Oama

Getting the buzz from the coconut wireless that the Oama are starting to come in.  Oama are juvenile goatfish that are excellent bait.  Many locals love to eat them fried whole but I would rather catch 'em then trade up for something bigger.

They are very effective dunked on a line live onto the reef line or in the whitewash.  And are still great bait if they are salted and frozen properly to be used later.

Hope they are biting early Sunday morning.

Makahiki Day 8

Day 8
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Haleiwa in-shore to Waialua

Launched from Haleiwa 0500. Was hoping get some bites just before light but nada and nada and more nada. Wierd, usually the fish are just chomping whatever comes their way around dawn. Winds again were light till around 1000hrs, then some pretty strong gusts came our way from Kahuku side. Glad I had the amas on the Revo. Brought 5 Opelu for bait and all were stripped or "Hagified" as WildIrish would say. No major strikes, got caught on the reef more than a few times. Lost a brand new Yozuri minnow. Ugh. $$$.

Was still great just to be out on the water with friends.

Day 8
0
0
Hours on Revo
0500 - 1000hrs

Rigging

I'll be posting pictures of my current rigs. Links to articles and books that have helped me out.

Makahiki Day 7

Day 7

July 18, 2009

Haleiwa

In-shore

Met up with Dave at 0430 at the launch spot and we were both on the water by 0500 just before light.  We decided to do an in-shore run due to the forecasted high winds of 15-20mph with higher gusts coming from the NE.  The morning was calm and inviting, no boat traffic except for the early shark encounter tour group heading out from the harbor. Dave was dragging a couple of Yozuri minnows with one of them being his top producer and headed to the point East of the channel and I headed towards the outside channel marker dragging a white/yellow minnow along with a rigged Opelu on the second pole.

It wasn't long before I got a radio message that Dave was on and very shortly had another fish on board. I had just gotten to the channel marker and began to criss cross the area looking for the trench.  Without a sounder I was trying to guage the depth by color and surface wave action. There was a small chop and a minor swell that helped identify the shallower reef heads.  I didn't get any action so I started a drift with the Opelu a few feet off the bottom and brought in the lure to change it out for a different color.  While tying off my knot on the lure the Opelu rig got hit and screamed out about 30-50ft of line in one quick burst.

I stowed the other rod and began to crank in the fish on the Penn 320GT I modified to a non levelwind on my Uglystick Tiger 6.6' Med action rod.  It gave a great fight that reminded me of the hard fighting Kagami and Omilu that I had fought up in Kona.  I was stoked and anxious to see what was peeling out my line. 

I gave a radio call to Dave to let him know I was on to something big and he started to paddle over from the Eastside of the channel. It was a good 15-20 of tug o' war 'till I finall saw color.  I got antsy when I saw the bright white shape about 10ft under the chop.  Once I got it to leader I then realized I had a HUGE stingray on the line.  I estimated it to be over 6ft long head to tail as I had it alongside and with a glance behind me I saw that the tail was passed the rudder. 

Dumbass me didn't bring my gloves which made it that much more difficult to leader the ray close enough for me to cut my rig loose.  Each time I got it close enough it would jerk under cutting my hands and having that tail come very close.  I said fuck it and just got enough of my 80# flourocarbon leader back that It wasn't a total bankrupt.

By then the sun was up and the bite for both of us went dead.  A couple more hours of trolling and drifting along with some rudder problems for myself and the run was called.  We paddled into a gaggle of tourists and locals doing a SUP clinic at the beach.  Talked story with a few people, rehydrated and went home.

I was hoping the ray would count as a catch and release but was told otherwise a day later.

Score for Day 7

1- 0

2- 0

6ft Giant Stingray - C&R

Hours logged on the Revo

0500 - 1000 hrs.  

2009 YakOff - Haleiwa / Day 6

July 11th at Haleiwa, Hawaii was the day of the 2nd Annual YakOff kayak fishing tournament put on by Coastal Kayak Tours and Windward Boats. It was also day 6 of my Makahiki tournament. The morning started with me waking up late and not getting to the launch in time to meet up with my partners.  Bummer.  Stan and Mike decided to do a downwind run from Alligator Rock and were already at their launch.  I rolled in to the canoe club and met up with Boogie, Steve and J.G. and Trina and talked story a bit then unloaded after signing some papers for the tournament. 

