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dockboy
08-30-2008, 05:51 PM
Got back from the Garden Isle on the 3rd. I've been to and fished Maui and Hawaii but this island beats them all. We stayed in a rental house up on the Northern Coast near Hanalei. This was my first time I brought light tackle with me. Fished the surf near the coves and rocks frequently. Not a ton of success but lots of fun. Caught some good sized trumphet fish with a small Krocodile, though my many ventures to get an omliu or papio never resulted in a solid hookup. I hooked into something around the coral reels at Tunnels Beach that never stopped. It snapped fresh 8lb. on a properly set drag like it was funny string.
Anyways, on our second to last day there we booked a charter out of Lihue. The captain was a Santa Barbara native, so it was pretty cool to talk our local stuff with him. Nothing much was happening around the bouys used for bttifish attraction on the islands. Tried some bait drifting without success. We then setup on the troll again. About an hour later, a strike on the outer starboard rod and fish on! A decent sized marlin with a nice opening jump. Fought him for a solid 30 minutes before color, and another 15-20 mins after that. Ended up being around 150lbs or so. Unfournately, he hit the lure with a double setup, and both points penetrated the left eye socket. He would have ended up shark lunch before long with a bleeding and blind eye, so we kept him. On the way back to the harbor we had what was probably his mate come up and bill whack the same setup, but we couldn't entice her to hit.

But fishing wasn't the best of this trip. It was awesome to have a great and very friendly captain also. But if you go to Kauai, there is so much to enjoy. Did lots of hiking, and if you like to snorkel, this is the place. Almost no people compared to Oahu and Maui, and very friendly locals. All in all, awesome vacation. :Smile:

BIGRED KILLA
08-30-2008, 06:01 PM
Thanks for the pics and report looks like you had fun out there and at least you wanted to cpr but it was hurt is that a small blue or striper.








Bigred

Troutman65
08-30-2008, 09:48 PM
Sounds like a great trip. Congrats on your catch!!:Envious:

You get to keep? Eat? Captain & crew keep?

I have never been there and heard that boat crew keep the fish or somthing like that .

Thanks for the post

Funny Old Guy
08-30-2008, 09:58 PM
Kauai is the best! Gorgeous fish!

Is it true you gotta give up your catch to the crew? I have heard this on more than one occasion.

dockboy
08-31-2008, 09:07 AM
It's a blue. Striped marlin are not common in Hawaiian waters, as their main habitat is the Mexico/Southern California offshore region. The other common spearfish there is the short billed spearfish. Besides the blues, blacks and stripes don't appear frequently there.

The boat kept the fish. Like I said, CPR was the plan in favor till we found out about his eye. We were cl with it though. Marlin is not a great table fish compared to other Hawaiian species, and though we could have taken a few steaks home with us, we were perfectly content with the boat keeping it. If we had caught an ahi (yellowfin tuna), as we had hoped to get by bait drifting, the boat would have still kept the fish, but we would have gotten a good chunk of steaks. Unlike tuna, blue marlin doesn't sell for high prices at the local Hawaiian markets, mostly because it usually requires smoking or special preparation to come to par with the other numerous and delicious Hawaiian sportfish. A 150lb fish like what we had was ok money.

A buddy of mine talked to me about the fisheries over there. He was a captain of boats here in SoCal for years and did a couple tournaments as captain for some fisherman out of Kona. It was still "pay the charter, they keep every fish" deal. As a captain of our local boats, it though it was complete BS. Now it is starting to change. Most of the newer captains and boats give the option to release fish. If you decide to keep the fish, they usually work out what you would like to do with it. Many people keep a couple steaks or fillets on larger fish, and lots of charters now have deals with local taxdermists that will give good discounts for full replicas or bill mounts. On smaller fish like opah (moonfish), smaller ono (wahoo) or dorado, you usually get to keep the fish. Big wahoo seem to be the exception. When we visited Kona, we went with very small local charter. The guy was nice, and put us onto a 40lb. wahoo. But he kept that fish, because a whole large wahoo is good money in Hawaiian fish markets. Most of the guys out there use what catches they keep to pay for boat expenses or gas.

Troutman65
08-31-2008, 05:07 PM
Note to self. Never go on a fishing boat there.

I fish to keep my catch to eat. I don't like the idea of giving up my catch for many reasons. I just have a hard time believe this goes on over there. Its seems so strange to me and wrong for a person to give up there catch like that.

I might could understand that in a 3 world county because the locals are poor. But this is a State of the U.S.A. Everything in Hawaii is $$$$$. I can see if your a C&R guy this would not bother you as much. I am a catch and eat guy and this bugs me. :LOL::Wink:

SoCalGuy7
08-31-2008, 06:06 PM
Nice catch, I myself would have wanted to at least taste some of it though.

Kauai is an incredible scenic island. I did snorkel there a few times and fished off of some relatives' friends' boat, we caught a few med. sized fish,

I'll never forget looking into a good sized swell and seeing a whole school of HUGE Yellowfins.....:Shocked:

SCG7