Kauai (pics)

[gman444]

Im writing this little report half way through an already epic vacation on the "Garden Isle". I'm staying at a little hotel in Princeville on the North Shore and i can definately say its the coolest place ive ever been!! :Big Grin: We have a little beach right below our hotel with awesome surfing, snorkeling and fishing.

http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/gman444/IMG_0837.jpg

http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/gman444/CopyofIMG_0834.jpg

http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/gman444/IMG_0841.jpg

It is about 4 feet deep with random little 10-12 foot channels between the coral and its wfo every cast on a variety of cool little jacks (opio), groupers, needlefish (A'ha) and little snappers. I'm fishing 8lb test on an 8' steelhead rod and a little 2000 size shimano spinner. I've had the best luck on kastmasters but have gotten some vicious strikes on topwaters from the opio. I don't have any fish pics yet, theyre on a disposable but ill add some later

heres me fighting an opio

http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/gman444/CopyofIMG_0840.jpg

Today my dad, my brother, and I went out on a 1/2 day out of Lihue on the South Side of the island. We fished with Captain Don, owner of Captain Don's Sportfishing, and his deckhand Allan, Allen (sp?) who has years of long range experience, who I would highly recomend fishing with! We left the ramp at about 7 on his 36' custom made boat.

http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/gman444/IMG_0868.jpg

The captain and deckhand were very pleased to learn that im a pinhead on a boat and have some fishing experience. We stopped on the way out to make mackerel and we managed 5, which i guess is a lot out here:Confused: They turned out to be worth their weight in gold, producing a fish each. We made a 5 mile run to a bouy marking a drop off of 3000 to 6000 ft. On our first past around it, my dad's rod was bit with what turned out to be a 9lb dodo. Skunk be gone!:Twisted:

http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/gman444/IMG_0855.jpg

http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/gman444/IMG_0854.jpg

We pulled in the trollers and the deckhand tossed me a shimano tld 20 spooled with 40lb and matched to a 20-50 lb calstar. he told me to pin on a dead mac and pitch it to the bouy. I did as told and was instantly bit. I waited for a heart pounding 7 count and swung on a nice fish. I got it to the boat and it ended up weighing 18 lbs. My first and pb dodo :Big Grin:

http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/gman444/IMG_0861.jpg

http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/gman444/IMG_0862.jpg

We circled the bouy and i tossed another dead mac and again, instant.:Neutral: I wish they were so dumb in CA! I handed it off to my little bro and it was a nice bull!

My brother getting his butt kicked :LOL:
http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/gman444/IMG_0858.jpg

http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/gman444/IMG_0864.jpg

The bite slowed down a little but after another pass or two i pitched a live mac and got bit hard. I swung and it took off, ran for about 50 yards and then slack. @%$%#@!!:Angry: Wahoo!! I retied, pitched another and had an estimated 50-70 lb wahoo shoot 6 feet out of the water with my bait in its mouth :EyePop::Shocked: It was probaly the colest thing ive ever seen!!
Unfortunately, he didnt stick and he left me a clean cut mackerel head :mad:

We circled and I got 1 more dodo a little bit smaller, but he was a hell of a fighter. I got the whole fight on tape too. but i cant get it to work :Sad:

Some guy from san diego got one last fish so everyone beat the skunk :Smile:
We then followed a school of tuna, either skipjack or schoolie yft for a long time but they stayed well ahead of us. We called it a day after some fun fishing :Big Grin:

http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/gman444/IMG_0867.jpg

http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/gman444/IMG_0872.jpg

I still have 4 more days so hopefully ill ad some more stuff to this post

Mahalo for reading,

greg

[calico killer kevin]

Beautiful! Wish I would of thought of a few of the aforementioned techniques while I was there. If you have any Gulp Sandworms, they were killer when I was there.

[Wingnut]

Very cool report! Can't wait to see the pics of the rest of your trip. :Big Grin:
Man, too bad you didn't land that Wahoo, still time to go get another one, good luck. :Wink:

[victor101]

Great pics and report...Congrats on your first DoDo!

Looking forward to the rest of the pics!

[trollmiester]

Did they let u keep the fish? last time i went out the captian on a another boat kept the fish and said he gives it away to charity.that night i went to a bar and saw my captian tradeing my fish with the bartender for drinks.so if you go to hawia ,make sure you know a ahead of time if your keeping the fish.

[Troutman65]

Did they let u keep the fish? last time i went out the captian on a another boat kept the fish and said he gives it away to charity.that night i went to a bar and saw my captian tradeing my fish with the bartender for drinks.so if you go to hawia ,make sure you know a ahead of time if your keeping the fish.


That was my question too. You get to keep the fish ? and eat it ?

What a great report and photos. :Cool:

[sansou]

Great pics and report!

I've never fished Hawaii....looks like paradise. Congrats on the fine catch.

[FISHNCHIPS]

Looks like you had one of those great trips. Nice fish and place.
I'm going to be there for a week beginning Oct.2 and would greatly appreciate any tips you could give me. My wife and I are interested in doing a couple of half day trips along with some beach fishing. We are renting a house on the north shore so fish will be on the dinner menu.
Captain Don came up as our first contact but I do want to check around.
There is a lot of beach access,did you fish other beaches.
I would really appreciate any info!!!
FISHNCHIPS