Tried a new spot for a new goatfish and struck out. But found juvie opakapaka, weke nono and moana kali and the underwater camera revealed why they were there.

March 28, 2025 By Scott 4 Comments

Went north from my normal Windward launch since a friend said there were plentiful munu goatfish, nicknamed Joes, at the end of the reef. Water quality was excellent in 50ft of water and I could see the bottom, so I think the wary Joes could see me too. Only big moano were caught so I went out to the deep sandy area and stumbled upon juvenile opakapaka. They were about 12 inches, measured head to tail, which is the biggest they seem to get before they migrate out to where adult opakapaka live. 10 inch weke ula/weke nono were mixed in with them, too small to keep, and some fish ganged up and broke my 15lb damashi rig so I dropped the CanFish CamX underwater camera rig down to see what they were doing.

Surprisingly, the fish were spread out but a weke nono would always swim up to the rig, get hooked, and then a paka would bite the 2nd hook. Check out the short video.

I then went to my heavy damashi rig with a 6oz Promar Ahi Live Deception jig as the bottom weight, to handle these bruisers.

The paka’s swim bladder would push out when the fish got to the surface, so I just kept 5 paka (limit for Deep Seven species without a commercial license), released the small weke nono, and left them alone.

I paddled a mile south, with the help of my Bixpy motor, back to my normal grounds but it was slow. Only the taape wanted to eat. So I moved shallower on my way in, hoping to find opelu or a good goatfish.

Sure enough, a nice moana kali hit the top damashi hook of the heavy rig with the jig on the bottom, and got foul hooked on the 2nd hook. That beautiful fish saved the day.

I dropped the underwater camera back down and another moana kali was spotted as well as packs of moano and omilu, so it was confirmed that the rocky reef held a lot of predator fish.

Switching back to the heavy damashi rig with the 6oz jig, a big nunu (trumpetfish) hit the jig itself! Man that fish is slimy. I ended up getting the rig snagged and breaking off everything, DOH!, so I went back to the regular damashi rig with 20lb line.

I landed what looked like a wahanui that had its forehead and mouth spray painted with yellow paint. Maybe it was a male fish that was showing mating colors? Anyone ever see this before?

Something slammed the hooks and a 1.5lb omilu came up on the top hook with the rest of the rig busted off. I’m guessing multiple omilu got hooked.

With only the underwater camera rig still intact, I made the trek in.

After more than 7hrs on the water, this is what I ended up with. It was a beautiful, calm day and I was able to confirm some underwater hot spots, so I went home very happy. Here’s what we did with the fish.

I filleted the juvie opakapaka with a sharp, flexible knife. My wife pan fried it and said it was very good but she did have to pick out the pin bones. She liked ’em enough to want to eat more tonight! Next time, I’ll have to pull those out or cut out those pin bones, without wasting much meat.

The other 3 paka were given to a friend who also fried them, whole. Opakapaka, especially when young, is a clean, non-fishy tasting fish since they are eating plankton and critters they find in the sand.

My neighbor Brian has gotten deep frying the nabeta down to an art form. He actually fried this moments after I gave it to him.

The star of the day’s catch was the moana kali. Brian steamed it Chinese style, pulling the fish out of the oven when it reached a core temp of about 115 – 120 degrees, and then let it rise and balance out on the plate to finish.

Fish bit like crazy in the storm runoff and rain!

May 4, 2023 By Scott 2 Comments

It rained hard the night before and continued to shower on the Windward side but the wind was projected to remain light. Since fishing in the rain the previous time was phenomenal, I put on a light rain jacket and paddled past the runoff browning out the launch.

Because the current was too strong to pull the bait tube out deep the week before, my plan was to try to catch opelu inside, and then drift ’em around to find the elusive Windward uku that has eluded me. A 12 inch opelu bit on the first drop, followed by perfect, bite sized 7 inch opelu on subsequent drops. Normally opelu are hard to catch after sunup but it was overcast and raining and the fish thought it was dawn I guess. With such perfect, small baits I decided to try to paddle the 1 mile out to 250ft.

Using the Bixpy motor, the current was manageable and I got a hookup at 160ft. It had been months since a fish has stayed on longer than 5 seconds and I was stunned. The fish ran so hard, and so deep I thought I was fighting my first shibi (yellow fin tuna under 100lb) but after 6 mins a really round kawakawa came to color.

I was so out of practice I knocked the kage in the water and had to tail grab the fish. Good thing the kage floats!

The circle hook, which was lightly snagged on the roof of the kawakawa’s mouth, fell out when the fish was in the kayak. Man, I was lucky to land it. After so many pulled baits on J hooks and a few on circle hooks, this was the first pelagic landed in 7 months.

I did manage to get out to 275ft but nothing took the next 7 inch opelu so I paddled back in to the shallow dropoff. The rain was falling lightly but consistently. Since I was wearing the rain jacket over my long sleeve shirt, I felt fairly comfortable.

Sure enough everything wanted to eat the CHL Minnows on the damashi. Nabeta on the bottom, opelu on the top, lai in the middle and even a baby uku! An aha (needlefish) took the opelu I had been free lining, and nothing took the next opelu I dropped down with a weight. The mature uku had eluded me again!

I wanted to give the nabeta a rest, just took 3, released the rest of the damashi fish and headed in as the rain abated. Was nice to dry off while I cleaned up.

The kawakawa felt like it was close to 20lb because I was used to catching fish under a pound, but ended up weighing 14lb after being bled. It fought spiritly but the St Croix Mojo boat rod and Avet SX Raptor in low gear sealed its fate.

I do love these overcast, light wind, light rain days that really get the fish going!

Eastside: Calm, big moon, light boat traffic. Small fish hungry because big fish not attacking?

January 20, 2022 By Scott Leave a Comment

The winds continued to be very light, and the North swell took a break so I went to one of my favorite Eastside spots to compare conditions with the Southside. I had never fished this area in January, and was expecting the water to be cold. Instead the water was sheet glass calm and a degree warmer, 75.5, than it was last week on the Southside.

