Spring Break – who doesn’t hold those precious two weeks of release from work and school close to heart? Who’s got them marked on their calendars and religiously applies an “X” in every day leading up the them? Who sits behind their home office work stations in a dream like state or looks mournfully out the window when at the office longing for the sweet call of vacation amongst the deepest, darkest days of winter?
If you live in British Columbia, especially in those regions where winter usually means wet, cold, clammy and nasty, then you know exactly what I am talking about. Sure we have the nicest climate in Canada down in southern BC as far as winter goes, but when you’ve seen nothing but grey sky and rain for the past three or four months the thought of bluebird skies, warm air and cold cocktails sure has a siren call type of vibe to it. Maybe it’s just me getting older and less patient but the winter of 2022/2023 seems to have been grosser than others here on Vancouver Island, with more snow than I recall us every having since I moved here in 1999. No offence of course to those poor folks in California with the absolutely apocalyptic amounts of snow they have been getting this year but honestly it’s all about perspective.
With two teenage boys in the house now, our selection of March break destinations has taken on a more collaborative nature given that they have a much different view as young adults on what constitutes a vacation. The days of Disney Land or Great Wolf Lodge are behind us (thank god) and last year we had what I would call out first “adult” style March Break in Mexico, at an all inclusive resort. This year my wife (ever the planner and bless her for being so) presented the family with 4 options and we all ended up voting to go to the big island of Hawaii this March break, a first time destination for all of us (we have previously visited both Maui and Oahu).
For me, and for the purpose of this story on my website, this was a big win. You see some 16 years ago two of my good friends whom I had worked with at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, in Banff Alberta, had relocated to Hawaii and have been after me to come visit for years. Given the cost to travel there, timing of vacations, the brutal Canadian to US Dollar exchange rate, and not really knowing how to make it work I hadn’t been successful in pulling off a trip. So after years or wanting to go, watching their adventures, and hearing about their new life in paradise when the opportunity came up this year to make it a reality I was stoked. This was made even sweeter by the fact that my friends Christian & Celeste (in Hawaii) had gotten deep into fishing while living there and we had been sharing photos of our catches over the years. Me of course with trout, steelhead, salmon and halibut…and them with far more exotic catches of Mahi Mahi, Ono, Marlin and Tuna.
When I knew we had committed to Hawaii, Christian and I quickly made plans for a fishing day on his 28 foot Glacier Bay cat, the “Kona Fever”, his second boat since moving to Hawaii after cutting his teeth on a smaller monohull. The kids and my wife were game for day on the water, and as the time came to depart for Hawaii I will admit that I got more and more excited about the opportunity to fish in the blue waters of Hawaii. I’ve never had the chance to fish in this fashion, and had lots of questions about speed, baits, and how those outriggers were used and rigged. We set a date and a time to meet up (gulp…3:30 AM), and ticked off the dates until we got there.
Upon arrival on the big island, we had a few days to ourselves before the big day on the water was scheduled. The weather was of course amazing, with mid to high 20’s every day and winds to keep the heat down in the afternoon. We snorkelled off the beach at our hotel, swam in the pool both day and night including swimming with manta rays in the dark (which was very cool – I highly recommend it). But before we knew it our day of boat adventure was upon us.
Early to bed at 9:30 PM, we all tried to sleep before we had to get up at 2:45 AM to ensure that we made it to the marina by the required time. With my sleepy but still excited family piled into the rental car we headed out in the pitch dark to the marina, to meet up with Christian. We had been at the marina the day before checking out green sea turtles on a nearby beach which was fortunate as it meant finding the place in the dark very easy. At 3:29 AM we rolled into the parking lot, and found Christian on board the boat prepping for launch.
By 3:45 AM we were all onboard (along with Christian’s super chill chocolate lab “Shaka”) and were steaming out into the darkness. It was a moonless night and it sure felt surreal to be a passenger and not the skipper, as normally I would be busy watching the instruments and navigating into the void. It took me a minute or two to stop thinking about that, and enjoy the scenery as we headed out off the coast of the small town of Kona, making waves in the black water as we went. Just as I was getting into the vibe of watching the wakes and being serenaded by the drone of the two 150hp Yamaha’s I saw a bunch of bait jumping clear of the water as we passed over them in the darkness.
