Smallmouth bass??????????

[Lrry93]

Does anyone have a pic of a smallmouth bass taken from Wilson? I have heard for years they are in there but have yet to catch one. I even went all the way up North fork and ended up catching largemouth. I have tried and tried with no luck. Im about ready to hit up Monoa stream. I heard they are there?

[skunked]

When I was younger, I used to fish almost exclusively for smallmouths up in the far reaches of the north fork. I used inline Mepps spinners and Beetle Spins ordered from Cabela's which I bought with my saved up allowance money. I would also occasionally use live baby crayfish which I bought from a small store behind Dong Yang Inn. I would always catch around 6 to 10 of them, but the size would vary greatly from 6" to my largest, which was close to 3 pounds. This was from sections of the river that were only 20 feet across or less! I really miss those days, but now I am too out of shape to hike down the steep hills to get there, and all the trails we used are long since grown over with vegetation. A nice smallmouth on 2 lb. line and a flowing stream gave a great fight, especially compared to largemouth bass, which are very wimpy in comparison. To this day, my fondest memories of fishing are of those smallies up in the north fork.
I used to see huge prawns up there too, but they are probably gone too.
I may just try and re visit those spots just to see if the bass are still there, because I wonder about that myself.
If I can find an old photo, I'll post it.

[Stan Wright]

I haven't caught that many smallmouth on the north fork. Most of mine were way up the south fork..... where the water was flowing in the clear creek. About 2 pounds was the largest. The picture was taken about 5 or 6 years ago... on the north fork just below the quansit hut. LOL.... only one I've ever seen caught in the main body of the lake. He caught it on a drop shot rig under that big banyon tree.

There are lots of smallmouth in Hoomalahia in Kaneohe..... and I've heard of them being caught in the stream below the lake there.

[OO7:BASSINASSASSIN]

A while back, in HFN, there was an article about smallmouth being caught up in the mountains. I think they were fishing the "creek", the stream that feeds into the north fork. All small ones, just like the ones we used to catch up there. We used to go down the trail near the water tower.

Wow, Skunked, that smallmouth was pretty big. The last smallmouth I caught in the main body of the lake was near the Morgan's point area. I caught it when S. Molesta started to choke that area and still had pineapple. I have a picture of it, but I do not have any way of posting it.

[skunked]

I used to call my area "the creek" too. I accessed it from the Whitmore side. There was a trail on the Wahiawa side at the end of Dole rd, the road that the egg farm is on. A little further downstream was called "muscle man" by everyone in Whitmore. This was the area where it just became too rocky and shallow for boats on the north fork. There were a lot of big bluegills and channel cats there too.
The trail by the water tower leads to the south fork "creek". I have never been there, but it probably looks very similar to the places I fished. I think this is where they fished in that article.
I was amazed to hear that you caught a smallmouth at Morgan's point. The S. Molesta must have kept the water cool or something.
I really enjoy these kinds of threads because it brings back a lot of good memories for me. Also, it shows the new people here a little bit about the history of the lake back in the good ol' days when it wasn't just tucs and red devils.

[OO7:BASSINASSASSIN]

I have never been to the south fork creek. The trail we took went down to the north fork creek. The area was know as Brennan(spelling?) tracks to us, there was a rusted out track running down the gulch. The stream had a small weir or dam with a small tower. People used to climb into the tower and jump off into the water. A friend of mine actually followed the creek all the way up until he could see east oahu!

You could catch smallmouth bass at Morgan's point in the late 70's once in awhile. Now it is rare. My friend caught a good size one just around the next bend down towards the dam, that is the furthest down that we have caught a smallmouth. On the south fork, it was boy scout island and that was also in the late 70's, I think.

I caught the smallmouth in February in the morning. S. Molesta improved the clarity of the water. I guess it helped filter the water and cut off the sunlight so that there was less plankton or something like that. I saw the fish cruising along the shoreline and missed him with a shad rap. After that, he got smart and would occasionally follow the lure. I got him to follow the lure into some shade. I threw into the lighted area and just as I got to the shade he hit, and I got him.

[skunked]

Here are some old pics I found.

This is a rocky section between the pools that we fished. 1988

This is my friend Joe with a nice one. This was one of the bigger ones that I caught. This was in 1987!I guess I don't have a picture of my largest fish.


This is another nice one I caught in the far upper reaches of the north fork. None of my friends were willing to go with me, so I went alone. Now I look back and I think I was just an idiot for doing that. I remember hearing a wild boar maybe 30 feet from me rooting up some plants and praying to God that he wouldn't see me and attack!

[Lrry93]

Nice fish. Thanks for posting the pics. I love catching smallmouth but it looks like Im heading out to some streams to make it happen. I cant believe how small they stay here. On a regular basis in Indiana I would catch 3-4lb smallies all the time.

[OO7:BASSINASSASSIN]

I guess we do not have the right habitat for smallmouth bass. Hey Skunked, those bass looked real healthy!

[Lrry93]

I finally found some smallies all the way back in the south fork. I missed the hook set on 2 of them using roadrunners.

[Stan Wright]

I hear there are smallmouth bass in that stream below Hoomalahia Lake in Kaneohe. I know there are lots of really big ones in the lake.

What's that stream that runs by Pali Hwy? Old Pali Road. Or behind HBA (Hawaii Baptist school)? Also, you know that little park with the waterfall just Mauka of H-1? Don't tell anyone.

[lastcall808]

I'll verify that there are "escaped" smallmouths in the stream below Ho'omaluhia. Some of them are as big as four pounds. The fish pepper the stream, but end up going down stream and can't get back up. I was told that there is a place where they are stuck and basically piled up (between the fresh water from the stream and the salt water (near the golf course) but I haven't been able to locate this place.

[Stan Wright]

I think we should go exploring....