It took 45 mins to get out to the first spot, with the Bixpy motor doing the heavy lifting. I had forgotten that the Eastside comparable depth was a mile further than the Southside. First drop in search of opelu and a small-medium nabeta came up! I hadn’t found these all of last year, and was very pleasantly surprised. Caught 2 more to make a meal of them but snagged structure twice and had to retie. Left the area to get away from snags and didn’t find any bait. The damashi continued to get bit and occasionally bit off on every drop. If this were the Southside on a sheet glass day I’d have to use bait on the damashi, but the fish were happy eating CHL Minnows.

I was really enjoying seeing what would come up next until realizing I had spent 2 hours playing on the reef without a hard tug, so I put out a frozen opelu and headed out to 225ft. Nothing showed up on the sonar and nothing hit the opelu. So different from the summer when deep opelu schools were hanging out near the bottom and kawakawa were taking dead bait.

Drifted back in, had the opelu pulled off at the shallow drop so I put on a live long nabeta looking wrasse and it was just pecked at. Dropped down a live 9 inch lizardfish next without better luck. Put down another frozen opelu and it got pulled off. Seemed like the small bait stealers were pretty brazen because they knew the big predators weren’t around but definitely preferred opelu to reef fish you and I wouldn’t eat.

A bunch of weke nono and a baby uku came up on the damashi, but too small to keep and it was past time to head in. Can’t believe I was playing in the calm water for almost 5 hrs. Then my bait rod finally hooked up but the fish ran into a cave. I’m telling myself it was a roi so I won’t be as bummed. I broke the line off and heard sea birds laughing behind me. I turned around and couldn’t believe my eyes. Fish were crashing on the surface and birds were dive bombing the bait that was chased up. I didn’t have hooks on my bait rig but wanted to get a closer look so I motored/paddled over but the melee ended and the birds sat on the water waiting for the bait school to be chased up again. Unfortunately the action didn’t show up well on the video I took.

Well, the frenzy never reappeared so I headed in with just 3 yellow nabeta in my fish bag after 6 hrs of hard fishing., I learned that the small fish still bite even though the water is super clear but the predators may not feed on calm days after a big moon. It’s definitely worth going back in the Winter until the damashi bite slows down.

My neighbor masterfully deep fried the nabeta by first seasoning in salt and pepper, then coating with corn starch. He scored the fish to allow the oil to cook the bones to crunchy perfection.

When in doubt, fry longer to make sure the bones are cooked through and the flesh is no longer mushy.

Kayak fished the Westside for the first time!

July 31, 2021 By Scott Leave a Comment

It had been 8 weeks since my last decent catch and the wind on the South and Windward side of Oahu wasn’t letting up any time soon. I had been planning to meet up and fish with Terry, a contributor to the Hawaii kayak FB groups and a customer of the Store, and so he offered to show me his go-to Westside spot. The day was forecasted to be blowing over 12 mph everywhere else but only 8 to 12 on the lee side of the island.

I got to the spot a little after 7am, taking just 10 mins longer than it does to go to the Windward spot we had been planning to try. Terry was already setting up his Scupper Pro, which he skillfully outfitted with rod holders, fish finder, drag chute, insulated kill bag, bait tube, etc. I used to fish off a Scupper Pro and carried much less gear yet but looked more overloaded and disorganized than Terry’s setup.

The water was only slightly dimpled and the wind felt like 8 to 10mph but wasn’t impacting us at all. After a mile paddle we were at our first spot in 90ft of water. That’s a mile and a half less than the paddle to our Eastside deep spot! There were marks on the bottom that didn’t look like opelu but we dropped our damashi down to see what was around. A small moana came up for me and since Terry recently caught a 4lb uku on a moana in that general area, and I normally don’t do well with live moana, he put it on his live bait rig. I then hooked something that fought like a small papio but it shook off right before I could see what it was. Then I hooked a nice sized blue nabeta. Spoiler alert, that was the highlight of the day for me.

Terry began to get big bites on his homemade 20lb fluoro damashi rig. He had what felt like a good size papio break him off, then caught a beautiful 1.5lb weke nono.

He had been drifting around with his moana down for an hour and a half, and checked it to see if it was still intact. It was, and as he lowered it again the line took off! After an odd feeling fight he brought up a 3.5lb uku that was hooked in the mouth and in the side, thus inhibiting the way the uku could swim. We both were stoked with his action and I dropped a refrozen whole opelu down which immediately got mauled and yanked off the hooks. Felt like a small uku and I was expecting to connect with another soon.

Well, I just had my opelu baits chewed and pulled and Terry had two of his live moana steathily removed so he took me to the spot less than a mile away where he had caught his previous uku. We saw some bait marks that didn’t bite, I lost more baits including a live malu (sidespot goatfish), trolled around, jigged around, but couldn’t catch anything else.

I was super impressed with how Terry could cover the grounds without aid of pedals or motor, and fish over deep spots. He’s not exactly a spring chicken (neither am I), but showed no signs of tiring from the paddling. We both got a little stiff sitting on non-elevated kayaks seats though.

Our cars were intact with beach goers nearby and all was good. I did hit pau hana traffic on the way home and would need to leave by 2pm next time. My take of this area is that it does get fished often because the weather is favorable, but there still are reef fish inside. That’s a good sign that the fish population is healthy, but the fish weren’t big enough to swallow my hooks. That happens on the South side a lot too. Just gotta find the ledges that are holding the bigger fish.

Terry broiled the weke nono filets in a sake, vinegar, shoyu, ginger marinade. Was a bit dry but his wife said was ono. The next day they ate some of the uku as sashimi and steamed the rest Chinese style. Was winnahs! I saw my neighbor walking his dog as I was unloading my fishing gear and gave him my lonely nabeta. 🙂

Kayak damashi action

May 18, 2020 By Scott Leave a Comment

On an epic light wind day last week, Frank and Kelly SUP trolled for papio past the break on the east side and I went deeper on the kayak to try for opelu and hungry predators. The water was so glassy inside that the papio bite was tentative for the SUP crew but they scraped up a few 1 to 3lb omilu to take home.

I couldn’t find any opelu and nothing ate the frozen opelu I put down so I tried to salvage the trip by catching good eating fish on the Ahi USA damashi tipped with CHL Minnows and ika strips. Over the reefy transition to sand, baby kaku and nunu came up. Then 8 inch baby opakapaka began to mob the Minnow.

