Hey guys, I know there's a wide variety of experienced fisherman out there, so I'd like to pose a question to you all.
My wife and I are headed to Oahu April 24th through the 29th, and I want to get some fishing in while there. I've done some online research but there are so many guides out there I'm looking for a reference. Please help make our trip and experience as good as yours hopefully was, as I've never been to Hawaii, let alone fished there!
What has been some of your experiences? I'm looking for a "big fish" experience, but I think charters with 50 other tourists sound pretty lame.
Who have you gone with and what was it like?
I'm also interested in fishing from shore on my own a few days, for whatever I can catch. Any recommendations?
Feel free to reply to this post or send me a pm.
Thanks a ton in advance!
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My wife and I went out last month and I was looking to do a little fishing. I didn't book anything before going because we just had to much else planned. Once we got there though we decided we could fit it in. Unfortunately things didn't quite work out. I called a charter called Big Fish Hawaii (catchy name huh). It was on Friday and he said he had room for two the next day but needed to know if we were going so he could book us. I told the guy I was almost positive we would be going and told him I would call when we got back to the hotel and give him my credit card info. He called us back when we were on the bus an not wanting to give my info in such a public place I asked if I could call back. He said that would be fine but he would be on the boat cleaning but he assured me if I wanted to go there would be a place for us. I called back when we got back to the hotel and someone else answered and told us not to worry about paying then just to show up at 2:30 the next afternoon and I could pay then. So we showed up and waited for an hour and a half. No one ever showed up. I called, to try to figure out what went wrong, and left a message but no on ever called me back. So my advice. Don't book with them. I did however meet the deck hand on the boat next door who was very friendly and tried to help us out by calling the captain and trying to reach him over the radio. He even offered to buy us dinner because he felt bad. The boat was called the Sea Verse II and seemed like they had their act together. We also got there in time to see another boats haul for the day it was called Magic Sportsfishing. I've uploaded a picture of the Mahi they caught. It was a husband and wife fishing for the day that did all the fishing. Anyways, that was my experience hope yours is better. Sorry I rambled on for so long but I just wouldn't want anyone else to get left out like we did.
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Thanks for the heads up on those guys. That sucks that they essentially "stood you up".
I can't see how to send PM's like you could on the old layout, so I'll include an email where you could send me info if it is easier than posting it here:
[url "mailto:mike@boulderranchllc.com"]mike@boulderranchllc.com[/url]
thanks guys!
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I spend conciderable time in hawaii for work. I try to get out as much as posable. What you should kn ow about fishing in hawaii 1) there is no comercial fishing. There fore the private charters are alowed to keep your catch. This does 2 things, It motivates the captains to get you into the fish (because they make their real money on the fish) 2) when they get you into the fish they try to keep you catching as many as possible. So most charters are pretty good. I prefer to go from halewa harbor on north shore. (quicker trip to fishing ground for more time fishing.) If you want a real fun time fishing try the night time shark fishing (some big ones!!) Marlin / sail /sword fish can be hit and miss, but you can always catch mahi mahi or derado. For shore fishing, hit the flats between liea and kialua on the back side of the island in the early morning (sunrise) use typical flashy spoons and spinners, wade out to waste deep cast and retrieve very rapidly (as fasty as you can reel. The opio run and feed in the early morning, most range from 1/2 to 6 lbs but fight very hard and make excellant table fair. (blue gill type fish white and silver) Very fun!! A better method for them is a shrimp fly (1" long looks like turcois colored plastic broom bristles? with a red tied head) Use a surf rod and a wood 2"float and 6-8' leader. cast far out on surf and retrieve and hard jig rapidly making it skip along the surface of the water and hold on tight. Talk to the local bait shops they are very helpful. Good luck Lonnie
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Granted I am not going until September but here is a charter service I was referd to.
[url "http://www.kuuloakai.com/default.asp"]Charter[/url]
From all the research that Myself and Luke 72 did we were pointed to ward this guy. He also was referd by Capt. Jeff form Maui.
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Lonnie, great info!
I did see some info on the Kailua flats, and found a company that will rent me a two man canoe for $59/day, so I will definitely hit that up.
As for Haleiwa, I have found multiple guides that leave from there, is there a few you have used and would recommend?
What about renting a fly rod for the Kailua flats? I would rather not have to pack mine around everywhere as we are travelling light...
