Big Island, Hawaii. Fish. Long. Lots of pics.

Aloha.

Me and The Wife Honeymooned on the Kona Coast of Hawaiis Big Island last week. Of course we spent some time fishing. The first few days were at rocky spots along the coast, at Keahou Bay (where we were staying) and a rented kayak out to Kealakekua Bay.

Here is a pic of the rig. I used a non-conventional hookless setup;


I took a lot of pics, >450! Here are some brief highlights.

The first cast was a good one; Honu!


The ubiquitous Yellow Tang. They were everywhere, but I think they’re my favorite.


They were so bright, and the water so clear, you could see their reflection in the surface.


Moorish Idols


Raccoon Butterflyfish; Kikakapu


A Female Bullethead Parrotfish; Uhu


And her husband


A goatfish stirs up some grub


A school of Black Durgeon Triggerfish


There were more than fish; I got a bit too close to one of these, and still have some buried in my hand. A souvenir.


Of course we also did some more “conventional” fishing. We charted the “Hapa Laka”, a 21 foot boat. We jigged up some feisty 10-12 inch mackerel for livebait and then fished them in a whole bunch of ways. Fishing on the bottom we got a nice eating size Ahi. Beautiful fish;


M’Wife pulled out a bona-fide Ulua. A hell of a fight for a fish of that size. It was tagged and released
.

We picked up another Ahi and a few “Rainbow Runners” (Kamanu) fishing dead bait on the bottom. While we were bottom fishing the bait started boiling on the surface. The deckhand rigged up some dead chovy on a freeline and within seconds M’Wife had a nice Bonito.
 
We also slow-trolled for a bit. That was the real action for me. A big, big fish.


I fought it for 20 minutes before we could see what it was. Peering into the crystal clear water I could see shiny flashes, but it didn’t look that big. Took me a minute to realize the flashes were the mackerel, who had shook free and was still swimming.  The big shadow underneath the mackerel. The big big shadow, was my fish. A Galapagos Shark. You want the money shot now don’t you?

Well......I have another action shot……….


We got him to the boat. The deckhand tried turning him for a pic……but snap……!!!!
All we got was a tail pic. Sorry guys. Especially Abking.


I also had another big (but not as big) fish spit the hook before we could see it. I loved fighting those big fish in the chair.  I'm not so sure about strapping myself into the yak tho',

We got plenty for dinner; the fish go mostly to the deckhands on these charters. We took an Ahi and two rainbow runners.


Nothing like fresh home-made Ahi sushi at sunset…… man I loved Hawaii.

  GREAT PICS 

VERY COOL! If you ever plan another tip, I'll gladly volunteer my baggage carrying skillzz

are people from the (ex?)industrial north of england allowed to have that much fun?

Very cool pics. I'd need a laminated fish ID book to identify all those various fishies. Good job!
PK

Fantastic report!   

The desire to get and share the photo of the big shark is much more important than the photo itself.  Well done.

The fish ID'ing is impressive.

I wish I could take my wife out fishing and have her look so stoked at the end of the day!  WTG.

Good Times fishing during the day and, heck, it was your honeymoon - hot nights too I s'pose!   

Thanks all. I did purchase a Fish ID book (which was OK) and laminated card (which was crap), both from Walmart. Yes, folks from the north of England are generally dour by nature. But once they're on vacation that all changes. Plus, ah, I'm from the south (it's a long story).

I forgot the coolest, well, the most adrenaline-pumping part. As I was peering into the crystal-clear water, my mind boggling at the size of the shark, a second shark swam by and grabbed the mackerel bait. That poor mackerel, he survived ~25 min with an angry shark just a few feet below him, then he's 10 feet from freedom and he gets tag-teamed.

I have to say, the whole experience has significantly amplified my yak shark-fear!

Forget the tuna, ULUA = ATTITUDE. Pound for pound they will flat out kick your ass. WTG to you and your wife. You will have to get your urban camo yak on the ocean soon. See you out there.

scott

Congrats' to you and ya'lady!
thanks for thinkin of US? while on it.