Finally Ran Into 'Em

Gfish · April 23, 2018, 03:23:34 AM

As some you may be aware a, Kauai was blasted out 1 week ago with about 2'( yeah, that's feet) of rain water in a couple hours. Some folks up on the North shore took a serious beating and clean-up is still goin on. How do ya wash an adult buffalo out of it's enclosure, down into what was a creek, all the way into the Hanalei Bay? Anyway, it does pay to be relatively poor sometimes and haveta live in older hillside neighborhood that isn't in Poipu or Princeville. Also, it payed this time, to take a whole weekend off from fishin. Woulda been an interestin experience to have been out there 'bout 3pm last week.

The Southside is ringed with muddy water and probably coliform infested but I couldn't stand not bein out there anymore. Fished hard for 3 hrs., castin over the reefs, hittin the surf, trollin bait & lures, dropin jigs---Nothin! First time I haven't seen any water sports people out there, 'cept the canoe club folks. One last try after losing my last opelu bait, and I ran into 'em out past the brown water!

I think I may a had 4 Skipjack on 2 lines at once: trollin a big swim plug with a big fly above it and a spoon with a fly above that, both rigs got hit almost the same instant. Had to leave one alone and hope for the best, grab the other---my 1st "big-un" on the 350 level-winder! A long battle with a 15-20 lber., gruntin & groanin, and nobody around to watch my show-off self! At some point early on, I musta broke-off the spoon to another one, pullin oppsite to the one I eventually landed, though I didn't really feel it.

In the end, when I speared 'er and hefted her into the yak, I stuck myself in the foot( not bad though), had lost my 3 other lure/flies/fish, and had a complicated tangle of line and lanyards, big swells/rough chop and only had 15% battery power left. So, I headed back. On the rod I left to chance, I suppose the other fish were also pulling against each other 'till the lines broke. No breakage at any of the knots, either.

Been a too-long skunk time, with a very windy, cold, extreamly rainy spring. Feels good. Now I'm the MAN again, " bringin home the bacon"!, for my sashimi lovin wife.

Swami805 · April 23, 2018, 03:32:54 AM

So sorry about your island taking a beating, glad to know your ok and fishing. Sounds like mayhem on a yak but the good kind! Nice fish, didn't know they got that big. Looks like you'll be dining for a few days!

wailua boy · April 23, 2018, 05:00:07 AM

Nice fish and must of been fun from a kayak. Hipa hipa

oc1 · April 23, 2018, 07:04:27 AM

Quote from: Gfish on April 23, 2018, 03:23:34 AM
How do ya wash an adult buffalo out of it's enclosure, down into what was a creek, all the way into the Hanalei Bay?

You mean a water buffalo or one of those bison things?

Congratulations on breaking the stink Greg. Can't remember the last time we could even get out.
-steve

thorhammer · April 23, 2018, 02:11:37 PM

Great work....I bet it's been awhile since any Leveline caught a tuna!

Gfish · April 23, 2018, 02:15:47 PM

There's some interesting stuff on the internet/U-tube 'bout it, if you like natural disasters. I tryan do a Ohana section post, but couldn't figure out howta transfer stuff witha I-pad. They rescued the buffalo by herdin it back to shore with jet-skis 'n power boats.

steelfish · April 23, 2018, 07:01:42 PM

wow, impresive Catch, I didnt know skipjack could grow as big as 20lb or so

Tightlines667 · April 23, 2018, 07:23:46 PM

Nice work!

Given the winds, rains/brown water situation you did good. I wonder if the taxman paid you a visit? They love those Kawakawa!

John

mo65 · April 24, 2018, 02:11:43 PM

Great catch G!

Gfish · April 24, 2018, 03:32:23 PM

Skipjack's not really an accurate name. As John called it in Hawaiian, it's a Kawakawa, i.e. a Mackerel Tuna. Sometimes called a Black Skipjack. Great hook and line sport fish, not the best tasting for western folks as they/we don't like strong flavored fish. Perhaps close to the taste of a Bluefin tuna.

festus · April 24, 2018, 04:33:13 PM

Great way to put that Leveline to work.

Gotta friend in Kailua-Kona, I was sorta worried about him a few days, he disappeared from FB for a while, was ok, just a major power outage.

BTW, in the Mississippi River tributary system a skipjack is a skipjack herring, aka Tennessee Tarpon, highly sought after baitfish for big stripers and catfish.

conchydong · April 24, 2018, 05:39:34 PM

Quote from: Gfish on April 24, 2018, 03:32:23 PM
Skipjack's not really an accurate name. As John called it in Hawaiian, it's a Kawakawa, i.e. a Mackerel Tuna. Sometimes called a Black Skipjack. Great hook and line sport fish, not the best tasting for western folks as they/we don't like strong flavored fish. Perhaps close to the taste of a Bluefin tuna.

Looks very similar to the Atlantic Little Tunny (aka Florida Bonito). Not many folks eat them on our side but a few people do.

happyhooker · April 24, 2018, 08:02:29 PM

Looks like there isn't anyplace that's avoiding the "interesting" winter of '17-'18. While Gfish was nearly getting washed out to sea, my place in Minn. got somewhere around 18" of snow. Winds blew up big drifts. They say the eskimos have 38 (or some number) of diff. words to describe the diff. kinds of snow; the kind we had was like powdered concrete mix; one shovel full was 30 lbs. +. Then another 3-4" on top of that a couple of days later. Finally, have got some temps into the 50s the last few days & now there are flood warnings being issued near various rivers in the state. Went down to my favorite dam tailwaters fishing spot yesterday; usually, the water flows over the top of the dam, and then downriver, but this time, the creeks downstream of the main river are kicking in so much water that the river was flowing BACK over the dam (you can't even see the top of the dam where the water usually comes over) into the lake.

Frank