portuguese man of war Archives - Hawaii Nearshore Fishing

Shorefishing holoholo day

August 26, 2019 By Scott Leave a Comment

We had been hearing that halalu were biting good at a few of the regular spots, and oama were being caught too, so Frank and I planned to just see what the day presented. Frank headed out east to the halalu spot, but they weren’t around, so we met at a spot where he could catch oama and I could throw some lures.

There was an unmolested school of 4.5″ oama that began to bite for Frank and I began to whip a 120mm (4.75″) subsurface lure. My FG knot separated on a cast and I tried to listen for the splash of the lure to retrieve it, but didn’t hear it land. Searched around for the floating lure but couldn’t find it. Ouch.

I did see a small Portuguese Man of War drifting in. My nemesis! Got stung at least 5 times last year, even while seated in my kayak! I was wearing the Anetik Shade Socks for leg protection on this day but had never tested them against stings. I warned Frank about the Man of Wars and put on the Shimano Shallow Assassin Flash Boost. Even though it was a few grams lighter than the subsurface lure was lost, it cast further because it was more compact, and had the sliding weight transfer system.

The Shallow Assassin has a fairly aggressive side-to-side wobble for such a small lure, and sure enough, I stuck a small kaku outside its mouth on the sticky sharp treble hooks.

Shortly after, an omilu pounced on the Shallow Assassin and was stuck with both hooks. Both fish hit just a crank or two after the lure hit the water, so I think the small profile of the lure matched what they were searching for.

Action slowed so I switched to a longer, jointed sub-surface lure that is the most enticing lure I own yet has never caught a fish. Well, it’s bolohead streak continues. Didn’t get another bite in the next hour. I looked towards shore, Frank was putting his oama catch in a cooler. Waded in and had to walk around a bunch of Man of War near shore. Turns out that’s why Frank quit, he was dodging 3 Man of War at a time and didn’t want to press his luck further. He caught enough oama for a couple trolling trips and I verified that the Assassin truly is a killer so we considered it a successful outing.

The online Store had sold out on the Shallow Assassins so I begged my supplier for 4 more, 1 in each color. If you want one, buy it now because these are hard to get, even in Japan. I’ll also order more Anetik Shade Socks if more people want them, please let me know. These is the first time I waded with them and they protected me from the sun and stings and didn’t sag down.

More man o’ war in my kayak than fish

August 17, 2018 By Scott 2 Comments

Windy conditions kept us off the kayak for 8 weeks. Finally the wind let up, and the surf on the east side subsided because the trades slowed down. Unfortunately Frank came down with a cold so I planned as safe a solo outing as possible. I picked a public park to launch from that was shielded from waves, and planned to paddle out to the 100 ft drop off.

I had two 8 to 9 inch moose oama with me that were 1 to 1.25 inches thick. I didn’t want an aha or kaku mauling the moose on the way out, so I deployed the first one when I hit 50 ft of water. With a 1 oz bullet weight, 6ft 40lb fluoro leader, live bait front hook and a VMC inline single hook dangling, I sent it to the bottom. It stayed alive as I dragged it out to about 75 ft but wasn’t too frisky because I had taken a while to bridle it with a new system I’m trying out. I stopped paddling to tie on a jig on my jigging rod and the oama rig got stuck on the bottom.

Since I only had one moose left and the first moose didn’t get bit, I put on a frozen halalu from last year. It got mauled and the line pulled a few inches but the mauler(s) avoided the two hooks.

I put on another halalu and dragged it to the 100ft mark and back to 50ft. Finally it got hit but the surgical strike left it hanging off two hooks. Probably a kaku.

My left heel began tingling at times and thought my surf bootie was irritating it. I rubbed around my ankle but couldn’t find the source of the irritation. An hr later I spotted a 3/4 inch blueish purple float of Portuguese Man of War floating in my kayak’s foot well next to my leg! No wonder my ankle felt like it was getting small electric shocks, I carefully threw the man of war float over the side but the stinging sensation continued. Later I found another small float in the left foot well. How the heck did they get into the kayak?!! Did they get sucked through the scupper hole at the bottom of the foot well, or get washed over the side of the kayak? I was a little freaked out, and my left leg began to throb more so I decided to end this unproductive outing.

Colored clips are there just to hold the hooks in place for the photo. Distance between the clips was 6 inches.

I put on the last moose, running a large Gamakatsu live bait hook through its nostrils and left a large VMC inline single hook swinging free by its tail. The moose was very lively and I could feel it pulsing on the line. I paddled the edge of the boat channel in, where it was 40 ft in the channel and 20 ft on the reef Something hit the moose hard and was running with it for a few seconds before I could get the rod out of the holder. It took another 1 second run and when I lifted and cranked the hooks pulled. It had taken the moose. I had 3 strikes and each somehow missed the hooks. In this last strike, I now realize my rear hook was too far away from the center of the fish where it often gets grabbed. I imagine something fairly big took the moose from the side or tail and missed the free swinging back hook and didn’t get near the front hook. It merely yanked the moose off the hook.

Enlarge to see the man o’ war that was under the kayak seat, under my right thigh!

Man o’ war just behind my seat back

Man o’ war dried up on net handle that was in rear tankwell

When I was washing off the kayak I found two dried up man of war floats in the tankwell area behind my seat, and another on the seat cushion under my thigh! So glad that one didn’t sting me! The stings turned into an itchy rash that night and made it hard to sleep.

