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Aaron Arizo

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Re: Hawaiian GT Action
February 26, 2014, 12:10:44 PM


Here's one I got a while back. My biggest from shore so far. 42in to the fork of the tail.

Nathan Tsao

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Re: Hawaiian GT Action
March 06, 2014, 07:21:03 PM
This fish marks a milestone for me.
After a wild two days of insane plugging action, this monster came up at about noon time today and took me on a crazy ride.

Frank, Josh C, and myself took off on another exploratory mission to new grounds for us and raised over 20 uluas on plugs in 1.5 days of fishing, many of them being monsters!

At about high noon today, we were all tired but still wanted a few more fish, so we started walking to a far point that we hadn't reached yet. On the way over, the guys stopped at a big island to fish some shallow water while i walked up a large cliff to see what was on the other side. Looking down, i saw a decent looking point with over some deep blue water with a shallow ledge on the left side. about 10 feet below the point was a limu covered flat that was just barely getting washed over by the waves.

I scrambled down to the point, and while standing on it i was thinking to myself " no frikken way can i fish off this". There was no realistic way down to the water to fish, except maaaybe right off the tip of the point down a waterslide looking type rock about 10 feet tall.

After standing on the point and watching for about 10 minutes, and waiting for the guys to catch up, i said F it and threw out a cast from on top of the point.

My GTFC Mango Skipjack 150 hit the water and after 2 pops a big boil formed underneath the plug. OH SHIT. I definitely didnt want to hook up from that high with no way down to the water, so i reeled the lure in as fast as i could so the fish couldn't get it; so i thought...

About 30 ft away from the limu covered flat below, i slowed the lure down to get ready to lift it out of the water when an absolute BUCKET of a mouth came up and swallowed the lure. OH SHIT. Bad, bad, bad, bad situation!

The fish took off into the deep with me teetering on the edge above. OH SHIT. i had no choice but to loosen the drag and reposition my feet, and then tighten back down to about 30lbs of drag, which the fish was still stripping hard. After it took out about 25 yrds of line, i pushed the lever to full drag, locked that fish down, and turned it! At this point i started to pry on the fish and gain some line back as it swam slowly to the ledge on the left side. Luckily it made it around the ledge, but then it swam into the next deep pocket with shallow reef on either side. I gained a bunch of line when it came back to shore, but not enough to keep it from going under the deep rocks inside the pocket.

For about 5 minutes the fish and i were at complete stalemate. He would take a few feet, then i would gain a few, all the while with my leader rubbing hard on the rocks. The fish felt like it got stuck a few times, so i would freespool the drag with my thumb until it popped out. THen after a few times of free spooling, i felt the fish pop out of the rocks and locked the drag down and boosted the living hell out it. The fish came up into the center of the pocket and started to swim over the shallow ledge and back into the deep water on the right side.

This was when i finally got a visual on the fish. OH SHIT.

I knew i had to get down to the water, so as the fish made it over the ledge and into the deep, i said "fuck it, i'm going" and slid down the front of the point with one hand on the rod, one hand slowing me down on the rocks, and both feet skidding down the smooth rock until i hit the limu 10ft below. Regained both hands on the rod, cranked hard, and went into a vertical dogfight with the fish.

Apparently Josh came over the cliff just as i was sliding down the rock, and for the next 2 minutes he watched from above as i tried to pull the fish onto the rocks. He was looking for a way down to help me out and yelled "Dude, you are fucking CRAZY, howd you get down there?".

The vertical part of the fight is murder on your back and JEEZUS HE WAS HEAVY, with the tail hook was in the mouth, the belly hook was in the pectoral fin, and my leader was shredded to ribbons.

Finally a large enough wave came along so that i was able to skate the fish up onto the flat limu rock. GAME OVER.

Josh slid down the rocks, i puked, we took pictures, and released an ulua that was well over 70lbs (Ladd and Blaine say 80, but i'm not sure).
It was a fish that put my long leader/conventional technique to the absolute test, and came out on top. Without the long heavy leader, this fish was history.
 

Gerhard Delport

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Re: Hawaiian GT Action
March 06, 2014, 07:49:35 PM
Nice report!!

Awesome fish.

Congratulations!!!