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I was on the North Shore of Oahu last summer, I didn't fish, but I wish I had.
If you could find anybody, a local who you could pay to take you out in a boat a couple miles off shore, you could get into some sharks. I don't think you would need a guide, they are overpriced in Hawaii anyway. We had the privelege of doing a shark cage dive, and let me tell you, they are everywhere. We had over a dozen of them (galapogos sharks, relatives of reef sharks) surrounding the boat in minutes, and with no chum. They were all at least 6 feet long, with a couple over or close to 10. One big guy had a hook and about 2 feet of leader hanging from his mouth. If you got out there, spent some time, chummed, and had the right gear, you could catch and release a whole bunch.
Also, one night I saw a nice boil of baitfish in a little bay right next to our resort. I would've loved to toss some bait or a lure into that boil and hooked whatever was causing it, shark, barracuda, jacks, who knows.
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I don't recall the names but their all pretty good out of there. The cost runs arround 175-225 per day on a shared trip, Or you can charter a boat for arround $1000 a day (4-6 people) For shore fishing, just pack your reels and buy a rod at walmart or a pawn shop and give it to a kid when your done. Take the drive from kialua to liea and stop and talk to the local fisherman a day before you go. The local hawaiian people are very freindly and will help you out. It's also the only area of oahu thats still got the old hawaiian country feel. (It's the area where they film the TV show Lost) Have a good time And let us know how you do. Aloha Lonnie
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If you can hook up with some locals you should go hawaiian spear fishing. They snorkel around and spear fish with a spear hooked to surgical tubing. It is really fun. Another thing that is fun is to just bring your light freshwater tackle with some bass and trout lures and cast those in the ocean. I did that last December and caught several really weird looking fish right on the hotel property. I even caught a big 4 foot long stick fish. Most of the fish I hardly dared touch to remove from the hook because they either had spikes growing out of them or shark-like teeth. Be sure and rinse your lures and reel really good or they will rust overnight.
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This is my opnion about what you should do on your fishing trip. Go and find a charter boat that does bottom fishing get into some groupers,amber jacks and big snappers.While bottom fishing you can have live bait out and who knows a wahoo,mahi mahi ,marlin or tuna might be in the area feeding on your bait.I would rather do this type of fishing because it is consistent and keeps you busy fighting fish.You can spend hours trolling without as much as a bite like my brother in law did last year in hawaii. Spent hundreds of dollars and no fish.If you have never caught a 20lb snapper or grouper then you will be in a fight my freind.There is no chasing these fish it is a tug of war!!!
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Hey no problem on the info. What everyone else has posted sounds about right. My wife and I were looking at around $400 for a half day shared trip for the two of us. I also noticed bottom fishing mentioned. If you decide to do that it seemed like it was quite a bit cheaper. I believe the nighttime shark trip was $175 on the boat called the Sashimi. It looked like it would be a pretty cool trip to do. The only problem is it was a share charter and didn't say how many people they took.
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By the way I just noticed the pics didn't upload. Sorry about that. I tried to edit it still no luck. I guess I'll try again later.
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Jaybird and ocean are right. Some info: Most all hawaiian charters are 4-6 people including the shark trips. The bottom fishing is a cheaper alturnative and still very fun. These boats are more like the typical say california party boat (anywhere from 12-30 anglers.) A little less individual attention. But a cool variety of fish that live on the reef. Not as much of a chance for the trophy fish (marlin,mahi mahi, rooster,sail ect..) it just depends on your budget. Some advice : The 1/2 day shared trip vs the whole day , the whole day trip is the way to go and harder to get (only runs arround $50-60 more) So look to book in advance . Many boats don't have shared trips on the all day boats, so if there is 4-6 of you , no worries, but if only 2 ph ahead of your trip and have the captain try and work another couple or 2 into your trip. Or if last minut talk to your hotel desk and have them post a sign to find someone to share with. If you wait until last minut your options will decline.
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Hello Canadian,
I lived on Oahu for 8 years! Had my own boat,but somtimes charter a boat called LIVE BAIT OUT OF
WAI'ANAE BOAT HARBOUR CAPT.DALE.
GREAT FISHING! I will try to get web-site or ph #.
YOU WILL LOVE THIS TRIP!
fish4life8
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