Finally I struck nabeta gold and even brought up a lai. The CHL Minnow outfished the strip of ika and didn’t attract hagi so I stopped using the ika.

On a calm day with minimal current and wave action, it was so peaceful to bounce the damashi on the bottom and feel the electric action of the rod tip.

I shared the nabeta with friends who hadn’t tasted the fish before, and gave the lai to Frank for grinds and lai skin. Good fun fishing in the deep.

-scott

Targeting nabeta from the kayak

May 30, 2019 By Scott 4 Comments

It’s been a month since I stumbled upon the stray nabeta and opelu in stormy weather. Here’s how that scouting trip went. This time around, it didn’t rain on us but the winds were a steady 10 mph onshore, with wind swell that bumped up the water.

Our plan was to head directly to the nabeta/opelu spot, and if we caught opelu, we’d troll ’em deeper. Well, the opelu weren’t around so Frank trolled deeper with a frozen opelu. I had started damashi-ing with a CHL Blue Dust Minnow on the bottom hook, and a CHL Obake Purple Minnow on the top hook. Two nabeta hit the Blue Dust Minnow within the first 20 mins so I put a Blue Dust Minnow on the top hook and it immediately got bit, but what came up were deep water lizardfish. The wind kept blowing me off the spot and I eventually let it take me shallower.

Thought I was gonna load up after this but I drifted off the spot.

At 130 ft I hooked something over some good fish marks on the sounder, and there was more resistance than a lizardfish or nabeta could muster. Then drag pulled for a few seconds and abruptly stopped. I was hoping for a papio or uku but what came up was a dead trumpetfish with his throat ripped out and wounds near his tail. Predators in the area! I put on a small frozen opelu but that was ignored. So were tako legs and halalu. The bite went dead and we gave up.

Still, it was a successful trip, learning more about what I consider to be the best eating fish in our waters. The nabeta were only at a certain depth on this day, 5 feet deeper was barren, 5 feet shallower was full of lizardfish. And at this spot they love the CHL Blue Dust Minnow. Moving up to a 5 oz lead helped call the sand dwellers with each sand cloud lifting thump.

The bigger one has a puncture wound in its head because I killed it with my long nose pliers so it wouldn’t bite me as I bagged it!

I gave the two nabeta to a friend who gives me fresh tako. He hasn’t tasted the delicious fish for 19 years. Seems like a lot of fishermen heard about nabeta but haven’t seen it for a long time. Still got if you know where to go. 🙂

Caught the target kayak species, but…

May 1, 2019 By Scott 2 Comments

The offshore kayak guys who consistently catch pelagics (ono, small ahi, mahi mahi, kawakawa, etc) do so by catching live opelu and then trolling ’em. Frank and I have specifically gone out to try to bring up opelu on our damashi rigs, and failed. The few times the opelu school was under us, they kept moving and we didn’t drop our damashi rig in time.

We always start our day by trying to catch bait, and eventually give up and put on frozen bait. Our latest trip to the Windward side started that way, and Frank brought up some taape on the damashi for the frying pan. I was just getting my CHL Purple Obake colored Minnow bitten off, so I put on a light green, translucent Minnow. A small brown hage took that Minnow so I put on a jade colored CHL Blue Dust Minnow with blue flakes.. Frank then hooked something strong that broke his damashi branch line, but the bite in that area stopped shortly after.

Remembering that Capt Erik and I stumbled upon deep water gold (nabeta) on his tin boat months ago, I paddled out to that mark on my GPS but didn’t see anything on the fish finder. Here’s that epic nabeta trip post from last fall.

I dropped my 2 hook damashi rig with 4oz weight down, and because the rain squalls offshore were generating gusts, I started drifting before my weight hit the bottom. Immediately it felt like I snagged a small bag and could feel the slightest twitches on the line. I cranked the rig up and brought up a deep water lizardfish. Next drop yielded another instant lizardfish. By now I had drifted about 50 yds off my mark, and into shallower water.

Dropped one more time before paddling back upwind and felt more twitches but less resistance. Yeehah!! Deep water gold was mined! I called Frank on the VHF and he paddled out but the rain and wind really made things cold and choppy. I tried paddling back to my original mark but it took so long I dropped down in slightly shallower water. Frank had headed to the less windy inshore grounds and I told him I’d give it a couple more tries before meeting him. Lizardfish, trumpetfish, lizardfish, lizardfish… Every drop, even though my line was sharply angled by the time it got to the bottom, yielded some bottom dweller but not the delicious nabeta.

A larger rain squall came through, and I made my final drop. This time I lowered the rig after feeling a fish hook up, then felt it get extra heavy. A lizardfish was on the top hook but an opelu was on the bottom hook! I could not believe my eyes. After specifically trying for opelu in much better conditions, I catch one in torrential rain while bottom fishing for nabeta. I wanted to troll that opelu around but my trolling rig was wrapped around my rudder because I neglected it as I was pushed around in the wind. I couldn’t free it while seated and decided not to get in the water with the wind pushing me at 15 mph plus. I paddled in so Frank could free my rudder, and the opelu stayed alive with splashes of water wetting its gills but died after 10 mins. Just as well, more rain was about to drench us.

Despite the rain and wind, I’d consider this a successful exploratory trip. There were huge barren spots in the deep, but the “nabeta spot” had so much life for some reason. Just no predators who wanted to eat my frozen halaluu. Definitely worth exploring again under calmer conditions.

The nabeta and opelu were both on the smaller size, about 6 or 7 inches. Smaller, thinner nabeta fry up easier, and because the sun never really came out, the nabeta was so fresh it didn’t taste like fish at all! My wife and I don’t like “fishy’ fish, so fried nabeta is our favorite fish to eat. The junior opelu will hopefully prove to be lucky when I troll it next time. And I’ll start with the CHL Blue Dust to see if its success was due to the overcast conditions, or if it’s an even better color than the Purple Obake.

