Hawaii - Honolulu GT's

[Chris Webster]

Guys - Visiting Hawaii (Honolulu) in December and have the tick to do some fishing while there.

Has anyone here fished Honolulu before?

Any feedback or recommendations on charters?

Cheers,

Chris

[Ricky Lim]

Was there for my honeymoon, didn't get a chance to fish. However Did ask around, but not many charter do popping. Mostly bottom bashing and trolllllllling all the way. If do find one please let us all know about it. Love to go back and visit, awesome place.......

Ricky L

[Joey Tun]

Sad to report that Hawaii is one of the most overfished places in the world.
Oahu is in worst shape. Other islands are slightly better but not by much.
Overall it is extremely hard to pop for GTs in Hawaii.

[Darren Cook]

When I was there a year ago, I grabbed a local fishing paper and it was full of pics of GT's ranging from average size to massive hanging buy their tales at a local tournament weigh-in centre.

It would seem that catch and release is not that well practiced there.

[Ken Uechi]

In Hawaii, GTs are mainly caught from shore using cut or live bait.  There are many GTs taken by shore fishermen for food or tournaments and as a result, I think GTs in Hawaii spend a great deal more time in a bit deeper water.  On the other hand, GTs are not often an offshore fisherman's target in Hawaii, so casting poppers or jigging for GTs off a boat might be relatively productive.

I've heard of popping/jigging charters in Kona on the Big Island and there are some jigging/bottom fishing charters in Honolulu at Kewalo Boat Harbor, but I have not yet found any popping outfits on Oahu.

By the way, catch and release seems to be gaining a bigger following in Hawaii and many fishermen do participate in tag and release programs.  It's difficult though, to break with the tradition of eating what you harvest.

[Doug Terry]

Hi Chris goto this site wttp://ulua-fishing.com
Plenty of info there Ulua is Hawaiian for GT.

[Sachin Chaudhry]

Pat Victorino is the popping go guy in Hawaii. I do not know if he is/was based there but forum guys hold him in high regard with respect to Hawaii GT popping. As mentioned here most Hawaii GTs are caught on live or dead baits from the shore. Huge fish!!

[Blaine Tsukayama]

Hi i live on kauai and pat is from there.  Pat does a lot of his gt fishing from boat on the north shore.  There is a guy on the big island that meets up with several members on the ulua fishing forum mentoned earlier his real name is nate but his forum name is konaplugcaster.  All fishing done from shore.  Best times are at dawn and dusk on rising tide.  Take a look at the whipping section of the forum. 

Mahalos

[Joey Tun]

Yes, Pat is the man for GT popping in Hawaii. In fact, he is the only person I know of who does this successfully in the whole state. If you can access places like Niihau you have a decent shot at popping. I've fished Oahau enough to know popping is pretty much going to be a waste. On north shore of Oahau, there are spots where GTs would come in at Night. But the population is very small and there are way too many slide bait poles waiting for them once they are in range. And if they get caught, they are finished, wether it is a 2lb Pompio or 100lb Ulua.