“There’s bait jumping!” I shouted to Christian, and he throttled back the twin motors and brought us to a stop. Sure enough the sounder was showing a thick band of bait, and so we prepped the lightest rods for catching some.
Christian explained to me that the benefit of leaving the dock this early was two-fold: One is that you get first crack at the bait fish, and two was that given the distance you have to travel to the fishing grounds this ensured you weren’t the last ones there and that the big fish liked to eat earlier in the morning light. Seems fair enough as that’s pretty much the rule no matter where you fish. We dropped down two lines both rigged with what looked exactly like a multiple herring jigs that we use here in BC. The difference here was that in Hawaii using a light to attract the fish is legal, so as we dropped our lines down about 30-40 feet, we then deployed a halogen light to beam down onto the surface. Within minutes we were catching our first fish in Hawaii called Opelu. Similar in size to our mackerel here, but very shiny looking. We spent around 40 minutes hauling these fish up and everyone had the chance to catch one which was a lot of fun for the kids and helped with the pain of the super early wake up. The dozen or so fish were placed into the live well and we continued on our way to the trolling grounds.
It took us close to an hour to reach the fishing grounds, at least that’s what they tell me because I am pretty sure I snoozed most of the way. The big island is the youngest of the islands in Hawaii, and has the most evidence of both active volcanos and recent volcanic eruptions and lava flows. Compared to Maui or Oahu it has a very different look and feel, with what seem like endless lava fields with the odd patch of life scattered in between. It looked like another planet in some parts, and a lush tropical paradise in others. It has a very definitive “dry” and “wet” side to the island, with the east coast being mostly wet and the west coast referred to as the “gold coast” of Hawaii. As we were on the west coast we were fishing off lava rock beaches while following contour lines at the edges of drop offs, much like we would be doing in Canada. But the drop offs here were more drastic as you could go from 40 to 60 fathoms to 1000 fathoms in short order. You definitely won’t be retrieving your sunglasses if they go over the side!
When we started to set out the trolling gear Christian put the kids to work, showing them how to set the lines up on the outriggers while I took the helm and tracked the contours. Unlike Salmon fishing where we troll slowly at 1-2 knots, the pace for trolling with the big gamefish lures/skirts here was a much faster 8-10 knots. It was neat to watch the kids help set all the gear up and the size of the reels and thickness of the rods was a big size difference from the light tackle we use in Canada. With 5 lines set, we trolled along the coast trying to get a hookup with something big.
About 40 – 50 minutes in of high speed trolling, nothing was happening but that didn’t really bother me because I know more than anyone fishing is a game of patience and that sometimes it just doesn’t happen. Christian had forewarned me that March is not an ideal time to fish here as the prime time is the month of June so we knew that a hookup was not a sure thing. I handed over the helm and went to the back of the boat for a second, and just happened to be admiring one of the big reels when all of a sudden….it went off. ZIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG!
“Fish ON!” I shouted, and jumped on the rod. Not sure exactly how to fight a fish with this type of setup, I simply grabbed the reel handle and cranked it a few times until Christian throttle down some and came back. Now it just so happened that the reel it hooked up on was the one and only electric reel on the boat, so I gave the switch a bump and watched it reel the fish in. I had cranked the handle a few times and made some progress bringing it in, but the electric option was a definite bonus. In no time the fish made its first appearance along side, with Christian excitedly exclaiming that it was an Ono, maybe about 30 pounds. To me it looked very similar to a barracuda as it was long, lean and looked to have bar stripes on its side.
As the fish approached the boat Christian grabbed the gaff but the fish had decided it wasn’t done running and instead of going behind the boat, went forward and almost got everything tangled up before it did an abrupt turn and shot behind the boat out of reach and off the line. It was over just like that. We later discovered that the fish had actually dragged the leader over the starboard outboard dolphin and taken a chunk out of it. Amazing.
