Hawaiibassfishing Forum

This is a late report because I had to pack and do other pre-flight stuff, and now I am back home.
Report: I got to the Ala Wai on Wednesday and decided to try the sinking plug because all the cudas were close to the bottom in the same places they were the past two days. I headed out to my palm frond where I knew a 2.5-3 foot long cuda always hung out. I found him without much difficulty. As soon as the lure passed in front of him he was interested, and followed it. Then at the last second he backed off. This repeated itself over the course of ten minutes when finally WHAM! Then nothing. I saw the strike but I couldn't feel anything. When I brought my line in I found that he had cut clean through 25lb test flourocarbon Astonished at this I continued fishing with my jerkbait with zero success, not even a follow. I called it a day after catching a few tilapia to amuse myself.
Technique: Let the plug sink until it was eye-level with the cuda the ripped it as fast as I could in front of him. Repeated this multiple times as he would move and rest in a new spot each time.
Water: Good visibility, about 2-3 feet and green in color.
Time: 1:30-3:00pm
Fish Count: Six Tilapia and a farmed cuda.
This was my best day of fishing, and I will hopefully catch an Ala Wai Cuda next year Thanks for all the help!

Good report. I'll try doing some research and hope to have some ideas we can try when you get back next year..... Have a good trip,
Stan

Stan Wright wrote:Good report. I'll try doing some research and hope to have some ideas we can try when you get back next year..... Have a good trip,
Stan

Thanks... I got to enjoy a 4hr delay at the Honolulu airport. But now I am happily home

Oh darn! That's so close yet so far!!!

Hm...I guess I should get some steel leaders then...I was going to bring 30lb fluorocarbon as leader material...but from the sound of this...I may need the steel leader!

Good luck next year! Thanks for the reports!

Ken

bsp,

Your reports have been interesting, especially since I had the exact opposite experience when I was in Oahu. I had a tough time not catching barracuda! I wonder if the time of day or time of year makes much of a difference? Thats the only thing I can think of. The only other thing I did differently was use Zara spooks. The barracuda didn't even sniff at topwater plugs, but the action of the spook got them to hit. Weird. As for the trevally, as of Christmastime there were still a ton of them in there.

Sometimes I think theres no accounting for it. We went out with Chris on Lake Wilson and he set us up perfectly, hit all the good spots, used the right lures, etc. We saw a TON of tukes, but they just wouldnt hit a damn thing. Such is life.

Hope your trip was a blast.

Dave I will buy more spooks and I bet time of year has something to do with it. Ken let me know how the steel works for you, as I am going to bring some next year.

I agree with Dave, I think time of day is important and secondly time of year. I also think fishing pressure might have something to do with it also. When you post success at a spot, more people will try out the area and the fish become more wary. I noticed when a spot I was fishing got posted, more people started to fish that spot. It did not affect my fishing since I was using lures and they were using bait. I could tell from all the dead line they leave in the water and along the banks.

I just posted some pictures from my last barricuda trip... "Back to the Ala Wai"
I've seen better days with more fish, but we still had a great time.
Aloha,
Stan