offshore kayak fishing

The plan was to catch live opelu and troll ’em deep since the kayak guys have been getting shibi (small ahi), ono and mahi mahi recently. I struck out on the opelu, had some strong hits bottom fishing tako legs that pulled but didn’t get the hooks in the mouth, so I headed deep dragging frozen opelu.

Got to 300 ft and hadn’t seen anything on the fish finder, so I turned around to get back to the tako stealers. Halfway in, my ratchet went off the way it sounds when an aha takes the bait for a few feet, stops to reposition it, and runs again. I figured I was in water too deep for aha to feel safe (pelagics eat aha if they can), so the fish had to be something good! I heard the splash of a fish landing in the water, and could just make out something greyhounding. I was thinking “ono” and it looked kind of silvery at that distance so halfway through the 10 minute battle I began to worry that the ono would cut through the 40lb fluoro leader. (check out the 35 sec video at the bottom of this post)

I was relieved to see the brilliant yellow-green of a cow mahi, and could feel the mahi’s teeth on the leader. It used its flat body to provide maximum resistance, and did one lap around the kayak but I eventually pulled it close. All the previous bouts with sharks had prepared me well.

It was tired and still I missed the solid part of its head on my first strike with the kage.

The Anetik shade socks kept the sun and mahi blood off my legs!

When I got the mahi on the kage and put a gaff in its head to pull it aboard, I could let out a “YEEEE-HAAAAAA”. After all the trolling time we’ve put in, it was almost a relief when it finally happened.

I missed what felt like an uku when I went back to bottom fishing, and paddled in since I wasn’t prepared to ice down a big fish.

Stopped by Times to get a couple bags of ice, and kept it chilled ’til Kelly could come by to teach me how to skin and filet a mahi.

The skinned fillets went to family and to friends who helped outfit the kayak and provided fresh tako.

This is Kelly wearing my fishing shirt and getting blood on its sleeves…err, artfully prepping the fish for distribution

They said the fillets were mild yet good. I’m stoked I got my first pelagic but not sure if I can fool an ono or shibi with frozen opelu. And I do want to land what was pulling so hard on the tako legs.

I met Robert on the beach as he was cleaning up after a full day’s kayak fishing outing. He recently purchased a used, big brother version of my kayak and we bonded over that. He scored a big uku that day, here’s that post. Since that day, Robert has been very helpful in getting Frank and me better prepared for the pelagics in the deep.

Robert: Well to start off, I am Robert Richards, a nearshore/offshore kayak fisherman. Hailing from Wyoming, I spent most of my childhood on Oahu and decided to become a resident back in 2007. Of course, I pursued shore fishing: whipping, dunking and even trying my luck at sliding dead baits. (no luck on the slide for me haha) Eventually I wound up wanting more. Not having resources for a boat, the next best thing was this kayak fishing craze that is seriously in right now. I picked up a kayak and the adventures began! Similar to Scott, I chose the Ocean Kayak Trident Ultra 4.7 after countless hours of deliberation as my current kayak.

Managed to get out this past week with a couple kayak friends, Reece, Jay and Ben. Normally we do an early launch to try and pick up any Menpachi (Brick Soldierfish), Aweoweo (Bulleye) or more importantly some Akule (Big Eye Scad) for the sunrise bite. However, this trip turned into a later launch at 5:30am. We tried to catch Opelu (Mackerel Scad) at the start of light, but none to be found. Hoping to catch the lowering tide, minor bite period at 6:30am to 7:30am and sunrise bite, we decided to rush to one of our spots.

We paddled towards our spot. On the way, Jay and Ben found an Opelu school, but they were too far away for me to try for that school. I tend to keep moving out on the water always searching for bait or good marks. I paddled up on one of my other spots and BOOM fish finder is loaded with the marks of Opelu. Got my damashi sent down just in time into the school. Picked up what felt like 2 Opelu. Started to work them up and then “ZZZZZZZZZZZ” my reel starts peeling line, over 100ft gone in the flash of 3 colors of braided line. I thought to myself: ‘as long as I can last this run, I have a chance at landing this fish’. Well, I did, this battle turned into a 400ft drift and nearly 40 minutes of tug of war before I finally landed a decent 10lb class KawaKawa (Mackerel Tuna) on my 10lb test damashi.

The top hook was hooked perfectly in the corner of the mouth. This isn’t as common in these cases, sometimes they get hooked in the mouth but usually they get snagged on the body somewhere. KawaKawa are strong fighters all the way until the end, no matter the size. The problem is that they rather enjoy stealing your Opelu in the depths and destroy your damashi. To counter this, I usually have a looser drag when I fight my Opelu, fighting the Opelu in a pumping fashion using my reeling hand to cup the spool for added drag pressure.

The day went on and the bait became scarce, though there were plenty of larger marks varying from the bottom to the mid water range. This calls for the jig! I dropped my jig in about 340ft and started to crank. About 12 cranks up, a huge hit and line peels off the reel. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stop this beast and it ran into a cave resulting in line cut in bankrupt fashion… I quickly tied a damashi and jig then back towards the original spot. However, Reece has been on a jigging binge, catching an estimated 20lb Kahala (Greater Amberjack) and couldn’t help himself but to challenge me to a jig battle! OH, it’s on! We found some good marks, dropped our jigs then, BOOM, Reece is hooked up and I am left with no bite, cheering him on. A battle ensued and Reece landed his PB Ulua (Giant Trevally) estimated to be between 25-30lbs! Caught and released.

We dropped a few more times with no takers, so we headed back towards the first spot. I paddled over another school of bait, this time managing to land one. Threw it out on the live bait rig and trolled. Making to the original spot, I found another bait school and hooked into what felt like one more Opelu. Score! Until… ‘ZZZZZZZ’, another 100ft of line ripped from my spool and the fight on another pelagic on my damashi started! This time I was a bit more impatient due to my time limit rapidly approaching. I wound up tightening my drag a little too much and broke it off. The funny part is the pelagics loved stealing the bait off my damashi this day but none wanted the rigged up live nor dead baits.. Sometimes that is how it goes. The over all conditions, stayed calm with light winds, plenty of sunshine and minimal current. The bite stayed on from about 6:30 until about 9:30-10am. Total trip went for about 6hrs.

First kayak pelagic!

Holoholo: Damashi & Jig Mayhem!