Big Island kayak fisher Shea Uehana (YouTube: Affordable Wahoo) summarizes his second year of offshore fishing. You can compare this to his previous year here, and to Devan Inouye’s Oahu Offshore Kayak Fishing Summary here.

Shea:

January 2022

Opelu and akule were both scarce through most of the month, but the few that I could catch were quickly eaten by hungry shibi ahi in the 25-35 lb range. I actually got a single shibi each trip out in January. 

February 2022

Opelu were easier to find as we ranged out to spots on the southern end of the Big Island. The shibi bite was hot on the east side, while Sailfish readily took live opelu every trip out to the west. I also consistently came across a large school of Great Hammerhead sharks just milling around on the surface in South Kona. 

March 2022

Bad weather on the windward side forced us to head west. The shibis were smaller at west spots, but Mahimahi and Kamanu (Rainbow Runner) started showing up. One of the Kamanu I caught this month is still my PB to date, a chunky 21 lbs. Smaller ono started showing up near the end of the month, and on one trip I lost six in a row to sharks! 

April 2022

Opelu were suddenly abundant pretty much island-wide. I was finally able to break the ono curse and landed the first of the year early in the month. Large Mahimahi started showing up on the NW side of the island, and a buddy and I doubled up. His bull must have been close to 40 lbs and the cow I landed weighed in at 26 lbs. At the end of the month, I lucked out and landed my biggest ono yet… on a circle hook with flurocarbon leader!

May 2022

The opelu suddenly made themselves scarce, and even the akule were almost impossible to find in the pre-dawn darkness. The only pelagic I got all month was a Kawakawa (Mackerel Tuna). The skunking got bad enough that I made the leap and finally tried my hand at deep dropping for bottom fish in 600-900 feet depths. In a stroke of luck, I actually got my first Hapuupuu (Hawaiian Seabass) the first time trying this new fishing method. 

June 2022

I pushed further than I ever had before in search of good deep-dropping grounds. I even purchased a Penn Squall 40 paired with a Shimano Trevala X-heavy to have better line capacity and so I wouldn’t burn out my spinners cranking heavy rigs up from the deep. The deep dropping yielded delicious deep sea species such as Gindai, Opakapaka, and Ehu. On one trip out, I even caught a couple opelu (the first I’d gotten in over a month) and lucked out when two 30-40 lb shibis grabbed them on the way in. 

July 

Fishing at our usual east side spots was shut down all month due to high winds and choppy seas, so we hit the old stomping grounds on the NW side of the island. Catching live opelu was really hit or miss. Some days we filled the bait tube in minutes and others we struggled to even catch a single one. The pelagic action was also pretty slow, but the few fish that I did catch were some of the best I’ve gotten to date, particularly a chunky ono and a slammer mahimahi. I also made the decision to upgrade my conventional reel to something with better cranking power and chose an Avet MXL 2-speed lever drag (thanks Scott!). The low gear on this reel is just great and made cranking heavy bottom rigs up from 700+ feet so much easier. I was able to get 3 absolutely delicious gindai in one day.

August 

Catching bait was a breeze in the first half of the month, and it seemed like smaller (10-15 lb) mahimahi were starting to show up in numbers. However, in the later half of the month, the opelu once again played hard to get and I ended up falling back on deep dropping or vertical jigging to put fish on the yak. Reef fish like Black Trevally and Omilu saved the day some trips. This was really a stark contrast to August 2021, when we seemed to be inundated in opelu schools much of the time.

September

The opelu at my home grounds continued to ghost us, but luckily there were some great breaks in the trade winds and we capitalized by heading to some fertile grounds. The bait were much easier to catch there, and aku, decent shibis, sailfish, and my PB to date ono all came up this month. From what I heard from friends who kept trying the usual grounds, the opelu bite was not great and fishing was tough. 

October 

I only went a couple times in October, but the mahimahi were pretty active both trips. Inspired by watching Rokkitkit on Youtube, myself and a couple other guys started using Gofish trolling cameras to capture underwater strike footage. I lucked out the first time using it and a decent bull mahi ate my dead opelu on camera and even tried to eat the camera itself! 

November 

The opelu finally decided to come out in force, and it seemed like we caught way more than we needed every trip out. Nice sized shibis in the 30-50 lb range bit consistently, and we even lost a few that were probably way larger to sharks and pulled hooks. The last fishing session of the month was right after a huge cold front had passed and the shibis and mahimahi were voracious.  This month finally felt like the Fall bite we’d been waiting for was turning on…

December

Ended the year strong with shibis ranging from 40 – 55 lbs, Ono 35 – 45 lbs, and some Ehu for New Years dinner! Opelu cooperated on every trip and nice conditions made for a great month.