Last Fishing for 2017

I took the kids out to the flats on Saturday December 30th. 

I caught a Nunu (Coronet fish) and a Hinalea (Wrasse).

This year was tough fishing.  I hope 2018 has more hanapa'a for everyone!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Using Bait to Break the No Catching Streak

I took Marlon out this morning to get some fishing in.  I saw a bunch of tailing bonefish on the way out to the channel (I should have turned around and grabbed the flyrod...) - but the mission was to catch fish and not just fish.  Ika strips and spinning gear = catching!!!

Marlon caught the first fish - a good sized po'opa'a (po - o - pah - ah).

And I got my first fish in quite some time - a "just too small to eat - because these should grow and spawn first" papio

The next fish I hooked up to was a coronet fish - this one was barely hooked (I think it just really wanted to the eat the squid).

And I even picked up a third - another papio!

Next time I'm going to bring my light game St Croix Triumph rod.  We called it after this fish and pressed our luck at the harbor side.  We tried flyfishing for the humuhumunukunukuapua'a but the tide had filled in and the wind picked up substantially.  Well - we at least got to catch a few!!!

Playinig Catch Up Again - Friday Fishing

Busy weekend and Christmas... Among all the errands and chores (I installed a new sink in the kitchen, built La a long planter box, washed and waxed both vehicles and the motorcycle, repotted a bunch of plants, cooking lots of fish and a lot of other stuff), I did manage to get out on the water with Marlon everyday. And Noe and La a few times too. Here's Friday's fishing results - Marlon got a papio early on, and I got a papio and a coronetfish. And on the way back in, we stumbled on a couple of mantis shrimp - these had eggs otherwise we probably would have taken them home to live in the tank for a bit. Fun day!

Sunday Afternoon Catching - Six Pack

I went fishing this afternoon and ended up catching six. Three papio, a nunu (coronetfish), a moana (goatfish), and a manini (convict tang). FUN DAY CATCHING!!!

A Really Good Day of Catching - 5 July

I used bait again - started fishing two hours before the low tide and it was four days after the full moon. Whatever factor influenced it, this day was awesome for fishing. I didn't catch any ginormous trevally that smashed my gear just by looking at it, but I did catch the most fish I've caught since I got back, and nearly every species I've seen to date (minus three). I ended up with six papio, two moanas (one was a giant), two nehu (coronetfish - one was giant sized), two species of humuhumunukunukuapuaa, a few saddle wrasses and one large lizardfish (checkout the teeth on this guy). On lightweight gear, all these fish were fun to catch. It's going to be tough to top this day...

Catching with Bait - Sunday

Yeah I caught with the 3/8 ounce Kastmaster on Friday, but I definitely got skunked on Saturday. I figured if I was going to go back out, I wanted to catch so I brought out the ika. I also switched out my J hooks for smaller circle hooks. Way easier to get the hook out now for better catch and release. At least three types of sea urchins clustered here - rock boring urchins, vana, and pincushion. Super dense too (nice sign of decent health) I ended up catching two coronetfish and five papio.

Bait Fueled Saturday

Bait definitely works better than lures. I caught a coronet fish, a roi (peacock grouper), a papio and a snapper (no picture). This coronet fish was actually putting up a fight - it was swimming backwards and thrashing it's head. The roi was real small... These fish are labeled as invasive so the thought of killing it crossed my mine - but then my values kicked in (don't kill unless you're going to eat it). Also - the fear of contracting ciguatera is limiting my reef fish intake. So this guy lives... It has been a while since I've caught a papio - my rig was close enough for me to see this guy take, so there wasn't much of a fight (better for the fish - swim off strong and live to fight another day). I'd fish with bait more, but I can't get the dead squid smell washed off. But it sure is fun! Also of note - these guys were taken on a low tide (note for me so I can be more efficient with my time - "don't go at the peak of high tide dumbo").