Maui Kayak fishing - Late report

Spent a couple weeks on the islands. Just now getting time to go through my pics. Spent more time snorkeling and hand feeding fish than I actual did with a rod & reel. There is just so much to do. This post is about on Maui were I found a local - Jesse -to guide me out of Makena landing. He provided a Wilderness Ride and all the tackle etc. The Ride wasn't the best tracking ocean boat and a bit small for someone my size, but they don't have as much choice in yaks over there as we do.  I would recommend going out with Jesse if you get a chance to visit Maui. He said the pelagic fishing season is ending for yaks but it will startup again in April. All I caught were some goat fish / Weke and a big Puffer. I had one bit of excitment where my reel really sang and the line peeled off.  I wasn't able to hook up and my mackeral was bitten cleanly in half. According to Jesse that was typical of a Wahoo / Ono  strike. There were some freedivers nearby operating out of a PB. At one point I had drifted within a hundred yards or so when one of the divers came up with a 50# Ono, so I know they were out there.  Jesse's fishing partner (Kayaking Bob) did land a nice Mahi.
First some scenic shot of me paddling.
Then Bob's Mahi . Same Mahi at the end, I taught then the Fish Sniffer pose
Then some fish porn from Bob's website of fish they caught  the week or so after my guide.
Finally some shots of Jesse's Yak. He customized his Malibu with a sail and mounted drop down stabizer fins on both sides to keep the sail from making the yak sideslip too much making it track straighter. I thought some of you guys might find it interesting.
This is my first pics post - fingers crossed

Love those Mahi Mahi!  Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

  I think sailors call those stabilizer fins "lee boards". The idea is at least as old as the Vikings.  His setup is clever.  His look like older style sailboard tilt up centerboards - you'd tilt them up after you got up to speed both to reduce the drag and to avoid "tripping" over them as you slightly slide sideways.  I'll bet there are lots of those in landfills or deep in garages.
    It also looks like he's able to reef his sail by rolling it around the mast, adjusting for the strength of the wind, or to stop and drift.   
   That looks like fun fishing.  From what I saw when I was there, the wind can howl offshore in places - you could end up in another archipelago!   

Thanks for the pics, looks like you had a good time

Great first report....I love the pics of the Mahi!

That definitely looks like Good Times.  Thanks for sharing your trip and the fish grins.   

Love the report and fish porn LRM. Thanks for sharing.

Jedmo

I'm sure those scrapping dorado are a blast and a challenge on a yak. Looked like a great time there for sure.

Maui is the only place that's worth getting on a plane for.

Thanks for sharing!

I see that they are using the hobie adventure island with the sail on.  Did they actually have to sail to the spot to fish?  Looks like that launch area is calm enough for the AI too.  Thanks for sharing.

Nice fish and nice pimped-up yaks...

mahalo

Oh Boy when i get my tax money hopefully i have some left n make it out to Hawaii or somewhere and do lots of fishing haha lol

Keo