Jason wanted to take me to a fishing spot with a lot of history. We had wanted to visit this spot 2 years ago, but the conditions were always too rough. This time, I got lucky with calm conditions and we had the chance to go. It’s a spot called Bamboo Ridge on the eastside of Oahu.
This location is famous for catches of ulua (giant trevally) from 30-100lbs. Aside from the big game, the cliff side spot offers good catches of small game such as surgeonfish, Hawaiian chub, wrasse and snappers. Generations of fisherman had helped to build this spot into what it is today. There is now a concrete platform where a canvass shelter was erected, completed with beach chairs. Holes were bored into the ground where rods were mounted on the lava rocks for fishing and for rigging up lines. A couple of long gaffs were secured on one wall. I asked Jason “Does anything ever get stolen here?” (Since theft and car break-ins are prevalent in some areas of Oahu) “No, no one dares to steal anything from here because everyone knows what the stuff looks like. If they find out who stole from here, people will take matters into their own hands and will be justice.” The amount of work involved in building this place showed the dedication and camaraderie of the Hawaiian anglers. Everyone was welcomed to use the place as long as it was used with respect. I don’t know where the picture of the shelter went…so I only have this for you. You can barely see the top of the shelter in this shot.
Jason and I rigged up a rod each to dunk. While Jason casted at least 100 yards from the cliff and avoided a ledge, my cast ended shorted and caught the ledge
I couldn’t break off the 40lb leader…so I had to ask Jason for help. After breaking off, he re-rigged for me and cast the rod for me. I need practice!
Then we rigged up the spinning rods. Basically, we were fishing a weightless float rig. On our mainline, we attached a float. We spliced 6lb fluorocarbon to the mainline with about 8 feet of leader. To the leader, we attached a #13 MZ hook. Jason showed me how to fold a quarter slice of bread onto the hook, leaving some of it spaded out and fluffy. Basically, we wanted the bread to look as natural and to sink as slowly as possible.
Hooked up the bread was easy. Hooking the fish that bites the bread was hard. These fish were highly pressured and they can bite around the hook. You really had to hope that a piece of the bread stayed on and wait for a fish to make a mistake. After 2 hours of feeding fish, I got lucky. My float went down hard and the hookset was solid. A bull fight began. The fish desperately dug for bottom trying to find the refuge of rocks. On the other hand, I kept my drag tight to prevent the fish from reaching the rock. If I let the fish run, my line would certainly cut on the bottom. All I could do was use the rod to cushion the surge of the powerful fish. Eventually, the fish was tired after a few long minutes. I swing the fish up the 10 foot cliff and ended with another new species. It was a 13” sleek unicornfish…just shy of the 14” legal limit.
My friend fishing for small game.
After I released the fish, I continued fishing the bread. Soon, I found some small giant needlefish hitting my bread. Their bony snort had no soft tissue where the hook can penetrate. I tried to fish curly tail for them but again, the hooks were not sticking in. When I went back to bread, I had a 3lb barracuda inspect my fluorescent orange float
I caught one more small rainbow wrasse. My rod did ring for a quick moment. When I retrieved the line, the bait was still present though with no bite marks. It could have been a crab or a lobster.
I was grateful that Jason took me to this unique piece of Hawaii.
In the afternoon, I fished with another good friend of mine. Stan Wright was a co-host of the fishing show Hawaii Goes Fishing and a guest of Let’s Go Fishing. Needless to say, I was fishing with a great local guide. I invited my cousin along since she has a short day at school. I also want to give her the chance of catching some larger fish.
At Lake Wilson (Wahiawa Reservior), our main target today was the large red devil cichlids that had been on the chew. There were also other species in the lake including largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, peacock bass, bluegill sunfish, channel catfish, oscars, snakeheads and Chinese catfish…just to name a few.
Stan offered me his 4-wt fly rod. Stan tried to teach my cousin to use the fly rod and she was able to flip a few short cast. However, she switched to the spinning rod after one nasty tangle. She also managed to catch Stan a couple of times
On the fly rod, we were fishing a small fly similar to a beadhead woolly bugger without the hackle. My cousin was fishing a 2” white senko weedless. Stan and I hooked into many red devils…too many to even count. We were getting hits since we were able to cast more precisely in and around areas tight to shore, emerging grass or downed trees. My cousin didn’t get hit, but she did play a few fish on the fly rod. I think I was more excited than she was
In any case, here are some pictures of our 3-hour session.
