Fishing in Kona, Hawaii

If you guys are ever in Kona, hook-up with my buddy = Capt. Russ Nitta and you'll have a great time!!
http://www.lepikasportfishing.com/

Here'a a couple of photos of Capt. Russ with some clients.....

Dis bradah can fish 

no kayak 

hey Troy.....too many AGGRESSIVE Tiger Sharks patrolling the area 

...but I'm sure he'd be more than happy to "mothership" you and your kayak around the Island...just make sure you buy him a beer and sign the waiver 

i have caught some little groupers from a kayak in kona, a couple marlin, mahi-mahi and little tuna from big boats;  but the prize ulua has continued to elude me [although i did raise one once, it was black, the locals told me it was some sort of god or deity, just as well i did not hook it!].  these ulua are big jacks, up to 110lbs.  the big island has the largest shore fishing tournament in the world.  it lasts a week, anglers camp out on the viciously sharp lava, chumming the waters with half cooked eels, fishing live bait for ulua.
they use an interesting technique,  the cliffs they fish from are high above the water, the rocks and coral are sharp.  they use small penn senators loaded with 80lb mono on sturdy surf rods.  at the end of the mono they tie a huge swivel, then 15 feet of lighter line. they cast this out, no bait or hook. then they  hook a small live reef fish on a 4 ft leader and hook this onto the line with clip with 1 oz of lead stuck to it and slide this down the main line.  they are so high up the cliff that in slides down easily.  i have used this method, mostly at night, but all i have caught are whitetip reef sharks and ferocious looking moray eels. the eels are terrifying when you are out there alone on the lava in the black of night.

Ulua have been caught up to 191 pounds(though anything over 100# is considered a crowning achievement).  The guy that caught the 191 pounder shot it spearfishing on scuba... then died going back to get the bigger one.   

I've done slide-baiting for many years.  My typical rig was a Penn 113HLW or 114HLW (4/0 or 6/0) loaded with 80# test & a 10oz lead.  Lob it a good 100yards, then set the lead.  Crank the rod all the way down till it looks like it's gonna break...  thick rod keeps the line tension taught & when that leadline(usually 50 or 60#) breaks, it'll set the hook real good

I've seen a couple people try longer leaders, but typically the leader was between 6-12 inches.  SS Malin wire during night, mono or wire during day.  On a given night, I'd slide up to 3 baits down at 3 hour intervals.  Sucks to have to recast those rods amongst the lines set out while teetering on sharp lava.  The slide buckle ranged from no weight(not needed for a lot of live-bait & steep angles) to 6oz buckles for shallower water, sliding into waves, or stubborn live baits that don't want to go down.

My favorite baits were live octopus(1-2#), eel heads(usually about a foot long), & reef fish(especially nenue or chubs).  I never went overboard on baits, but I've seen people slide down 6# live fish as bait!

Slide-baiting is the typical way of getting the big boys from shore, but I preferred baitcasting my "small game" rods with jigmasters loaded with 50# test & 6-8oz leads.  Though a lot more work, baitcasting with a tako(octopus) leg would provide a lot more action.

The thing I miss the most about ulua-fishing?  The cookouts & food...   

cool stories!

fuzz are you called fuzz 'cuz you are 5-0?   

cool stories!

fuzz are you called fuzz 'cuz you are 5-0?   

Nope, have a bunch of dumb reasons why I ended up using this nickname a while ago, but none of them are good or make any sense...