure really does deceive everything!

The jigging action slowed down for me, probably because we were in shallower water where there were less predators. A moana came up on their damashi and I dropped it down as live bait. I was hoping for big papio and maybe even the uku that has eluded me on Oahu. Nothing hit that lively moana on the next few drifts and the boys continued to catch yellow spot papio, nabeta and taape.

Too lazy to rig up with damashi, I dropped the 1 oz Live Deception down again and felt it get picked up right off the bottom. Felt like a couple lb omilu so I asked if Braiden wanted to play with the bait caster. He took the small reel in his large hands and worked the fish up to the boat. UKU!!!! My first uku I ever hooked, and on a jig at that. And I handed it off!!! Aww shucks.

With that it was time to pack it up and head for the barn. What a boat trip of a lifetime. My equipment held up, the 1 oz and 2 oz Live Deceptions were on fire, and I was bathed in Big Island hospitality by Capt Wes, Braiden and Neil. I brought back the Kagami ulua, uku and a few nabeta to Oahu for my family and friends to try. Will write more later… this has gotten too long as it is!

Almost forgot. This is how small the reel was. Too bad I didn’t take a picture of it next to the 30lb ulua. It wasn’t even fully loaded with line. Lucky-luck indeed.

Note: I purchase my Live Deception jigs at POP and Charley’s. POP has the most variety, both in sizes and in colors. Charley’s has the best prices in general, and besides the Live Deceptions, they’ve brought in a new assortment of very small micro jigs from Japan. Charley’s is also running a jigging combo special: the Curado 300EJ I used on the Big Island paired with the Shimano Trevala S jig rod which would’ve had more sensitivity and backbone than the travel rod I used. That combo at the price Charley’s is running now, will be the perfect setup to start shallow water jigging.

The New Moon Curse?

June 6, 2016 By Scott 6 Comments

Kelly and I SUP’d / kayaked fished the day before the New Moon. My fish finder marked fish and we caught a few legal omilu and whites on frozen oama, with Kelly getting cut off on coral by a larger fish. Nothing hit my micro jig. All the papio were released intentionally or unintentionally, in preparation of the start of Papio Tagging this summer. The bite was the best around the top of the tide so we went back the following day to dial things in.

The wind and swell were down a bit from the day before, and nothing seemed to be stirring in the depths. The same places that showed fish on the fish finder the day before were barren. Even the turtles were absent. I scouted the deep areas and the reef edges, and Kelly crossed over the flats into deep water and back. Halfway through our outing Kelly got a strong hit that took a third of his line. He had paddled over the reef edge, into the deep side, and was perfectly positioned to fight the fish in obstacle-free water. But it came unbuttoned.

That fish gave us hope but all we got was a series of short bites on our frozen oama and I landed a 9″ white. Kelly paddled back to the launch point and I dawdled behind, hoping an evening bite would magically materialize. In the 20ft to 15 ft sandy/muddy gap in the reef, the fish finder began to show some mid-sized fish. Another 9″ white was hooked and released, and the next oama got hit as I let out line. The frenzy was on but Kelly was already out of the water.

He texted “goodbye” and I was free to try out the small but heavy jigs. I paddled out to deeper, clearer water to give the jigs their best chance. The fish finder transducer was suction cupped to the side of the kayak at an angle so the depths read deeper than they actually were. I’m guessing it was 30 – 40 ft even though the fish finder said 56ft. The fish were marking from the bottom to halfway up and really thick.

Exploded view of Live Deception jig and assist hooks before being slid onto Power Clip

I cast a 1oz Live Deception jig that had a rear treble hook, with added assist hooks connected via a Tactical Angler Power Clip. I had snagged my trolling line and as the lure sank it hooked up! Another 9″ white came up but the Live Deception lure was gone! Meanwhile the oama didn’t get touched so I reeled that in and stowed the rod.

Exploded view of micro jig and assist hooks before being slid onto Power Clip

I kept the assist hooks and slid on a 30 gm micro jig. It got hit halfway down the sink also! And same thing, 9″ white caught on assist hook but the micro jig was gone. What the heck? This happened when I had caught a kahala deep jigging an 80 gm Shimano Flat Fall. I had thought a fish hit the Flat Fall hook and another hit the independent assist hook, and the Flat Fall-hooked fish pried itself off the clip. Now I began to realize that the kahala and small whites were flipping the heavy jigs off the clip with their head shakes.

this white threw off the Live Deception jig

this white threw off the 1st micro jig

this guy threw off the 2nd and last micro jig

this one threw off the 2nd and last micro jig

I had one 30 gm micro jig left and slid it down the power clip next to the assist hooks. Cast out, let it sink, hookup, repeat. Couldn’t be any easier. Reel in a 9″ white and no jig left on the clip. I guess the clip wasn’t intended to have heavy lures and separate assist hooks. 3 casts, 3 whites, 3 jigs lost. I was out of jigs so I got a chance to see how surface lures would work on these sub-surface whites.

The normally effective Waxwing Baby couldn’t raise them and neither could the Yozuri Hydro Popper, which slayed the 1lb – 3lb whites off the boat the previous week. I had been disappointed that the Waxwing and micro jigs did not work at all when the Poppers raised all those fish from the depths and was beginning to think poppers were all we needed. But on this weird evening following very little activity during the day, when the small whites were swarming halfway down the water column, the only thing they wanted were sinking jigs. I guess every lure has its day.

Friends who fished further out on their boat, and others who fly fished the flats said this day was unusually slow, yet the next day had more action. I had heard that the New Moon, like the Full Moon, was a slow day to fish. One theory, my wise fishing kupuna told me, is that fish travel on those two moon phases so they’re less interested in eating. It’s like the predators and prey have a truce so they can complete their migration. How productive has the New Moon been for you?