81lb Ulua

Haven't written here in a long time.  I will try keep this blog updated more if possible.

Today was the day that I was able to harvest a 81lb ulua.  It started off like any other day.  I was a bit on the tired side from having a long week of work and school, but was itching to hit the water again.
Tyson was excited but was riding 4 wheeler till midnight so I wasnt sure what to expect if we were going earlier the next morning or not.  By 6:30am my eyes were wide open but I stayed in bed.  I was just about to shoot Tyson a text when my phone went off.  "Ho bah. Morning cupcake.  Call me when you up."  We initially planned to hit the 1st horseshoe but I decided to check Pauuilo to see how the water looked.  Upon reaching the cliff I was surprised to see no one there.  It was really windy, with white caps on the outside, but the water looked clear and the in and out didnt look bad.

We both agreed on diving here since the wind looked pretty bad.  We suited up at the truck and started to head down.  Upon, reaching the landing there was trash everywhere!  Looks like a bunch of campers forgot to clean up their opala!  We jumped in and decided to swim left to check a productive ledge where in the past I have seen big kahalas, uhus, nenues, opelus, you name it!  The visibility was excellent and the current was non existent.  I spot two mus who look curious and signal Tyson to take a drop.

He drops and takes a far shot and connects but the mu rips off.  We swim some more and Tyson signals me that the other mu is still around.  I take a drop to 55ft and start throwing some sand.  I look around and see the mu start to come in.  I move my gun a little too fast and the mu spooks leaving me with my still loaded gun as I ascend to the surface.  We continue to swim on and come across the ledge....

I drop my anchor and start to investigate looking on the hilo side.  Tyson spots a pair of omilus down in a deep hole but they dig as soon as he approaches the hole.  We swim back to the ledge and I see tyson diving on something.  There is a unmistakable shape of a big ulua cruising parallel toward the outside of the ledge.  Without breathing up I descend kind of quickly in hopes of cutting the school off.  I kick slower as I approach the bottom of the ledge.  The leader makes it to a big cave while some of the smaller stragglers pass right by me.  I wait and see the smaller uluas make a u-turn in the cave and slowly start to come towards me.  I wait a little longer and see a bigger ulua come out of the cave heading towards me to check me out.

I start to slowly swing my gun in his direction and he veers off a little, so I direct all my attention away from him while still keeping him in sight.  Out of the corner of my eye I can see him coming towards me and I move slowly to point my gun in his direction.  He swims straight up to me and gives me a slightly angled broad side shot.  I take it and hit the fish right behind the left eye.

I can see that my shaft has not penetrated fully through and the fish slowly takes off while stripping line out of my reel.  I start to ascend and am trying not to laugh as I see Tyson swim towards me.  I hit the surface and he yells "Holy shit did it go through?"  I reply "Uh oh" and try to keep a serious face but start to laugh.  The fish is down deep and I can no longer see him, just the yellow spectra which is now getting low on my reel.  I start to follow the general direction of my fish and try to gain back some yardage of spectra on my reel.  The fish keeps pulling and pulling me towards deeper water.  I look up to see tyson sprinting to the far left of me and see that the fish is fighting far from where I am.

The line gets tangled on a coral head but I manage to get it off....only to have it tangle yet again on a deeper coral head. :'(  Tyson dives down and I can see him get within shooting distance and he fires.  The fish fights again and line starts to shoot out of tysons reel.  He is fighting the fish and at this point my shaft comes out but gets tangled around Tyson's shooting line.

The fish starts to come up towards mid water but keeps swimming circles around us.  Tyson yells to me and I tell him to wait and let the fish tire out.  At the same time I am praying that his shaft doesnt come out!  Finally the fish starts to tire out and I dive down to put him to sleep.

We string the ulua up and swim back to our guns.  My line ended up being tangled on a coral head at 80ft.  Once I got that untangled, I was ready to head in. haha.  We dive a little more to the left and tyson hits some uhus but they all rip off.  We decide to call it a day and head in.  Ulua ended up weighing 81lbs according to Tyson scale at Horizon Automotive.  After weighing the fish, the Caitanos convince me to get it printed and I agree.  We drive to Hilo and I get to meet Laron K who ends up printing my fish.   Once the fish was printed we head to kens for a good time.

Pau.

