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[TimL]

First fish's some kind of moray eel. I've caught one of those before when vacationing in SE Asia. 2nd's a squirrelfish, maybe a Hawaiian squirrelfish, 3rd's a stocky hawkfish. Check this site out: http://www.marinelifephotography.com/fishes/fishes.htm.  Cool fishies.. Identifying the tropical stuff can be quite challenging but fun. The diversity of marine life there is staggering...you just never know what you might pull up from the waters there.

[Silver]

Check out this roach! It's as big as my foot...using fish catch scale

[Silver]

How to prepare squid for bait...



Cut through halfway while semi frozen...less slime and ink. Then remove the head and innards...don't forget the bone.






Cut the tubes into small triangular strips...





Remove the skin membrane first...stark white color is preferred.



The bait only lasts a day or two max before it sours and turns reddish color...apparently the fish dislike this change. Notice the comparison between day old and fresh prepared bait.
And you shouldn't refreeze bait!

[Silver]

Tried to fish Honokahua Bay today...extremely high winds made this difficult to impossible at times. Just a few bites between constant checking bait and casting.




Packed it up to try a new spot off the honoapilani road highway...

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[URL=http://s1213.photobucket.com/user/Penskyfile/media/image.jpg7_3.jpg.html]

Local guys rod next to mine fell over and was almost pulled into the water from It got away...his rod

was only buried in the sand.

Got another one of these, and rigged it for live bait fishing.






A bit too big for bait...but just as it was getting dark, caught this one too on the whipping rod...which I broke the tip off BTW. Second time now...good thing Fenwick just replaces them.

[BananasQ]

Great thread Silver!

[Fish or cut bait.]

X2 

[Steelhawk]

X3 

I often visited the north shore of Oahu and saw many rods in the sand along the NS beaches or headlands. Not many caught anything but it is nice once in a while to see a monster GT caught.Once I saw a 50+ pounder taken by a guy at a headland or reef point called Laie Point. The guy camped out there with his truck and fished overnight. He told me he battled it for a long while to land it. Man those Ulua rods are huge and it took a very experienced fisherman to hoist up a huge Ulua up those reefs by himself.

[Tex]

SO COOL. Thanks a million for the updates! Loving this thread.

[fic]

How far out did you have to cast?  I remember seeing guys fishing this way in San Diego, and they showed me a picture of a 20lb Halibut they caught there.

[Silver]

How far out did you have to cast?  I remember seeing guys fishing this way in San Diego, and they showed me a picture of a 20lb Halibut they caught there.

West Maui tackle guy says about 30 yards...so I guess about 100 feet is fine. I have found that this distance is just enough to get past the building waves and keeps your line secured.
I can easily cast this far with my setup and am now even experimenting with closer distances...all of the reef fish I have caught are withing 6 feet from shore.
In comparison to bar-fishing coho in the lower fraser I have also found that closer is better also.

Another thing...I went to Haida Gwaii several years ago, and I was told that I could catch Halibut on North Beach with squid also. This was before I had any idea what to do...and after trying for a bit gave up thinking it was a foolish enterprise. But now! I know I could make it work.
BTW...this was a strange year that Humbolt squid were washing up on shore in the hundreds...very eerie experience.
Crabbing with a dip net is bonkers there too...definitely going back again just for that alone.

[Silver]

Not much too add for today...went to Paia and tried to drive to 'Jaws' but thought taking the rental car any deeper into the bush might not be a good idea...check it out online for an idea of what I'm talking about. I didn't get quite far enough to find the graveyard of stuck vehicles...but did run into some shady locals...and could hear the crashing surf through the trees. I'll get a jeep again nextime.

Fishing the last hour of daylight at the closest beach to us in Kapalua. A few bites but nothing...need to put in more time. I did notice a substantial increase in rods at the usual spots...the best tides are starting tomorrow and lasting for the next few days.

[VAGAbond]

Interesting thread.    Keep it up.

I once took a fly rod to Hawaii but never actually got out to try it.   The surf at the prospective locations was too intimidating.

At Hawaii I have observed a number of interesting techniques and means of solving local fishing problems and taking advantage of the situation.   Here are are some pictures from South Point on the Big Island where they fish from the top of significant cliffs utilizing the strong trade winds at their back to carry the gear out into deep water. 

Here is the cliff situation:




The technique uses large inflated plastic bags as sails for the gear.   The day I was there they were fishing what appeared to be about 300 yards from where they were standing on the cliff.    Apparently they even catch marlin from this shore location.  I have circled a just launched bag.  The ones fishing are way out of sight from the camera.



I never saw anybody catch anything at this location but landing a large fish from the top of a cliff presents obvious problems.   I never saw the structures in the next picture utilized but it appears they are a means to land larger pelagic species.



I have wondered if there any locations closer to home where this inflated bag technique could work.

[CohoJake]

The technique uses large inflated plastic bags as sails for the gear.   The day I was there they were fishing what appeared to be about 300 yards from where they were standing on the cliff.    Apparently they even catch marlin from this shore location.  I have circled a just launched bag.  The ones fishing are way out of sight from the camera.

Interesting.  Reminds me of the guy I saw in Maui (Kihei) who made a bobber out of a plastic bag when fishing for bluegill-sized reef fish with bread.  He filled a bucket with fish and left after about an hour.  I adopted his technique and caught some beautiful fish. 

Do they just leave the bail open and let the gear drift out there?  Did you see what kind of bait they were using?

[Seatosky]

I am new to posting in this forum but appreciate this thread after fishing Kauai for 2 weeks this July with gear and on the fly. An amazing experience - landed 7-8 different species. I was impressed by their power and resilience. Sadly, I saw a dozen bone fish but hooked none.

Silver, I'd recommend when "plunking" as the locals call it, first by snorkelling the area to get a sense of corral heads, etc. as well structure where fish are present. I even swam my gear out past the reef and dropped it 60 yards from shore. Tricky trying not to hook your self in the process!

I talked to a lot of locals. Mark White crafts amazing ceramic lures locally and has a website full of info. Check out the cliff fishing and the gear used to gaff and retrieve the fish from the cliff top.

http://www.markwhitelures.com/videos.html

Also, I experimented with bait and found uncooked prawn, shell on, to be most effective. Seconded by squid. Yes, once the bait is red the fish are not interested.

Mahalo!

[Silver]

Good advise Seatosky,

Yes I know about the local lures...very cool and expensive! I'm not yet confident enough to invest in them.
Here are some that I saw from another local craftsman...



Also, some popular Japanese poppers too...these can exceed $100 per lure.



I have also heard that shrimp can be very effective for the reef fish, but I'm really interested in something substantial...so I will stick with plunking squid. I will keep looking for some Octopus.

There is a Cyclone or Hurricane brewing that will miss the Islands, but will still cause a lot of unusual
wind and rain. 6 foot waves yesterday at a normally calm beach, and the day before also...so no fishing.

Well, I did get another eel for the brief attempt at a calm beach that wasn't 'family friendly' before we had to pack it up and go to the pool instead.




I've got a bottom fishing charter booked...so I should have something good to show by the weekend.