Lake Hoomalunia in Kaneohe... Peacock Bass.

[Stan Wright]

Guess what fish I saw? First though... Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden offers an excellent location for kids to fish. It's safe, user friendly, and the fish are dumb and hungry... guarantee your kids catch a fish within 30 minutes.

That's the good news. Now the down side for you hard corps anglers. It's only open on Sat. & Sun. from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. It's Catch and Release only. No Lures or Live Bait. Hand poles with barbless hooks.

Yesterday as the Boy Scouts were doing the "fishing" part of the Fishing Merit Badge and catching tilapia and red devils like crazy.... what should come swimming by but two large peacock bass. They were paired up and looking for a place to spawn. Peacock bass seem well established, because I also saw more in the 6" and 12" sizes. Several in the 2 pound range. One angler caught a peacock bass weighing a little over 2 pounds on a piece of bread... yes bread.

If the Hoomaluhia peacock bass become "bread trained" like the tilapia and red devils, there are going to be some busted lines and lost bamboo poles as the big peacock bass grab a bread baited hook from some little kids expecting to catch a "small fish". LOL. LOL. LOL.

You can use a FREE pole provided by the park, but I suggest you bring your own... A bamboo pole or an extinction pole in the 7 to 8 foot range. A 4# or 6# test line the same length as the pole. A floater... I like the small dime or quarter size so the kids will know when to "strike" the fish. The size 10 AH hooks work great... and for bait... bread or my favorite, Pillsbury biscuit dough.

I had heard there were peacock bass that had "found their way into the lake" but until now I couldn't confirm it. The peacock bass sighting explains what happened to all those little tiny tropical fish that use to be all over the place. LOL.

[Stan Wright]

Follow up on the equipment offered at Hoomaluhia.
Thanks to some generous donations... the fishing poles are now strung with 10# test fishing line. This is light enough not to spook skittish fish, but strong enough to give it a good yank without breaking when one hooks some grass or an overhead tree branch.

Speaking of hooks The size 6 Limerick hooks they now use are small enough to hook the average red devil and tilapia... yet large enough to keep the fish from swallowing the hook. The Red and white floaters work great.

On my last visit, everyone that I spoke with caught fish.