Hawaiian GT Action

[Charles Cintron]

Aloha Guys,

Fairly new to the forum and new GT popping addict, thought i'd post some of the action me and my fishin buddies have been getting here in Hawaii. These fish were caught in the last month on the Island of Oahu except for the Mahi which was caught in Kona on the "Big Island". We've been fine tuning our technique and getting some good results with some decent fish along with some monster breakoffs. With the exception of the smaller GT (caught on popper) all were caught on stickbaits.

We have a volunteer GT tag and release progam here in Hawaii and all fish pictured were tagged and released to fight another day except the green tasty one  . The big GT went 139cm with the other one with the orion hanging out of the mouth 116cm. They were a great fight leaving us with sore backs for a few days  .

Charles

[Dan Konig]

A few great fish there - good to see the GTs released too!

[Ricky Lim]

Aloha charles

Good to see you guys are doing tag and release. Great cause for the future stock. I heard GT fishing had suffered in the past. I will love to travel back to Hawaii, but these time armed with a popping outfit.
Is there charters there that specialize in popping and jigging?

[Charles Cintron]

Howzit Ricky,

There are no specialized popping charters that I know of. Most charters are chasing Marlins and Tuna as a lot of them keep them and sell them at the auctions. GT's have no market value here so most charters don't chase them. Although with all the charter boats here i'm sure it would be easy to negotiate a specific trip.  I'd be happy to take a fellow enthusiast out if they chip in for gas and buy me a lunch , mind you though we plug off a 18.5 foot boat so bring your sea legs.
 As far as the fishery goes I think what hurts us is that GT's have always been a prized gamefish here which everyone also likes to eat, same with bonefish. Adding to that food for the GT's close to shore, reefish, big eye scad (I think thats the english name? sort of like mackeral) get pounded almost daily by commercial fisherman laying nets or regular fisherman just laying nets. Baitfish schools are not as big as they use to be. I think big GT's are still here just farther out where there's more food, our state record is a 190pound monster caught spearfishing, and a friend of mind has told me of a 180pounder caught by someone trolling for other species. Fishery management is non-existent here which is kind of sad. But it is what it is, and we still have fun chasing them from the shore or boat.

[Ricky Lim]

Hi Charles

180-190 pound!!!! That should pull the boat back wards if fish lock up drag. 
Love to have a crack at beast that size you guys at hawaii so lucky.
Well well if that's an invitation I wouldn't say no.
I might have to have a serious talk to the wife (which already been back once without me  )
CHECK LIST:
Chip in fuel-no problem
Buy lunch- no problem (I am a chef by trade, that could come in handy )
Sea legs- no problem ( use to work on charter that does fish tagging)
180-190pound GT- yes please! Yes please!

You will hear from me again my friend!!!

Regards
Ricky

[Nathan Tsao]

Yup 183lbs to be exact. I know the guy who caught it, he's a commercial fisherman. The way he told it to me was that he was trolling for ono (wahoo) off the Puna side of Big Island along the 40 fathom ledge (240ft) at Pohoiki bay. His penn130 went off and screamed deep, so he assumed it was a big ahi. After a long tugging match with plenty of the Potogee Pump going on, a giant ulua showed color and came to the surface.
As Charlie mentioned above, ulua dont really have much commercial value here since ciguatera poisoning has gotten bad. So the fisherman was all dissapointed that he wasted so much time on a junk fish. He threw the fish in his box anyways and later weighed it at the scale in commercial Hilo. The fish was cut up and eaten, which must've been a ton of work to deal with a fish that size.
183lb GT; not bad for a "trash" fish huh!?!

As Charlie  also mentioned above, fisheries management and conservation is pretty much nonexistent here. There are, however, a few of us who are working hard to broaden the concept of a GT Sport Fishery in our fishing community. I truly believe that in the next 10 years, Hawaii will see a major shift in the way that GT fishing is perceived. Catch and release plug fishing will undoubtedly be at the forefront of this. The kids in grade school and high school who pick it up now will be dominating the scene in a few years.
I know Hawaii gets a bad rep in the world of GT fishing, but look for incredible things to come in the near future. The spot that Charlie fishes is guaranteed to produce some fish in the 60kg range. Hopefully its going to be next week when i'm there, hahaha!!! BOOST JU FAKA!     

