[capt_ben]

Got to the boat "Live Bait" this morning at 515 when requested to be there at 530. Soon as we got there Capt. Shannon and mate AJ were ready, loaded the drink cooler and pushed away, Capt. said we would have an hour run to catch bait, OK, no problem Im used to a 3 hour run. We pull away from the dock and Im bracing myself for him to lay the throttles down, it never happened, maybe there is a no wake zone...15 minutes...30 minutes...OK, we are on a slow boat to CHINA! An hour later at maybe 7 kts. we pull up to a buoy, mate grabs a rod with a sabiki tied to it, there is a rod next to it, so hell Im gonna help out, I walk up to him and ask how he normally works them and he tells me to sit down. WTF? ok, so I sit my ass down and Im boring holes in the back of these 2 dudes heads and not saying a word. Captain asks if I am ok, and tells me Im scaring him. So I tell him Im fine and agree not to throw them over...yet. We finally make bait, I tried to ask what kind they were and was told bait fish. So I don't know exactly what kind they were.We begin to troll little squid skirts and end up picking up a couple Skip Jacks for bait. Again rod handling was asked to not happen. No biggie, I didn't want to crank on a 2lb. skipjack anyways. We start trolling around 9 am, no bites, then I see a fish come up under a skipjack then white water. I yelled there he is the mate runs and free spools the reel, turn out it was a porpoise. Said he almost had him hooked. That was it for the day. The sun came up a little and I had to catch a Hawaiian sun tan so I pulled my shirt off, well most of you who know me know Im not lacking in body art. 2 sailfish on one arm and a Blue marlin on my back, I think once they saw that I was a little more maybe "experienced" they loosened up. I was trying to learn some ways of the Hawaiians and they asked a few questions about the East Coast style.

We didn't catch any fish. We saw 1 small area that had lots of skip jacks working it. So after a short attempt to catch an amberjack, we began our hour long "troll" home with 3 baits out for skip jacks I guess they wanted a dock photo. Hit the dock at 1:30 to finish our "full day"

I have mixed emotions about this trip. I have a bone fishing trip scheduled for Thursday and another offshore on Friday, not with these guys. I may opt out on the offshore and stay inside if we do well on Thursday. The scenery is beautiful, I just feel like the locals make it known that outsiders need to stay outsiders.

Capt_Ben
Above Average Sportfishing

 

[Persistence2]

Had a similar trip on the Big Island some years ago...it's a shame people operate like this.

Anymore, if I go anywhere outside of my "home" areas, I need a first hand recommendation or forget it. Just not worth the money to be aggravated all day!

BTW - the highlight of my Big Island trip was jigging an AJ from 200ft down. Yippie

Glenn

 

[Jet Ski Brian]

Sorry you had an "outsider" trip on a slow boat to china. I have had a couple of those in the past.
I hope you have better luck on your next trips.

 

[PlaynHooky]

That sucks man! I would of had to say something! Hope the rest of your week gets you on some better fishing!!

 

[racn35]

I guess the "locals" need to be "outsiders" and read some Virginia "Above Average Sportfishing" on TF huh ~

 

[striper_on]

Damn dude sorry to hear about that. Good luck on the bones Ben. Find another boat and do the offshore thing. Read the boats report or the marina you choose reports.

 

[yllowfin]

i had about the same experience when i went there a couple of years ago(christmas).we did manage a small mahi.the mate told us the low speed was due to whales in the area.

 

[capt_ben]

F*ck a bunch of whales! He didnt seem too worried about it while he was letting the porpoise eat the skip jack! The trip yesterday was set up by the girl we are staying at her house. Once they figured out that it wasn my first rodeo they got a little curious and asked some questions about how we do it on the other side. I told them we troll with more than 2 rods to start. Oh well...cough that one up to a lesson learned.

I tried to explain the whole citation thing like we use, and I was giving him examples of weights for tuna, wahoo, dolphin, and the Capt. replied hell thats no problem for us to catch fish like that over here, so I told him whenever he was ready to bloody the deck I was. He just looked at me.

Jamie, That captain would sh*t his pants when he stepped on the east coast, much less aboard the AA.

Coming home from the marina we pulled into a gas station and I swear to God, the entie yard was covered in plants, I couldn believe it. I asked my buddy if that was what I thought it was and he said the local cops dont worry about marijuana, its the Crystal Meth that they are on the look out for. These plants were pushing 12 foot tall and loaded chock full to the top of buds up to about 18". If it would have been a couple years ago, and if I were not a law abiding citizen, I mean I wouldn want to steal someones private property, I may would have snagged a bud. To "experience" the maui wowie. But instead I took a couple pictures and walked away from it. Its not worth it to risk it for the Coast Guard testing.

