Largemouth Bass population

[skunked]

Hi. I was wondering if the Largemouths are still thriving in the lake. Seems that all I hear about here are the Tucs.
Does anyone know the status of the stocking program and if the ones stocked so far have survived to adulthood? Are there any other places to fish for largemouth on our island? When I was a kid, I used to fish at this pond in the pineapple fields and catch some bass, as well as channel cats. I don't know if it still holds fish though. As an adult, I don't want to risk getting busted for trespassing. When I was younger, I didn't know any better.
Funny how the make up of the lake has changed over the years. I used to catch at least 5 pongee and a lot of bluegills every time out, but now I don't see them at all. I also used to see huge schools of shad, but now I don't know if they even exist in the lake anymore. Any replies would be appreciated. Thanks.

[chris16]

ya actualley there still is plenty of bass, i have been catching some nice 3-4 1/2 pounders. and some nice 2 pound tagged ones. also there still is plenty of shad they start to school up in the hotter motnhs like from may- august, and there still are punge out there its hard to get them, i usalley get them when the water is low, also i get some nice size bluegills to. well anyways hope this info helped u a little.



ChRiS

[tucmaster]

Skunked - Your recollections are similar to mine. I recall that during my younger days:
-I used to see and catch from shore a lot more largemouth and oscars than nowdays;
-Shad were so plentiful that they used to jump onto the bank when the tucs and bass busted into them along the shoreline;
-I used to see lots of bluegills along the shore;
-Pongees were plentiful, and BIG ones too, and they could frequently be seen rising to the surface for a gulp of air, and lying near shore like floating logs;
-The lake used to have lots of mosquito fish along the shoreline that we used to scoop up with nets for tuc bait.
And remember, I was a shore fisherman back then too, so I experienced all this in a very small percentage of the lake area.

I agree that the lake ecology has changed drastically over the years. I still spend a LOT of time along the lake shore, and this is what I now notice:
-The few (less than 10) largemouth that I've been lucky to catch from shore in the past 4-5 years have all been emaciated, both wild and tagged ones;
-Several boaters have told me that the shad are still around, and I believe them, but from shore I haven't seen a single shad school since before the salvinia problem;
-I have not seen a single bluegill in the past five years, and maybe seen and caught no more than 10 oscars;
-In the past 3 years, I've caught one skinny 1-1/2 lb. pongee, and maybe saw only one other one;
-No mosquito fish in the lake anymore.
Unfortunately, the good old days at the lake are gone. To me, the change seems to have started around the time the exotics started to appear in the lake, especially the banded jewel cichlid. The cichlids are so aggressive that in some areas of the world they are used to control tilapia populations(!) The mosquito fish, bluegill fry, and balls of wiggling pongee fry didn't stand a chance against the cichlids. But tucs ferociously guard their fry, and are a major predator of the cichlids, and so have appeared to survive and thrive. The tuc population nowdays appears to be nearly as good, if not as good, as it was when I was younger. So yes, much of the talk has been about tucs, but in light of what happened to the other gamefish in the lake, I'm thankful that at least the tucs are still plentiful enough nowdays.

By the way, when I was young I also didn't know better and used to trespass and fish the irrigation ponds in the pineapple fields. The pond with the waterfall inlet on one side and the pumphouse on the other side (you know which one) had a good population of tucs and some good sized largemouth.

[skunked]

It is fun to reminisce about the old days with people like tucmaster who have been around a long time. Thanks.
I even won the tilapia derby at Kemoo Farms when I was 13 years old! I overcame the odds of fishing near Whitmore Village and then having to transport my fish BY BUS (!) to the weigh in at Kemoo. So I had about an hour less fishing time than everyone else but I still won! I had a secret spot that was very inaccessible to most people. I got a lot of weird looks from bus passengers when my bag would move and make a lot of noise every couple of minutes!
I guess it is good to not have pongee(snakeheads) anymore, but it was fun catching them when I was young. I know they are wreaking havoc in the mainland nowadays.
I remember accidentally snagging a shad when I had never seen one before and thinking, "how did aholehole get into and survive in Lake Wilson?"
I used to have a great time using little popping bugs to catch bluegills. Those days are over. Sad.
I also used to see crayfish along the shore but don't see any now.
I remember as a teenager a time when the lake was so low that the water under the bridge on the north fork was literally 10 feet across! I walked the bank there and tears came to my eyes when I saw two 15+ pound channel cats and at least 10 largemouths of 4+ pounds dead on the banks. Does anyone remember that time and what caused it? Was it just drought?
Does anyone remember Bob Kincaid? He was the freshwater columnist for the Hawaii Fishing News back in the day. I wrote to him once asking for advice and he was nice enough to write a long letter back to me. I still have that letter. That meant so much to me. I was so sad when he died but he was doing what he loved...fishing.
Mr. Wright, why don't you revive the Lake Wilson column in HFN? It might make we want to read it again.
If anyone else has any other memories of the "old days" I would really enjoy reading about them. Thanks.
Oh, another sign of the weirdness of the lake nowadays was when I saw a juvenile samoan crab foraging for food in the cove by the boat ramp a few months ago! Strange!

