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[Hook Set]

Well in August my family and I are headed off to the island of Kauai and I am wanting to do some fishing there. So I was wondering if anybody here has any knowledge or experience fishing there. My dad and I will probably be doing a deep sea fishing trip one day but I am wondering about fishing from shore. What I should use and how strong of gear I will need to fish there, what works best and any other tips or advice you can offer. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Hook Set

[Steelhawk]

I have fished from shore at a reef point  on the North Shore of Oahu, and did quite well with only bread, yes just white bread. 

Just throw the brown outside crust to the water and watch for fish coming up to grab them, hopefully you will see a feeding frenzy. If you are lucky, there may be the large broom fish around. They come up to the surface to eat the stuff. You will have to fish real shallow to get them. I used transparent egg shaped float with 6" leader for them. You can actually see them inhale the bread. Once I caught 8 of them but couldn't land any, the smallest around 5lb. They just bit through the 10lb leader like scissor.  The other common fish you can catch are those around corals, such as the White Chub (called Nenue locally or Bai Mao in Taiwan/HK), parrot fish, wrasse of all kinds. Believe it or not, once I even caught a 2 ft long Barraccuda on bread,by sight fishing, but it bit through the 10lb leader like nothing. 

If you like to toss some metal, then you can try for Papio (small G.T.). Once I saw a school of them blowing by but I did not carry any silver spoons. Tough. At some of those reef points, you may see locals going for the mighty G.T. (Giant Trevaly, called Ulua locally). They use really heavy gears for that. You can also fish off beaches. If fact lots of locals do that, but I don't know what they were targeting. If you fish night time with fish meat, you may be lucky to hook a pricey red Kumu. Have to be really lucky though. 

Good luck and have a nice trip.

[Hook Set]

Thanks a lot for the info. I will try that. Sounds nice and simple.
I don't think I am going to bring the really big gear for those giant trevaley.
But we'll see what happens

[Sterling C]

Thanks for bringing up the topic Hook Set and thanks for the reply steelhawk. I'm also planning on heading over to Oahu this summer at the end of august. I looked at the option of going on a charter but they all seemed too expensive, plus I've heard how that type of fishing works and it doesn't really appeal to me. Hearing this really excites me as I had all but given up on fishing on the trip.

I have a few questions of my own. How much is licencing? Is it difficult for tourists to aquire?

Steelhawk, you said you were fishing on the North Shore. I'm planning on making a day trip up there but will be staying in Waikiki sp. I realize I can't fish the beach proper but is there any fishing in the immediate area?

By the sounds of it you were gear fishing, is there much fly fishing to be had or does the wind/surf hinder it?

Last question (until I think of more) were you fishing light leaders out of necessity or beacuse thats all you had. Would I be able to attach a short section of heavy line or would this spook the fish?

[fishersak]

Fishing in Hawaii can be alot of fun, and you should be able to find a spot not to far from where ever you are staying.  While in Maui a couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to observe the locals fishing.  The spot was not too far from where we were staying, and I walked down to chat with the locals every night.  Don't be afraid to aproach local fishers, and start up a conversation.  I found it MUCH easier to do than here....   Let me say that the locals are VERY friendly, and willing to share their methods, stories, and even their catch!  In the area where we stayed, local fishermen could congregate each night after work to fish.  They would each bring food, and have a pot luck dinner and BBQ.  I was invited to join in and never experienced such hospitality from people I didn't know.




   When you arrive, there is a free fishing newspaper available in the airport....pick one up, they are a great read, and give information about local hotspots, and some of the more impressive catches (giant trevally up to 300 lbs!).  There are a number of fishing methods that are similar to what we do here, for smaller fish....but I found the surf fishing particularily interesting.  Fishers would first "whip" the shallow water with a ultralight rod and reel to catch bait. (bring your own light spinning outfit)  Bait used were these very small colored lures (see picture  below), which I saw for sale in a local shop.

BAIT!

After the bait has been captured, the big surf rods come out.

A typical Rig


 (I noticed that these could be rented in the local tackle shop)  Using a superbraid of some type, the fisher casts out a huge weight that acts like a anchor, terminating on or near the reef...he then reels up to tighten the line.  Next a "leader line connected to your live bait via a large hook is attached to your main line by a snap-on-loop...and the loop, and the bait slide down into the water.....from here on in...it's a waiting game.  The prized catch is giant trevally, but many other species are also caught including some big sharks......I went back each night hoping to see a large trevally caught....only to miss the action by 5 minutes on my last night in Maui.


baby shark about to be released (sorry about the poor pic!!)

On a side note, there is this whole thing about custom reels in Hawaii....check out their reels...some of them have some very cool modifications.

As for a fly rod...well i didn't see any the entire time I was there, however, I don't see why you couldn't use one.....and all the small fish you catch would be much appreciated as bait by nearby fishers.   Only problem is the wind....it's a rare day that there is no wind.

[Hook Set]

Thanks for all that info. I will look into renting a bigger set up, I really don't feel like packing mine with me.
I will definitely talk to the locals and at least watch them try for the big ones if I don't rent a set up.
Thanks again.

[Steelhawk]

Wow, some nice pics, Fishersak. Bring back some wonderful memories of Paradise Hawaii. Someday I will retire there. 

