Wassup Neville,
You can catch GT from shore just about anywhere in Hawaii, though our fishery is quite poor comparatively to most places. Most of the time i keep a few rods rigged in my truck and fish the areas around my workplace before work in the early mornings. Just today while i was eating lunch my friend landed a 21kilo GT on a popper from right behind my workplace where some jumbo waves were hitting the cliffs.
Typically the farther you get from people, the better the fishing gets around here. When time allows, the best spots are anywhere from 1.5 mile to 9 mile hikes in to remote areas.
As for overhead rigs, i experience the opposite. My preference is to throw overhead 80% of the time with long leaders. I find much better abrasion resistance with these rigs compared to spinning outfits, along with much greater casting distance. Lava rock caves are the great equalizer in our fishery, and sometimes the fish just bury themselves too deep in them to get them out. PE8 with 12m of 100-125lb leader + 2m of 250lb tippet is my standard shoreline GT rig. Casting distance of 100m+ is critical to getting bites at my spots, and overhead reels are the only way to reach that distance with a long leader.
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ImageShack.usThis is a spot in the middle of nowhere, where the waves will kill you if you're not paying attention. This is also what it looks like getting your butt kicked by a 30kg+ fish with poor footing in a dangerous spot. Lost this one big time
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