[OO7:BASSINASSASSIN]

I guess there aren't to many old timers on this site. I remember when there was so much tilapia, schools looked like moving reefs. In front, of the sewage outfall, the school was so dense you would think you could walk across the lake on the fish. It was more fun to fish the lake back then when the depth of lake would vary greatly, because it was like fishing 3 different lakes. When the water was high you had to be able to fish the grass. When the water dropped out of the grass, more dead trees in the water were exposed so you had to be able to fish the logs. When the water dropped even more, the fish would suspend more and structure fishing became more important. You could also fish more of the lake from the shore. When the water would rise suddenly you had to be able to fish dirty water and floating debris. Tucmaster you da man, but I disagree with you about the tuc population. I think there were more tucs in the 70's and 80's. I do think, however, there are more trophy size fish now. I remember the water being more clearer overall back in the day. Now days the debris on the bottom is covered with a gelatinous or mucus like substance.

[tucmaster]

Aloha Bassin' Assassin. I too remember the C&C outfall and the shoals of tilapia at the surface there. The tuc bite beneath the floating tilapia was fantastic during certain times of the year. I also remember fishing a lot of shore line around the lake during low water levels. My favorite area to fish during low water was Boy Scout Island which could be reached from the outfall area by walking across the "saddle" to the island. Before the lake ecology changed, I used to fish live puntat (Chinese catfish) from shore off of points like Morgan's Point, etc. and they were like candy to the big largemouth bass. Yep, those were the days.

By the way, I understand the district representative and the Wahiawa community was (is?) trying to promote the lake as a recreational destination for residents (and tourists). In my opinion, for that to happen successfully, the State and the community are going to have to somehow find and open up more public shoreline access around the lake, other than few current locations (the state freshwater park, behind the intermediate school, etc.). Otherwise, the lake will remain a destination mainly accessible for tourists on paid guided outings and for residents who own boats. The average Joe resident fishterman who doesn't own a boat but wants to fish the lake from shore (there's a lot of us) are left on our own.

[Al Towner]

I sure have enjoyed reminiscing of my years spent on Lake Wilson. I knew Bob Kincaid personally. He was a man that lived for Bass fishing. He would take a bucket of puntots out and park on a point and fish for bass all day. If my memory serves me he talked of taking Homer Circle out fishing on the lake. Homer used to be a national fishing celebrity. When I caught my lunker largemouth it was Bob that took the picture. He also submitted it to Sports Afield magazine and I received an annual award from them. I'm glad to hear that catch and release is alive in Hawaii. With only one major lake on Oahu, @ that time anyway, you can't be too careful with that resource. I also posted on the blast from the past.
Here in upstate New York we have so many lakes that sometimes it is hard to decide where to fish. Fishing Wilson 3 days a week I got to know every point, turn, fallen eucalyptus tree and cove. One day I came up on a point halfway down the lake from the launch and it was stacked up with 3 to 5 pound largemouths. I must have caught over 20. There was a family fishing on the far bank across from me and they were hollering @ me to not release the fish. I must say I took extra pleasure in releasing them in front of them. The HFFA used to have all night bass tournaments. That was fun, I have'nt done that since I left. Thanks for the memories!!!!

[Bozu]

Yep, I too long for the good old days. All you needed was a scoop net to catch live bait (medaka/mosquito fish) in the california grass. I guess I just revealed my baby boomer age bracket !

I agree that the lake has changed dramatically in the last 20 years.
1) Release of too many exotic aquarium species.
2) C&C treatment plant surface discharge change to submerged pipeline.

The needle fish decimated the Medaka population is short order. And the jewel Cichlids continue to be a menace to pretty much everyting else in the lake, especially the crayfish population. Not to mention the millions of armored catfish sucking all the algae off the logs, grass and rocks making it harder for the shad to find a meal.

The shutofff or rather the rerouting of the treatment plants water discharge has been a blessing and a curse. We now have cleaner water according to EPA guidelines, but the big shoals of Tilapia and schools of shad are no longer present year around like the old days. The tilapia and shad loved the warm, oxygen rich and nutrient rich surface discharge water.

The tucs seem to have adjusted to the "new lake", but the largemouths appear to be struggling. I don't hear of many "hawgs" being caught in recent years. Thats a bit troubling.

Bozu

[skunked]

Mr. Towner, Thank you for posting that classic photo of the type of bass we probably will never get to catch here anymore. What a fish! Also, I love the BassTracker and the pistol grip rod. I think I recall seeing your name in the column that Mr. Kincaid wrote a few times. I wrote to him when I was about 14 and he took the time to write me a long letter in reply in which he gave me a lot of good fishing advice. I still have that letter.
I hope you have time in the future to write more posts about the good old days at the lake.

[Ca_Bass]

Here's a few pic of some bass caught semi-recently from my boat.

[Boatless]

That is a classic photo. Look at how high the water level is versus nowadays. And that classic diet pepsi can!