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Holoholo: Surfboard Fishing Report

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Holoholo writer Kelly cheerfully reports that the fishing just past the reef has picked up recently. Despite the Covid-19 social distancing mandate he’s been able to legally bring home much appreciated kau kau for the ohana. Thanks for the update Kelly!

Kelly: In March and April, the papio bite was still pretty slow. I have been surfboard fishing near the breaks every couple of weeks at a variety of spots, mostly on the South and East shores on lighter wind mornings.

Usual catch has been a couple of 1-2 pound omilus with plenty of bait stealers which I am guessing are baby papio. South side has been having good size barracudas, about 3-4 pounds which I have been keeping for kau kau.

Here is a photo of the spicy kaku poke we made 🙂

There have been some random catches like moana, nunu and rois. The one noteworthy catch was a nice six and a half pound kagami on the east side which hit a frozen oama that had been getting freezer burnt from last summer. 

Diamond Head to Waikiki Fisheries Management Area fish report #1

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shoreline dunking

shoreline dunking

The State of HI closes the area from the Diamond Head lighthouse to the ewa (west) end of the Natatorium every odd-numbered year.  The area opened the first of this year to the usual craziness so I was curious if the mayhem had subsided.  When I checked the area just west of the lighthouse, there was 1 diver in the water and a few fishermen on shore but nothing like the beginning of the year madness.

All the naive fish have been removed from the gene pool after 2 full months of fishing, and the tidepools were missing the large schools of bait fish present during the “off” year, but there were still a few fish left on the reef.

bright red moana

bright red moana

The fish I caught were mainly under the legal size limit or not that desirable although they still were a lot of fun to catch and release.  The motley crew included small omilu, large lizardfish, jumbo humuhumuapua’as, Christmas wrasse and this beautiful moana (manybar goatfish).

I don’t believe the 1 year closed period is enough to increase fish population in this area since all it seems to do is give the fish a false sense of security only to be easy prey the following year.  An increase in the permanently closed area of Waikiki or a longer closed period would seem to be more effective.