Big Island Adventure

[jlmelend]

Just got back from the Big Island of Hawaii where I had a brief business trip...too brief. Just in case, I tied a ton of flies because I didn't know quite what to expect. I had an outside opportunity to fish in and off shore. My wife was a bit annoyed by the mess I made.
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Luckily, I managed two days inshore and one half day off shore. My friend Chris brought his eight weight with him and we tried fishing an ancient fish pond near Kona.
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We hooked three large fish in 3 hours but lost them all. One bit off Chris' line and another broke the eye of his hook after a screaming run.
Mine took me to my backing and broke me off under a metal barricade after a screaming run. I'm guessing Chris hooked a baracuda and a bonefish. Mine was certainly behaving like a bonefish as it put a nice bend in my rod.
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Although I didn't catch any big fish, I later caught a bunch of these from 8-12 inches.
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Not sure what these are called, but they look and smell like mackerel. They have a tail like a pelagic with a bent lateral line and finlets. Any ideas? A tad small for the ole eight weight, but boy did they fight. Kinda reminded me of how tough shad can be on a pound for pound basis compared to other fish. I cast a rubber legged size 4 orange or pink X-mas island special in a deep area where I thought I saw some large fish flash and I would pause hoping for a bone fish to look and bite. If I got nothing on a strip set, I would pause again then strip and repeat this a few more times. Then while retrieving my line, I would strip hard and zig zag my rod tip with each strip and one of these little guys would bite. They would even take the fly as it neared the surface. It was a sight to see.

Off in the distance I saw someone hooking some large milk fish or Awa ... with a frickin fly rod! ...like three in one hour! :shock: A local kid yelled, Hey Louie what did you catch? And the gentleman yelled "Awa..big one!" So I turned to the kid and inquired "is that #@&*%ing Louie the fish?" The kid replied "you bet your *&%^#@, yah?"
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Louie had a secret method for catching these beasties. Mind you, milkfish do not typically bite flies. They pretty much eat algae. I watched some eat the gunk off the side of a sea turtle as it swam by. It was the cleanest Honu I ever saw. The mouths and gills on the awa are so delicate that I was pretty impressed at how easily he could hook these Awa and bring 'em in without ripping their lips off. This one tore when he picked it up by the gill plate.
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On another day, I took a trip off shore with my boss Craig on his boat the Shazam and got skunked.
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Nonetheless, we did manage to see some pretty cool dolphins near Honokohau harbor.
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My kids really enjoyed this trip. We got up close to some Honu and they learned to surf:

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Hawaii plus family plus fishing...what could be better? Not my best fishing trip, but definitely one of my most memorable business trips ever!

[jbird]

Hey Joe

Thats an awesome report! Thats pretty cool you ran into louie the fish....what are the odds? :lol:

The fish in the picture looks like what they call a blue runner in florida. Very good bait for pelagics.

If I got ripped by something off the beach there, I wouldnt discount the possibility of a GT or Ulua. Tho I dont know if theyd eat a Christmas isl special.

Anyway, cool report!

Jay

[jlmelend]

Hey Jay. Great to hear from you! You must be busy, as I haven't seen you on the board lately! Hope you are getting into some fish this summer. Blue Runner, huh? Sounds about right. I googled blue runner and the fish I caught are just about the right size for a blue runner. Thanks!
Last year, Don Memmer got me into a blue trevally in some lava fingers near the Mauna Kea hotel that almost ripped my fingers off and then threw the hook. We used a shrimp fly imitation for these. Salt water fish are beasts in any size! So are Louie and Don...nice guys and fine fishermen. I'd advise anyone to hire them as guides if they go to Oahu or Hawaii.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Great report and cool photos and Video clips....thanks.

I guess we ned to take those fly rods with us all the time?

[Loren E]

Great report! By the way, that is not a blue runner, it is a juvenile queenfish. they catch big ones on the fly in Australia.