Tin Boat – No Fish Finder, No Problem

October 4, 2018 By Scott 4 Comments

I had planned to cautiously explore a new area 2 miles out by kayak but the wind forecast kept changing so Capt Erik graciously offered to take me on his aluminum 14ft Lowe 1457 with 9.9 hp Yamaha tiller motor. The winds were under 8 mph at launch time and the waves weren’t bad. Capt Erik used his Navionics mobile app to provide navigation and we zipped out, past the waves, to the furthest of his spots he wanted to check that were within kayak distance from shore.

Capt Erik tested the surface bite by throwing a Yo-zuri Bull Popper and I dropped down the front half of an opelu on the bait rig. We didn’t have a fish finder but the Navionics app said we were in about 60 ft of water. Nothing was called up by Capt Erik’s popper and my opelu just got picked apart if it was too close to the bottom. Capt Erik switched to an Ahi USA damashi rig he tipped with plastic grubs and started getting moana and taape. The taape were kept to “clean the reef” of invasives, and the bigger moana were kept to join the fish fry. His damashi action looked a lot more fun than the non-action I was getting, so I put the bait rod in the rod holder and used my jig rod with a 2 hook damashi set. I put on a CHL Luk E. Lee (emerald green) Minnow and a Purple Obake Minnow I had left over from halalu fishing.

We were bringing up fish on the damashi but nothing too outstanding (hage, table boss, small goats) so Capt Erik kept moving us to the next mark he had on his Navionics app. I was surprised that not even a papio hit the baited line with halalu so I asked if we could go deeper. Big fish live in deeper water, right? By the length of the fall of our damashi rig, we guessed were were in 100 ft of water or more. Nothing hit our damashi or the halalu for a while, and then I finally hooked something on the damashi that made my rod tip twitch in a weird way. Turned out to be the slimy trumpetfish or nunu. What was he doing all the way down there in that barren depth? Capt Erik drove the boat even deeper and then he brought up a bigger nunu!

Without a fish finder we couldn’t easily locate drop offs so Capt Erik went further out and I reset the bait rig with a 6 inch frozen halalu about 12 cranks from the bottom. We used the damashi to gauge depth and bottom hardness, and I kept bouncing mine on the bottom. Suddenly my bait rig went off and the fish kept running! I had to bring in my damashi from a long way down but Capt Erik offered to reel it up so I could set the hook on the fish. The mystery fish had taken quite a bit of line and when I settled into the fight it felt heavy and strong. Bigger than any uku I’ve fought, no head shakes like an ulua, and too slow to be a pelagic. I was thinking “shark” by the steady pull with short breaks mixed in but Capt Erik said that a shark would’ve cut the line by now unless my Gamakatsu Live Bait hook or trailing VMC 4X Inline hook found its way into the corner of the mouth.

The next likely suspect was a kahala but I didn’t feel the head shakes associated with that species. I tried to bring it up as quick as I could but it had other plans. It took more than 6 minutes to get it to the surface, and it was 20 lb class kahala. Man those fish are really strong! I was thinking medium sized shark the whole time. The Gamakatsu Live Bait hook was perfectly set in the corner of the mouth and the trailing VMC Inline hook was busted off!

In this photo the CHL Purple Obake Minnow looks like a goatfish’s barbel!

I asked Capt Erik what is found with kahala in the depths and he said kawakawa, shibi, etc so I hurriedly dropped another bait down after releasing the kahala. Capt Erik saw the scum line where two currents came together and put us on a drift towards that. He felt his damashi weight settle softly and surmised we were over sand. The deep water lizardfish he brought up confirmed that. Wishful thinking, I announced that nabeta often are caught with those lizardfish, since we had experienced that on the Big Island last year. On my next damashi drop I felt small head shakes and some resistance and brought up the coveted nabeta on the CHL Obake Purple Minnow! We couldn’t believe we stumbled upon deep water gold.

Capt Erik dropped his 6 hook damashi set down and hooked something immediately. He very carefully reeled his catch to the surface and it was a whopper of a yellow/brown nabeta! That one looked more like deep water gold! We drifted off the spot and started catching lizardfish. A few birds were circling above and we could see 10 inch fish tail slapping the surface. I readied for the screamer that never came. All that activity must’ve spooked the nabeta because we weren’t catching anything on the bottom. Luckily Capt Erik marked the first nabeta spot with his Navionics app and took us back to it, so we could follow the same drift down.

We both hooked up on our first drop and I was really impressed with Capt Erik’s navigational skills to gauge depth and drift with just the mobile gps app. Despite having to run the boat, he jumped out to a big lead as I started to miss fish and drop them on the elevator ride up. He was up 7 to my 2 and we were nearing our departure time.

I really wanted to add to the fish count knowing how coveted these fish are and rallied with 3 more at the end. Our lofty goal was to get 10 nabeta and we ended up with 12!

Fishing with Capt Erik and his very upbeat personality is always a good time, but finding “our” own secret nabeta hole with just the Navionics app made it a trip of a lifetime.

Cooking Tip: Yesterday I fried one of the big yellow nabeta that Erik caught but it didn’t brown and crisp up because I didn’t leave it frying long enough. The meat still tasted good but the skin and scales weren’t like the fried panko they were supposed to be. Kelly said to just deep fry on medium heat until the skin turned brown, flipping it if the fish wasn’t covered by oil. I did that to this nabeta and look how onolicious it came out!

Kayak fishing the deep in light wind, small moon conditions

May 14, 2018 By Scott 6 Comments

The rare light wind, small wave, small moon day presented itself. My fishing partner, Frank, was out of town so Kelly graciously filled in. Kelly planned to troll frozen oama on the way out to the deep and then switch to damashi tipped with ika when fish showed up on the EchoMap 44CV fish finder/map charter. I planned to keep things simple and bottom fish with frozen opelu and maybe drop a jig with the other rod.

I hadn’t bottom fished with bait at this particular spot and wanted to see if that would be the difference maker. Kelly hooked an undersized omilu within minutes of launching and released it. I steadily paddled out, telling him my depth via walkie talkie as he followed behind. Before I reached the 100 ft mark, Kelly battled and landed a big aha which he also released since he hoped for better fish in the deep.

