Frank and I returned to the area that yielded a brute of a fish the first time out, and shark and kaku sightings on our second visit. I did a temporary repair of my Calcutta 200TE that allowed me to get into free spool and was back in business, learning the new grounds with Frank.
The tide was on the top 1/3 of the rise and the shallow flat was somewhat murky despite the light winds. That actually helped our cause since the fish wouldn’t be as spooked by our presence. We started in the area we saw kaku the last time, and sure enough we got follows. Frank hooked a kaku that hit his JDM sub-surface lure, but it shook it off when it went airborne. I hooked one not too far from him and tried walking it over but it shook off also. We spent another 30 mins fishing a limu covered reef but didn’t get anymore follows.
There was another area that looked promising so we walked a few hundred yds in the opposite direction and entered the water. A small school of mullet scattered, and we started snagging the hairy type of limu we find in brackish water. A storm drain was dumping fresh water and some not so pleasant smells into the area, which created the brackish water ecosystem. There was even a school of tilapia feeding around the mangrove roots. Sure enough kaku started following our lures. They didn’t seem to mind being seen but didn’t commit. Maybe the moon was still too big?
Eventually we moved away from the shore and tried wading out to the drop off. Halfway out, in hip-deep water, I hooked a fish on a heavier sub-surface lure. It thrashed on the surface and shook the lure. From the size of the fish and fact were weren’t near defined structure, I assumed it was the awa awa we were targeting. Shortly after, Frank said “I think I have a fish…”. He had felt some pressure on his line and then the fish made a few surges.
On closer examination it was a kaku. Odd that they would be in the area between the shore and the drop off. It was Frank’s first on a sub-surface lure and a nice, healthy one. Frank’s whipping prowess improved greatly in just 3 outings. The water’s depth was too deep to tag it without dunking our gear so he released it.
We fished the brackish water area on the way in and the kaku were gone. Maybe the ones we hooked mid-way to the drop off were those kaku leaving the shallows to sleep in deeper water?
I’m now wondering if the fish I hooked on our first outing wasn’t an awa awa but some other predator like a big jack or a shark. I had thought it was an awa awa because I after that hookup I had hooked a fish that thrashed on the surface, but that could have been a transiting kaku. More exploratory trips needed!
Nice ‘cuda … next time, filet, debone and make Chinese style sweet and sour … you’d be surprised … bugga is winnahs!