moana kali on damashi

This past week’ there was a forecast for light wind and rain, and then slightly stronger wind and no rain the following day. I picked the light wind and rain since fish have usually bitten well on the dark rainy days. Didn’t work out that way. I felt queasy from the chaotic rolling swells and the fishing was slow except for certain periods of the tide. Here’s the short recap.

I wore a light rain jacket all day under my PFD and since it was mostly dark and overcast, I didn’t overheat. Starting off on the bottom of a big rising tide, I expected the fish to chew like they did on the previous trip but that didn’t happen. I caught a nice 2lb yellow spot papio early, and then didn’t get anything good as I went deeper.

At 180ft, on a friend’s mark, I saw a small bait ball near the bottom and actually brought up a big opelu. Opelu has been scarce over the last few trips because they are spawning and not balled up in the shallows. I put the opelu out with a sliding 2.5 oz tungsten weight, and dropped the damashi down again. Something, probably a big papio, broke me off. Then the opelu got hit and I fought the fish for more than 5 second before the 2 hooks pulled. It ran smoothly like a pelagic, but that might be wishful thinking. I couldn’t catch anymore opelu, and had been feeling lousy in the rolling chop, so I started hitting the shallower damashi spots to find calmer water.

In about 150ft, at a spot I had caught a small uku previously on live opelu, I hooked something that pulled line and busted me off on 20lb damashi. I dropped a jig down but they didn’t want to hit anything bigger, so I kept working shallower. The normal productive spots weren’t holding and I was getting a little concerned with only the yellowspot in the bag. Inside 100ft I brought up an invasive toau (blacktail snapper) and a lai (leatherback), which I kept for a friend. I don’t like handling lai because of its venomous spines but carefully clipped them off after I had brained it. Friends tell me big lai makes good sashimi, and toau is good fried.

A small uku paired with a baby nunu came up next so I moved further inside.

Still didn’t have the fish I was hoping for, but then got lucky/blessed as I returned to the mark the yellowspot was at in the morning.

Two moana kali came up on the damashi followed by a slightly larger one. Whew, finally got enough kau kau for friends. Sorry for the rain on the camera lens.

I checked some other areas on the way in, and they were all void of good fish. Pretty slow day but got enough to share and didn’t fully get sick!

My friend Jon from the Big Island was back so he was able to compare yellow spot papio to omilu sashimi, and steam another moana kali after I took a fillet of each fish off for my dad to enjoy.

One batch of the yellowspot sashimi was garnished with a thin coat of sesame oil and alae salt, then dipped in Chinese mustard and shoyu. The other batch was left plain. Jon found the yellowspot sashimi to be softer than omilu, non-fishy, and delicious. It reminded him of the California yellowtail we both chased in our years up in SoCal.

The moana kali was steamed and then topped with shoyu, oyster sauce, peanut oil and garlic. He found it moist with soft, flaky meat.

What my dad got was simpler in presentation and taste but to his liking. 🙂

I’m waiting on photos from my friends’ fish prep, hint, hint.

We are Phenix Rods, and Ocean Legacy dealers but the shipping cost for 1 or 2 rods from either of their warehouses in Texas has become prohibitive. A number of friends have been buying JDM rods online from Japanese stores because of the favorable exchange rate, so I looked at the inventory of eBay Japanese stores and found a JDM version of the two 2015 Shimano Game Type J jig rods I have.

The rod is a 2020 version made with a 2-piece design that I don’t believe we ever saw in the US. The current 2021+ version we have here has a redesigned blank in 1-piece frame. Since the 2020 version is discontinued, and shorter to ship, the Japanese eBay seller ships for free. FREE from Japan, unlike $100 from Texas, effectively on sale because of the strength of the dollar.

I had been trying for years to bring in very good, affordable, domestic rods we don’t have in our tackle shops here but I guess I am giving up. There’s a reason why we don’t have a wide variety of rods here. The stores need to be able to easily sell what they ship here, which means the mainstream Ugly Sticks and Penns.

To sweeten the deal, the eBay seller I was watching notified me that he was running a 10% off sale. That sealed it. I ordered the Game Type J B604 which is between the B603 and B605 I have. The “60” stands for “6 ft 0 inches” and the “4” is the rod strength rating. The heaviest rod in the 6ft length is the “5”, and I wanted the “4” do handle a 6oz weight when I damashi fish, and land bigger fish quickly.

The rod arrived from Japan in 4 days! Free and fast!! And, inside the custom made 4ft 9in rectangular box was a $20 coupon for the next purchase from the eBay store. Gotta love the way the Japanese do business.

The top section of the rod slides into the section with the reel seat and rod butt. Putting the joint there doesn’t weaken the rod because the rod flexes higher up the blank. That design actually saves on blank material since the rod butt doesn’t need to be on a continuous 1-piece blank.

I was able to fish the full moon day this week, and the winds were light but 2 opposing swells and rain squalls really bumped up the water. The solunar bite period was supposed to start at 12 noon but the overcast skies and rain got the fish in a feeding mood and the damashi bite was fierce. I popped off a few drag pulling fish before realizing the B604 has a less forgiving tip than the B603 and I needed to lighten the drag a bit. Then a 2lb moana kali and a moana came up together.

Next a 3lb omilu was manhandled by the new rod and released.

3 live opelu were put out and taken, but eventually spit. Seems like the predators are still not big enough to find the hooks on a whole opelu.

The afternoon bite never really took off. I put some opelu skin on the damashi hook and a 1lb moana kali jumped on. It took a little while to unhook, and I tried to release it but it wasn’t looking too good so I kept it.

On my way in I checked the nabeta spots but looks like they moved to a safer neighborhood to avoid the winter swells.

I have mixed feelings about my new JDM jig rod. I absolutely love it and think it was well worth the price, but feel sad that I’m giving up on selling domestic rods in Hawaii.

My neighbor Brian beautifully prepared the larger moana kali for his family, 2 days after it was caught.

Fished in the rain. Was wet with rolly swells and the fish didn’t like it as much as I expected. Worked hard to get some kau kau.

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. I bought a JDM Shimano jig rod, saved money and caught some moana kali on it!