Oahu Holoholo kayak angler Grant Taura shares his best outing to date. This one just happened to coincide with a kayak tournament.
Grant: Most of the time I have a game plan when I fish. On this particular day, our club Oahu Pelagic Pirates (OPP), which I recently joined, had a mini tournament event. Our club leader, Max Reyes, caught a Kawakawa the week before and it was the only fish that came up. That was the original tournament date. Since it was “merely” a Kawakawa and the only Pelagic that came up that weekend, he graciously gave up the win and the tournament “redo” was planned for the following weekend.
Leading up to any fishing day, there is a fair amount of planning that goes on, starting with weather conditions. Things we factor in are wind speeds, gusts, current, current direction, time current shifts, tides, swell sizes, etc., and more importantly location. Richard Yuen had been doing his research and was stuck on going to this particular location which I wasn’t to thrilled about. The whole week he was pleading his case. He sounded convincing as Richard always does. I reluctantly agreed on the location all the way up to our launch which was at 3:30am. I was still not feeling it. It was a mental struggle for sure.
Our goal is usually to pick up a few Akule (goggle eye) before sun up for live bait just in case we don’t pick any Opelu (scad mackerel), which is our favorite live bait of choice at sunrise. I’ve been finding out that Akule can be just as appealing as a live bait. Three of us, Richard Yuen, Tommy Tran and myself were able to pick up Akule. Game on! At 5am the Akule bite had come to a halt. We started to head to the Opelu “spot”, putting out live akule. Around 5am we heard “hooked up” from Tommy over our radio, which is usually our call out to let each other know that we hooked up to something. Hopefully that something is a fish and not a shark or any other species besides a fish. One thing good when fishing with buddies is that in case you need help, someone is there to help in an emergency or help land a monster fish. Tommy landed a 19lb Shibi after his battle in the dark. What was awesome with this fish was that it was his first Shibi, which is funny because he has landed the elusive Ono and the rare Sailfish from a kayak. Go figure.
Me and Richard, on the other hand made the pedal to the Opelu spot at sun up. Lately the Opelu have been biting prior to sunrise so we like to be on the spot at or before sun up. During this time of the year it can be difficult to pick up Opelu. We have been struggling over the last several weeks. When the Opelu bite time arrived I wasn’t able to grab any in our normal spot. So I headed to a couple of locations where I have seen them before. At one of those spots I was able to pick up a big fat one. Over the last couple of months I have been learning a lot about target areas I should be checking out. Not specifically the location I was fishing but what to look for in the water, under the water, tides, moon etc. Fishing as I have come to know is a lot of luck but you can increase your chances by understanding fish behavior, eating habits, environment etc. It also requires the right equipment, skill and a lot of patience and perseverance.
Taking what I have learned, it was time to test it out on this location. I got out to the area I wanted to try and sure enough at around 7:45am I took a strike. At first I thought it stole my bait, but I could still feel movement in my line like the Opelu was still alive so I set my rod back in my rod holder and then my line took off. I set the hook and the fight was on. I could see the fish on my fish finder but I noticed a mark coming up to it from the bottom, I assumed it was the tax man, I opened my bail and allowed the fish to get away from it. Getting “sharked” or “taxed” can happen from time to time. That seemed to have worked. As I was fighting the fish I could feel tail beats which I learned from watching Devan from his Where’s D-Ahi? YouTube videos. It was likely some sort of Tuna species. I was hoping that it was a Shibi. As I hit my leader and I could see color and it was the target, Shibi. I knew it was probably going to be my biggest Shibi so far by the length of the fight and the weight I could feel when fighting it. I pulled out my pedal drive as it got close. We do that because Shibi and Tuna species tend to go in circles under your kayak and the line can tangle and create havoc and you could possibly end up losing your fish. I got my Kage (spear gaff) ready and when it was in range, I speared, circle gaffed it and pulled into the yak! It ended up being my biggest to date weighing in at 39lbs.
After putting the Shibi on ice, I let out an Akule. Within 10min I took another strike. I brought up a 19lb Shibi. This one only took about 5 min compared to the 16 min for the 39 pounder. It wasn’t as dramatic but still a prize for me. With two Shibis in the bag I decided to start heading towards our launch point slowly trolling a third Akule. After a couple of hours of nothing I decided to start heading in. On the way in I wanted to pass another spot that I thought would have action. By that time I had come closer to Richard and Tommy and within a safe distance where we wouldn’t get tangled. Just as I was pulling nearer to Richard I had seen the signature jump from a Mahi Mahi. Richard was hooked up. I watched him handle that Mahi and watched it do circles around him before landing it. The Mahi Mahi ended up weighing in at 11lbs. Richard was now on the board. Soon after that Richard had landed that Mahi, I took a strike and as I was setting the hook, I heard Tommy say “hooked up” then “double” at the same time Richard “hooked up” The action was insane. I ended up landing my third Shibi weighing in at 25lbs. Unfortunately Tommy had lost both his hook ups and Richard had lost his due to a cut line. The day was over for me as I needed to get the fish on more ice. I only carry 20lbs of ice when I go out.
As I was heading I heard Tommy say “hooked up” again. What day we were having. He landed his second Shibi of the day. It weighed in at 12lbs. Epic was the best way to describe the day. Best day on the water fishing for me hands down.
Here’s the video of the 39lb shibi.
That’s day was epic for sure. Never doubting Richard ever again!! Haha. Glad to be able to experience this with you boys.