[mems]

Hi Joe, I can not tell a lie, you caught a lai or as Loren said a queenfish. Watch out for the spines on the dorsal and anal fin, they sting like a mother. Sorry we didn't hook up. I had a client on sunday and he got some fish at A-bay. I took my son to the pond in the afternoon and ran in to Louie going after more awa. Luke and I got a couple of barracuda. sorry I didn't see any of your bonefish there. I ended up going offshore on tuesday and got a couple of ono, a bunch of ahi, hooked and lost a monster ahi and hooked and lost a big marlin. It swam around the boat like five times before it ate a live 5 lb ahi off the outriggers. We gunned the engines and fought it for about 10 minutes before it spit the hook. You should have come with us for some bluewater action. The small tuna have been nonstop, got some on tuesday and again on thursday with an 8wt. But right now is big ahi time. We are all after gorillas, ahi over 100lbs. We will be out all next week as well. I will post pics if we get a big one. Again sorry we didn't get to fish, hopefully next time it will work out. Glad you got to meet Louie. Next time on Oahu he can take you out for some big bones over there. Good post, Don.

[jlmelend]

Thanks guys!

Bill, did you notice I had a Kiene's hat on? I contemplated switching hats with Louie for the picture, but thought that my be over reaching a bit.

Thanks for the ID on the fish Loren, I didn't realize you could find those in Hawaii!

Mems, it was good chatting with you while I was out there nonetheless. I'm still bewitched by those fast swimming beasties! They sure are smart. Everyone of them headed toward the deep rocks or the barricade near the far wall and broke us off. I was so deep into my backing that I thought I was going to lose my fly line! Glad to hear you are getting into some marlin. Was that on the Hilo side or Kona side? We saw some Ahi landed but no marlin when I was off shore. Louie is a riot! It cracks me up that he was out there again for some awa. He kept trying to get me to go after some, but I thought my time was better dedicated toward fishing for the ones that bite on flies!
I'll catch you next time I am out. I'm sure guiding is keeping you busy as you are Da man...I mean, Da Mems! My regards to your family. You guys live in a wonderland.

[jbird]

Thats pretty neat there are juvenile queenfish there. I have never heard of queen fish being targeted in Hawaii. Whats the scoop on the adult fish? It would stand to reason that if theres babies there, the bigg'ns must migrate (or reside) there.?? Do guys fish for/catch adult queenfish in the islands??

Jay

[mems]

Hey Joe, next time we will have to get out. I hooked the marlin on the Hilo side. It is nice water on the Kona side, but too many boats. If you were getting broken off at the pond, then it was bonefish again. You are getting good at that! If they shook their heads, then it was blue finned trevally. There are some GT's in there as well.
Jay we do have adult queenfish over here, but the largest I have gotten was about 5 lbs. They don't get as large here as they do in OZ. They do run as large as the ones in X-mas island and I think are the same species. The bigger ones jump like crazy and the skin makes great flies! They are strong fighters. Generally we target the trevally but the queen fish, lai will hit a fly that moves a little quicker. It is funny, but certain fish like subtle differences in the retrieve you use. It is a beautiful day here and I will be doing some in-shore fishing this afternoon. Lai might be just the fish that jumps on my line, you never know, Mems.

[Jay Murakoshi]

Here's a photo of a medium size Australian Queenie. The photo isn't that great. It was taken with a throw away film camera and then I tried scanning through my scanner. I have more Australia shots.
I might scan more from my slides and show what kind of species swim the water "down under"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v358/jaysflies/Jayqueen01.jpg

Jay

[jlmelend]

I guess we ned to take those fly rods with us all the time?

Bill, my rod and my Kiene's fishing cap go in my trunk or on the plane wherever I go.


Jay...my fish was just a tad smaller than that one :oops:. Thanks for the "perspective"...WOW! :shock: The fish I caught travelled in a school in the deep water. Do the adults school as well?

[Jay Murakoshi]

Joe,

The "Queenie's" travel in schools. They chase balls of bait and can be seen for a 100 yds. The fight and jump just like a dorado. You can catch Queenie's out on the GBR or up in the rivers or river mouths.

I hope to make another trip to Australia in 2009. I went 5 years in a row and loved every trip.

A trip of a life time

Jay

[mako]

I have caught queenfish up to 20 pounds in Cape York (Weipa) Australia.
They go like the wind and fight till the end.They are dirty fighters around structure as well!!

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

We caught some Queenfish that were maybe 4 pounds off the edge of the flats at Christmas Island in the Central Pacific.

They like to jump........

[Jeff C.]

It looks like you had a great trip Joe. It's funny that you ran into Louie the Fish on the Big Island. I met him on Oahu a couple of years ago. His shrimp fly pattern looked good enough for me to eat. Jeff C.