Fishing Hawaii

Looking for advice on fishing Hawaii and surrounding islands planning a trip for next fall
Any recommendations and personal experiences could be helpful

Thanks in advance

Looking for advice on fishing Hawaii and surrounding islands planning a trip for next fall
Any recommendations and personal experiences could be helpful

Thanks in advance

Watch pacific warriors series every day til you go, then slayum!  Fished Kihei from shore lil' bit.  Caught bait but no ulua or papio.  Charters for mahi.  Find people fishing and see if they willing to share some secret spots.  Not easy, but gotta ask.  Hopefully you will meet hospitable locals.  Local slang...whippin'(throwing lures)......dunking(baitfishing), this would be Maui.

What islands are you headed to?

Nothing's In stone most likely the big island for the family and I will likely take off to were every the fish are  I want to hit one of the more remot if that word really works there islands as well
I have never fish there that's way I'm inquiring so I have a better plan when I get there

As for pacific island show I saw like 3 elasodes and never saw any new show I thought it was long dead on arivel

  There is a ton of fishing on the Big Island, but I'd look into shore casting lures (Whipping) for Papio/Ulua aka Trevally as previously stated by Eddie. The fish tend to hit surface lures like plugs and poppers since they are territorial feeders, I usually find a rocky coastline cast and retrieve all the way down the beach or rock line. If you hit a charter Kona has some of the most calmest and fishiest pelagic waters in the world.

  If you need rig recommendations let me know, I can try and dig up some pics.

Nothing's In stone most likely the big island for the family and I will likely take off to were every the fish are  I want to hit one of the more remot if that word really works there islands as well
I have never fish there that's way I'm inquiring so I have a better plan when I get there

As for pacific island show I saw like 3 elasodes and never saw any new show I thought it was long dead on arivel

I take a three piece travel rod use 15 lb test 8lb leader 1 ounce weight #8-#12 hook depending on size of bait you catch . Find rocky points with good waves and deep blue color, tide change is best. Fav. bait they refer to as sand turtles( http://www.hawaiinearshorefishing.com/live-bait-sand-turtles-really-turtle/)
Smaller the better. The fun is just catching the bait by hand, small fish tank net helps . Take a small plastic wide mouth jar with lid with you. keep a hand full of sand and sea water in it.
Only keep what you will eat, you will be scolded by locals if you walk away with a stringer full.
Good luck

Monday on Kauai looks ok to me but the rest of the week looks spotty to bad to dogshit.



You can rent kayaks and gear at Plenty Pupule in Kona on the big island and in Lihue on Kauai. Don't chum and dangle your feet. The tiger sharks might mistake you for a turtle and bite your foot off.

I don't really care for the interactions with the locals. Just get out and do your thing. There's plenty of knowledge on the web that you can glean and put to use, and the guys at PP are really helpful too.

Charters out of Kona are weird and have a weird vibe if you aren't used to it. Make sure you know what you are getting into, and if you want to take your catch with you make sure you negotiate that right up front otherwise they will keep it and sell it themselves. Don't assume anything, ask lots of questions, and be ready to assert yourself if things go weird.

That isn't to say that fishing in the islands isn't a blast. Just manage your expectations from the word go.

Monday on Kauai looks ok to me but the rest of the week looks spotty to bad to dogshit.



You can rent kayaks and gear at Plenty Pupule in Kona on the big island and in Lihue on Kauai. Don't chum and dangle your feet. The tiger sharks might mistake you for a turtle and bite your foot off.

I don't really care for the interactions with the locals. Just get out and do your thing. There's plenty of knowledge on the web that you can glean and put to use, and the guys at PP are really helpful too.

Charters out of Kona are weird and have a weird vibe if you aren't used to it. Make sure you know what you are getting into, and if you want to take your catch with you make sure you negotiate that right up front otherwise they will keep it and sell it themselves. Don't assume anything, ask lots of questions, and be ready to assert yourself if things go weird.

That isn't to say that fishing in the islands isn't a blast. Just manage your expectations from the word go.

+1
If you do a charter they do expect to keep the fish. Cost me extra to get part of my Dorado.
It can be a blast from shore, also I use a travel golf bag to put my dive gear in and spear fish while the wife sun bathes.

great point i never would have thought they would want the fish i paid to go catch it almost sounds like the weird vibe is because they feel outsides are taking there fish
never seen that anywhere before on a charter
been looking at some charts for prime fishing by types its going to be hard to get there during my daughter's break
and time a particular kind of fish
looks like this is going to be one of those things were the more you learn the more question's you have

Hi Wildrooster,
As a local that grew up on the big Island, I wanted to put my 2 cents in about fishing on the Big Island. First of all, fishing from shore can be an iffy situation, sometimes, depending the time of the year, the seasonal changes in the direction of the waves can shift from the Northeast to the Southwest parts of the Island, Going in the late Summer  and early Fall (August and September) is probably the best time for fishing from the shore as the baitfish (oama) small goatfish are n abundance (kind of the like the herring run here) are driven inshore for protection and the larger Pelagic hunters like Papio, Ulua and Onos are hunting them down from the open ocean.
There is quite an diverse species of fish that live around the coral reefs on the Southwest side of the Island where most of the big resorts are located. Unless, the papio are running, a lot of reef fish are not really great for eating and the best ones you can't catch by bait and have to spearfish as they are not predator fish and live off the (limu-seaweed) and coral (Uhu-Parrot fish, Manini and Kole-Tang varieties of reef fish).
I think that the best areas for fishing from land is around the South Point area, where the ocean depth drops off pretty fast. this areas is where a lot of the locals fish for Ulua (Jack Trevally). The ocean can be kind of rough, so you gotta be a liitle careful fishing close from the shore.
Kayak fishing in Hawaii was not happening when I was living there, but one of my cousins on Oahu goes kayak fishing all the time on the North Shore out of Haleiwa Bay and does not need to go very far out. He uses, brined oama, surface lures and frozen squid for bait. Frozen squid is always a really good bait, if you have nothing else. You can catch oio -bonefish) and papio-jack cravelle) with frozen squid and a very simple rig with a small spinner with 40# braid. The reason for using a 40# braid is that you never know if you might hook up with a bigger fish and if you are using light weight mono, you will most likely loose the fish as they will dive and break the line.
If you go to the Big Island and staying on the Kona side, which is where all the big resorts are, and can rent a Hobie kayak, that would be worth doing as you will have a better chance of catching the Pelagic predators like papio, ono, mahimahi, which are really great eating fish and you won't have to go very far out to sea.
I don't know what kind of accommodations you are planning on using, but there are quite of few of really great houses that you can rent anywhere on the Big Island and they are not very expensive. You will have a full kitchen and you can catch and cook your fish and ono sashimi is one of the best!!!!In late summer, the fresh Ahi can be fairly inexpensive as that's when a lot of them being caught that time of the year from commercial fishermen. Seeking out local farmer's markets is also a great way to buy local produce and fish.
If you need resources for renting a vacation house on the Big Island, I can give you some leads or you can just Google-Vacation Rentals on the Big Island.
If you go to the Big Island, make sure that you go to the less touristy places, like Hilo, Hamakua Coast, Puna District,-Pahoa, Kalapana, Kaphoho areas. It is my favorite parts of the Big Island!!!
Anyway, that my 2 cents about the Big Island.
Aloha,
Da Bruddah
Michael S. Yamagata
Attaching a chart of Nearshore Marine Fishes of Hawaii. Most of the fish on the bottom half of the chart are great for eating!!!!

Da Braddah get da kine intel