Hawaii Fishing - lures?

[jplee3]

Hey guys,

I'll be out in the Waikiki area and Maui end of July and was looking for any tips you might have for fishing the shore/jetties/etc.

I'm thinking about bringing my Shimano Curado 300dsv and an assortment of grubs, swimbaits, and hardbaits. Has anybody had luck out there with the LC110s or Rapalas? What about on softbaits? I'm anticipating baitfishing as well, but I want to do more fishing with lures if I can. I hear kastmasters and poppers work well too. What about spinner baits?

Any help would be appreciated. I'm definitely going to be removing all hooks from any hardbaits I take as I'm planning to carry everything on.

My buddy went a few years back and got hung up ALOT on the rocks. Any tips on how to fish around these obstacles?

[bsp]

I went fishing in Hawaii with my uncle (a local), and we used what he called whipping plugs. They are like poppers except they sink. You cast out and retrieve them as fast as you can reel, and all types of predatory fish will come up and smack them. You are mainly trying for Omilu (bluefin trevally), papio (trevally under 10lbs), and sometimes Ulua (trevally over 10lbs) with these plugs. I have no idea what brand he gave me to use, but I know he said that his friends on Kawaii used Mark White lures in 1oz to 2oz sizes. They caught some ulua on them, so they seem to be very effective. The set up over there for the serious guys seems to be using braid a your mainline (50lb or 65lb for the reefs and 30lb for the flats) with a flouro rub leader (10lb up to 25lb). My uncle said 15lb was fine on Oahu because most of the big fish are gone, but I would use 20lb or 25lb on Maui. The biggest thing I caught was this Cornetfish and the spinning gear we used (30lb braid with 15lb leader on 3000 size reels) manhandled it.




We did use 2in and 3in grubs and 4in strips (local style bait) with a water filled bubble and 4ft flouro leader. Again, we reeled these in FAST and caught a whole mess of little reef fish. No papio, but I know that they will eat these baits as my uncle showed me pictures of all the ones he and his friends had caught on Kawaii with them. My bet is that the papio/ulua fishing has been pretty hurt on Oahu, so don't get your hopes up. I did see some at Ala Moana beach park, but they weren't interested. I would try the Flash Minnows though because I am sure the fish never have seen them before. I bet you will catch one on the Flash Minnow, just be prepared for a serious fight. Replace the hooks with 2X Owner ST 41s when you get there to avoid having your hooks bent out.

As for other lure selection, the whole idea over there is either baiting and waiting or fishing lures as fast as possible (lots of casting and walking). If it is flashy and you can reel it in quickly it should get hit. I noticed that all the lures had heavy metallic flake or bright paint jobs, so the concept is to get the fish's attention and get a reaction strike. I never got snagged too badly because I was always reeling in fast the moment the lure hit the water. Basically with lures you don't have time to get snagged unless you backlash (which is proabably why most of the guys use spinning gear).

One last thing is to set your drag as tight as possible. Not so tight that the fish snaps the line on impact, but tight enough that it can't make too much of a run. All the fish we caught were in shallow reefs and boiler rocks, so they came out of the really snaggy environment to chase the lures. Then they immediately swam back to it when hooked. So, try to avoid letting that happen.

Good Luck!

[jplee3]

Excellent info! Thanks for that! Nice fish BTW! Cool-looking! I think I saw one of those swimming around in Maui when I went and snorkeled a few years back. Hmmm... those whipping plugs sound interesting. Almost like tadys! I wonder how it would be with the smaller tady or salas jr models. What areas did you hit up in Oahu and Maui?

[jplee3]

BTW: Would it help to have a reel that has a super fast retrieve like 6:x:x?

What reel(s) would you recommend going with? I never got much into spinning reels - I have a number of them but they're mostly cheapies and probably either 4:x:x or 5:x:x retrieve ratios.

[bsp]

Not a problem man. I have never been to Maui, but on Oahu we fished at Ala Moana Beach Park, Sandy Beach, and a bunch of random spots that my uncle took me to. I have no idea how to get them (don't remember directions), but any open spot of beach/reef should have good fishing. Just remember that the area from Waikiki to the Lighthouse at Diamond head is closed to fishing for this year. Incoming high tide was when we did the best. We got there at low tide, scouted out good places to stand/reef structure, and then fished far out moving closer in as the tide came in.

I thought of surface iron when I fished there, but the plugs are kind of different. They have an erratic popping action, and you can walk the dog with them under the surface too. If you could figure out a weigh to bring some iron along I am sure you could get hit. Krocs and Castmasters should work too.

