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.
Looks like a kawalea to me
Hi Jason,
And what is a “kawelea”? 🙂
-scott
Heller’s barracuda… if that isn’t what it is, I have no clue lol.
I agree, looks like a kawalea.
You guys are right!!! And I’ve seen it spelled “kawale’a” and “kawele’a”. But yeah, the Heller’s Barracuda.
Was soft and kind of mild tasting. Probably better than kaku, and the skin smelled less than kaku.
Just got word from my friends…Southside have papio,oio,and moi. Lot of fishing poles mudflats downward.
Hi Craig,
Good to hear that Maui’s fishing went off. Still a little slow on Oahu, more white papio than omilu being caught. But the water continues to warm and the bite in deeper water is definitely turning on.
-scott