Hawaiian Bottomfish

Started by lawaia, January 14, 2018, 07:10:56 AM

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lawaia

Hope all of you continental AT members are weathering Mother Nature's vagaries without harm.  Between freezing temperatures on the East coast and fires and mudslides on the West, she sure seems pissed at something!

Here in Hawaii, we have snow atop some of our higher volcanic peaks but at sea level we can fish all year round IF the winds allow...and we're not getting false alarms about an imminent ICBM attack ::).  So it was that when Ma Nature stopped blowing so hard, we were able to get out and catch a few prized tasty snappers that we call opakapaka, known to the ichthyologists as pristipomoides filamentosus, or to plain folk as pink snappers.  The other fish in the pic are blue-striped snappers we call ta'ape which are an introduced species that have become a nuisance so even though they are not preferred catches, we take 'em out when they bite; they are good table fare but just not up to the standard of the opakapaka.  All the deep bottomfishing out here requires a lot of hunting for the fish as they are not permanent inhabitants of any specific spot; that's why they have tails, right?  Through experience and much trial and error we've learned that some areas are likely to have fish but that just narrows the hunting area.  It literally took us hours of hunting to find these fish but the excitement of finally getting some bites and the pleasure of eating them makes it all worthwhile!

We hope this report and photo helps a little bit to get you through the winter, wherever you are.  Aloha and Happy New Year!


Tightlines667

#1
Good going on those Paka!

Looks like you finally found a good bite.  I am set up to drop for 'em, but haven't yet this winter.  I'll throw some squid and Kawa in on my trip to the banks tmrw.  Maybe if I mark some fish, I will make a few drops.  Probably just troll for Nairagi and Mahi.  

John

Not to threadjack, just wanted to provide a quick update...  I spent an hour at sunrise ths am, making 3 drops in 90-150fa. on a point at the tip of Penguin, had 3 fish on, but they dropped off on the ride up.  

Went 1 for 1 on Mahi on the troll.  Guess it's Mahi for dinner instead if Paka.

John
Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

Bryan Young

So jealous. Opakapaka is my favorite!!!  Steamed, black bean, somen,...
:D I talk with every part I send out and each reel I repair so that they perform at the top of their game. :D

Aiala

Best fish I ever ate, hands down, was blackened opakapaka... on Kauai, at the Seashell Restaurant, across from the Coco Palms, in '87. Memories, memories...  :-\

~A~
I don't suffer from insanity... I enjoy every minute of it!  :D

lawaia

Way to go, John; mahi is great eating, just different from the 'paka.  Too bad the BF you had on came off   :(.  We've had that happen, thankfully not very often.  At the depths you were fishing, you might have had the prized onaga on  ???.

Yes, Bryan, totally agree; the 'paka is delectable in so may ways.  Guess that's why it's much desired.

Fond memories are precious, Aiala; keep them close.  Spent my honeymoon on Kauai last century and those memories are still dear.  Somehow, I can't remember what we ate, though I do remember what we did  ;).

conchydong

#5
 Nice work. They look little bit like our Vermilion Snapper which I catch in my area between 170-400' of water. Here is what our Vermilions look like. There are two others in the picture. Yellow Eye Snapper and a Creole fish.


lawaia

conchydong - Your vermilion snapper sure do look similar to our pink snapper.  I'm not 'fishy smart' enough to know whether they be cousins on different sides of the Americas, the 'paka in the Pacific and the vermilion in the Atlantic, or if they're totally unrelated.  Maybe some ichthyologist will chime in.  But no matter, if the vermilions are as good eating as the 'paka, you and I are both lucky!  I'd think the mahi are the same; nice mixed bag catch you have there!

Captain64-200

Fred from Biarritz ,

Tightlines667

Quote from: Captain64-200 on January 17, 2018, 06:17:10 PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pristipomoides_filamentosus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermilion_snapper


Very similar members of the large Lutjans /snappers family  indeed ! 

Yep, but our Hawaiian varieties, and all members of thst genus tend to inhabit much deeper waters. 

John
Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

erikpowell

Nice catch lawaia, pakapaka is a favorite here as well. That's good eats!!
Also known as deep water snapper and jobfish here.

Similar to Hawaii and as John stated, you don't find these until you pass about 600' deep here.
Other jobfish species can be found as shallow as 200', but the real opakapaka are much much deeper.
I cut my teeth paka fishing here by hand lining in 1000' deep channel with some local fishermen.

Being the new guy I wasn't privileged to use their Alvey winch, I was handed the biggest plastic hand spool I'd ever seen  ;D
I took my Avet 4/0 and a heavy jigging rod along once.......Once  ;)
Now we use electric reels.

Never thought I'd be putting out 3000' of anchor line in a 25' boat!!  But pakapaka is worth the effort.

Nice going!

lawaia

Yeah, Erik, I have much respect for the pioneers of bottom fishing who fished by hand and located their spots using landmarks.  I'm glad that nowadays we have sounders and GPS, and electric reels.  When we go dragging shell for tako (octopus) we still do that entirely by hand and that is tiring!  Got to 'warm down' after a day of doing that by doing some '12 oz curls'.   ;D