Wild milkfish battle

[mems]

Aloha, what a great afternoon down in old Hilo town. I took my son to the Wailoa ponds for a little afternoon fly fishing. He got a huge puffer on his 5wt, over 10lbs. He did a great job and kept it out of the sticks and I was able to release the beast. I asked him if he wanted to go try for some awa or milkfish. He said sure and we headed into a narrow estuary that the fish had been feeding in lately. I hooked one there the other day, but it popped off when my line got too much seaweed on it. Anyway we headed back to this spot and there were about 10-15 awa feeding on one area. My son had one come by him, but refuse his fly. I cast mine out to where they were feeding. I had some seaweed covering the hook and a big one sucked it up. I set the hook and the fish bolted. Luke, my son helped me by putting his rod down and was there for me to pass the rod to as the fish went around trees and headed out into the center pond. My line was peeling off the reel, so I tightened the drag and hung on. The fish was heading for a bridge, but just then a Hawaiian canoe came paddling up through the bridge. I yelled, "Hey watch my line!" They replied, oh look there is a big fish under the canoe. Their canoe coach, and elderly Hawaiian man was standing on the bridge and said, "your fish when swim dis way" I said thanks and climbed under the bridge and handed the rod again to my son. I waded around another tree and then fought the fish in the center lagoon. The canoe filled with elderly ladies were so excited for me, they just stayed there and watched. Only problem they scared the fish to swim further up the lagoon. Then I got the fish turned, and headed back towards me, but they scared him again and the fish took off towards the bridge again. The coach ran over to watch the milkfish, and scared him to swim in the center section of the bridge. I was screwed. I told Luke to hold my flies, I was going swimming. I went out and did my best river runs thru it imitation, but the tide was too high and I couldn't stand. The canoe then came to my rescue. I was holding on to the bow with my right arm, holding the rod in my right hand and reeling like mad with my left. They encouraged me to climb in the canoe, and I did. But once agian the line had collected a bunch of cabbage on it. I went to flick the seaweed off, and the fish popped off. The ladies were heart broken. They said, "No dinner for you tonight." I told them I would have released it anyway. I said not to worry, I had plenty fresh ahi in the fridge from saturday offshore. I told them I just did it for fun. My son just smiled. Mems.

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[Darian]

WOW!!!! What an adventure.... Your son must think you gotta be a Navy Seal to catch a Milkfish. :lol: :lol: How big do you think the fish was :?: :?:

[mems]

Aloha Darian, I would guess over 20lbs. It was one of the big ones. They are difficult, because their mouths tear easily, so you can't put too much pressure on them. You have to just play them until they tire out and the head starts to roll. This one didn'tjump, so I don't think it was very stressed. It would have been nice to get a good look at him. I never even got back to my fly line. They are very strong. Mems.

[jlmelend]

Aloha Don,

Rats...so no pictures of this one, eh?
Strong effort aquaman!
Wouldn't it be great if you had a waterproof camera hung around your neck that takes MPEGs or AVIs? You'd be a sight to see if you fished off your surfboard to catch that fish! :P

Hope you are having a great fall. We are having a nice fall steelhead run out here in the freshwater!

Joe

[Adam Grace]

That sounds like fun Don. I saw some large milkfish at a Hawaii hotel lagoon thing, they were pretty big, we fed them bread and they gulped it up. They were cool. Better luck with your next 20lb milkfish. Aloha!

[Garrett S]

what are milk fish

[jlmelend]

Since I am the only Filipino who posted on this topic, I'll answer this one. Milkfish are a silver saltwater fish that fight really hard, but are hard to catch on flies because they don't eat anything we usually imitate. When I fished with Don he showed me a school of these that averaged about 18-22 inches. They bite on bread sometimes and they usually eat algae and I think brine shrimp, if I am not mistaken? Like Don said they, have soft lips so they are hard to hook and land, much like what happens when you try to hook a shad and you tear through their bottom lip during hook sets. They are actually a delicacy and the national fish of the Phillippines. They are bony, but taste good. However, if you ever cook or fry these guys beware that they make your house smell like nasty feet!!

Check out this link for more info guppy!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milkfish

Joe

[jbird]

Milkfish are close to the holy grail of flyfishing. Hawaii and the seychelles islands are both good places to find them...got backing? :D

JAy

[MSP]

These Milkfish sound alot like the Mullet I used to have no luck on down in the South Bay in San Diego 40 years ago. Any relationship here?

[jbird]

Mike

In mexico, they call mullet "lisa" They call milkfish "alisia" or something like that. The names sound VERY similar and they will tell you that it sounds similar because they really are in close relation.

Jay

[mems]

Hi guys, all good stories on milkfish. Here is what I know. They are called Chanos Chanos, and are very primitive. They date back to some dinosaur period like tarpon. They have one single gill slit under their throat. They have no eye lids, just a rubber like covering over these huge eyes. In Hawaiian they call them awa, and they call lady fish awa-awa. I don't know if they are related, but they do look the same.
I have caught lots of fish, but this one is the most nuts. They are tough to get to feed. If I can find some that eat bread, then I think I can get them. The ones down in Hilo just eat seaweed. I haven't tried the fly they use in the seychelles, but I sure would like to try. If I ever crack the code and can get these guys to feed regularly, man you guys would be knocking at my door.
The fight is like a bonefish, but faster and stronger on the first run. They kinda jump like tarpon, but they speed jump away more like a silver. The mouth can tear at any time, and they just don't give up. The last 12lb one I landed took 45 minutes of fighting. I still like hooking them. They are a blast. Thanks for asking. Mems.

[jlmelend]

Don,
I learned from my parents that milk fish are usually caught with nets in the Phillippines and this has really dropped the population in the PIs. The Filipino name is "Bangus". Appropriately named after the feeling we get when we can't land them? The "milk" is due the milky juice that comes off the meat when it is cooked. And did I mention that they smell pretty awful when you cook 'em?
If anyone can catch one of these smelly suckers, I'm sure you can Don!

Mahalo,
Joe