Hawaii Nearshore Fishing

A community of fishers sharing knowledge and Aloha

You are here: Home / Archives for avet sx raptor

Tested the new Phenix Black Diamond East Coast rod and caught 3 different tackle strainers

By Leave a Comment

Standard Black Diamond XHeavy on the bottom, Black Diamond East Coast Heavy on top. Zoom in to see details.

Recently became a Phenix Rod dealer to pair with the Avet reels we sell and realized not many, including myself, have used a Phenix Rod. Ordered two 7ft casting rods to try off the kayak: Black Diamond 30lb – 80lb Extra Heavy and Black Diamond East Coast 30lb to 80lb Heavy. The East Coast version is thinner and a little softer in the tip, with lighter components. The original Black Diamond series was made for West Coast style stand-up fishing, and built to fight big fish and take a beating.

(top to bottom) St Croix Mojo Salt 30-50lb, Phenix Black Diamond 30-80lb, Phenix Black Diamond East Coast 30-80lb

The St Croix Mojo Salt 30lb to 50lb is actually thicker and bulkier than the two 30lb to 80lb Phenix rods due to the tighter and stronger carbon fiber build that Phenix employs.

I put the diminuative Avet SX Raptor on the lighter Black Diamond East Coast and it felt very easy to handle.

The winds lightened this past week and I was finally able to explore a Windward ledge that has always intriqued me. I stumbled upon some big opelu inside the ledge and took one out to 270ft with no bites. One the way back into the shallow ledge I dropped the GoFish cam down and later confirmed it was a barren sandy area with just a few hagi too small to eat the opelu.

At the shallow ledge I traded out the big opelu for a slightly smaller one, and it got picked up by a strong fish with a lot of head shakes. To max out the ability of the Phenix rod and 2-speed SX Raptor, I put it in low gear and grinded away, hardly lifting the rod at all. 4 minutes later I was surprised to see an omilu over 10lbs trying hard to shake the hook. It was admired for its beauty and released. There is a video at the bottom of this post showing all the action, but don’t skip ahead!

Working my way back to the grounds I normally fish, I ran into more daytime opelu schools and caught 3 of them on my 3-hook damashi. That almost never happens to me. I put them out with a sliding weight and each got taken by something that pulled for a while and then held onto the rocks, and when I pulled the hooks out, the leader came out with no nicks at all. I have been suspecting a tako does this at this spot because when roi hole up in the reef my line gets nicked up. Whatever it was, it grabbed the 3 opelu and I was out of live bait.

I had fresh opelu from the Kalihi fish market, and sent one down. It got taken as I paddled away, and since I was so shallow, I assumed I hooked another papio. I was pleasantly surprised to see a kawakawa circle. I kage’d it to bring it onboard, and subdued it with Bert’s Brainer.

Since kawakawa always travel in schools, I put another fresh opelu down and it got taken immediately by a stronger pulling fish. Assuming it was a much larger tuna, I battled the hard surging fish, wondering what would have such strong head shakes. The fish had run through the rocks when it first grabbed the bait, and had pushed the sliding weight all the way up to the FG knot joining the braid to the leader. I couldn’t slide the weight back down and was worried I’d break the FG knot by trying, so I handlined the fish in. I was surprised and disappointed to see a small ulua gasping at the surface.

After releasing the ulua I pulled on the weight and sure enough the FG knot parted so I called it a day and went in.

The Black Diamond East Coast rod and SX Raptor were a delight to fish with yet, in low gear, brought all the fish in within 5 mins each. It was very easy to pull the rod out of the rod holder even when the fish were running, because the “slick butt” didn’t get hung up at all. What a powerful, effective combination.

Here’s the video of the action:

Finally hooked a fish that stress tested my tackle, and me

By Leave a Comment

Half a year ago I was given a St Croix Mojo Salt conventional boat rod to test. Here’s why I upgraded to that rod over the G Loomis Bucara I had been using. Since then I’ve been in a slump and the biggest fish I landed was a 6lb mahi mahi. Well, that finally changed.

Frank’s ulua weighed in at 17 pounds

Frank and I hit our Eastside spot and looked for bait at 9am. Only thing I saw was a promising large mark 75ft down in 170ft of water that didn’t bite. On the advice of someone who found bait a couple weeks ago, we spread out and traveled a mile up current but didn’t encounter much on our fish finders. Then Frank radio’d that he was on a fish and a good amount of time later said he had landed his first ulua and biggest fish ever!