A general piece of advice to remember is that some locals get kind of pissed when they see a tourist fishing "their" spot. I'm a haole (whitey) so that probably annoyed them more, but once they saw my uncle they all backed off because he obviously is a local. The guys who didn't dislike me right off because of my skin color were all friendly and gladly shared advice. Just keep in mind to keep your cool, know when somebody is trouble, and you'll be completely fine. If you buy bait at the super market, ask the guys behind the counter if they know any decent spots too. My uncle said that's how he has found some places.

http://www.markwhitelures.com/plugs.html

Here's a link to the plugs I mentioned. Get these in 1oz and 1/2oz in white (best color) and yellow/green.

That Cuardo 300 is perfect. I'd go with a Curado 300 (6.3:1) for the big stuff and bait and wait and a Curado 200 in any ratio for the small stuff. The spinning reels we used had 6:1 (Shimano Stradic) and 4.7:1 (Daiwa exceler) and they both got the lures moving fast enough to get bit. As long as you can get the lure moving quickly along the surfaceso it kinda chugs and spits you should be fine. A 5:1 is fast enough and might be a little more powerful when trying to winch a fish away from structure. A Luna 203, Calcutta 200, or Cardiff 200 would be good choices too. Whatever reel you chose, it should be durable (preferably have an aluminum frame to avoid flexing when a fish hits the lure) and have a smooth and powerful drag.

[tacklejunkie]

Saw lots of surf fish there around the reefs!
You could probably do good on a number of things.

2" Gulp camo sandworms would probably kill it.

The Hawaiins didn't like me much either. They can smell a rental car a mile away! They were trying to make me hit them so they could get an insurance claim going

[bsp]

TJ brings up a good point. 2in or 3in Gulp shrimp on a 1/4oz ball leadhead for bonefish on the flats (bounced kinda fast on the bottom) and Gulp Camo sandworms worked in the same way (1/16 or 1/8oz ball leadhead or a Carolina rig with 1/4oz or 1/2oz weight) for surf perch looking fish whose name I am blanking on at the moment.

The Hawaiins didn't like me much either. They can smell a rental car a mile away! They were trying to make me hit them so they could get an insurance claim going

That actually happens a lot, and especially if you are in a nice rental like a new Mustang. Sad but true...

[tacklejunkie]

How'd you know it was a mustang? lol
For some reason they didn't mess with me in the Ferrari F360 spider or loaded Vette Z06..
I grew up driving in LA. hahaha


I wish I would have fished when I was there!

I took a waterproof disposable camera out suba diving into the surf outside the Waikiki Hilton Hawaiian Village beach just to take pictures of all the fish I got to swim with. Tons of fish everywhere in the reef. All the pics are in film format though.

Here's some of the fish I saw. I bought a shirt for the memory of swimming with them!



Now that I think about it..
There was a huge jetty coming off the Hawaiian Hilton place in Waikiki right near the beach I was swimming at. I saw surfers out there standing on it as I was sucked out to sea. lol. Might wanna try that if you go to the area!

[bsp]

How'd you know it was a mustang? lol
For some reason they didn't mess with me in the Ferrari F360 spider or loaded Vette Z06..
I grew up driving in LA. hahaha

All rental cars that haoles drive in Hawaii are white or red convertible Mustangs! It's a joke my uncle constantly makes when we are over there.

I wish I would have fished when I was there!

I took a waterproof disposable camera out suba diving into the surf outside the Waikiki Hilton Hawaiian Village beach just to take pictures of all the fish I got to swim with. Tons of fish everywhere in the reef. All the pics are in film format though.

Here's some of the fish I saw. I bought a shirt for the memory of swimming with them!

A lot of dive or snorkeling spots are good surf fishing spots if you can access them too jplee. It's a fun way to scout out the area before you fish, and bringing a waterproof camera is a good idea. I have done it, and just like TJ, have a lot of really nice pictures because of it. Definitely something to keep in mind.

TJ, I have actually seen all of those fish on your shirt except for the turkeyfish. The hawkfish was one of my favorites because of the way it behaved. It always lunged at whatever came near it no matter how big the fish or object was. They supposedly make good aquarium pets because they can learn to eat from your hand.

[britheguy]

You can never go wrong with BigHammer swimbaits, or Fishtraps.

First time I threw a Big Hammer out on the Big Island, got nailed by something big and snapped my leader!

Good luck out there!