Nalani Kai II

The day started at 3am in the morning. Fishing on the Nalani Kai II that morning were Sean Moromisato, myself and my son captain Clarence Jr., better known as Kimo. Kimo started fishing with me at age 3 and Sean from 6. Both of these young captains own and fish on their own boats. I couldn’t ask for a better fishing crew to go fishing with.

We launched the boat at about 4:30 am and waited at the starting line for the signal to start fishing. While we were waiting, we checked our lures and talked about the good old days of fishing. We also discussed the areas we would be fishing. When the start signal was given, about 85% of the boats went south or straight out but we headed out to C.O. bouy.

At about 6:30 - 7:00 am the radio started buzzing about fish being caught. I could tell that Kimo wanted to turn the boat around and head back to the south where the other boats were hooking up. Kimo asked if he should turn the boat around to the south. I told him, when you go fishing you fish with your heart and not your ears chasing the radio. He stated that his heart told him to go south and I told him that my heart and knowledge of fishing said to go to C.O. buoy. When we reached the buoy, there were three other boats already there. We made our first pass by the buoy and nothing happened. We started heading out and down seas when we noticed that two of the three boats were stopped and fighting fish. We turned and started in the direction of one of the boats when all of a sudden three of the reels started screaming. Kimo and Sean quickly jumped into action, working each of the fish. My job was to set-up the gaffs and keep the lines tight on the other reels. After about 45 minutes, we boated all three fish.

With three fish aboard, Kimo turned the boat around and started back to the buoy while Sean and I reset all the lines. We had just finished setting the lines when the starboard outrigger took off. Kimo and Sean quickly went back into action. After about 15 minutes, we had ahi #4 on board.

We worked the area for a while after but the fishing had slowed down.

At about 11:30, Kimo went down to rest and I headed the boat back south towards Waianae. An hour later, Kimo got up and checked the lines. He found that two of the inside lines were tangled and set out to straighten them out. He had just finished straightening them out and was about to put the rubberbands on the line when the center reel went off. After about 10 seconds, the fish came off. Kimo was in the process of cranking in the line when another fish took the lure. Simultaneously, three of the other reels also took off. We ended up boating three out of four ahi. With the two iceboxes filled and no more room, we decided to call it a day and head back to the harbor.

FOR COMPLETE RESULTS CHECK OUT http://www.hanapaafishing.com/blogs/hanapaa_fishing/2009/6/23/2009-ahi-fever