This was to be my second day on the Hobie Revo and the first day using the upgraded Turbo ST fins and larger sailing rudder.  I wasn't disappointed by the way.  After launching from the canoe Hale' I made my way out past the harbor entrance and headed North towards Waialua. I wanted to check out a trench in front of Ali'i's and Aweoweos. I crisscrossed the area with a couple of Yozuri minnows but wasn't totally sure that I found the trench. Without a depth finder I had to rely on the color of the water and the surface swells to gauge the depth and it's something I'm not too good at yet.  After doing a few passes and I changed the rig on my light pole and ended up catching a Lai'i on the second pass around the channel marker.   

Another hour after the Lai'i yielded nothing so I made my way slowly across the channel and headed East towards Stan and Mike.  A relatively short "peddle" got me in contact with Steve "Mongoose" in his A.I. He had gotten a nice Kawakawa some moments earlier. I kept trying to get in contact via VHF to Mike or Stan and realized that my Tx was probably not working.  A cell call confirmed that my radio was out again.  I could hear but couldn't transmit. 

A short time later I met up with Mike who was doing some bottom fishing with Damashi.  He reported catching some Moano and Lizardfish but nothing big.  We paddled around for a bit without a hit and headed back towards to the harbor.  Halfway there I got a hit on my light pole. I got a couple of nice screaming runs out of a large papio that made it to the side of my yak before breaking the 15# fluorocarbon leader.  And yeah I cussed pretty hard for that one. 

Back at the canoe Hale', the participants began to filter in and the weigh-in was conducted around 3pm. The keiki were first and it was a blast.  Great to see the young ones put their heart into something and have fun also.  The adult weigh-in followed with "Rocket" bringing the winning 20+ pound Ono to the scales.  

A fun tournament with a great bunch of people. 

Day 6 results

1. Lai'i

2. - 

Hours logged:

7/11/09

0600 to 1400

Ula Nui's Shakedown

I took the day off from work and wanted to do a shakedown run with the new Revo.  Got up early, kissed the wife and daughter good-bye and headed for Haleiwa.  I took the time to bless the kayak with some Hawaiian Salt and also a shot of whiskey to wake up the spirits.  And because it was the first run I also attached Ti leaves to the stern.  I also gave her a name, Ula Nui  - Nui(Big) - Ula(Red).

Once that was taken care of it was time to get her wet.  To put it locally,  She go!  The Revo glides well and was noticeably faster and smoother on the water than my previous two yaks, and that was with using the paddle.  I put in the mirage drive, well it took a couple tries as I'm not used to it yet, and started to push faster then my paddle stroke could take me.  One thing that I did notice after just a few minutes of peddling (it's more of a recumbant stairclimber motion) that my legs were OUT OF SHAPE.  After five minutes I already felt the burn and had to take a break.  I adjusted the peddles and seat to make the
positioning more comfortable and was able to peddle with a more relaxed rythym, but I still had the burn.

The water I was on was clean and glassy even with the wind starting to pick up.  The surrounding area keeps it a bit more protected from the trades.  I peddled the yak up towards some chop to see how it would handle.  It took small waves off of the bow very well but it got squirrely when the chop was from the stern.  Chop from either side was OK but still had that tippy feel to it.  So not as good on the initial stability as my previous two boats.  I saw a spot that was pushing up some clean 1 to 2 foot waves and decided to give it a try.  Once I got the wave speed matched, it was just a matter of steering with the hand controlled rudder.  I'm so used to bracing with a paddle and it kind of felt "off", but it handled well and it didn't clip sideways.

What I didn't do and should have done was a shallow water huli.  Flip overs are inevitable and not always the same on every kayak.  I'll have to put that on my to do list.

Anyway, a good run and it gave me some confidence about the new hull.

Hrs logged:

07-10-09

0700 - 1000