Ahi On the Rocks - 5th Annual Eastside Invitational Tournament

Friday, 11:00 a.m., I felt the heat of the sun as I walked from my truck toward the fishing spot loaded with gear.  Earlier that morning, I dove the waters of Punalu’u and was fortunate to bag enough pieces of tako to share as bait.  I had entered the Eastside Invitational Shoreline Tournament, this shore fishing event would officially start in an hour.  My tournament fishing friends Bryce Iwai and Brent Kamiya were here, and had begun setting-up their ulua casting rods and reels.  The view up above was of beautiful clear blue skies.  I looked down onto the water’s surface which was nearly ten feet below our pahoehoe casting area.  The ocean surged gently up and down along the lava formed coastline.  The tourney soon began and we took turns casting.  Each of our wire leads flew out toward the horizon pulling stop ring and line with them.  Once the lines were set and rods secured with wedges and safety lines, assorted baits were slid.  We worked the rods throughout the day and evening, reeling lines in then recasting.  That night, around 11:00 p.m. my Jeff Andrews rod took a hit.  With Bryce’s kokua with the barrel gaff, I landed a 19.4 pound white ulua which took a tako baited slide.  After the fish had been iced, I could finally get some rest.  As my eyes closed, I wondered what tomorrow would bring.

On Saturday, action came early with a rachet screaming wake-up at 2:25 a.m.  As the ulua neared the front ledge, lines converged and my runner cut.  Lost ‘um. . . Oh well, that’s fishing.  We spent the morning catching bait and hooked Moana, Joe Louis,  Enenue, Wahanui, Po’opa’a and Opelu.  The fish were kept alive in a plastic tub with aerators and also frequent changes of fresh seawater.  I told Bryce to use my spinning rod to try for the opelu.  I returned from putting a fish in the tarai (tub) and saw that Bryce had landed one.  He jacked-up his Talon CY062 rod with 4/0 Penn 113 HLW reel, to recast and slide the opelu.  I handed him one of my pre-made opelu slides.  This rig is a six-foot plus length of 130 lb. test Shogun line with a slide pigtail on one end, and a 26 Maruto hook, crimped at the other.  The length of the mono. allows the hooked opelu to swim, which helps to keep it alive.  Bryce turned the pigtail onto his mainline, as I set the point of the 26 Maruto into the opelu’s nose then tossed it into the water.  The bait had been down for one and a half hours.  STRIKE!!  It was noon; the opelu instantly became lunch for some big fish.  The rachet sounded out a steady four second run as the 80 lb.  Big game line stripped off the Penn 4/0.  Bryce could feel a lot of “head shakes” and kept a tight line as he cranked his reel and lifted his Talon rod.  After a few minutes, I could see color, suddenly, a large uku appeared at the surface.  I pole gaffed the huge uku, then Brent and I congratulated Bryce on his great catch.  The following day, this fish would weigh in at 31 pounds on the official tournament scale.

At 5:00 p.m., I caught a Kahala (15.6 pounds) using a dead opelu for bait.  Brent did a great job landing this fish using the pole gaff.  As we had our Saturday evening dinner, I thought of how lucky we were to have a small ulua, kahala, and big uku in the ice cooler.  Brent and I were happy for Bryce, with his uku, he would have a good chance of placing in the tournament standings.  I took my Talon CY048 rod matched with a Newell 550 4.6 reel (P-spool loaded with Trilene’s Big Game 80 lb. Test – clear) and tied my slide bait leader.  I knot the 80 lb. mainline directly to 30 feet of 150 lb. test Proline leader line using a uni-to-uni knot join.  I make a flemish-eye to the top 3/0 swivel and crimp the leader to the dead end/stopper rig (3/0 swivel – Malin 15 wire – 3/0 swivel w/lock washer stop ring); it’s five inches long.  I cast a 10.5 ounce wire lead tied to the stop ring with six feet of waxed line.  I decided to play the point shot.  Satisfied with the cast, it got even better when my wire lead grabbed and took hold on the sandy ocean bottom.  My partners also recast their ulua rods, we hustled to make the most of our tournament fishing time.  The sun had set and the first stars became visible.  I would “drop my first set” of fresh tako baits soon.  (slide hardware: 3 oz. Weighted pigtail - #15 Malin wire – 16/0 VMC hook)  It was an uneventful Saturday night, I had sent down three slides per rod throughout the night and early morning.  It was 4:00 a.m. Sunday morning and I wasn’t asleep, but had my eyes closed.  Brent and Bryce were both actively reeling in their lines to change bait.  Suddenly, I heard a bell ring, then a rachet going off.  I heard my name being called along with the words, STRIKE! YOUR POLE!  As I moved to my rod, I quickly fixed my rubber slipper and grabbed my headlight.  My rod bounced and bent downward as line ripped out of the Newell 550 reel.  I first turned the reel handle to keep line tension, removed the bell, then disengaged the rachet’s clicker and safety line.  I moved my rod into fighting position and leaned back as the rod arched over.  Whatever this was, it had weight.  I pulled back and it didn’t come.  I heard one of the guys mention that I had a quarter spool of line left.  This fish? It seemed to be fighting high, at mid-water depth.  I thought, is this JAWS?  This fight, it felt weird, could it be a double?  I once had been fortunate to land two ulua’s on one line.  Minutes passed, I kept a bend on the rod, continued to crank my reel and slowly recover some line.  I started to feel signs of fish, my line and rod top “pulsed” indication possible head shaking or tail movement of a struggling fish.  I briefly saw movement and color under the surface at around thirty yards out.  It was a fish!  I kept yankin’ and crankin’ and as it neared the front, the fish made a strong run to the left heading to an underwater reef.  If the fish made the dropoff, my line would cut over the ledge, game over.  I pulled the rod above waist level to my right, while thumbing down hard on the spool.  The rod tip pulled forward as the fish struggled to head left, but I kept line from leaving the spool.  A few more cranks and I slowly stepped back to allow Bryce room to gaff.  Bryce said, “Shibi”!  I said, “Yeah Right”!  to which Bryce responded, “I see Yellow, It’s a Shibi”!  After some drama with the barrel gaff, we moved a few yards to the right and Bryce pole gaffed the fish up.  My first ahi caught from shore and during a tournament.  I couldn’t have done it without my fishing friends, Bryce Iwai and Brent Kamiya.  I bled the shibi and carried it over my shoulder to the truck and 150 quart cooler.  At the weigh in for the Eastside Invitational Shoreline Tournament, the shibi weighed in at 41.5 pounds and took the Other Game category.  I honestly thought that Bryce’s big uku would have won, so I was surprised.  Bryce’s uku took Honorable Mention in the same category, which was well deserved and I was very happy for him.  I would like to acknowledge and thank my teammates Bryce and Brent, my fiancée Shirley, my family for their support, the Eastside Invitational Shoreline Tournament committee & sponsors, Brian’s Fishing Supply, and Mahalo to the regulars who kindly allowed us tournament play at their spot.  Thanks for allowing me to share my fishing story with you.

RESULTS

1st Place Ulua    Lesley Lee------------------------ 61.5 lbs
2nd Place Ulua    Robert Carvalho---------------- 38.2 lbs
3rd Place Ulua    Guy Takamura------------------- 37.4 lbs
4th Place Ulua    Bryson Imasaka----------------- 36.6 lbs
5th Place Ulua    Des Matsuno-------------------- 35.9 lbs
6th Place Ulua    Miles Kaneshiro----------------- 25.1 lbs
7th Place Ulua    Reed Ikegami--------------------- 24.9 lbs

Largest Other Game fish    Daven Tong------- 41.5 Ahi