During the 12 weeks I hadn’t fished, from mid-May to September, I had acquired a few things I’m eager to use, and a deep ledge I wanna check out before moving on to another location.

Bert Wong gave me a beautifully fabricated 10 inch stainless steel fish brainer to dispatch large fish with its arrowhead shaped blade. It worked very well on this juvenile opakapaka but I really need to use it on an adult pelagic to detemine how safe and quickly it shuts down flopping fish.

I really like the idea of sinking lipped lures for making long casts and for trolling under the surface. The Ima Gyodo Heavy Surfer and the Zetz F-Lead 90S slayed fish inshore and sold out in the Store. I was given the opportunity to become a Duo International dealer and one of the lures I wanted to start with was the Duo Roughtrail Blazin. They are very compact, heavy lipped lures in various sizes geared for papio up to pelagics.

The largest in the family is the Duo Roughtrail Blazin 110m. 4-3/8 inch, 2-1/4 ounce. I’m planning to cast for breaking aku and mahi, and sink down and troll through suspended fish. Look how nicely it wobbles and flutters. The Blazins can be found in the Store in sizes 85mm, 92mm and 110mm here.

Werner Paddle hooked me up with a “bent shaft” version of my paddle that got nicked by the shark’s teeth. The concept behind the bent shaft is that it forces the paddler’s hands in a position that aligns the wrists and shoulders during the paddle stroke to minimize pressure on the joints. I used it once so far, expecting to paddle way more efficiently. I didn’t. The paddle is actually a little heavier than my straight shaft paddle, so it didn’t feel light and effortless. But my joints did feel better than they normally do the next day, especially after such a long lay off. There’s still a learning curve to paddling in correct form but I like the correction it provides.

Lastly, there’s one more area I wanna check from one of my go-to Windward spots. I’ve been slowly expanding my fishing range and have found bait and some pelagics but still haven’t found any sizeable uku. The underwater video shot during the last trip revealed how sandy and sloping the area I had been fishing was. No rocky ledges that the bottom fish like, and no upwelling the pelagics like. I have one more area that’s still within paddling range to check before moving on to another spot to launch.

Just need the wind to drop under 10mph. It’s been a windy Fall so far.