Biffchan, from Waikiki, the closest area with good fishing opportunities from shore are on the other side of Diamond Head, all the way to Kailua. Lots of people fish from the Blow Hole and Hanauma Bay general area (not in the Bay). If you drive around Oahu, you can check out all the reef points or headlands going far out into the ocean, from Kailua, to Hauula, Laie Point (popular for GT fishing), Kahuku Point, Shark's Cove near Sunset Beach (very popular for free snorkeling & shore casting), all the way to Waimea Bay. But the mecca for deep sea fishing on Oahu is Haleiwa, just past Waimea. Too much North Easterly trade wind on the North Shore for flyfishing. But you can try it where wind is not a problem. I don't know what type of flies will work for those Hawaii fish though.

I fished with gear bought from Walmart, it was a small trout size outfit, so 10lb was all it could handle. Fishersak is right, the locals are quite friendly and will give good insight to humbly inquiring 'dumb Haulies'.    If you are totally new to Oahu w/o much time, perhaps just drive around for opportunistic fishing when you see locals doing it, particularly during weekend.  I lived there 6 years before for my university studies, so I know where the fishes are. Oahu is the worst among the Hawaiian Islands for fishing from shore due to population & development, but the fish are there when you know where to find them. During my last trip to visit my daughter, I fed her family daily with fresh catches from the reef points, and some of my non-fishing local friends were quite amazed. 

I don't think visitors to Hawaii need a fishing license. Maui does not require one. Check this link: http://www.sportfishingmaui.com/

Have a great trip all you lucky guys heading to Paradise Hawaii. Get ready to HULA!  Aloooooooooha! 

Here are some pics to illustrate: (apologize for poor pic quality, using my cell phone for them)


Paradise Hawaii


A typical reef point or headland


Ulua fishing with heavy gear


No Ulua for me but a Broom fish


Yummy Broom fish dinner

[gman]

I echo some of the comments above about chatting with the locals etc.

If you decide to splurge a deep sea fishing charter can also be fun. Last year at Spring break Iwas on Maui, and went on a day trip out of Lahaina. The charter operator was "Start Me Up".  It was an awesomne day - beatuful weather, calm seas, whale watching, and good fishing. I think we were pretty lucky as our boat seemed to do better than the others.  A number of mahi mahi caught, and I was the lucky guy that caught a spearfish. The mahi mahi are pretty much hauled in as the gear is designed for Swordfish etc, but its still an experience worth trying at least once.

Here's a couple of pics.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/gunthereckert/115_1544.jpg
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/gunthereckert/121_2124.jpg

[Hook Set]

Those are some nice fish. I will hopefully be do a deep sea trip, but we'll see. It's not really up to me, I have to convince my dad

[Hollis]

Well in August my family and I are headed off to the island of Kauai and I am wanting to do some fishing there. So I was wondering if anybody here has any knowledge or experience fishing there. My dad and I will probably be doing a deep sea fishing trip one day but I am wondering about fishing from shore. What I should use and how strong of gear I will need to fish there, what works best and any other tips or advice you can offer. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Hook Set

Just checking things out.

[EZ_Rolling]

I am off to Maui Saturday for a week ...thanks for the info.

[charles]

I was in Maui at the end of August...

Each morning, I will be out at around 5am "ripping" (local calls the fishing method) by the shore.  Here is how to set it up, a float half fill with water with a 2 foot leader behind and a shad or clear plastic on a size 4 hook.  By ripping your rod reeling back, you create top water action and hopefully, something will bite...  My result, nothing  The locals did not do well next to me either 2 days in a row.  I asked why and the same answer = Maui has been so over fish that you can only find fish when you can hike for about 30-60 minutes to a place that people don't go.  6-12 lbs line will do with this.

Then I do the same method by using weight and hook and bait...  I gave up after I went out of weight...  This is almost like what we do with bar-fishing except with bait.

"start me up" is pretty good.  I believe that is what the local will recommand too.  But when I was there, "Start me up" was in the dry dock.  Another good charter is "strike zone".  The morning I went out, "Strike zone" is the only boat that caught 3 mahi mahi the whole day.  According to the charters (I have talked with a few, it hasn't been good and fishing is off and on)  I went for a mix-bag charter and caught nothing but snapper and reef fish; not jacks... This is the charter that I went on "Maui-fun-charter"  kid friendly boat as well...

Another word for advise, this is what the charter boat tells me, don't try to book them from expedia service.  They will lose money to them as much as 25%...  Call them direct and say you will book directly and you might be able to get a discount.

License is not required in Maui.  And there was no limited until this summer since the government starting to realize that it has been over fish.  

I also discover a place where you can snorkel with only a hand full of people and lots of reef fish.  If you need it, I can give you driving direction how to get there.

[charles]

one more thing...  the pacific whale foundation as well as the local and the people in Maui Ocean Center tell us not to feed or chum the water with bread.  This is beacuse they don't want the fish to eat bread and not to clean up the algae...  I guess you can chum the water with squid.  But I don't see the local doing that either so I gave up on that idea...

I remember years ago, it is a common practice to carry bread out snorkeling, I did that too.