Fish gathered under me so I dropped a frozen 6 inch opelu down on a relatively small offset circle hook. The first couple were getting pulled off the hook without me even detecting the theft. Then some came back with 2 inches missing off the tail, or puncture marks through the body. At first I was excited because our last two big moon bottom fishing trips yielded no bites, but as I quickly went through my bait supply, concern mounted. Kelly damashi fished and after a while got a bite. Up came a big nabeta! Whoohoo! I was surprised they were in 100 ft since I thought we were over a rocky ledge, not the sand that nabeta hide in.

More of my opelu were mangled and the bite pattern sure looked like fang-toothed nabeta, though maybe I was wishful thinking. I was down to a 3 inch piece of a big opelu head and three 8-inch whole opelu. I changed to the 12/0 VMC circle hook I had been using in the past, since the offset hook I was using had too small a gap to slip around the bait. With the opelu head securely hooked through the nostrils, I dropped down and waited. Tap, tap, tap. Kelly was watching nearby when the fish ran hard with the bait and took drag for a second. It managed to pull the bait off without getting hooked. Sigh…

Kelly magically brought up a moana on his damashi and I hooked it through the nostrils and set it down. I drifted that moana further out, over ledges for a good amount of time and nothing hit it. It was a good test and in the future I’ll stick to opelu if I have some.

We started fishing our way in, and Kelly stretched his body by standing and fishing off the SUP. Takes a lot of dexterity and calm water to do that. At 60 ft he got a bite. Here we are, hoping the fish isn’t “black”.

I ended the day with no fish landed, extending my bolo head streak to 7. Kelly felt bad and insisted I take home the nabeta since that’s the only fish my wife wants to cook and eat. He said to gill and gut it right away and place it on paper towels in the fridge to keep it dry.

I rolled it in corn starch, deep fried it lightly, pulled it out to let it cool and fried it again, “Coach Haru style”. I slightly under fried the outside so it wasn’t as crispy as it should have been but my wife ate it to the bones. Nabeta is the best! Thanks Kelly!

And while I got skunked once again, I do believe I got so many hits and steals because of the dark moon phase and moving tide. Just gotta convert that knowledge to fish caught, next time.

Failed kayak damashi attempt

December 21, 2017 By Scott 14 Comments

I had “accidentally” caught a nabeta on a 2 oz jig the last time out and hoped that a damashi rig would be a lot more effective. Found these packaged damashi rigs from my California party boat days but dealing with so many hooks concerned me. I split the rigs in half, sort of, and limited the modified rigs to 2 hooks each.

Expecting the current to be slow on a projected light wind day, I used a 2 oz Ahi USA Assault jig with the treble hook cut off as the damashi weight about 2 ft before the bottom hook. Added an assist hook to the top.

The winds were light on our paddle out and Frank immediately hooked up with two 12 inch omilu on frozen oama. I put out a lipped sinking swimming plug when I reached 50 ft and had a screamer of a strike. A fish jumped out of the water in the distance and I was hoping the long, skinny fish was another ono like Frank had caught a couple of weeks ago. Sadly, it was a tail wrapped aha which I video’d but am no longer giving those nasty fish any more media coverage. With such a hot inshore bite we were anticipating some action in the deep. It took a while to find what I think was the opelu school and they were scattered near the bottom in the 120 ft area. Unlike the previous trips, they weren’t bunched up and thick, and just past them, there was a weird rip current churning the top of the water that took us on a bumpy ride out to sea. We paddled back closer to shore and noticed the bait school was staying just on the inside edge of this rip. Our weights didn’t get the damashi rig straight down through the strong current and after trying for more than an hr we paddled in a ways to look for nabeta.

More weirdness. Our damashi rig appeared to getting pulled to the east, but we weren’t drifting to the west. Once again, the rigs weren’t straight up and down which made for sloping jigging of the flies. Nothing bit our rigs and then the trade winds picked up and we had to paddle in to the protection of the inner reef.

Frank deployed another frozen oama and got bit right away. Another off-season 12 inch omilu! He was making it look too easy. I joined him and whipped my swimming jig in the vicinity but bite ended.

I consulted my damashi senseis and asked why we did so badly. They said our weights were too light for the strong current, my hooks were too far away from the weight, and when we fished the inside, there was probably a strong current pulling east with wind blowing west, holding our kayaks in place. Bottom line, when the damashi isn’t getting down effectively, use more weight. I’ll try 4 to 5 ounces next time, and make my lead about 5 inches from my bottom hook. If we actually catch an opelu we’re not fully prepare to use it properly but we’ll deal with that bridge when we come to it.

If you guys have any damashi tips for us, please send them our way!

Hard fighting or great eating, take your pick

November 29, 2017 By Scott 14 Comments

In early November, Capt Erik invited Frank and me to fish on his 16 foot Livingston. The winds were very light and surf was small, so we felt extra blessed and excited to fish areas that would normally be too turbulent. The plan was to start deep (300 ft plus), while the conditions allowed, and work our way in. Erik and I jigged while Frank used the damashi rig to give the bottom critters more menu choices.

Capt Erik put us on spots that produced for him in the past, and while Frank began to bring up small moana, our jigs went untouched except for a phantom swirl that resulted in my Shimano flat side 140 gm lure gone and the leader slightly curled as if the knot got bitten off. Nothing bit for a while after, which made me wonder if I just tied a bad knot and the jig fell off on the way up?

Doubt began to creep in. Maybe the conditions were too calm and the predators weren’t feeding down there? Frank brought up a small nabeta on the damashi as we drifted in shallower, that piqued Erik’s interest. When a large nabeta came over the side, Erik grabbed his light spinner damashi setup and left me as the sole jigger.

Frank landed a jumbo moana, and then Erik hooked something with his damashi that peeled line off his small spinning reel. I pointed my cap cam on the action and we were stunned to see what Erik coaxed up to the surface.

We were in about 140 ft when the damashi bite slowed. Capt Erik announced we’d be moving once our lines were up, and then my jig rod slammed down with authority. I had on the very dependable 2 oz green mackerel Live Deception, and it didn’t let me down. The fish powered towards the bottom as I tried to put the brakes on. I was using my heavier jig setup because I wanted the stiffer tip to spring back as I speed jigged, and was glad I had the Tranx 500 with 60 lb fluoro and 65 lb braid to back me up. You can see how this up and down battle went. Capt Erik filmed the cool underwater sequence and Frank filmed above water with my cap cam. The fish was released tired but unharmed.