Keauhou dive with Eli

After not being able to shoot a Mu the day before, I was determined to get one. Eli called and said that pine trees was a no go due to a SW swell. We then decided that he was going to check down Keauhou side to see if the water and visibility would be good to dive.

As soon as Eli called back telling me that the water was nice, I started the long drive to Kona town. Reaching there we suited up and jumped in. We swam around the point to the left and worked the coastline.

Most of the reef out there turned out to be barren. We swam along the drop off and didn't see any action. We swam across the harbor and I start scanning the reef and see a nice tako! I drop down and poke him out with my spear. He's in a nice crack but im able to poke him out and grab him.

Swimming back towards shore

Mauna Lani Dive with Josh and Gary

This saturday we decided to do the same dive we did last saturday in hopes of seeing an ulua or shooting some Mu. Josh and Gary showed up at my house and I jumped on with Gary. We drove down to Mauna Lani and saw that there were other divers already in the water to the right of where we were going to jump in.

The water was really murky and we swam to the ulua house, Gary went to check if anyone was home. Seeing that no one was home we decided to try and hunt the infamous Mu pile there. We swam left towards the point and I finally came across a good sized pile. I took a drop behind a coral head and started to throw sand. I see some small ones come in but waited for some of the bigger ones in the back. They refused to come in so we continued on.

Josh then reports that he was able to get a shot off on a nice Mu from the surface due to the murky water and the range of his 125cm. He ends up losing it due to it ripping off. We start to head back and I try to find the ulua house once again in hopes that someone would be home. Just as I get around the G.A. Josh yells to me. He ends up shooting a nice blue whiptail uhu and I give him my knife.

We head in just before dark and wash up. Another good dive at ML!

Pine Trees/ OTEC dive with Eli

Todays adventure took place out on the Kona side. Pine Trees is a well known surf spot I had heard about from my friend Brandon Fair. I met up with Eli at Pine Tree Cafe and we loaded up and drove down to the spot. Upon reaching the beach I was surprised to see so much people! There was tons of people camping, fishing and surfing! We drove to the left till the road ended. Suiting up I saw that there was a bunch of fishing poles and a bit of surge.

We were about to jump in at this one spot when I decided that we should look for a safer in/out due to the surge and not wanting to lose any equipment! We walk aways an find a perfect in/out area behind a point. We jumped in around 3:30pm. The visibility was excellent. As soon as I jumped in I could see 2 big Mus hovering in midwater.

We swam to the right and Eli was able to spear 2 nice rois. I was amazed by the different structure and the sizes and depth of the caves we came across. We swim for about an hour and don't really see much. Finally we come across a fish pile and I see Eli point at a small uku and a pile of big Mus. Eli drops and tries to call the uku in but it refuses.

I end up taking a drop and am able to call the small uku in. He swam in straight at me and just as I squeeze my trigger he pulls a "juke x" and dodges my shaft! After disappearing we decide to head to deeper water in search of some pelagics.

We start chumming the two rois that Eli shot and the next thing I know Eli grabs my arm. I look at him and he points to a 6-7ft black tip shark. Around the same time two small kaimanus come in to investigate the chum. They disappear but the shark doesn't.

The shark keeps circling us coming closer and closer within my speargun. I could see she had a big hook with line stuck in her mouth from the fishermen on shore. The shark would disappear then reappear and show signs of aggression. After almost poking it in the nose a few times as it would come in straight for me she finally goes away. We start to see the edge of the reef again and I see a nice Ulua down deep. I tell Eli and hes like "WHAT? NO WAY!"

We head in just before dark and start to pack up the SUV. After the dive I end up washing my gear at Eli's place and he cuts me some plexiglass! All in all a good way to end the weekend!

Mauna Lani Dive with GaryNKekai

Due to the ironman triathlon this weekend our choices of dive spots were limited. I decided to try our luck at the infamous ulua hole outside of Mauna Lani. After having a successful night dive the night before Gary was ready to dive. Josh was suppose to come along but ended up not going. We arrive at the spot around 3pm. Suiting up I start to think to myself "Its been awhile since I seen an Ulua." We decided to check the house and see if we could hunt some Mus.

