Growing up on Lake Wilson

[Stan Wright]

Hi Stan,
I was born & raised in Wahiawa many, many years ago. Been on the mainland a longtime now! I've been visiting your website for nostalgia & keeping updated about the health of the lake. Back then (late 60's through end of 70's), we just called it "the river". Your website is wonderfully informative. Thanks! It lets me remember my childhood & youth fishing in the river. Back in those days, the population of the entire state of Hawaii (all islands combined) was about 800,000. The north fork headwater was a beautiful free-flowing, roaring stream. It was a primal, pristine place. We once set a 80lb. mono trotline tied to a tree farther south by the north shore side bridge with huge gobs of shrimp and earthworms balled on a 7/0 ulua hook. We went back to it the next day & something broke the line - just snapped it. That summer we saw what we thought was a tree trunk floating in the water & paddled up to it in our cheap inflatable boat. A few feet from it we realized it was a fish! We thought it was dead but then it dove. The splash it created looked like a refrigerator had been dropped in the water from a two story building. The wave it created almost capsized us. We guessed that this must have been a gargantuan channel cat (80-100lbs?). The tail looked like it was the size of a trashcan lid. This is the fish we thought broke the 80lb. trotline.
Your website lets me reminisce of Wahiawa fish & the red, red dirt. Beautiful. I'm astounded & fascinated with the fishing as it is nowadays. In my time, 'red devils' never even existed and reports of THIRTY-pound tucunare being caught popped up here & there through each year (bigger than in Brazil). It looks to me like the river is well on it's way to growing giants again. Most of all, I'm totally amazed by the fabulous 100% catch & release rule for the river/lake - it wasn't that way before. The 100% catch & release must be the reason for such awesome tucunare fishing (as your photos & discussion board shows) in recent times. When I fished the river, my friends & I would catch huge tilapias all the time (daily) - between 15" and 21". It would tear the drag off our cheap spinning tackle and bend the rod in half. We would have to spool 15lb. line on those cheap little spinning reels just to land those whopping tilapias. Tilapias were so prolific in those days that you could catch them all day seven days a week. Most were 10"-15". There must have been a couple of BILLION of them in the river on any given day back then. Now it seems the dominant fish are tucunares! Fabulous! (Are there still tilapias in the lake?). We also caught bucketfuls of bluegills - many between 8" & 10"! We would also see some enormous pungees, and the water was teeming with dojos (dumped in from aquariums) and millions of shad. In general, how good is the tucunare fishing now? How good is the fishing for 'red devils" or bluegill?
Thanks again for your great website. Keep on going strong, best wishes & good fishing. Your gamefish-angling community should consider becoming an advisory group to state government for planning EXPANSION of (new creation of) additional freshwater impoundments for public recreational fishing on Oahu. There's still some space and opportunity to do it! Perhaps even the idea of enlarging Lake Wilson by a couple hundred acres or so, a couple more public ramps & open, walk-able public shoreline. Wouldn't that be awesome?!
Aloha,
Steve Y.

[Stan Wright]

Steve,

Thanks for the kind words. I also remember the "old days" LOL

We're lucky to have all these guys who are nice enough to send in fishing reports and help with questions and comments. Everyone is sharing their love of fishing.

If you do get back to Hawaii for a visit with relatives, let me give you a tour of the lake. We'll talk about all the changes we've seen over the years.

Aloha,
Stan

[skunked]

This kind of thread is very enjoyable for me to read. I miss the good old days too. Even though the lake is rich with tucs, to me it is forever ruined due to the jewel cichlid, convict, red devils, and others. Kids can't even catch a bunch of tilapia just for fun and to learn how to fish.
What happened to the:
Puntats
Largemouths
Smallmouths
Pongees
Tilapias. I once thought of these as a pest, but I realize their importance now that they are almost gone.
Bluegills
Big channel cats
Dojos
Huge schools of threadfin shad
Crayfish
Guppies/Medakas
???????????????????????????????????????????

So sad.

I wish they could drain the lake and start all over. We wouldn't be able to fish for a few years, but it would be worth it in the long run.

Check this thread out too: http://www.hawaiibassfishing.com/forum/ ... highlight=