Fishing/Diving

Originally introduced to Hawaii for food in 1956, it's ironic that most people haven't eaten a Tahitian Prawn (Macrobrachium lar) before. No, these are not the crustaceans you get from the North Shore Shrimp Trucks. The vendors more commonly sell either penaeid "white shrimp (which are marine), and less commonly, a freshwater palaemonid "Giant River Prawn" (M. rosenburgii) that is supposed to have slightly more tail meat than its Tahitian congener. Although not as common on Oahu, there are a number of people that catch them on the outer islands by using baited traps, Hawaiian sling (3-prong),...

Although I don't go often, another type of shore fishing I enjoy is whipping for Menpachi. Menpachi, are light-tackle, nocturnal fish that feeds on plankton and small fish / invertebrates at night. Like many other fishes that feed at night (Aweoweo, Aholehole, and Alaihi), they have large eyes which helps them search for inshore prey and are commonly caught by fishermen with a wide variety of lures... and are thought to be more active feeders during the full moon. Joined by friends who enjoy such activities, we had a great time off-roading down to Low Point and fishing in the moonlight til morning... The...

Similar to Akule (Big-eye Scad, Adult Halalu), Opelu (Mackeral Scad) are popular fish to eat and to use as bait for bigger game fish in Hawaii, as well as other places in the world. However, they are not commonly caught from shore locally, or at least in shallow water. The first "Opelu run" that I have been to, fishing for the juvenile Opelu (like Halalu) was quite exciting, especially from a popular location such as Waimea Bay... I have fished here a number of times for Halalu, where small schools of Opelu are mixed in, but never fished when the school was predominantly Opelu, like today......

Bummed about my recent finger injury from rock climbing, I have been quite restless and have somewhat been resorting to less demanding activities like fishing. Not that I don't like fishing, but not having the choice of picking climbing is a real downer. Eric Aoyama, an avid fisherman that I met at the climbing gym had been posting some awesome pics of Omaka (Yellowtail Scad) he had caught on his Facebook/Instagram feed. Naturally jealous, as I had not caught Omaka in FOREVER, I asked if I could tag along on one of his fishing fiascoes... For those of you who are not familiar with the golden...

In addition to shorefishing, tide-pooling and reef walking have been one of my favorite outdoor recreational activities. Tide-pooling can either be done during the day or at night, as some fish and invertebrates are active at different times of the day. However, I find it easier to wrangle the day-time critters at night... since their vision is not adapted to being blinded by high-intensity headlamps while sleeping... and they can't shut their eyes either. lol. With the "super" full moon, comes extreme high and low tides throughout the day. For those of you who do not know, tides are natural...

One of my all-time favorite nocturnal ocean activities is torching... If you can't tell from the first photo in Kahala (courtesy of W. Roldan), torching consists of wading in shallow waters on coastal reefs at night (usually during low tide) to harvest all types of marine-life. During the day, this is commonly called, "reef walking," though it is more common by locals to refer to this as "torching" at night. The captures are usually for consumption purposes, but sometimes can be used as bait for fishing (e.g. Octopus or "Tako," above). Methods of capture usually consist of a 3-prong spear...

Besides being a great fishing spot for larger game, the landscape near Ratchets is probably one of my favorites on the island of Oahu. The shoreline is composed of steep cliffs... ...and there is considerably deep water within casting distance. The one drawback is that Ratchets is difficult to get to, and somewhere you definitely unsafe to go here by oneself. There are several contours on extremely narrow cliff edges, which make it dangerous to pass, especially if you plan to haul fishing gear. Though there are some deteriorating ropes there, climbing down these cliff...

"Makapuu lookout to Alan Davis" is a great hike, or any hike that involves the Kaiwi coastline for that matter. The route we (Reanne Solomon, Larry Tang, Rylan Miyasato, Troy Takara and I) took today is not conventional by any means, though I'm sure some people have connected these trails before. The particular combination of trails starts at Makapuu lookout (same place where you would park for Makapuu Crag to rock climb). Within 20 minutes or so, the trail summits at some pillboxes / bunkers... ... then descends to Makapuu Lighthouse lookout, From there you will travel...

Honokahau Harbor is located along the Kona Coastline on Hawaii Island, about 15 minutes south from the Kona Airport. The harbor is small, but houses many fishing and sailboats, many which can be chartered. It is also located next to a Kaloko-Honokahau National Park, so you can learn more about the cultural/historical perspective of this area of the Kona Coastline. Not sure if the name of this boat has relevance to working with the actual "Kona Kampachi," or the local version of Hamachi or Kahala (yellowtail), which are aquaculturally raised in large offshore pens in Kona. I've heard...

After watching an episode of Hawaii Goes Fishing on "Kayak Fishing," I was quite eager to take my fishing-rigged kayak offshore on the Waianae Coast. If you saw that episode with the "AquaHunters", I'm sure you'd have done the same... Packing ~ 20 frozen Halalu's (juvenile Akule / Big-eye Scad) we caught a few weeks earlier from the summer run at Waianae Boat Harbor, Luke and I thought we would have a decent chance of success in catching some bigger game / pelagic fish. After mounting the kayak on my car, we launched from Waianae Boat Harbor on a sunny Saturday morning. The kayak...