Holoholo writer Hunter shares a too-close encounter with an eel.
Hunter: I was out fishing Kaiser Bowls with my friend Issey on Labor Day. I was dunking dead oama while Issey was whipping with grubs. Right off the bat I had my oama followed by a 4 pound omilu which just didn’t want to bite. A few minutes later Issey hooked up to a lai which we released. Then, a while after that my pole with dead oama went off but didn’t hook up. Issey threw out his pole and hooked up to a nice 11 inch omilu. We debated on keeping it or not. Eventually we just kept it because Issey had not eaten omilu in a long time.
We decided to clean it so I jumped in the water while Issey cut open the fish. I was holding the fish while Issey pulled out the guts when all of a sudden what felt like a knife cutting pretty deep and my hand was pulled under a rock. I pulled it out and saw my fingers bleeding rapidly. Issey’s hand had also gotten cut but his was nothing compared to my cut. I applied pressure and headed back in while Issey cleaned up. The eel got a 2-fer: a piece of me and the whole omilu. Initially I thought the papio bit me, not realizing there was an eel in the water. A group of people were kind enough to help me with my injury.
Afterwards, I headed to the hospital and ended up having my wounds glued shut.
Lesson learned: Never clean a fish while in the water with its guts and blood coming out. Especially near a rock wall which is most likely housing eels. I wasn’t thinking and I paid the prices for it. Be careful and if you are near a rock wall which you think could be home to eels do not go in the water with open wounds or anything that might attract eels.
Yikes, too bad he got the fish too! Talk about insult to injury. My uncle still has the scars on his hand from over 50 years ago when the same thing happened to him.
Hi Jason,
One of my shorefishing partners has been warning me about sticking my hands under water to free snags for years and I dismissed his concerns as “urban legend” but it does sound like these eel attacks are more common than I thought!
-scott
Yup, I always use my boot for that. Grab leader taut, put boot/tabi against line, then push down and away from where it’s stuck and yank. I’d rather retie my leader than accidentally have my hand find a puhi, wana or nohu! Nohu are out there, too. I have encountered them, as have many other flats fishers. Stay safe folks!
Thanks for sharing your experience. Hopefully it will teach others of the risks that are out there.