Makahiki Day 21 - My last day of the tourney

Sun. 9/27/09
Day 21

Still nursing a head cold I decided to get out as it would be my last day to try since the tournament ends on the 30th and there would be no way for me to get out again before then. The weather report was iffy again but me, Mike, Stan, Doc, Roman and Scupper headed out to Pokai Bay for paddle anyways.
I had some fresh Halalu for bait, fresh line and leaders on the gear and was optimistic on the day's run. Paddled out at dawn and I decided to stay well within sight of the launch area, so I only ventured one to two miles out tops. On the way out just past the channel I got a huge hit that screamed out line from my Avet MXL straight out. I peddled forward to get the line tight and took hold of the rod. I set the hook and it took off again for the horizon, my 150yds. of yellow 50# PowerPro line was disappearing from the spool down into the red 65# braid backing. I was able to crank whatever it was in and gain line to the point where it was about 20ft. from my Hobie Revo and *PLINK*, the line cut.  I reeled it in to find that it was bit off at the 30# fluorocarbon leader just above the lead hook. Oh well, that's why it's called fishing.

Re-rigged and peddled out to about 190ft of water just outside of the bay. I found some structure and marked it on the Humminbird 363 GPS/FF unit. I drifted around some more and the sounder started to "blow up" with fish marks below. I dropped down a bait for a bit but nothing bit. Brought it back up a bit and dropped down a jig on my other rod to see if anything got excited enough to take it. Nothing, so I journeyed another mile up the coast to an area just before Makaha and found a lot of bait busting the surface and being chased by predators. A couple of Iwa birds were in the area, dive bombing and picking up Malolo. I trolled through with a Yo-zuri minnow and a fresh bait but again, nothing took them.
Got bored of that and went back to the structure I found earlier. The sounder blew up again with more marks and so I dropped another fresh bait, hit bottom then cranked it up so it drifted about 10ft. off the structure. I then got out the butterfly jig set up, dropped down and started to speed jig on the other side of the yak. After a few drops I look at my bait rod and found the tip dipping into the water. Hanapa'a!
I pulled up the jig and grabbed the bait rod. As soon as the fish felt me on it sounded straight down heating up my drag pretty good. Because I was using lighter line than I usually did, I was careful not to horse the fish up. When I felt it start to take more line, I let the rod and drag take care of the work. It was a back and forth battle lasting a good 20 minutes. I had called the strike on the VHF just as it took some line and the rodbutt was in my gut so I know I sounded pretty goofy on the radio.
I finally got the fish up to the surface and it flopped to it's side. It was spent and I was breathing pretty hard myself. Once I got it closer, I knew it was an Ulua and of decent size. Not a monster, but enough to give
me a damn good thrill to close out my last tournament day. At the beach it was identified as a Kagami and it weighed in at a respectable 15#.

Hrs logged
0600-1000

Makahiki Days 19 & 20

Makahiki Days 19 & 20
Sat 9/19 and 9/20/09

9/19
Made the call to head out to Rabbit Island launching from Makai Pier, East Oahu. Forecasts were fuzzy, some sites said 10-15mph and a few said 25+. I "went chance 'em" and met up with Rob, Doc and Roman. I woke up late, well I just hit the snooze button too many times and didn't leave the house till 7am... way later than I preferred.
Driving over the hill at Makapuu I could see the guys already paddling out towards Rabbit Isle. I radioed to let them know I'll be meeting up with them in a few. The conditions at the launch were 'OK'. The winds were definitely up and the swell on the outside looked like it was peaking. Met up with "AFYaker", a friend of Doc's, as I was unloading and gearing up. He had just paddled back in with a somber report. His first time out in open ocean and he was introduced to 4 to 6ft swells on the outside. I'm glad he decided to cut it short and come in, it wasn't for the inexperienced. After talking story a bit, I paddled out towards Manana. The inside or lee of the island was OK with about 2-3 foot swells inside and some flat water in the more protected areas. I saw Doc and Roman on the North side of the island and decided to test the waters. I got out as they were making their way back to the inside and I should have followed. I wanted to drop deep so I gave it a shot. The swells were picking up as the tide was changing and it was a struggle to keep pointed towards the waves. It took me 10 minutes to decided to turn tail and get back inside. Even then, I had to find a channel so I wouldn't get blindsided by a wave or pushed too close to the island's rocky face. Found a small channel and punched through. And of course I get a hit, a big one.  Thirty feet from the rocks and with swells still coming up behind me. I turn to face the waves and try to "boos'em", leader got bit through, but at that point I didn't care. Turned and got back to the lee of the island. Amazing how calm and crystal clear the waters were just 50yds from where I was being tossed around.
Anyway, another couple of hours and no hits so called it a day and went home. Bus'up and tired.

