Hawaiibassfishing Forum

After the rain subsided we headed up the mountain streams of lake wilson the other day. The water was pretty high with a pretty fast current.


The last time we got a couple of small mouth. This time no small mouth in sight. The water was very cold and muddy. We did get a few jeweled cichlids of about 4". And one super small as you see in this picture.

I sure do miss my teen years, when I used to hike up there regularly. Sad to see the fishing has not held up. Surprising, since it is virtually untouched territory. Very discouraging to see the damn cichlids swam upstream to those pristine areas. Maybe that is the final downfall of the stream smallies. I used to have a great time with my 2 lb. line and little #0 Mepps Aglia or Black Fury spinners.

This is one of the nicer ones I caught back then, but nowhere near the biggest. I just can't find those old pictures.

Who is that young kid? LOL Wow, that water was really high. Wait till it clears up a little and the fishing should be a little better.
Great report.

Hey Blaine
Cool Picture and nice sized smb. How far have you ever hiked up the stream? I think we may have gone about a little more than 3/4 mile past the lower wahiawa heights water tower. This is just an estimate and not many landmarks around to judge.

J

I always hiked up the north fork at the top of Whitmore Ave., next to the Naval Communication Station, so I can't really relate to the water tower reference. Those trails I used no longer exist. The guy pictured is my friend Joe. I was/am camera shy. I only like to take pictures, not be in them. I miss those days. To me, that's fishing at its best and purest. One rod, and a small box of lures and hooks...That's all.

Boatless, I am guessing you are about a mile above Wahiawa Elementry school, so that would be past the rapids. Maybe that will give skunk some reference.

thanks 007. Next time, we're taking a gps. That'll give us a real accurate reading as to where we are.

Heres a few more pics.

This is one of the larger jeweled cics we caught.




More deep and cold muddy water.. I'm 5'7" and there were places where the water was up to my neck




Super good fun tho.

Thanks for posting the pics.

Whoa I haven't been up the "creek" as we say in Wahiawa for years !
We spent a lot of our childhood hiking, fishing and exploring the upper North fork. We'd catch dojo (loach) for bait and toss em out at Boy Scout Island for some lunker bass. Ah the good ol' days... Catch some smallies, hunt for crayfish, dive in the cold water to cool off and then make a small fire and toss on an open can of pork n beans. We would warm up by the fire while the pork n beans would slowly boil over the sides of the can.
Man, just like in a Ernest Hemingway story.

If the water level was just right, we would sometimes bring along those cheapy inflatable air mattresses and try to float down stream. The rocks would tear the mattresses up pretty quick, but it was fun while it lasted.

We'd usually started from the dam (not the Lake Wilson dam) which is accessed from the trail at the very top of Wahiawa heights at the Karsten St. water tank and hike up stream from there. The farthest I've hiked was probably about a mile above the small concrete dam. I don't think the residents in the area allow people access to the trails via their backyards anymore.

It's really beautiful up there in the "creek". But please be very careful of the flash floods that frequent the area. Even in the summertime, especially in the summertime. It might look like a picture perfect Hawaiian day, but beware of those mauka showers. It doesn't take much rain on ground that is already saturated to trigger a wall of water bulldozing its way down the creek. Believe me... been there done that.
We were luck to get to high ground and skeedaadle outa there.
I've gone down to the creek after a big flash flood and seen the vegetation flattened along the steep banks at least 10 feet above the normal knee deep water height.

In the recently posted pictures I see that the water color is quite stained to muddy color. It would be prudent to keep your eyes and ears open for potential trouble in those conditions. Sometimes you can hear the creek water flow getting louder before you see any significant water level rise. Make sure you have quick and easy access to some higher ground, preferably on the Wahiawa side that you entered from.
Have fun but come home safe !

Bozu

Hey Bozu
My thoughts exactly. We'll be taking inner tubes to ride the "rapids" down, that should be more durable than the rafts. And not sure what dam you're speaking of. I know we passed the Karsten st. water tank but there was no dam. There were these huge chunks of cement though that were totally out of place seeing as how civilization is very far away. wonder if the dam collapsed? Not a dojo nor crayfish in sight though. And I can imagine a wall of water barreling down the stream w/ just a little rain.