We stayed on the spot after the fish was landed and I checked my tackle. The kahala had slightly bent one of the treble’s tines out and I bent it back with my pliers. I dropped the Live Deception down again, and maybe 10 cranks off the bottom something hit it. It felt solid but wasn’t running hard. I wanted Frank to battle something with the big level wind bait caster setup, and I could use a break after the kahala, so I asked him to take over. During that transition, the fish ran parallel to the bottom and if felt like it went in a cave. Frank fought it for 50 minutes. This battle really deserves a post of its own so please look for that sea monster story soon.

The yellow spot papio swimming in air, still trying to throw the jig

After that long battle we took a break for lunch and then Capt Erik drove us inside of the 80 ft mark. Frank reminded me that I hadn’t caught anything to be taken home so I switched to the pink Jigging World jig Erik fishes in the shallows. Sure enough I got a nice hit and a 13.5 inch yellow spot came up. I bled it and iced it down so I could compare it to the delicious yellow spot we caught at the Banks that I turned into poke. Here’s how we did on that Banks trip.

Capt Erik took us way inside to the papas’ edge to show Frank how he uses small poppers and right on command he hooked a scrappy 14.5 inch white papio on light line.

What a perfect day! Everyone got a chance to scrap with some fish and bring home something delicious. The nabeta, weke ula and yellow spot papio are some of the best tasting fish we hope to catch. Big Mahalos to Capt Erik for his relaxing hospitality and for putting us on so many different types of fish.

Stay tuned for the Sea Monster post. We were scratching our heads, wondering what could be so large and heavy and not want to be moved off the bottom. It was definitely a tackle tester.

Big Island Bottomfishing Trip 2017

June 17, 2017 By Scott Leave a Comment

Continuing the tradition started last year, the Pacific Islands Fisheries Group (PIFG) guys, Neil and Erik, traveled to the Big Island to boat fish the day before the Tokunaga Challenge weigh-in. We stayed with Neil’s childhood friend Jeremy, who chauffeured us around like celebrities. The moon was a lot bigger than last year’s half moon conditions, and there was a 5.3 earthquake the day before. We were eager to see how that would affect our jigging prospects.

Capt Wes was fishing a tournament in Kona that day so Capt Braiden, last year’s first mate, took us out on the 19 ft Glasspar he recently purchased. The wide beamed boat easily handled the five us and provided a stable platform to bottomfish. We started at the jigging spots that were productive last year, and came up empty. Capt Braiden, who doesn’t normally shallow bottom fish, worked the sounder and GPS to find other likely spots. Jeremy fished cut shrimp, Neil and I jigged, and Erik switched between jigs and damashi with flies. Jeremy hooked something solid and carefully brought a big, thick yellow spot papio to the net. That gave us hope, but the lure bite didn’t materialize.

Slowly the guys switched over to shrimp on damashi and went through the initiation of hage and lizardfish. Erik hooked something big on the bottom hook of his light damashi setup and gingerly worked it up but it eventually bent the hook and swam free. Capt Braiden tirelessly worked the various reefs and drop offs. The tide was halfway through its rise and Neil got a small nibble that felt different from a hage, and heavier than a lizardfish. Nabeta! It was on the small size but very welcome since nabeta were the best eating of the first we had caught last year. Soon the guys were bringing up singles and doubles of larger nabeta as Capt Braiden carefully plotted his drifts.

Neil continued his nabeta pioneering by landing a black fish that we later realized was a nabeta, followed up with a second black nabeta. Turns out black colored nabeta are of the same species we were catching, but a very uncommon catch. The two black nabeta were smaller than their lighter colored siblings, but pulled harder.

Live Deception green mackerel, left most. Flat Fall 80 gm, 4th from left.

I stubbornly kept jigging, using slow falling, fast falling, larger bodied and very small bodied jigs, eventually trying 9 different lures. Earlier something small was on, shook its head pretty actively and came off. Then a larger fish took drag repeatedly but slipped off the debarbed hooks when I paused to try to find the “on” button of Erik’s Go Pro camera strapped to my chest.

My jigging muscles were tired after hours of non-productive lifting and cranking. I felt bad that I wasn’t contributing to the nabeta pile so I bummed a homemade 2-hook dropper rig from Neil and baited up with shrimp. Once I hit bottom I felt a strong tug and cranked what I thought was a whopper of a nabeta to the surface. Turned out to be hage and so was the next fish I brought up. The guys said I had to go through the hage initiation and thankfully the third fish I brought up was a nabeta. At this point we had run out of shrimp and were chunking lizardfish for bait, and I added a couple more nabeta. The others were much more effectively adding to the community catch.

Out of cut bait and an hr left to fish, we worked our way back towards our launch spot. Capt Braiden stopped in the general area where we caught the ulua last year. He must’ve dialed it in perfectly because the first drop of the 2 oz Ahi USA Live Deception in Green Mackeral (last year’s magic lure) got walloped a few lifts off the bottom. It felt awesome to have something bend the rod and pull drag. I babied it a bit since it would be my first jig fish of the day if landed, and it took me around the stern. It came up very shiny and Neil expertly netted it. Kagami papio/ulua, the first jig fish I caught last year too! This one was smaller than last year’s and the guys decided it was too beautiful to kill. We tagged the 20.5 inch (FL) kagami and set it free. Erik blended my chest cam’s footage and his stick cam to create this beautiful video.

The guys were pumped and Jeremy dropped down a frozen oama Braiden’s wife had caught the year before. It got inhaled and he calmly battled a stronger fish than the kagami I had just released. After a series of powerful runs a larger, slightly less shiny fish surfaced. 21.5 inch (FL) white papio/ulua. That one was headed to Capt Wes’ smoker.

We drifted out to deeper water and my 2 oz Live Deception took longer to hit bottom. The “scope” of the line was greater than I preferred because my lifts couldn’t make the lure fall as intended but the jig got picked up and the fish made an initial run. Thinking it was another papio, I was waiting for a strong dive as I tried to smoothly bring it to the surface, but the fish was whipped. It turned out to be a weke ula, maybe a couple of pounds. Erik had been telling me to eat the weke ula raw instead of steaming it, since it’s a little firm and crunchy when cooked, so I kept it.