Hrs Logged:
0800 - 1100hrs

Sun. 9/20
Forecasts were finally dead on.  Calm and clear and light winds. Headed out to Pokai bay to meet up with Mongoose, Rob and Doc. Woke up late again!  But that was due to being drained from the day before. It was a complete 180 from Makai Pier which gave me much more confidence on how the day was going to be. Got out on the water by 7am and headed South towards Kae' pt. On the way out I saw Mongoose about a half mile away and headed towards him.  I had just put out an Opelu and Crystal Minnow and started the troll.

 Not more than 50yds from the mouth of the bay I got a big hit on the Opelu. My 6ft Barefoot jigging rod bent and the PowerPro was screaming out of the Okuma Cedros reel.  Sweet! Without clearing the other line I grabbed the singing rod and started the fight. A few hot runs got my adrenaline pumping and a few minutes later I boated a nice size Omilu with it's blue colors flashing bright. I saw that it was a good hookset, so I took out the Kage and brained him so as not to get hooked up by the stinger if it decided to go into death throws on deck and in proximity to the crown jewels.

Met up with Mongoose and he had already boated a couple of Omilu himself. I decided to do some drifting and bottom fishing and ended up with a couple of large Hagi that I decided to keep.  All of the others were released to steal bait again.
After a couple hours, I noticed the drift was stronger and the tide was starting to change increasing the speed of the current. The launch was North of our position and the current was a good 2kts heading South. I'm glad I have a Hobie Revo with the Mirage drive, I have paddled against that kind of current before and it isn't fun at all. Even with the peddle power, it was still slow going, but I had more confidence in my legs than if I was battling with my arms and back. I peddled perpendicular to the current and headed more inside to shallower water. I got out of the rip and was able to make good headway at around 3.5 to 4mph. I missed another big strike that took my rod out of it's holder and into the water.  So glad I had it leashed or it would have ended up on the reef. I lost whatever it was due to slack in the line along with my last Opelu. I was about a mile from the mouth of the bay and put on a 3" black/silver crystal minnow. Not five minutes of trolling and it got hit and I pulled up a decent sized 2# Uku. Not a monster but even Uku at that size are great eating so in the cooler it went.

Got back to the beach with Rob and Doc following a bit later. Rob showed off with pride his catch of a 32# Kaku (Great Barracuda).  A lot of beachgoers came up to give their congratulations and take some pictures. It really was an impressive catch.  Doc had an Uku in the boat but while removing the hook it had flipped and went overboard. We all decided that it counted as a Catch and Release.
It was definitely one of my better days fishing this year with my first decent catch after a long dry spell.

Hrs logged:
0700 - 1200hrs

Makahiki Day 18

Sun. 9/13/09
Day 18
Kaneohe Bay

Met up with Stan, Mike and Rob at 6am by the canoe hale' at Heeia Pier. Surf around the islands were 3-5 so K-bay seemed the best route if we wanted to be on the water.
We all launched into some calm bay waters and headed out towards the sand bars out in the middle of the bay. Everyone had their own strategy for the day. Mine was to whip the flats hoping for a Papio or O'io. Once I got the flats I found it was calm enough to stand up and try some sight casting. I was able to see a small school of O'io and tried casting ahead of them with a small grub. All I did was spook the crap out of them. I'm thinking if it were a lightly tossed fly, there would have been a chance. But I don't have the equipment or knowledge to do that anyway.
After a few missed strikes I was able to hook up to a Papio in about 2ft of water at the edge of the reef. It was just under the legal size and was let go to grow up.
The fishing was quiet and no one really caught anything.  All the same, it was a nice day on the K-bay waters.

Hrs logged:
0630 - 1100hrs

Mahalo to Mike for taking some pretty cool pics.

Makahiki Day 17 / Westside paddle

Went out paddling today and one of the crew, Mike R. (WildIrish on the Aquahunters.com forum), picked up one of the biggest and ugliest Hagi (Triggerfish) we've ever seen. Another of the guys that went out (ScupperPro on the Aquahunters.com forum) lucked out with a nice Kaku ('Cuda), and Uku and Papio. As for myself. Wasn't a whitewash, but I didn't bring in anything worth stinking up my cooler.


Hrs Logged:
0600-1300hrs