mongoose fish

Normally we can’t kayak fish the Windward side in the Summer because of the prevailing Trade Winds. When the winds slow down during the Fall, ono, shibi ahi, mahi and kawakawa can be caught on live opelu. Last Friday, I checked a spot I hadn’t fished since last Fall, while a friend checked our normal Windward spot 5 miles away. Two days after that, friends checked the same spot I had fished on Friday.

Here’s what we experienced: Opelu was spotted but hard to catch. I didn’t catch any, but the two other guys caught 1 each and caught a kawakawa on it. Took more than an hr for their kawakawa to find the live bait.

I checked a 1 square mile area for bait and bottom fish and areas that are normally covered with juvenile fish in the Fall were barren. An area at 250ft that yielded ulua and kahala in the past had 6 inch opakapaka. At 1pm, after the big high tide turned, I stumbled upon active fish in 80ft of water. For more than an hr, ever drop of damashi got bit but the fish were either too small, the wrong species, or broke the line.

The hot bite was at a drop off that started in 50ft and extended past the 80ft mark. Omilu were at the deeper edge and so was a Lehi (Rusty Jobfish), which I thought was a pale wahanui. Another unusual fish that pulled line was a mongoose fish or cigar wrasse. I’ve caught these whipping the flats but had never seen one this big.

Stringers of yellow spot mixed with weke nono / weke ula came up but they were under a pound. When my damashi rig got busted off and an 11 inch weke nono came up alone, I kept it out of spite.

Even toau and taape hit the damashi, on the shallower side of the ledge. I killed the taape and kept the toau.

My neighbor Brian pan fried the toau and found it flaky and mild.

The 11 inch (fork length) weke nono was stuffed with baby fish, which led me to believe the frenzy of fish were attacking a school of baby critters. I filleted the weke nono for sashimi, and sadly didn’t get much yield after the bones were cut out. It was a little soft because I didn’t get a chance to dry age it in paper towels to take out the remaining moisture. Still was non-fishy with a nice, soft texture, one of my favorite fish to eat raw.

My Takeaways:

The ecosystem that attracts large fish to the nearshore area isn’t developed in the early summer.
Opelu is hard to catch this time of year.
Weke nono need to be at least 1.5 lb to yield enough sashimi.

Wanted to check a couple of spots I hadn’t fished since the “season” last year to see how they produce in the “pre-season”. First up was a reefy spot exposed to swell. Got out early enough to catch the light winds and rising tide. A few dark reef fish followed the JDM sub-surface swimmer in, but nothing hit it for a while. Then something hit on the shoreline reefy shelf that took drag but turned and swam in with the waves. It didn’t feel like a papio, and the area was too rough for kaku.

Saw something cylindrical and light green colored with a mustardy orange spot. Moana kali? The fish hit in a few feet of water, not the normal moana kali grounds, but it did hit a swimming lure. Upon closer examination I realized it was a big “mongoose fish” or cigar wrasse.

I’ve caught these before on cut bait but never eating size. Heard from multiple sources that it’s good eating. Considered keeping it but wasn’t sure if my folks would want to try a “hinalea” so I let it go. Because of its shape and size it fought like a good-sized weke. Another mongoose followed the lure but didn’t hit it. That was the only action I got at the first spot so I jumped in the car to check the second spot.

The water level was low at the second spot and still rising. It was late morning and I didn’t see any bait fish and didn’t get a single follow on my lures. I’ve caught fish in a man-made channel at this spot in the past but only in lower light conditions.

Dunno if a foul hooked mongoose fish counts as a non-bolo head. What do you guys think?

We checked 2 Windward spots in mid-June to see if the Pelagics had come in

Consolation predator