FITTED HAWAII

The thing about fishing is that other fishermen rarely if ever will give you reliable info that will put you on the fish. I mean they will elude to the general vicinity but will always leave out a small detail, kinda like a chef leaving out the secret ingredient to a recipe. Ahi fishing is probably the most secretive of all. So when the Ball Boyz and I picked up on some cryptic chatter on a local fishing forum about somebody who had just scooped not one but three of the prized fire fish on his last trip it got us more than motivated to head out. Sure it was a few days later but Friday morning provided a perfect window from work and weather and off we went. Uncle the Ball Capo recruited another boat to join us in the hunt and we met before dawn at the Westside harbor. With radio’s set to channel 18 we set off in hopes of landing the big one. Our tag team plan was cut really short when Capt. Joe and first mate Arnold called in not thirty minutes later saying they hooked up a 400lb Marlin just outside the harbor and were heading home to celebrate. Fuckers. We congratulated them and then motored on to the numbers where we heard there was action. At the 20 mile mark just as promised we find birds and porpoise and 6 other boats… we are late. Usually birds and porpoise would mean Ahi strikes but after three hours and no boats hooking up we decide to head in… it’s a three hour ride back to the harbor. Oh well can’t catch them sitting on the couch. Cruising in we keep complete silence as each of us if hoping for a mercy strike to answer our fishing prayers. As Uncle naps and I occupy my time between taking flicks and cuzzo lights we hear Johnny boy at the helm yell “rubbish”. First pass we get hit and we get a Mahi in the boat and get rid off that awful skunk smell. Thank God.

No cartoons. No captain crunch. No sugar water. No smart phone. No problem.

Back at my usual Thursday shit, with a twist. Got to Heeia around 6:30am just in time to see an eye popping sunrise… oh how I am looking forward to making this place my new family home. Sky shows up right on cue and we get his boat in the water quickly… the water looked soo inviting. Motoring to Moku Manu we lay out the lures just outside the bay and we are fishing, correction, indulging in our favorite leisure activity. This was Sky’s first trip on the water after what he claims was his BDE. He scored big time last week and wanted to relive the dream at the same spot… we trolled on looking for the opelu piles so we could try our hand at a little live baiting. Thing about live bait is that you never know what is going to hit your bait. Ah and here lies the twist. So once we find the bait fish and Sky manages to get a couple in the boat with the spinner rod and damashi I send one out on the Penn 50 while he continues to chase the bait. So we have a couple livies out… one long one short when out of nowhere comes the man in the gray suit. Not our target species. What ensued was a 45 minute battle that was both unpredictable and complex. Each time I managed to crank the shark to within leader range he made another deep run peeling off every inch of line that I had so painstakingly just put on the reel. This went on for a long while until we decided that we better just yank this guy up hand line style before we piss him off real good. When we eventually get the shark next to the boat it is immediately crystal clear that this is a very strong and very big fish (9ft 200lbs+) and our boat is seeming kinda small (14ft single hull Livingston). Mind you we are about 4 miles offshore in the deep blue. We cut him off as close to the hook as possible without losing a digit and the shark is free to go about his day keeping balance in the ocean. CNR. – RM