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Holoholo: A look back at 2020

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Krystal shared her shibi from the shore catch a couple months ago. This is her recap of the past year, only her 2nd “real” year of fishing ever.

Krystal:

Well, 2020 sure wasn’t what anyone thought it would be. As my 2nd real year of fishing, I had made goals for Summer 2020 back in December 2019. I told myself I was gonna go fishing everyday that the halalu were around because I missed so many days during Summer 2019. Well, the Hilo halalu run was pretty pathetic this year. I got a couple good days early in the season but the halalu were so small I felt bad bringing them up. The one nice thing was that because of COVID, not much people were at beaches. There were times I had the whole place to myself all afternoon! But the schools were smaller this year with smaller fish. One day the school would be there but not really bite, so we would hope for a better bite the next day only to find that the school was gone. There’s been lots of talk of people throwing illegal nets over the schools at night which would of course take much of the fish, but also spook the ones they didn’t catch. The fish were skittish and hard to come by. The halalu were biting real good at other areas of the island, though. I made a special trip out to the west side one day and caught a decent amount. They were good size, too. Wanted to try out the halalu down on the southeast side but never made it. Made it a new goal to skip halalu altogether and catch akule down South Point but never reached that goal as well. The only akule I’ve caught this year were about four in January and one in August by mistake.

As sad as my halalu/akule year was, 2020 for fishing in general was amazing. I made so many new friends through fishing. Got lots of new fish I could check off of my list of first time ever caught including pualu, lai, kawakawa, and shibi! All from shore!

So many places I got to go fishing for the first time ever. Fishing with such awesome new friends was more than I could wish for. You don’t even need to catch fish. Just being out there with good company is all that matters. I truly feel I’ve made lifetime friends this year. I’ve even made great friends this year on Instagram! Many of them are guest writers right here on Hawaii Nearshore Fishing. Though I haven’t met them in person, I feel I can call them true friends I can trust. I’ve learned so much this year thanks to kind fishermen who are willing to share their hard-earned knowledge. I don’t know where I’d be without their kindness and taking me under their wing. I only hope I can pay back what I’ve learned or at least pay it forward to the next generation of fishermen.

The goal I set for my 2nd real year of fishing was not met, but this year turned out to be even better than I ever thought. Full of excitement and good times with new friends. I’m really looking forward to fishing in 2021! What are you looking forward to next year?

Poll Results: 2020 Shoreline Season – how good was it?

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Based on the 39 participants who participated in the poll, only 1/3 said it was about the same as previous years. Just 5% did better than previous years and more than 60% complained that this year was slower than previous years.

Why? For sure it’s bait availability was a factor. There were less bait fish, including oama, near shore, so the preds didn’t risk coming so close to all the people traipsing in the water. And yes, there were more traipsers due to the shutdowns of many businesses.

There’s a strong possibility that the fact that this is the first season after an El Nino, which caused reduced rainfall and slightly cooler water and air temps, made it difficult for baitfish production.

It’s not like the papio died off and are permanently gone though. We’re catching much more papio in deeper water than we normally do. I guess they’re foraging for food out there.