Nothing hit my Live Deception on the next drop and since we were in deeper water I put on an 80 gram (2.8 oz) Shimano Flat Fall. It got picked up and I felt tugs as I reeled it in. Hage on both assist hooks! How’d it fit such large hooks in its small mouth? That was a sign that it was time to head for the barn.

We suspect the slow jig bite was due to the full moon the night before. The predators may have fed at night and were resting up for the next night bite. Big ups to Capt Braiden for putting us on the most productive nabeta harvest we’ve ever experienced and over some big papios. Much Mahalo to Jeremy for the Big Island Hospitality.

Jeremy, Neil, Scott and Capt Braiden

Here’s the crew. We couldn’t all be in the same photo because someone had to take the picture! Neil plans to donate one of the black nabeta to the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, and eat the other to compare to the normal colored nabeta.

Jeremy, Neil, Erik and Scott

Big Island boat jigging trip of a lifetime

June 16, 2016 By Scott 12 Comments

Warning: This post will cover action beyond the “nearshore” boundaries and may take a while to read.

I was invited by Neil, the President of Pacific Islands Fisheries Group (PIFG), to boat fish the Big Island the day before the Tokunaga Challenge weigh-in. We would be working the weigh-in, collecting nearshore tagging data and selling Lawai’a magazine subscriptions. I almost declined the invitation because I had gum surgery 2 days before the planned fishing trip and hadn’t eaten solid food since. I’m glad Neil encouraged me to go. I decided to bring a 3-piece Cabelas travel casting rod instead of my 1-piece rods, to avoid paying for oversized luggage. The rod tip was pretty stiff to jig with but I had no other option. I paired the rod with a medium action Curado 300EJ, filled with 15lb fluoro and backed by 50lb braid. There was about 175yds of line in total, and I attached a 25lb fluoro leader. I was hoping for some goats, papio and maybe even an uku on my relatively light gear.

We had Captain Wes at the helm, first mate Braiden, Neil and myself aboard the 19.4ft Alii Kai named the Akemi K. We started by trolling frozen oama but they were quickly mauled by hage so we replaced them with Crystal Minnows. A just-legal yellow spot papio was landed during a long dry spell so we stowed the trolling gear and zipped out to the first bottom fishing spot.

We wanted to field test a few different jigs so I handed Neil a 42gm (1.5oz) Shimano Coltsniper, one I hadn’t fished before. He dropped it down with his medium spinning rig, got a bump, had a fish pull line and come unbuttoned. That was promising. I free spooled a 2oz Promar Live Deception jig, a size I had never fished, and dropped it to the bottom. Jigged it up and down as best I could with the stiff rod tip, and began to do the slow lift and crank. About 15 feet off the bottom the line took off.

It felt like a good-size papio, making smooth runs, shaking its head and resisting being pulled up. The Cabela’s travel rod had a good parabolic arc, bending from the middle of the rod, and performed much better than expected. After about 5 mins we could see what looked like a big omilu making deep circles under the boat. As it got closer we couldn’t believe our eyes – Kagami Ulua (African Pompano), a relatively rare and delicious catch. Braiden gaffed the fish and it was official. Kagami on the first drop of the Live Deception! My first ulua ever. Neil and Wes looked at each other in disbelief, then Neil quickly dropped his Coltsniper back down.

Neil got picked up and the fish fought stubbornly but didn’t shake its head. Uh oh, hage action! That was his introduction to micro jigging.

I dropped down again, jig/pumped and about 20 ft from the bottom, felt a hit. A few nice runs, abrupt headshakes, and a 3lb omilu was boated. I expected a larger fish from the way it ripped line and shook its head. Man those omilu are tough. I checked the line and the 25lb leader had a couple small nicks so I changed it out and made sure the uni-to-uni knot connecting fluoro main to fluoro leader was cinched down. I didn’t want to lose another big fish to a badly tied knot like I did a few weeks ago.

Captain Wes re-positioned the boat and Neil hooked into something that pulled stubbornly but not like a papio. After a fun fight, Neil hoisted the largest cornetfish I had ever seen. Cornetfish are often confused with the trumpetfish, but the cornetfish can get much larger. It was shaken off the jig and set free.

Neil followed the trumpetfish up with a moana and was definitely catching on quickly to this “shallow water” jigging technique.

We moved to a new spot; I dropped the Live Deception down and before it hit the bottom the jig felt like it got picked up in a strong current. I engaged the reel and line peeled off the drag. The line angle looked straight up and down but the water wasn’t as deep as the amount of line out. 75 yds of 15lb fluoro top shot was out and the fish wasn’t slowing. Captain Wes quietly said “this is a big fish”, telling the others to clear their lines. I tightened the drag carefully and the fish still kept going. Finally I tightened it to the point the line started pinging and there was maybe 25 yds left on the spool. The guys were coaching me but we all figured the fight would end in a few seconds. Miraculously the fish slowed and I started making very small pumps, gaining one or two turns of the handle at a time. The fish rested and I got back 1/4 of the braid backing. It surged again, but didn’t take out too much line. I then started doing the drop a few inches and crank quickly method and the Capt remarked that he never saw anyone boost an ulua with such small gear. I took that to mean “be very careful” so I slowed the pumping action and tried to be as smooth as possible so the fish wouldn’t realize it was being yanked out of his home.

The travel rod’s foregrip was half the length of my other rods so my left hand spilled over the ends and was beginning to cramp. My left bicep was engaged the whole time and felt like I was doing a really long isometric curl. But I could hear the voices of ulua vets in my head saying “kill its spirit, don’t give him hope”. So I kept the tension in the rod, hoped my back would hold out, and short pumped when I could. Halfway up, the guys decided to resume jigging cuz they figured it would either be awhile before the fish was landed, or the line would pop soon. The travel rod seemed up to the task but I was worried about my uni-to-uni knot joining the braid to the 15 fluoro main line that I tied months ago. I really hoped I tied that knot well! The fact that I hadn’t eaten real food in almost 3 days also wore on my mind.

