I had been asking my friend and Christian brother, Wayne, to share a little about his quick after-work fishing trips in town. Humbly he complied.
Wayne:
According to Wikipedia,
Urban fishing is a type of recreational fishing that takes place in urban areas such as inner cities.
In Honolulu, the main body of water that has public access is the Ala Wai canal.
I’ve been fishing the Ala Wai for about 20 plus years. I started fishing there after work or when waiting for my daughter while she took violin lessons close by. Prior to fishing the Ala Wai, I used to fish along the Eastside shoreline using a bubble float setup which is common in Hawaii to use for “Whipping”.
I had found a magazine at a bookstore in Kahala mall called Shallow Water Fishing. Also known as inshore fishing. The articles in this magazine featured fishing mostly in places like Florida and Texas.
I started reading these articles and started incorporating what they used for lures and adapted them to my fishing style. I started using jigheads with different types of plastics.
Paddle tails, straight tails, curly tails, shrimp etc.
I started using braid as my main line with a fluorocarbon leader
My current set up is a spinning reel 2500 size.
7 feet med power extra fast spinning rod.
10 lb braid with 15 lb fluorocarbon leader.
I usually tie a 1/8 oz jighead and use different types of plastic baits.
I’ve been using this setup for a while now.
I like this set up because it’s fast and easy to set up and get to fishing the Ala Wai.
Especially if you don’t have much time.
I like to go after work.
Sometimes I don’t catch anything, but I get to watch the sun go down, meet interesting people and also I am intrigued by the different birds that inhabit the Ala Wai.
Till next time…….
Happy fishing and God bless,
Wayne
Myself and a few other fly fisherman I know will occasionally fish the Ala Wai, mostly for kaku and papio. Some people think we are nuts, but we think the canal is an overlooked and unfairly maligned gem.
We have found peak high tides to be most productive here. I am not surprised by that moi, though I have not caught one, friends of mine have reported catches or sightings.
Hey Jason,
Do you fly cast on the street side of the canal to have enough room, or the mountain side? I feel I asked you that before but forget the answer. 🙂
-scott
Sorry for the late reply. We fish from the mauka side of the canal, mostly due to the direction of the prevailing trade winds, and presence of parking . Won’t give away too much, but a hint for readers looking for parking is, look for paddlers 🙂
I used to live in the Noelani apartments at UH Manoa. When I was bored, I would go to nearby Kanewai Stream and hook good sized tilapia and oscars.
I remember you telling me that Rich, when we were in college. Some of the Holoholo writers fish in there also!
-scott
You caught a Moi in the Ala Wai?
There’s a surprising number of desirable species in the Ala Wai. Whether they are safe to consume is another question.
You will find most inshore species you’d find in the open ocean inside the canal. what people forget is, the Ala Wai IS the ocean. It may be of questionable water quality, but it’s still ocean
I forgot to mention I caught a Hammer head shark and a small ray in the Ala Wai as well.
Hi Wayne,
Got all kinds of varied life in the Ala Wai yeah?
-scott
Hi,
I grew up in Kailua fishing for tilapia on the cow Pasteur streams. Only used a spin rod, hook and earth worms. Worked great! But now I’m trying my hand at fly fishing for the tilapia on the Ala Wai in my spare time. They seem to be less than interested. I can find all kinds of fish! But, they seem very spooky and I have not found any fly that they will respond to…Looking for any suggestions to help the hook up rate on the Ala Wai tilapia! Thanks for any tips, Harry
Hi Harry,
I’ll ask the fly guys if there’s any fly that would get the tilapia fired up.
You could cheat and chum with bread and then put out a fly that looks like the pieces of bread. 🙂
-scott
Hi Scott!
I’ve tried with rice but only the small school tilapia seem to like the rice!
Much appreciated!
Thank you!
Howzit Harry,
I’ve fly fished Ala Wai a bit, but primarily for meat eaters like papio and kaku. I would agree that the tilapia are generally disinterested in any fly you try to present them, and I think this is because they are primarily herbivores.
Your best bet is probably as Scott stated above, which is to chum them with bread and use a small bread fly. Good luck.
Jason