Stan taken for a ride.
Day 4
5/23/09
New Moon, big high tide at 1245 and light Kona winds at 5-15mph.
I was up at 0-dark-30 again. Loaded up the rods, tightened down the straps, went through the check list: Bait? check. Ice? check. Rigs and safety gear? check and check. The destination was Haleiwa. We agreed to meet up in front of Jameson's and launch from Haleiwa Beach Park. I arrived at around 0515. Still a bit dark, the sun was just trying to peek up from the East. I unloaded and noticed the guys start to arrive one by one.
Stan, Dave and Mike arrived. We greeted each other and started to do the dreaded gear up. I think we all agree it's just never going to be a quick process. Once geared up, we dragged the yaks to the edge of the calm water and slowly made our way out the red harbor buoy. The plan was to make our way past the harbor marker and out to around 120-160 feet and then troll towards Waimea Bay.
The sun coming out from behind the Ko'olaus was beaming. The water was cool and calm with just a hint of breeze licking the surface. Dave and Stan were well ahead while me and Mike kept pace a few hundred yards back. I rigged up an Opelu on a wire rig and dragged it behind me as well as a Ballyhoo on a longer troll line. Mike looked to be skipping an Opelu also. We were all hoping to get the elusive Pelagic we have all been wanting to do battle with.
We reached Waimea Bay and started to do some bottom fishing after an uneventful troll. I tried to look for structure on my fishfinder but the bottom was like a desert. It wasn't until I drifted closer in-shore did I see signs of life. I marked a couple of big fish and dropped down my Opelu. Something took it and gave a couple of good tugs, then my drag screamed out. I got excited and tried to set the hook. The line slacked and I got back my rig sans the bait. The same thing happened about ten minutes later. And that's when I noticed Stan had hooked up.
Stan and Dave had passed Waimea and were more towards Sunset. Mike was still bottom fishing in front of Pupukea just to the North of my position. I wanted to get some footage of someone fighting a fish so I paddled NW towards Stan and Dave. I got to their position and could see Stan was on to something with size. He was starting to get pulled South towards the bay. I had already started filming but had to put down the camera several times to keep up with him. I noticed after a few stop and go paddling we were near Mike who was still bottom fishing near Pupukea. Stan was still getting dragged to the bay and into shallower water. By then Stan decided to cut line, that sucker wasn't coming up.
And then high tide started to hit along with some stronger wind. The seas started to get rougher and the swells were rolling in more than the 3ft that was forecast for the day. We decided to head back towards Haleiwa. As we paddled, it didn't seem we were moving. I marked a house on the coast and watched it as I paddled, it didn't move. We were in a strong current heading opposite to our direction. I took out my GPS which I usually only carry for emergency to keep track of heading and how fast we are going (or not going).
I noticed I didn't make any headway unless I hit at least 2.5mph. Which meant the current was at least moving 2mph or stronger towards the North. It took us all of our energy, grit and stubborness to get past that rip and into safer water, which happened to be a cove to the right of the bay that Mike had expertly navigated us into. The rest was very much needed. That had become one of the most grueling paddles I had ever endured. My back, ass, arms and shoulders were burning, still pumping lactic acid and adrenaline. My legs had started to cramp from the bracing and my throat was so dry it was hard to swallow. But, we were safe. Thanks to a bunch of guys that look out for each other. I think if I had been solo, I would have had to risk a surf landing.
The rest of the paddle back was tiring but not as grueling. The fear was gone, it was now just the need to get back to the launch and get back on dry land. As far as fish caught that day, I think it was Mike that had the luck and pulled in a nice size Tableboss (A'awa) for a few points on the board.
Looking back at the small adventure. I'm glad to be paddling with a great group of guys. It was fun, scary, tiring and adrenaline pumping.
Day 4 Score for me:
0 and 0. OH... at least it wasn't a total whitewash. I did score a set of Maui Jim sunglasses on the beach. LOL.
Here are a couple of videos of that day:
Enjoy!
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