At around the 8 minute mark the uni-to-uni splice was on the reel and I had about 75 yds of 15lb fluoro left. The big fish saw the boat and tried to make it down to its home but only took about 30 yds of line. That was the last big run it made. The rest of the way it planed its body and resisted getting pulled into view. We still didn’t know what was on but thought it was some kind of big jack. I had only caught one kahala before, a little more than 10lbs, and just caught my first actual ulua, but strongly felt that this fish was an ulua not a kahala. The one kahala I fought didn’t seem to have the leverage of a wide body that this fish did.

When it was finally at deep color, it looked brown and long like a kahala. Ugh… I was disappointed but still wanted to see how large it was. Then as I pulled it closer, the body shortened and color darkened. Black ulua? It looked huge, even larger than I had imagined. I had always said that I’d photograph and release a large ulua but the Capt had plans for smoked ulua to share with the ohana, so he told Braiden to gaff ’em. Capt Wes had given us smoked ulua and was super ono so I knew the fish would feed a lot of people. The Live Deception’s treble hook was hooked on the outside of the fish’s head and so was the assist hook. This caused the lure to bend but also prevented the fish from chewing through the 25lb leader I had just tied on. Lucky-Lucky. The leader and main line didn’t have any nicks at all. I removed the 2 oz Live Deception to ensure I wouldn’t lose it to a fish or a snag. It was going into “the museum”. I didn’t have any other 2oz lures so I put on a 1 oz Live Deception.

Upon closer examination, Capt Wes said that the fish was a dark, white ulua or GT. Oxymoron, I know, but I guess they can get dark if they live in the black lava tube caves. I would not have believed that my tackle and lack of big fish catching success would’ve allowed me to land that. All credit goes to the Capt who put us on the fish and maneuvered the boat. Near the end of the fight he backed down to help me gain line, deftly keeping the line away from the props.

I told the guys to use my bait casting setup cuz I was done for a while! My left arm felt useless. Neil declined and promptly brought up a monsta hage on his spinning setup. He said he was doing his best to keep the rubbish fish away from the rest of us. What a nice guy! Actually, what he didn’t know was that I rubbed hage-attractant on the Coltsniper before I gave it to him and it appeared to be working. He brought up a good sized moana next that jumped off the hook. I actually saw it break the surface! He still refused to use my bait casting rig so I dropped the 1 oz jig down, did one lift and a fish was on! I had never fished with Neil before and he was beginning to think I could catch fish at will. If you have read my blog you know that was far from the truth. In fact, a fishing buddy Kelly has never seen me land a decent fish. Here’s a classic outing.

zoom in to see the treble near its tail

So I asked Neil to fight the fish on my line and he said “no, no need” (translation: I don’t need your pity, I can catch my own fish). I told him I’m just gonna put the rod in the rod holder and let the fish come undone so he took the rod and skillfully battled the fish. Turns out the omilu was foul-hooked. Neil said “you knew was foul-hooked you buggah, that’s why you nevah like fight ’em!”. He was beginning to think I could catch fish at will and tell how they were hooked!

The Capt had seen enough and took his turn with my bait caster. He had used large conventional trolling reels with right hand cranks, and smaller spinning reels with left hand cranks, and had to adjust to cranking such a small, light reel with his right hand. On the first drop he got used to the action of the rod, the quick free spool release and the level winding of the Curado. On the second drop he hit the bottom, jigged once and was on! The pole bent in its parabolic arc and line peeled off the spool. Another big fish, surely an ulua. Capt Wes took his time and played the fish like he catches ulua every day, which he probably could do if he wanted to. After a patient battle he landed a beautiful omilu ulua, about 15lb. Capt Wes was very impressed with the gear and the way the 15lb flouro held up to such a strong, heavy fish with sharp scutes.

Neil and Braiden switched to damashi to target the tasty kau kau fish. I wanted to see what else the Live Deception lure could catch and dropped down again. Neil started catching legal yellow spot papio, which are tastier than omilus and whites. Braiden started off eradicating a few taape. I felt what I thought was the jig getting fouled on itself and brought up a deep water lizardfish. Uh oh, maybe Neil rubbed some lizardfish-attractant on the jig when I wasn’t looking. The boys started bringing up nabeta (razor wrasse), which were the best eating fish caught on the trip. I hadn’t eaten nabeta before but grew up hearing how it just melts in your mouth when you fry ’em scales and all. Then I actually foul hooked a nabeta on the Live Deception! Man that lure really does deceive everything!

The jigging action slowed down for me, probably because we were in shallower water where there were less predators. A moana came up on their damashi and I dropped it down as live bait. I was hoping for big papio and maybe even the uku that has eluded me on Oahu. Nothing hit that lively moana on the next few drifts and the boys continued to catch yellow spot papio, nabeta and taape.

Too lazy to rig up with damashi, I dropped the 1 oz Live Deception down again and felt it get picked up right off the bottom. Felt like a couple lb omilu so I asked if Braiden wanted to play with the bait caster. He took the small reel in his large hands and worked the fish up to the boat. UKU!!!! My first uku I ever hooked, and on a jig at that. And I handed it off!!! Aww shucks.

With that it was time to pack it up and head for the barn. What a boat trip of a lifetime. My equipment held up, the 1 oz and 2 oz Live Deceptions were on fire, and I was bathed in Big Island hospitality by Capt Wes, Braiden and Neil. I brought back the Kagami ulua, uku and a few nabeta to Oahu for my family and friends to try. Will write more later… this has gotten too long as it is!

Almost forgot. This is how small the reel was. Too bad I didn’t take a picture of it next to the 30lb ulua. It wasn’t even fully loaded with line. Lucky-luck indeed.

Note: I purchase my Live Deception jigs at POP and Charley’s. POP has the most variety, both in sizes and in colors. Charley’s has the best prices in general, and besides the Live Deceptions, they’ve brought in a new assortment of very small micro jigs from Japan. Charley’s is also running a jigging combo special: the Curado 300EJ I used on the Big Island paired with the Shimano Trevala S jig rod which would’ve had more sensitivity and backbone than the travel rod I used. That combo at the price Charley’s is running now, will be the perfect setup to start shallow water jigging.