Hawaiibassfishing Forum

Hi guys,

My name is Sean Hayslip and I just moved to Hawaii about 6 months ago from Texas, and was sad to leave the bass infested lakes of Texas behind...until I found out about Lake Wilson. I love bass fishing and was kind of bummed to leave Texas because I figured there was no place to catch bass in Hawaii, so when I found out about Lake Wilson and Hawaii Bass Fishing I freaked out and couldn't have been more excited. Before I left to move here I fished in college tournaments with the Texas A&M Bass Club and really enjoyed the competition, but even more then that I enjoyed the camaraderie and the friendships that were made being out on the water. It has only been a couple of months and I am having withdraws...I want so badly to get back on the lake to catch some largemouth and even try my hand at catching some peacock bass!

Can someone give me some information on the local bass clubs/tournament trails? I appreciate any information and cannot wait to get out there with some of you guys and start catching some fish.

Thanks

Sean

Welcome! I'm from Texas too. Denton area, Lewisville lake is my home lake. I live like 2 minutes from the tower bay boat ramp. I was the same way as you! Huge bass fishermen but I was bummed coming to hawaii because of the big bass withdraws I knew I would get. Luckily I'm going back to the mother land, Texas, in June and hitting the up the Texas Team Trail in 2014. As far as clubs go, there are 3 that I know of for the lake. Hawaii freshwater fishing association(https://sites.google.com/site/hffa808/home) which I'm in, hawaii bassmasters, and Imua wahiawa fishing anglers. Each club has their own rules and regulations and different spices of fish they catch. HFFA does LMB, smallmouth, and peacocks. HBM does LMB and smallmouth only, and IWFA I'm not too sure about. I'm sure any club would be happy to have you as a member. Hope this helps. Just a little heads up, lake Wilson is a beast on its own, changing day to day and its definitely going to test your skills! Good luck!

Chris

These various clubs hold their tournaments on Sundays. I am a member of HFFA and we usually hold our monthly tournaments on the third Sunday of the month. I believe that the other clubs Imua, hold their monthly tournaments on the the first Sunday of the month, and Hawaii Bassmasters, the last Sunday of the month.

Of the three fishing clubs that Chris mentioned, I believe that one of the clubs allows the use of live bait and trolling ( Imua Fishing Club of Wahiawa ). The other two clubs only allow artificial lures.

If you're interested in checking out the HFFA, go on to the website that Chris noted in his post. You could also pm Chris to get info on the other two clubs.

As a side note, I think bass fishing in Hawaii is like bass fishing anywhere else, one day you're a champ and the next day, you're a bum. One thing that makes Lake Wilson interesting is the presence of another top game fish the Tucunare, this is another beast altogether.

You might also be interested in checking out Stan Wright's website for more info on Lake Willson and fishing for bass and Tucs. http://www.hawaiibassfishing.com/default.asp?nc=6&id=14

Welcome to Hawaii !

steve

Hey welcome to Hawaii! If you want more info on Hawaii bassmaster then talk to FilthyFishermen or you can PM me any specific questions you have and I can find out for you. We are looking for more members! If you want to go fishing (fresh or salt) hit me up and we can figure something out

Thanks for the info guys, I really appreciate it! Looks like I will be looking into either HFFA or HBM as I'm all about artificial. I just need to get some gear as I left all of mine back in Texas...any info on the best place to puchase gear out here? Hope to see some of you guys out there real soon.

Thanks again!

The market for freshwater lures in hawaii is very small. And when I mean small, I'm talking about maybe two to three stores(Walmart,sports authority, k-mart) that have a small selection of lures. I order all my stuff from basspro.com or tacklcwharehouse.com. Try Filthyfishermenbaitco.com too. Local company making freshwater soft plastics and no shipping cost because the owner fishes lake Wilson all the time so he usually can bring your order to the lake.

Thanks Chris. I figued I would have to order most of my gear, as I used to order tons of stuff from Tackle Wharehouse. Hows the shipping cost out here to Hawaii?

If you can wait, you could probably take advantage of some good shipping specials that Bass Pro Shops, Cabelas, Academy Sports, tackle warehouse and other tackle stores offer periodically. I 've taken advantage of free shipping to Hawaii from Cabelas and Bass pro Shops as well as flat rate $5.00 shipping
from some other vendors so it pays to shop around.

If not, then the shipping to Hawaii can get kind of expensive.

@filthyfishermen we make pretty much any/every type of soft plastic bait. I think Brians fishing (honolulu) supply and Roy's (aiea) have some koppers live target crankbaits. But for bass rods/reels terminal tackle like bullet weights and offset hooks you have to order online. for basspro 3 day shipping is roughly 15 dollars i think. standard ground mail is cheaper but takes nearly a month to get here. Im not sure about tackle warehouse or cabelas.

Hey Ag! A TAMU guy obviously! Welcome to the site. You definitely hit the motherload by finding this site! Lots of friendly and knowledgable people on this site that don't mind sharing info on our lake. It is definitely spot-on when it was said this lake changes on a daily basis. What kills 'em one day will be a flop the next! Seriously! Start by checking out the "Lures & Flyes" page here. You'll see alot of familiar lures as well as some surprises! I'm a member of the HFFA also. I picked them as I think they do alot for the lake to improve the fishery. They even have a bass hatchery and the members usually release fingerlings into the lake about once a year. I'd like to invite you to the next HFFA meeting. We have them the last Wednesday of each month. PM me if interested. Aloha!

Roy's tackle has a decent selection of freshwater shimano gear. If they dont have it the nice lady over there can order for you and she can get you one heck of a deal as well. I remember i purchased a shimano core from her, msrp $350, she could do it for $260 if i remember correctly. The usually have curados stocked. She can get other brands as well but Roy's get free shipping from shimano so you can get better deals on shimano rods and reels. When i was there they even had some of shimanos high end rods like cumulus.

Tacklewarehouse will give you the best shipping deals to hawaii, the cabellas and third basspro, bad thing for TWH is.... what would normally be 2 days on the mainland wont be for hawaii usually like a week or 2. Tacklewarehouse is based out of San Louis Obispo Ca, so it's just a straight shot across the pacific

I really appreciate all the information guys. I was also wondering if anyone ever has a backseat open and would be willing to take me out some time...will help pay for gas, food, drinks, etc as you will be doing me a huge favor. Please pm me if you think you can make some room!

Thanks again guys for all the info!

Welcome to Hawaii AggieAngler. I see most of the information you asked for you have gotten answers for. I would definitely contact the Filthyfisherman as well as Stan Wright. I would also recommend asking Jeff(filthyfisherman) about his soft plastics he makes. I have used several different types and they all seem to work for the Largemouth. Lake Wilson is definitely an awesome lake to fish in, but unlike TX you won't catch to many hogs or lunkers. Every so often someone will post a picture of a pretty good sized Largemouth. Most of the larger fish will be the Peacocks, but they are not the same Peacocks you see being caught in South America. Still awesome to catch though no matter what size they are. Hope your able to get out on the Lake soon, and experience Oahu's premiere freshwater fishery.