We are planning on taking a trip to O'ahu to visit some family and celebrate my wifes B-Day for about 10-12 days in February/March. I've done quite a bit of reading about the various types of fishing possible in Hawaii...my thoughts are to take my Okuma travel medium rod with me and my Okuma Cedros with 20 lb braid on it to do some surf/jetty fishing. I'd also like to do a shared charter or kayak fishing trip...anyone here have recommendations/comments/tips for an East Coaster heading to the mother of all fishing places? Beyond excited... :D
Wrong information. YOu should check with the charter to see if you are allowed to keep the fish you catch. One charter that specifically said you can is "start me up sportfishing". I meant to say I had the wrong information regarding fishing in Hawaii. 3 different Mainlanders fished Hawaii and told me they were not allowed to keep fish they caught because only native Hawaiians were allowed to harvest the fish.
Sorry but are you saying I have the wrong information? Still doing my research :). One charter I've looked at said anything over 100 lbs stayed with the boat, anything under got divided up 50% for the boat 50% split between the customers. It is surprising how many billfish are kept there, whereas on the east coast billfish are majority catch and release.
many boats keep part or most of the fish and sell it to offset the costs of their trips. it actually makes sense because most tourists would not know what to do with 100 pounds of fish, anyway! if you get to the north end of the island, check out chupu charters. http://www.chupu.com/ jessee lovett used to own the boat, but i just checked the website and i did not see his name. he might still own the boat but just not run the trips anymore.
Makes sense Alan. I visited the Chupu.com website, doesn't look like they do shared trips. I am in touch with a kayak fishing guide as well as a shared trip boat. So we shall see; weather may make it difficult this time of year. Looking forward to catching some Papio and snapper surf/jetty fishing too. We are going Feb. 26th to March 9th. Nice long vacation.
Aloha Dan,
If you will be shore fishing, I highly recommend visiting Brian's Fishing Supply if you are staying in town. If you are staying at Ko'olina, then I would recommend Ewa Beach Buy and Sell. Both stores can easily be found searching the internet. You would be able to pick up the fishing regulations as well. At this time, there are no license but there are regulations to help the sustainability of the fisheries (finally!!!).
As for boats, I don't go on charters in Hawaii, so I would recommend fishing charter searches with one of the following areas: Honolulu, Hawaii Kai, Ala Moana, Kewalo Basin, Waianae, Haleiwa, Wailua, and Kaneohe. If you would like to keep some of the fish that you catch, you need to negotiate that up front with the charter.
These are the main boat harbors on Oahu.
Good luck and have a blast.
BTW, Hawaii is having a awesome Papio and O'io run this year. The fish are plentiful, but there are size limits. Those are my two favorite shore fishing targets...strong fighters, awesome runs, and just plain fun to catch, release, and eat.
Aloha,
Bryan
Thanks Bryan! I've got some researching to do! ;D
See if you can get a copy of Hawaii Fishing News. There is info on current/past month fishing activity. They also have a calendar with target species for different locales, off shore, inshore, etc. Good luck! Hanapa'a.
I'm finding that I love some of the words/phrases in Hawaii, in all my research I've had to Google search a few words and there are some solid words that are just down right cool. For example Smnaguwa just said Hanapa'a, so of course I had to look it up... "...it is frequently used as a slang to mean "hook up" or "fish on". Thus, throughout Hawaii, whenever a fisherman has a strike, he yells, "HANA PA'A!!!"
And Aloha can double as a greeting and a farewell while being a word full of good vibes toward fellow man - "Aloha in the Hawaiian language means affection, peace, compassion and mercy. Since the middle of the 19th century, it also has come to be used as an English greeting to say goodbye and hello."
Yet another cool part of fishing someplace new is learning about the culture. Ok, back to research!
Other important words to know are:
Mahalo - thank you
Kokua - Help out
Kane - Man - especially important when selecting the proper restroom.
Wahine - Woman
Keiki - Child
If you are thinki g if fishimg the north shore check out the Foxy Lady
http://www.hawaiifishingnews.com/charter_d.cfm?ID=24&OrderBy=BoatName&Island=Oahu&RecordPos=3
Or the Live Bait out of Wainae. Hawaii Fishimg News has alot of great information.
I've been checking Hawaii Fishing News, great site. Only issue I'm finding is that some of their information might be a little out of date, but that's the way of the interwebs. I called two different charter companies that numbers are out of service as well as a few of the websites for the charters no longer being hosted, no biggie though quite a few companies out there to use. Thanks all for the great input, bought our tickets yesterday for the flights and got the vacation request approved; guess the hard work is all done! Haha.
I love that you bought the tickets first THAN got the vaca. Approval. Now that's commitment!!! ;)
I learned to do that a long time ago, haha. "Well, I bought the tickets so it is what it is...."
I fished with these guy's a few years ago. The others in my party got sick so we came in early but we landed a Marlin, about 400 pounds and a Yellowfin, about 135 pounds over about 4 hours.
http://www.live-bait.com/
Wow, sounds great...except for the coming in early part...that would be a bummer. I assume there were no refunds for a shorter trip?
