Seabird Feeding Frenzy

Picture from the fishing boat this morning. This was a huge flock of Noddies chasing what I would guess to be a large bait ball. It is hard to capture the breadth of the flock - but it was pretty awe inspiring. On the other side of the island, the boobies roost and hunt. This guy was eyeing my lures... kite flying anyone? (NO BIRDS WERE HARMED IN THE EVENTS OF TODAY LEADING UP TO THE WRITING OF THIS BLOG - LOTS OF FISH WERE, BUT NO BIRDS)

Multi-Tasking

Convergence zone - friends heard we caught some fish, guy in the background cutting up sashimi and the GT being printed up front. All these things help the time go by in quality.

Short but Productive Outting

Punched out of work on Friday afternoon and trolled the lagoon. Boated three BFTs and a GT in an hour and a half. The GT came in on a kite rod - ironic how the biggest fish was caught on the setup least able to handle it (good on you Mike for wrestling that beast on that setup). Always an awesome time. The colors on the Blue Fin Trevally always amaze me. I did a bunch of prints of these guys including my first double (the BFTs). We'll see how they turn out. After this week, I am essentially turning over so I can go home. It's been a long year away from my family and I am more than ready to go back to them. But while I am waiting, I'll make a bunch of gyotaku to work on when I'm back with the kids and La ;)

Passing time on Sunday

So one of my fishing buddies gets a windfall from someone looking to dump all his gear. He forks over $500 and in return he has several rod/reel combos. So many that he doesn't mind parting with a Shimano TLD50. I fork over $100 and I have a slightly used heavy duty reel. I got a great deal and I wanted to return the favor. I printed the last fish Rodney caught (on the Mark White Squid lures on Saturday's trip - he landed the big Wahoo). He is going home to see his son and wanted to show him the fish he was catching. I knocked this gyotaku out in a day. Oh - and I went flyfishing - this trip made me appreciate the secret spot I found earlier - the fish here out in the open were a lot more spooky. My old hole was a barrel where I could focus on larger fish looking to avoid larger fish. I did manage to catch a two-barred goatfish, and two groupers on a clouser"ish" that I tied.

Post Gyotaku Mahi

Dinner

Big Gyotaku

The big mahi was a hen (female) - I printed it (who knows when I'll catch another one this big), but I thought it was a bull when I was pulling it in. Should turn out pretty good -

Smallest Catch

This guy was spit out from one of the bigger ones we caught. It makes you wonder where these pelagics feed - this little guy looks like some type of gobie - bottom dweller, not a planktonic fish.

Offshore Trifecta!!!

I caught a rather large Mahi, a decent sized Wahoo and a Yellowfin Tuna on my trolling rod today. Mark White Squid Head lures - fish catching mojo!!! As a boat, we landed 3 Mahi, 3 Yellowfin, 3 Wahoo and 2 Bonitos - it doesn't get much better than this -

Snapper Breaks the Drought

Thursday afternoon I took my boss fishing - I set him up with a popper and an Ulua Bar. I went flyfishing. I saw a few trevally and a lot of mullet (I have to find the right fly for those fish...). Eventually I got a Moi (threadfin) to take a bonefish bitter but after a few minutes it was able to break off. Maybe 3 pounder. Friday afternoon I went back to see if I could entice another Moi. I saw even more trevally, but none took. I did land this small snapper - a fish is a fish is a fish for the purpose on not getting skunked!

Huge GT Gyotaku

So I saw this place out of the corner of my eye. And it was across a busy road - I was actually not going to go in because of the wait to cross. Boy was I glad I waited! Check out the size of the fish these guys caught!!! They printed the fish on bed sheets and the images came out perfect. You can tell they were stoked because of the way the kanji was written. Awesome!!!!

Beach Road - Singapore

I walked this section of Singapore today. Out on Beach, back on North Bridge. I stopped off at 5 or so fishing supply shops to get some tools and a few lures. Deep Sea, Joe's and Kaiser are some cool places, but the next one had the coolest things I've seen - check the next post.

Waves at HNL

Cool art at the United section of the airport. There was some renovation going on so I don't know which airline is pushing this stuff - but it does look cool.

Three-Man Canoe Perfection

I stopped in at Surfline on Puuhale Road (Kalihi) and what I saw made me cr@p my pants - Tiger Canoe from the Big Island is now making a three man canoe that you can rig with a sail! I am reposting these pictures from the Tiger Canoe website - but they don't have pictures up yet on what rig the canoe sails with (cat rig I am assuming). I am quickly arriving at a crossroads - we have our Weta and when La and the kids become proficient at helming that, I think we need to upgrade to a Farrier F-22R. But with this thing hanging out there, it certainly pulls my traditionalist heart strings... especially since it is a renaissance craft - blending the best of the old with the best of the new. If you go to the website, you'll see a picture of one of these loaded on top of a Tacoma. 30' LOA with a hull weight of 88 pounds - only 88 pounds!!! I'm definitely going to order one of these if we move to Oahu...

Pop's Longboard Session

And to finish it all off, a longboard session at Pop's. Awesome day! It's been over a decade since I rode a longboard at this spot. I had forgotten how much fun this is -

Oahu on Dwellable

3 m^2 Sensei Training Kite

I felt compelled to have this kite's first flight at Sandy's. 3 meters was a handfull in the blustery trades - 10 minutes and I was worn out!!! This kite rocks!

Oahu on Dwellable