Mark Harris

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Re: Hawaiian GT Action
March 06, 2014, 07:49:58 PM
Very well done Nathan. That is an epic capture land-based for sure.

Your report with the slipping, sliding and falling reminds me why I like it on boats :) .
Last Edit: March 06, 2014, 09:06:24 PM by Mark Harris

Simon Bomholt

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Re: Hawaiian GT Action
March 06, 2014, 08:49:52 PM
brilliant report.. first time i have seen fuck so many times in here  ;)
Greetings
Simon

Nathan Tsao

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Re: Hawaiian GT Action
March 13, 2014, 06:01:05 AM
Hi Mark, different strokes for different folks i guess. I just recently sold my center console boat so that i could spend more time chasing GTs from the rocks! The past two seasons i had spent a bunch of time on my boat, and my shoreline catch numbers crashed. Still looking for a fish like the one you just caught, yikes!!!!!

Blaine Tsukayama

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Re: Hawaiian GT Action
March 13, 2014, 08:48:28 AM
Like i said before.  After reading this report felt like i was there bud.

Nathan Tsao

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Re: Hawaiian GT Action
March 15, 2014, 05:20:24 PM
Shoreline action is hot in Kona this year. Got this one down the street from my house on the fifth cast, missed another, then went home!

Luke Wyrsta

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Re: Hawaiian GT Action
March 19, 2014, 09:26:13 AM
Some epic fishing from you boys! I'll make sure to live up to my promise to say G'day if I make it over again this year.

Nathan Tsao

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Re: Hawaiian GT Action
March 20, 2014, 11:17:20 AM
Luke, between Charlie's boat on Oahu, and my deep water shorelines here on Big Island, i'm sure you can tie into a few of our local Uluas!!! Keep in touch when you'll be around

Nathan Tsao

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Re: Hawaiian GT Action
April 07, 2014, 06:28:12 PM
Even though our little bit of Hawaiian shoreline action doesn't compare to the fisheries that the rest of the world has, we are still having a hell of a year by our standards! A few more fish on the rocks recently, plus a bonus Jobbie! Its nice to catch GT bycatch like that and have something to take home for the table. The Kona GT's have changed moods as of late, and are acting territorial with lots of chases and wild aggressive strikes, but very few good solid hookups. This behavior plagues us every year during this part of the season; many many pulled hooks and foul hookups.


Andre van Wyk

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Re: Hawaiian GT Action
April 07, 2014, 08:36:05 PM
Nathan you boys are frikken beasts bro!!! Insane fishing and dedication to what must surely be the most physically demanding and intense form of GTpopping out there... Kudos and respect, with a massive dose of jealousy from me!

Keep it up man, epic to see!
To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth...

Evan Gluck

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Re: Hawaiian GT Action
April 23, 2014, 01:24:53 PM
For awhile now Charles and I have been trying to arrange some time for us to do a few days of fishing in his backyard; i.e. fishing "Gt Fight Club" style in Hawaii.  Last week Charles had some free time to fish all week and we finally made it out there.

Since Hawaii is renowned for much more than its fishing, I decided to get to Oahu a few days earlier with my wife and do some site seeing.  Not only is Oahu a beautiful place, it also has friendly people and awesome food!  With all the Asian tourists and persons of Asian descent living on the island, there is a cornucopia of great Japanese, Korean and Chinese food available; my favorites!
 
Before we joined him, Charles fished three days with his local buddies, and his daily updates really got me excited.  During those three days they caught 18 GT's in total, including 10 GT's in one day!  And mind you, Charles and his guys are usually back at the dock by the early afternoon, so these numbers are very impressive!  Although I was enjoying my time at the beach, hiking, and site seeing, I could not wait to get out on the water!
 
Finally, Raymond arrived and we met up with Charles.  We had a nice dinner and he gave us the run down of what we would be doing for the next two days of fishing.
 
The first morning on the way out Ray told Charles how he had not gone fishing since visiting the Dry Tortugas this past December; so needless to say, Raymond was "itching" to get his line in the water and catch a fish.  And would'nt you know it, within 10 minutes of hitting the spot and working his Siren lure, he comes tight on a GT and gets it in the boat.  What a great moment; many months of seeing Charles' reports from Hawaii, and now finally, we were experiencing this awesome fishery.  Plus this fish represented many firsts for Ray; his first fish of 2014, his first fish caught in Hawaii, and his first "American" GT!"
 