Ok, made a reservation with Whipsaw Sportfishing, I wanted to find a place on the South side of the island due to being close to the drop offs and buoys. We'll be chasing Mahi Mahi, Big Eye Tuna, Spearfish and Marlin (not many yellowfin or ono around in March). I will be taking a lot of pictures, its a shared charter so hopefully someone will grab some of yours truly. Thanks to all for suggestions. ;D
C_D, can't wait for the reports and pictures. Very envious of the warm weather your about to have. Good luck!
Bob
Very cool. Remember to yell HANAPA'A when you get hooked up.
Amazing trip, still suffering from some Jet Lag... ::)
What an Island...what a culture...'nuff said!
Got to meet Bruddah Bill (sick reels available at his shop), very nice and willing to share some fishing tips! Didn't catch a dang thing because I only surf fished for about 1 1/2 hours at Ko Olina and it was blowing a solid 20 mph, haha.
Here are some cell phone pictures (we took about 1200 pics with the DSLR :D)
(http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg170/funferdriver/hawaii_1_zpsnoobrrr4.jpg) (http://s248.photobucket.com/user/funferdriver/media/hawaii_1_zpsnoobrrr4.jpg.html)
(http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg170/funferdriver/hawaii_3_zpsougiobqv.jpg) (http://s248.photobucket.com/user/funferdriver/media/hawaii_3_zpsougiobqv.jpg.html)
(http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg170/funferdriver/hawaii_2_zpsjtwolpsm.jpg) (http://s248.photobucket.com/user/funferdriver/media/hawaii_2_zpsjtwolpsm.jpg.html)
(http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg170/funferdriver/hawaii_5_zpsvx7zvgg8.jpg) (http://s248.photobucket.com/user/funferdriver/media/hawaii_5_zpsvx7zvgg8.jpg.html)
(http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg170/funferdriver/hawaii_13_zpszf6obyfv.jpg) (http://s248.photobucket.com/user/funferdriver/media/hawaii_13_zpszf6obyfv.jpg.html)
(http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg170/funferdriver/hawaii_4_zpsemh8gkaz.jpg) (http://s248.photobucket.com/user/funferdriver/media/hawaii_4_zpsemh8gkaz.jpg.html)
(http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg170/funferdriver/hawaii_7_zpsugvrb84l.jpg) (http://s248.photobucket.com/user/funferdriver/media/hawaii_7_zpsugvrb84l.jpg.html)
(http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg170/funferdriver/hawaii_8_zpsxbwqqj8c.jpg) (http://s248.photobucket.com/user/funferdriver/media/hawaii_8_zpsxbwqqj8c.jpg.html)
(http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg170/funferdriver/hawaii_6.jpg_zpstan2jjkk.png) (http://s248.photobucket.com/user/funferdriver/media/hawaii_6.jpg_zpstan2jjkk.png.html)
And we ended with some shaved ice!
(http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg170/funferdriver/hawaii_9_zpsjyjgvgqp.jpg) (http://s248.photobucket.com/user/funferdriver/media/hawaii_9_zpsjyjgvgqp.jpg.html)
Blessed by the man up stairs for the ability to take 11 days off from work to spend with my family traveling; we can't wait to go again! ;D
Nice to see you had a good time, thanks for sharing.
Sal
I'm glad to see you had a great time. Sorry we were not able to meet up, I am actuslly still infectious. I wonder if you caught those fish on one of the reels I serviced? Thanks for sharing the photos, upload a few more if can.
Great Pics Dan! You guys sure look Happy! ;D
Very nice trip. Thanks for sharing it with us.
AWESOME. I have never been to the auction.
Quote from: Bryan Young on March 12, 2015, 01:50:25 AM
AWESOME. I have never been to the auction.
Yea cool obligitory fish auction pics.
I have spent alot of time there and have friends that are fish buyers, fish cutters, and know many of the captainsvthat sell fish here. Thsnks for sharing. Did you buy an Ahi?
Thanks for looking guys, what a blast.
Daron - Yes, I can say we were quite happy, I am a lucky guy with an amazing family ;D
John - yeah, hope you get better soon! Our calendar ended up filling up super fast, but I guess that is vacation, haha. On the charter we fished Tiagra 130's and the guys had nothing but positive things to say about the big Shimano's, and they are huge!
The auction was spectacular, so many fish just moving in and out. Even my wife thought it was fantastic; seeing those big Opah was her favorite part. We had some Ahi from the charter so no I didn't buy anything, but it looked a little intimidating for a main lander, haha. Looks like a tight knit group for sure. We did meet a super nice guy who basically said "You're not from around here are you?" and thus started a nice 20 min conversation about the auction and fish preparation.
Opah are high on my list. I love hanging out on the pier and at the auction. I live 6 miles from Ko Olina, we go there often, it is amazing how much that place has grown in the last three years.
Ron
Look at our guy Coastal Dan living La Dolce Vita. :) Dominick
;D
Quote from: noyb72 on March 13, 2015, 04:26:38 AM
Opah are high on my list. I love hanging out on the pier and at the auction. I live 6 miles from Ko Olina, we go there often, it is amazing how much that place has grown in the last three years.
Ron
I love me sum Opah. Our program conducted a great research project on these guys, where DNA samples, photos, and morphometrics proved there are 2 species (Bigeye, and Smalleye), from longline caught fish. A friend also conducted a seperate study in their daily verticle migratory patterns using popup archieval tags. You can google it if your interested at learning more about these strange, wonderful, and excellent tasting fish.