[Sachin Chaudhry]

I recall an article some years ago about a commercial fisherman in Mozambique who got one nudging 200lb on his bottom long line. They do exist I suppose but most likely stay deep.

[Luke Wyrsta]

Nice work guys.

I did a fair bit of GT fishing over there over several trips and never raised much more than one Papio

Keep up the good work and C&R way forward...

[Nathan Tsao]

Luke,
You should be here right now, the bite is going off on the shoreline with this giant swell action pounding rocks!!!

[Luke Wyrsta]

Luke,
You should be here right now, the bite is going off on the shoreline with this giant swell action pounding rocks!!!

I'll watch the flight specials!

[Nathan Cefai]

Great report,good to see a different report from another location..

[Charles Cintron]

Another report from this morning,

My buddy and I did some shoreline popping at one of our regular spots and managed to land this 41" Hamma from the rocks! Awesome battle fish made a mistake and my buddy made him pay, the spot where we landed him you would think no way I can land anything from here. The waves were huge today and I had to time it right to land his fish for him, it was an awesome team effort! I managed to land a 16" GIANT  , depending on the camera angle! A first for us today was an 8' grey shark blow up on my buddies popper, most violent strike i have ever seen on a lure unbelievable!

Yup the 180lb story I got was from Mr. Tsao, The 190 pounder was in Hawaii fishing news we still have the mag. Wazzup Nate! never made it to Taiwan but the wife did LOL time to fish! It did kind of backfire though my kids are running all over me. Whatch out for this guy everyone Nate is taking Hawaii by storm, youre going to be seeing a lot of action from this guy.

Howzit Luke,
I recently visited Pat V. a few months ago and he mentioned you were in Hawaii and unfortunately no hookups for you, I keep buggin him to come fish with me and I think he's coming over in march. Can't wait to see the man in action he's been helping my friends and I alot with gear and tips.  If you ever make it out here i'd be happy to take you out and try and put you on some fish just let me know, same deal, chip in for gas and lunch . Would be awesome to get some tips from some out of towners.  I'll be making regular trips down south to sydney towards the fall would be awesome if you could point out some tackle shops to visit when im in the area.
 
Aloha

My buddy brians GT, tag and release

[Luke Wyrsta]

Howzit Luke,
I recently visited Pat V. a few months ago and he mentioned you were in Hawaii and unfortunately no hookups for you, I keep buggin him to come fish with me and I think he's coming over in march. Can't wait to see the man in action he's been helping my friends and I alot with gear and tips.  If you ever make it out here i'd be happy to take you out and try and put you on some fish just let me know, same deal, chip in for gas and lunch . Would be awesome to get some tips from some out of towners.  I'll be making regular trips down south to sydney towards the fall would be awesome if you could point out some tackle shops to visit when im in the area.

Good to see some reports coming out of the Island state....and some hard work and persistance at that too!

I have always wanted to do some stickbaiting the Big Island where the Lava flows into the Ocean. I'd imagine the thermal activity would make it a hot area for GT action (pardon the pun).

Pat is a champion and there aren't too many GT anglers of his calibre. Extremely modest, experienced and well-rounded - it's shame his health has restricted his fishing pursuits. Please say G'day to him for me!

Keep me in the loop on your captures, it could be a good idea to come over again and try some new strategies in areas that you guys have put some good R&D on.

When you come to Australia, let me know - I'll take you around, you can come visit my shop (primarily online), talk Ulua tactics and stories and share a beer, or 12....

Luke

[Jon Li]

Hi Charles ,

I second Luke's opinion on Pat Victorino , he is one of the best GT fisherman who has fished Komodo n Sumba in the early years and sampled the best GT fishing of the areas , very modest person . Some members of this forum learned a lot from Pat when they fished together .

I hope his neck muscles problem can be overcome soon , would like to fish with him .

Jon .

[ed baduria]

Hey Charles,
It's been 20 yrs since I've fished the Big Island. Man do i miss the good old days, caught my first Ulua, Popio, and Bonefish. I'm thinking of spending several days, maybe a couple of days shore fishing and one day on a charter. Do you know any charters that specialize in popping and jigging? Thanks

ED