I’ve become way too experienced with man of war sting treatments. The pain of the sting goes away in an hour or so, but the itchy throbbing lasts for a few days. Heat seems to activate the nerves on the skin, so using a cold gel pack, Cortizone 10 Plus cream, and keeping your body cool seems to help get over the few days of itchy misery. Here’s the bad man of war sting I got wading the windward side in June. Maybe I have to wear compression calf sleeves even when I kayak fish?

Big man o’ war, jumping kaku and $20 JDM lure lost

June 9, 2018 By Scott 2 Comments

Went back to the Windward side hoping to get a bigger fish on the 13 Fishing Concept Z reel. Last week I got stung badly by a Portuguese Man o’ War so I wore wading socks that extended a few inches above my tabis but still left a 9 inch uncovered area between the socks and the bottom of my trunks. At the first spot, I saw this huge Man of War getting blown towards me. Freaked me out but this time I remembered to walk in front of the float, not behind it, since the stinging tentacles can extend pretty far. I whipped the area cautiously for no bites but probably didn’t do it justice since I was constantly scanning the water for more Man o’ War.

Left the area and went to the spot I missed the kaku the last time. Sure enough I got a hit on the JDM sub-surface lure right away. I felt the fish on and in a split second it went airborne with the lure in its mouth but shook it mid-flight. Here’s the short video of the little kaku acrobat.

I worked the area and moved down a ways, and when I returned I hooked that same fish or his brother. I bumbled turning on the GoPro so I didn’t capture that action. And when I released the kaku that got tangled up in the leader, I ended up dunking the Concept Z reel for a couple of seconds. Ugh…

After draining the water, I made a cautious cast and backlashed because the wet casting brakes were slipping. Adjusted from 3 brakes “on” to 5 brakes “on” (6 brakes are the max) and the reel casted great again. Missed what felt like a papio bite and then my casts shortened as the brakes dried. Readjusted the brakes back to their original setting but I must’ve had loose line on my spool ‘cuz I snapped off my lure at the FG knot on a cast. I had tied this sloppy FG knot on the water the last time and must not have cinched it down well.

My $20 limited edition JDM sub-surface lure couldn’t have gone far but I didn’t see it land and couldn’t find it even though it floats. Took that as a sign to quit while I was unstung. This is the second JDM lure I’ve left floating in jellyfish infested waters, although Portuguese Man Of War technically aren’t jellyfish. If you find it, I hope it brings you luck.

I hadn’t opened up the Concept Z reel before so I was a little leery about losing flying parts. The reel was actually a little simpler than bait casters I have serviced although there was a little spring loaded clicker pin under the star drag that fell off on disassembly. The innards looked wet but free of grit, salt and corrosion. The materials used looked impressively corrosion resistant and I verified that the stack of drag washers was made out of carbon fiber to produce an astounding 22 lb of drag. Applied some Corrosion Block oil and Daiwa Blue Grease and reassembled it. Reassuring to know that the Concept Z reel can be easily self-serviced.

The price to pay for fishing the Windward side

June 4, 2018 By Scott 14 Comments

Feeling good about ending my bolo, I ventured to the Windward side for some shallow water kaku action. The tide hadn’t filled in at my dependable spot so I decided to wade around an area we’ve kayak fished in the past. There were a lot of 7 inch mullet near shore, much more than I see on the South Shore, so I was hopeful that an ambushing kaku would be nearby.

In 2.5 feet of water I spotted the purple-blue float of a Portuguese Man of War. The trade winds blow these stinging menaces into the Windward beach shallows, which is why there are so many sand turtles on the Windward side. The sand turtles love to eat the Man of War tentacles!

I walked about 12 ft downwind of the Man of War float and crossed its path. ZAPPP!! It felt like my lower legs received an electrical shock. I rubbed the areas in disbelief but couldn’t see much of a wound. Wasn’t sure if the pain would get worse so I headed into shore to text the guys. Thad, our resident wade fisher, turns out to be our resident jellyfish stingee also. He said the pain subsides very quickly so I drove to another spot but the kaku weren’t home.

By then, the tide had filled in a little at my dependable spot so I waded out into less than knee deep water. My first cast resulted in a huge eruption of water. Now that’s the kind of greeting I like! I turned on the GoPro and recorded 3 more boils in the next 2 mins and 45 seconds. Sadly none stuck. I did see another Man Of War float and kept one eye peeled for more.

On my slow walk of shame in I changed to a longer, heavier JDM sub-surface lure with 3 treble hooks, hoping to hook the sneaky kaku that hit the middle of the lure. I hooked something that had a lot of resistance but couldn’t pull that hard. It turned out to be a 6 inch omilu that attacked the 4.5 inch lure and was hooked in the mouth and the side. The side wound was just below the skin and he swam off fine. Omilu always seem to get foul hooked on the sharp trebles which is partly why I take those off if I’m not targeting kaku.

The next day my Man Of War sting got itchy and the following day was even worse. Cortizone 10 Plus kept the itch bearable.

At Day 4 it wasn’t itchy anymore but looked really bad! A friend said he welts up like that too and wears support stockings to prevent the sting from reaching his flesh! That might look a little funny but less odd than walking around for a month with this scar.

I’ve ordered “calf compression sleeves” from Amazon Prime for less than $10 that don’t look like old lady stockings and am hoping they will prevent further leg stings. Will let you know how they perform.

Windward side has more bait and predators but more chance of getting stung too. Is that price worth paying for a better shot at fish?