You can see the black tunsten weight on the right side of the aha’s head

Stoked for him and realizing my unweighted frozen opelu hadn’t been touched at all, I put on a 1.5 oz sliding tungsten weight to get the bait down a bit and make it swim more naturally. A few mins later the ratchet went off but I saw a blue bone needlefish (aha) jumping in the distance. I really hate those things. As I unhooked it, I noticed it bent the wire stinger leader a little and nicked the fluorocarbon leader. I didn’t expect anything noteworthy to bite so I just used the dinged up rig and put a twice refrozen opelu out.

A few mins later the ratchet went off again, in spurts and the line seemed like it was going straight down even though I was in only 80ft of water. I could feel the fish running through underwater caves but miraculously the fish came out and headed towards deeper water. Since Frank had just caught an ulua, I assumed the strong surging fish was a big ulua and was worried it would reef me soon but it stayed on and was brutishly strong.

I tried short pumping it up to break its spirit but it still pulled line off and headed back down to the bottom. I kept my feet on the foot pedals to steer with my Bixpy motor, but had to counter balance when the fish pulled from the side of the kayak. I tightened the drag on my Avet SX Raptor two-speed as much as I dared, and dropped into low gear. The reel still needed to give up line if the fish suddenly made a dash in a different direction.

Shaven but not beaten, Sufix Invisiline

I knew this was the biggest fish I ever fought and really wanted to see how big it was but my back and biceps were burning. After more than 30 mins I painfully got back all my braid and just the 30ft or so of fluorocarbon shock leader and 6ft of leader were out. I could see curly cues of the fluorocarbon scraped by the reef. Smaller ulua usually give up and get the bends in the last 50ft but this one fought me all the way to color.

I could see it was a silvery jack, and hoped it was a really big kagami ulua but no, it was a thick white ulua or GT. It was really hard to carefully slide it onto my lap without damaging its gills or jaw and I was too tired to lift it up when Frank came by to video with my GoPro.

I put it back in the water, holding its tail, and it kicked off and swam down strongly.

Thanks for documenting the catch Frank!

This is the gear that withstood the punishing runs of the estimated 50lb plus ulua. All but the Knot 2 Kinky titanium leader and the St Croix Mojo Salt rods are sold in the Store.

Baby Beast and Mini Feast from the East!

By 6 Comments

Surf was booming on the north and west shores and surf on the south side was projected as high as 5ft so we went east to a new spot Erik, our small boat buddy, had recommended. Erik provided all the intel as far as where to launch, where the opelu were, where the nabeta were, and if he were free he would have met us on the water! How many guys would share their secret spots like that?

Frank and I made it out to where the opelu were supposed to be, but it was after 9 in the morning and we couldn’t find a good mark. We paddled over to a deep reef and Frank damashi’d up moana and taape on ika strips while I bottom fished with frozen opelu. I was surprised how few nibbles I was getting so I went all the way out to 200ft and had a hard thump that took the whole fish. I put my second to the last opelu on and dropped again. Thump, thump and a strong run. I was thinking shark but soon there were really hard head shakes. Not as quick as uku head shakes so I assumed it was ulua. The fish took out a lot of line so I buttoned down the Avet SX Raptor 2-speed to stop it, and after struggling to gain line in high gear, I dropped to low gear and man what a difference! The fish didn’t make another sustained run again and it floated so quickly it came up on the opposite side I was expecting and scared me!

I debated keeping the white ulua but had always said I’d release my first kayak caught ulua so I did. Looking at the photos again, it was probably just a bit over 10lbs but at the time I thought it was much bigger because of the bullish fight. Nothing else bit the last opelu in the deep so I went to look for nabeta.

Tipping the damashi with ika strips Frank gave me initially yielded hagi until I moved off the deep reef and onto sand. I dragged the weight instead of bouncing it and could feel fish lightly tugging at the ika and not hooking up. Finally I hooked a yellow nabeta (deepwater gold!). I had to wade through little puffer fish and nunu before I got 2 more nabeta in the deep, then I went a little shallower and started getting reef fish. By then it was time to go in so I turned up the Bixpy motor to contend with the offshore wind, and could sustain a 3.5 mph pace by paddling along with the jet. Without the motor I’d be struggling at 2 mph and be hurting the next day.

