Showing posts with label Blue Goatfish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blue Goatfish. Show all posts
Monday, August 3, 2015
Fun with Bait 8/1/2015
Looking at the tide tables, it looked like Saturday would have it's daylight low tide around 11 am. I decided to sleep in and catch up on some rest, then go fish the flats. I finally got to the parking lot to fish the Diamondhead side of the flat at 10:30 am. The water was already really low due to the "Blue Moon" spring tide effect.




I decided to use my spinning gear and chuck bait - squid strips - and ended up catching seven of these papio and one blue goatfish. All young fish and all released to fight another day (despite their being a good size to eat).
Labels:
Blue Goatfish,
Bluefin Trevally,
Hickam Flats,
Papio,
saltwater fishing
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Saturday Fishing during the Super Low Tide
Late posts... not having internet at my studio is a little complex. Before I went to the Frame Shop to finish the gyotaku I made for Jimmy (check out the other blog I maintain for finished pictures - www.tellnolies-gtotaku.blogspot.com), I hit the flats and got in some fishing.
I caught three papio - one was a good two pounder (but it got off the hook at my feet - ah the trials of using crushed barb hooks). And while I'm on the topic of getting off the hook - I also caught my first Blue Goatfish (moana kali), and I dropped it back in the water before I could get a picture of it.
I caught more triggerfish than I've caught before in any one session - one of the bigger ones destroyed my size 8 gamakatsu octopus circle hook. I caught maybe five more than the three in the pictures - just stopped taking pictures to get fishing again. I found that if you release the triggers, but just keep your fingers on the 'triggers', the fish feel safe and don't really swim away. Once you let go, they bolt.


I caught a rock. It had an 'ina' (rock boring urchin) on it and a patch of developing coral (I placed it back gently in the water)

I decided to try out an old DOA shrimp lure that I had to see if the bonefish would take. No bonefish (what's new?), but I did see a bunch of other details on the flat. This is what digs most of the holes - a pistol shrimp. I figured they were out here (it being subtropical here), but had never seen one before. And if it isn't a pistol shrimp, it might be a small species of lobster. I'll have to look into this more.

The sergeant majors were out and about.

And here are some closeups of the rockstars of the flats - pincushion urchins. These guys keep the flat from getting choked out by colonial algae. But they keep a hold of rocks on their upper bodies and if you aren't keeping an eye out for they, you could easily step on one.


Fun day!
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