I’ll keep this short because you already know a good time was had by all when the Tongans and Hawaiians get together to celebrate a first birthday. The two sides of baby Mehana’s ohana came together in classic island style to throw a damn good baby luau! The homemade food was only out done by the most festive money dance I have ever bore witness to. The amount of love that was being showered on baby girl was remarkable. Congrats to Nate and Ulu on the big day.
Um yup you guessed it… went fishing last weekend. One must always take advantage of light winds when living on the east side. Called up habit fisherman Sky to join me and we launched about sixish. Still a little uncertain about launching in the dark out of Heeia… plenty coral heads to reef your motor if your not in the know. Anyways we get to the “corner pocket” and take a strike but it doesn’t stick. OK. Make another pass and bang! fish on… oh how those Ono love the color purple. With our nerves calmed we head out to the buoy and join about ten other boats working it to death. Lots of birds and small Aku breaking the water. First pass we boat an Aku and then nothing for 20 mins. All the other boats are having a hard time as well so we decide to stop trolling and Sky drops down his deep jig as I use the sonar to locate the schools down below. Well the next couple hours had us hooking up Shibi after Shibi and not even our stoked smiles could keep the looks of disappointment off the other boats faces as they trolled around us with no such luck. Live and learn baby. With the fish box good and bloody we called it day. – RM
Team Fitted entered the largest fishing tournament in the state a couple weeks ago. Ahi Fever as it is known was quite the experience, 200 boats feverishly roaming the ocean vying for the grand prize of 10k cash for the biggest Ahi… all taking place over the Father’s Day weekend. No grand fishing tale to tell here, the big one eluded us. We did manage a few healthy Ono on the first day so it wasn’t a total white wash. Oh well you can’t catch them all. Special shout out to Uncle for captaining the Hookalele and Paiea Projects family member Jeff for captaining the Doreen K. Until next year. Later – RM
As you all know I have been slightly obsessed with the prized Hawaiian game fish known as AHI for some years now. So you can imagine how I was feeling on Saturday when I was finally privy to a successful AHI hunt. Fucking happy. So I get the call midweek from Capt. Jeff, and he has some reliable intel about where the fish have been coming up. He is going rain or shine Saturday morning, and he had a space saved for me on his 22ft Force. I’m game. Met Jeff, his brother Brad, and Jesse boy at the ramp at 5am. Under menacing gray skies we launched. Motoring straight out at full speed to the numbers, we veer right to avoid the rapidly developing storm and the 20 other boats working the area. Intel travels fast on the coconut wireless. The crew and I began the ever tedious task of looking for birds and keeping our Cuzzo Light cans cold and in hand. After 6 hours of constantly scanning the horizon and the cooler, we get a strike just as we approach a decent looking bird pile. The Penn 130 begins to dump line like crazy, and if you know what a Penn 130 is you know that only something of significant size and strength can pull drag on that crank. We all jump into position and luck has me on the reel…oh boy. 1 minute later the line goes slack and with it our hopes and dreams for the day. Shit. The crew comforts me with “Oh, no worries..it happens”, but I can’t help feeling somewhat responsible for losing the fish even though we never even saw it. My guilt motivates me even more to keep a sharp eye out for even the smallest indicator that will lead us to the fire fish. Capt. Jeff seems equally motivated by the incident and shows no sign of throwing in the towel…the guy is a die-hard hunter for sure. With 10 hours of trolling now under our belts I spot a few straggler birds working an area a couple miles off. I nod the direction to brother Brad who was manning the helm, and he immediately points the boat that way. Jeff and I are silently praying deckside as Jesse boy naps on the fish box when the center rigger slams down and again the Penn 130 begins to scream that sweet sound. OK, lets try this again! Jesse hops up from sleepy time straight onto the reel. Brad kept the boat in gear as Jeff and I clear lines, but not before cracking a ice cold Cuzzo Light to calm our nerves. Jesse begins to earn his keep with crank after crank and grunt after grunt, as Jeff and I keep him on track. 20 minutes later we begin to see color, and I glove up and grab the gaff. Jeff orders Brad to kill the engines and lift them out of the water before he grabs the leader. The tension on the line is almost as tight as our sphincters as none of us wants to lose the fish at this point. Jeff leaders, I gaff, Brad comes in with a second secure gaff, Jesse grabs the meat hook and it is a wrap. This fish is ours. With the AHI on deck, we explode into a raucous celebration that was surely heard 12 miles away at the harbor!! Jeff grabs the knife and gills and guts the beast of a fish, but not before cutting out the beating heart and handing it to me for a taste. I’m not one to mess with tradition, so I take a bloody bite and hand it back to Jeff. Many mahalos to Capt. Jeff and crew for the most epic day on the water. At last I can move on with my life. – RM