Capt_Ben
Above Average Sportfishing

 

[Finfever21]

Ben sorry to hear about your trip you need to show them "natives" how we do it on the east coast or just explain i think it was 103 cobia if im not mistaking...LOL hope your other trips are good ones..Brandon

 

[hookinfinger]

Well, it sounds like you got the boat skunk off.

I hope the rest of your trip goes well.

Post some pictures of your fishing trips to come out there !

Good Luck and have a Great Time.




Dennis)

 

[pelliott]

Ben

I was stationed there from August 1986 to August 1990 and boated almost every weekend. Normal track was from Pearl Harbor to Diamond Head and sometimes further off shore. Only thing I hooked was a classic Chris-craft (1950 vintage). I would try to get to the Big Island where the fishing and hospitality are better. Once a haole (outsider) ventures off the normal tourist path, you are not always treated well and some folks appear to have a chip on their shoulder.

Phil

 

[Carson MAC]

Go with Magic Sportfishing or don't go. Russel is a world class fishermen and you will get every penny you spent. Mate was real cool too. We dropped riggers in 15 minutes. Caught all kinds of fish. Don't try to find him on the internet as his site is jacked. Trust me, if you go offshore again, don't f around.

 

[capt_ben]

Carson,
I found his boat in a marina right off Nimitz today. I have a bone fishing trip lined up tomorrow and the guy sounds real excited about swapping some sight fishing stories while he said they are seeing a ton of fish every day. Im stoked about this one. I am going to go and have a talk with the guys at Magic and see what they are saying. Rumor on the street over here is that the harbour we fished out of yesterday is a summertime fishery and died off back in September, and the North Beach if hot and heavy this time of year. Fingers and toes crossed!

Phil, I asked the mate how the hell I was supposed to cook his leather flip flop at the end of the day

Fin, yes it was 103 for the total. Im countin down the days till next year. Yall better start marking down some days, Im hoping the calendar fills up pretty quickly this coming up year. Only we wont be fishing ladder style, we should be flyin high in a tower.

Capt_Ben
Above Average Sportfishing

 

[FishPrintGuy]

Hey Ben - that's not the kind of experience anyone wants when you are traveling. Too bad the locals don't harvest the fish like the herbs. I can promise you that in Costa Rica it's a different story - the more blood the better. Most captains I've worked with are worried that the clients will object to the whole bloody decks mentality. To be honest when I got back to VA after 10 years elsewhere I found some of the people here weak - I had to keep telling them that i'm from here and don't care if they gut hook a fish etc - smoked marlin is excellent table fare. Smack 'em down and just save up the desire to slam the fish for next season on the bay - time to double your cobia numbers. Take time to enjoy the surf and waterfalls etc. Have a great time out there - Peace - Brett

 

[cantgetenough]

Yo man im getting tired of holding it down by myself. The wind is supposed to blow all weekend so enjoy your trip and catch a big bone!

Rudy Levasseur
Above Average Sportfishing

 

[capt_ben]

Capt. Mike Hennessy did the trick today with bones! Together we broke his boat record! Check out the report!

Capt. Mike's number is 808-366-7835. I recommend him A+ trip today!

Capt_Ben
Above Average Sportfishing

 

[barnold]

What? No Robin?

Dude, I'm glad you're having a blast. Yes, even with the poor treatment on your first outing, I'm sure you're still having a blast. I'm a little surprised though. I didn't think Batman fished without Robin!

Enjoy the sun and scenery.

 

[capt_ben]

Bret,
Alone we are deadly, together we are un-stoppable. Im just "scouting out" some new territory. I did find a place late yesterday where it looks like there may be some grass skirts hanging around.

Capt_Batman:cool2:
Above Average Sportfishing

 

[barnold]

Batman

I hear ya buddy. I've only been to the big Island a couple times and always on-board a Naval Ship heading to the orient. If I remember back that far, one of the things they used to tell us was "Stay off Hotel Street" I'll tell you why when you get back.

So get off the damn net and go have some fun!

 

[capt_ben]

Bret,
Call me or send me a bmail...I gotta know what Im missin down on "Hotel Street" . Im looking for a dark skinned girl in a grass skirt so if the said "Hotel Street" is where I gotta go then... just call me man ;-)




Capt_Ben
Above Average Sportfishing