Usually I don’t do well the first few times out at a new spot but we were productive because of Erik’s accurate directions. We left a few stones unturned so we need to go back!

Kayak fishing improvements worked!

By Leave a Comment

2 problems have been plaguing me kayaking the deep: 1) It’s been very hard to paddle against the current and stay on the productive spots, and I’ve had a recurring stiff right shoulder. 2) Been hooking more sharks than fish, and they don’t bite through the line like you’d think they would. After trying to raise a shark or two so I can cut it free, I’m spent, especially my left arm that holds the conventional rod.

To solve Problem #1, I’ve put a Bixpy electric motor on my Trident Ultra 4.3’s rudder. I just had to replace my rudder with theirs that held the compact jet motor, and was still able to use my existing rudder controls. The lithium ion battery that powers the motor sits on my fishbag in the rear tankwell and only weighs 7lbs. I can select the 12 forward speeds and 3 reverse speeds from the remote control I wear on my wrist.

Problem #2 was made worse because I’ve been using a high speed, gold Trinidad 14. Awesome smooth reel but the gearing of 6.2:1 doesn’t generate much torque and it’s been hard to turn the handle on heavy sharks. I met Avet rep Ben Frazier at the Fred Hall Show this year (right before they suspended the future shows due to Covid-19), and told him that I was having issues going from freespool to strike drag on my star drag Trinidad, and when I ended up fighting a shark, it was hard to lift and crank with my rig. He recommended the small (17 oz) SX Raptor lever drag reel with a low and high gear and max drag of 26lbs!

Look at the wake the Bixpy is producing!

Well the light wind day came to test both out, and my kayak fishing buddy Frank was able to join me. Very light WSW winds started the day and I cranked the Bixpy up to full speed at 5mph. Not bad since I can’t paddle that fast myself. I ran it on the 3rd or 4th speed while paddling along at a relaxed pace to get to our bait spot, and was easily getting 3.0 to 3.5 mph.

We couldn’t find bait and trolled out to 300ft for nada. I tried bottom fishing out there but the current was ripping near the bottom and my bait never hit solid ground. Soon we realized the west wind and west current had taken us more than a mile downwind. Frank coordinated his pedaling and paddling on his Hobie Revo 13, and made great progress heading back to our safe zone. I gave him a head start and used the Bixpy up to max speed at times, and finally caught him. Frank trolled frozen opelu and I bottom fished a fat opelu chunk after having two smaller frozen opelu pulled off by bait stealers.

Besides a humpback whale showing us his dorsal fin, it was a slow slog until I had my burrito sized chunk taken for about 5 seconds before the hooks pulled out. I dropped the tail half of that chunk down and a shark was on. Going from free spool to strike on the Avet lever drag was very easy and the shark slowed down. When it took line again I inched the lever drag up toward the max but made sure I could still pull off a little line with my hand so it wasn’t so tight the shark could yank me overboard too easily. In high gear I couldn’t gain much line so I dropped down to low gear and was amazed at how easy it was too turn the reel handle. When the shark ran, the drag would slip smoothly while I cranked but otherwise I could just crank and put a little line back on the reel. The shark really did’t run too far, and I put the rod butt down in front of my lap, like I was in a fighting chair and started to lean back and crank.

That was working well but when the shark lunged, I had to make sure the rod tip was parallel with the bow. I ended up getting the shark up in less than 15 mins, which is much faster than I have with other sharks. The low gear definitely helped a lot.

I was worried the shark would pull me over when it came up broadside so I braced my feet on the rails of the yak and kept moving them as the shark came within inches.

Judging from its pudgy shape and high triangular dorsal fin, I think this was a sandbar shark which isn’t supposed to be a man eater. Still it was spooky to have such a heavy animal with sharp teeth so close.

The south west winds started chopping up the water and it was time to head in. The rudder mounted Bixpy popped out of the water a few times as the kayak bow dipped into a small wave, but otherwise the motor, supplemented with my paddling, got me in at 3 mph. I had 2 of the 6 battery levels left after the 5 hrs outing.

I was very pleased with how the Avet SX Raptor and the Bixpy motor performed and look forward to fishing more productively with both.