Over the course of the next hour or two we landed a few more small GT's using a mixture of poppers and floating stickbaits.  Then we hit a period where the bite alows down.  Charles tells us its time to break out the Carpenter Pandoras; a staple of Hawaii GT fishing.  Unlike a lot of other GT spots, the water is pretty deep here, so we are letting the Pandoras sink for a considerable amount of time; sometimes over 30 seconds.  Ray lands a GT.  Then a short time later, while working his Pandora, Charles gets a bite but doesnt connect.  He reels up the Pandora to where it is about a two to three feet away from the boat on top of the water.  He turns to me to tell me I have a sun screen glob on my face when all of the sudden a bigger GT inhales the {andora; what an explosion!  I get to see Charles put the wood to this nice sized fish with his Race Point 250.  I must say, Charles has an awesome fighting style!  With the way he always wears his buff over his face and his technique, he is like a ninja warrior doing battle!  After a nice fun fight Charles had his fish to the boat and its the biggest of the day so far!
 
A short time later I finally get my first fish on the Pandora; and it just happens to be one of the bigger GT's I have ever landed!.  With a measurement of 120 cm, it was probably around a 35 kilo fish.  No problem with the Race Point 250!
 
We finished with 8 GTs for the first day; awesome!
 
The second day was a little slower and a lot more choppy.  At some points while moving around I felt like I was experiencing what its like to surf in Hawaii.  Working through some gnarly conditions, in addition to a bluefin trevally, we manage to land 4 more GT's for the day, bringing the boat's total to 30 GT's landed in 5 days of fishing that week.  What a great accomplishment for Captain Charles!
 
When the afternoon lull came on, we decided to show Charles one of our favorite things; light jigging!  We found a reef loaded with cornet fish, aka "trumpets" as well as a few triggers and yellow spot travellys.  We had a blast landing these for an hour before calling it a day.  Charles fell in love with light jigging and will try more often to tear himself away from the uluas to catch some "monster trumpets!" :D
 
That night, We capped off the trip with a nice BBQ with Charles and his family.
 
Ray and I had such an awesome time!  Big thanks to Charles for all the hospitality!
 
Hawaii is such a great place, I will definately go back to explore more of what it has to offer.
 
I have some nice footage from the trip and should have a video up shortly.
 
Tackle used:
Rods: Saltywater Tackle Race Point 150, 200 & 250, El Maestro
Lures: Carpenter, GT Fight Club, Moutoukenmaru, Craft Bait, Siren, Bertox
Reels: Shimano Stellas



Beautiful Waikiki



Did some hiking, which is great in Hawaii because you are rewarded with stunning vistas...






A lot of great Japanese food in Hawaii...




A visit to Pearl Harbor



Now to the fishing! 

Ray lands the first GT of the trip with the RP 150 and Siren.




Im get a little warm up on a small GT





Some more early morning topwater fish...




Charles says its time to start using the Pandora, and he produces...

Charles doing work on his custom RP 150




Ray gets in on the Pandora act...



Charles' Pandora gets inhaled on topwater and he lands a nice GT!





A short time later I get my first GT on a Pandora.  Nice size too!





End the first day with a nice sunset.



As you can see the second day was choppy, but we landed some fish!







Charles gets the last GT of the trip, and the 30th of the week for his boat.  Nice work!



Charles says "ma halo" to the fish and sends it home.  The GT Fight Club guys are doing a lot to promote catch and release among Hawaiian anglers.



We finish the day with some light jigging in calmer waters.





The house Ray and I stayed at had bananas growing in the back.  Thankfully that did not give us any bad luck.



Finish with a BBQ at Charles'.  What a great trip.  Thanks Charles!














Last Edit: April 23, 2014, 01:31:08 PM by Evan Gluck

Jason Haack

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Re: Hawaiian GT Action
April 23, 2014, 07:37:55 PM
Fun times, good food, friends and scenery. Not to mention the fish.
Well done.

Evan Gluck

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Re: Hawaiian GT Action
April 28, 2014, 10:50:39 PM
Video:

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