Stan’s friend Clay
Anita’s fish
Release
Stan caught a red devil cichlid with natural pattern (90% of wild red devils look like this…but 90% of the red devil in the lake are red, orange, white, or something in between with black markings
)
The natural
Different coloration of the same species of fish
One of the many double-headers
I managed to land my personal best bluegill (10”).
April 30, 2009 – Day 12: Kaku madness!
A friend I met on the kayaking board had been landlocked since he had back surgery. He was hoping that during my visit we could fish his backyard for ‘Awa’awa (Hawaiian tenpounder…aka ladyfish), kaku (great barracuda) and ‘Awa (milkfish). His backyard was a brackish pond. Most of the time, a sandbar closed the entrance to the sea. As the rain (freshwater) collected the salinity of the pond changed. Recently, a heavy rain washed this sandbar away and the pond was now affected by the flush of seawater during high tides.
Our strategy was to troll small flies, lures or live mollies for ‘awa’awa and kaku, then hit the flats where giant milkfish were found grazing on the limu (seaweed). Since my friend Ji had a bummed back, I carried most of the heavy items to the dock and helped load the outrigger canoe. Ji’s wife saw that we didn’t have much luck trapping live mollies, so she grabbed a small net and caught a bunch by hand.
Ji rigged up a light trolling rig with a live molly while I rigged up one of the flies that Ji bought online. We trolled to the flats without getting hit, which Ji found unusual. Ji thought it might have something to do with the salinity change in the lake. About 200 yards from the flats, we saw the water frothing with activities. Ji said that sometimes, the barracuda are rushing schools of small tilapia or anchovies. He had seen 4-foot barracuda totally airborne diving at bait schools. As we got closer, we discovered that the commotion was made by schools of large milkfish. These fish were easily over 10lbs. There were also some in there that I would guess were over 15-20lbs.
Since milkfish are vegetarian, they feed on seaweed. Ji and I had tied up some limu flies to imitate clumps of seaweed. We fished these for about a hour, sight casting to grazing and tailing ‘awa. However, the flies were ignored. I was desperate enough to wrap fresh limu onto my fly hook in an attempt to hook one. Ji even bought out a large treble hook and tried snagging one just so he could find out post mortem what these fish were feeding on
Alas, our blasphemous efforts proved futile.
Having enough of this frustration, I put on a Zara Puppy topwater lure in black/silver finish. I thought it would imitate a frantic tilapia quite well. Maybe I could find a barracuda or two. On my first cast, I was caught totally unprepared for the destructive hit and smoking run of a barracuda. The fish hooked up but it ran under the canoe on a light drag, wrapped around the outrigger and got off. My Zara Puppy had some impressive paint loss from that first hit
Seeing my success, Ji put on a pearl/red Zara Puppy from my box. Here we are, anchored on the flats, casting blindly and getting hits, follows or violent hits on almost every cast. It was soooo much fun it was almost a crime!
The barracuda average 18-25” long. Do not ever underestimate these little “babies”. They are designed like a missile, hit like a missile, fly out of the water like a missile, and have serious set of fangs. Ji was fishing braid and broke off two of my Zara Puppy’s. The line broke above the wire leader though. At the end of the evening 4 hours session, my Zara Puppy was a mangled puppy…with holes punctured into the plastic body, the back hook pulled out completely and paint missing everywhere. I think we ended the session with 4 barracuda each. Even though most of the barracuda missed the lure, it was just fun seeing the fish v-waked up to the lure from 10 feet away. Several times, a fish would miss the lure on one side, smoked it from the other side and missed, and smoke it again and again. It was some wild action for sure! Ji even tried breaking off the lip of a shallow running lure when he lost both of my Zara Puppy's...and it worked too
Here are some pics.
Feeling good.
The first topwater cuda
Other lures worked too!
My big one of the day
After fishing, Ji, the great local host with aloha loa nui, treated me with a great Korean plate dinner and a cold beer. I had dinner with his family. Even though I have just met him, I found a lifelong fishing friend already.
May 1, 2009 – Day with family
My uncle invited me to a Japanese buffet brunch…nuff said
Food was amazing and then my aunt took me shopping for an aloha shirt (they are call aloha shirts in Hawaii…NOT Hawaiian shirts!). Every time I visit, they bought me an aloha shirt I took it easy in the afternoon and spent some time with my grandma, Anita and my uncle.