Christian was gutted. Me on the other hand? I was pumped! Sure we didn’t get it it, but we had not only beaten the odds of not hooking anything, but hooked one of the prize species to boot. I was thrilled, and I wasn’t fussed at all that we didn’t land the fish. We hadn’t been skunked, I had experienced something new, and had done it with my family and a good friend. That’s not to say of course that I didn’t tease Christian about losing the fish at the boat mind you but I would have expected nothing less from him had the roles been reversed. That’s just what we do.
We trolled around for another half an hour, before switching tactics and heading off shore to one of the deep ocean bouys that the Hawaii Fish and Game have placed out there for recreational fisherman. These bouys dropped seemingly in the middle of nowhere attract bait fish which in turn attract much larger fish so it’s common to arrive and find other anglers out there looking for game fish. If you are ever out fishing in these waters and spot a log or even a matt of floating seaweed you can be sure that this is a prime opportunity for finding something lurking nearby. For this type of fishing, Christian showed us how he rigged up the live Opelu and sent them off swimming on the lighter tackle rods, in search of hungry fish. And it didn’t take long to produce a result.
Christian had the rod out with a lively Opelu on the hook, holding the bail of the large spinning reel open while the fish swam away from the boat. “When you feel the fish get taken by something, the trick is to let the bigger fish take the line out for a few seconds and then slip the bail back over, thus setting the hook” Christian instructed us. Feeling the tug of a fish taking the bait, he did just that and handed the rod over to me.
“There’s a fish on there my friend” he exclaimed, and then let out one of his classic french Canadian laughs that I came to know and love years ago in Banff. And indeed there was a fish on there, a really nice Mahi Mahi! It leapt out of the water about 5 times, showing off its beautiful green and blue sides while stripping line off the reel. It was awesome! Fishing with this light(er) tackle was more fun because you can actually play the fish, whereas with the heavy tuna gear it generally stays in the rod holder and all you really do is crank. I say “light(er) gear” because it was still a very heavy stout rod compared to our salmon (or even halibut) rods here in Canada, and the reel was the biggest spin caster reel I’ve ever used. Not to mention the braided line…
Never the less it was a great battle bringing in the fish and although I would guess it took less than 15 minutes it felt a great deal longer. Soon enough it was alongside the boat, on the gaff and into the giant cooler. Success! I was elated and we all celebrated the first real fish into the boat in Hawaii for us. With the wind picking up we quickly reset the gear and tried again, this time with my wife DeAndra hooking another smaller yet equally feisty Mahi Mahi which we landed as well. Considering that the fishing forecast had been “slim to none” we were feeling pretty lucky to have two nice fish in the cooler. Sadly we despite stopping at three more ocean bouys on our way back toward home port neither of the kids were successful in hooking up a fish, but I could tell by their faces that they had both really enjoyed the whole experience even with the 3:30 AM start time.
We had an amazing day on the water and I can honestly say that it was made all the more enjoyable by our host. After stopping off at the Captain Cook monument for some more snorkel time, we eventually made it back to the dock about 1:30 PM, and set to work helping Christian wash down the boat and tidy up.
Suntanned and relaxed from a day on the ocean we headed back to our hotel for a few hours of rest and recharge before going to Christian and his wife Celeste’s house for an outstanding home cooked meal of goat cheese and macadamia nut encrusted fresh Mahi Mahi which was an absolute treat for us all. Even I ate two helpings (and I normally don’t touch fish).
I can’t thank both Christian and Celeste enough for their time and their gracious hospitality while we were in Hawaii. Having not seen either of them from 23 years, it was amazing to me that we settled back into our friendship as easily as if we had never left. I guess that’s the sign of true friendship when you don’t have to feel awkward after such a long time apart. I know I will be going back to Hawaii not just because I fell in love with the scenery, the fishing and the weather. But because I don’t want it to be another 23 years before I see my friends again. We were are very grateful and the day out on the boat was by far the highlight of our trip both because it was so fun but because we did it together and for me that was a reward far greater than bragging rights.
But let the record stand…my Mahi Mahi was bigger 🙂
Thank you Christian and Celeste Tremblay – Mahola!
Sounds like an amazing family adventure. .maybe your boys are “hooked’ on fishing. But Adrian I want know was your fish bigger or is that part of fisherman’s tales. I didn’t see a photo of her catch!
Oh it was bigger…of course it was!!