Swimming out we find that the reef seemed barren. No uhus, goats, toaus or rois. We swam towards the house and just as I'm about to drop and check it a massive Ulua bolts out! Almost choking on my own bubbles, I yell to Gary to come over. He goes down to check it but the ulua is gone....( This was around 3:30pm)

We come across a cave and Gary drops and shoots a nice alaihi. While hes stringing his fish up, I take a drop. I see a Mu out in the distance but it refuses to come close. I start to see a nice grey shape swim towards me in the distance. At first I'm like awesome a nice big uku! It turns out

the tax man has come in to investigate the commotion. He swims right by me and disappears.

We swim further left and find a enormous Mu pile. There were two schools all 4lbs and up with about 10-15 in each school! Gary and I take turns playing "hide and go seek" but none come within gun range. On one drop I hide and start dusting sand. I peek over and see a small Mu start to come in with the bigger ones out of range. At the end of my breath hold the bigger one finally comes in slowly but surely. I line up and squeeze my trigger. MISS!

On another drop im hiding behind a big coral head and a nice sized one is hanging out just outside of my gun range. I lunge and take a shot and MISS again! haha 0/2! Gary later reports that a Mu was directly behind me! After some good laughs we swim in. Gary was able to shoot a nice alahi and I was able to shoot two nice rocks. Another epic dive at ML!

Dive with Gary N Kekai

After a long work week I was itching to get back into the water. One of my friends Gary who recently moved to Oahu was back on the Big Island for a few weeks. Upon seeing the conditions the day before we talked and planned a dive for the weekend.

I later found out that he was staying in Pauuilo which was perfect to get an early start. We met 7am at Earls to buy some bentos, ice and drinks for lunch. Driving down to the spot we were relieved that no one else was there.

After suiting up and hiking down I jumped in. The water visibility must have been the best I've seen it for a while with the weather perfect and no clouds around. There was a little breeze in the air but the water was on the nice side, although you could tell the north swell was due to arrive the next day. I jump in and take a couple of warm up dives. Even though the water was on the nice side, the current was ripping due to the full moon.

I was excited with these conditions and hoping that we would see some pelagics. While waiting for Gary I see tons of nehu (baitfish) in the water all around me. About 10 seconds later I see this fast torpedo object start coming up and eating the bait fish. It turns out its a nice kawakawa (wavy black tuna). I take a drop but due to the sheer speed of the fish its gone within a blink of an eye.

I look up and hear Gary shouting to me. Hes yelling at me that he lost one of his fins. I quickly swim back to him and take a drop to look on the bottom. Around this same time I look to my right and see a big kali and a huge omilu along with two smaller ones.

Trying to focus on the task at hand, I take another drop and see Gary's fin and retrieve it. He jumps in and we start to palu the area. After nothing comes in we decide to swim out to the left in hope for some onos. After reaching the end of the ledge we start paluing and I let down my flashers. After a good half hour of drifting we see nothing but opelu and bait fish.

We start to head in and decide to work the reef. After shooting an uhu I spot a nice kumu come out of the hole due to the commotion. Gary drops and gets a nice shot on it! We swim further down and reach the infamous toau hole. The current at this point is ripping and it was hard for us to take drops and reach the bottom of the hole. I peek inside and see a couple of big toaus but none present me with a shot. I give Gary the signal to start heading back and we start the long swim back.

We end up swimming about 1.5 hours back against the unfriendly current and finally get outta the water. With some nice fish in the cooler, 2 powerades, and bentos it definitely ended up to be a good dive!

Afternoon Dive with JP!

After not diving for most of the summer with Jesse we were finally able to to plan a dive on a day where the weather and water was cooperative. We decided to do a late afternoon dive since the tide was good and the wind was down. After eating lunch at my place and everything loaded up, we headed out.

Upon arriving at the spot we go to check out the water and the conditions were really nice! Walking back from the cliff we see a green toyota tacoma parked right next to our truck. After meeting and talking stories with this guy he told us he was the one responsible for building those ladders that we climbed down!

We finish suiting up and start to hike down. Upon jumping in and swimming out we see a small Kawakawa attacking the nehu. We decide to swim to the right and keep up a constant pace so that we could reach the point just around feeding time. We stop by the omilu house and I ask JP if he wants to check. He agrees and breathes up for about a minute before going down. He reports seeing no omilus but an omilu carcass with my shaft inside it! (I lost previously on a dive.) We decide to keep swimming towards the point.

Upon reaching the point we start to see some action. I keep on wanting to swim farther into unexplored territory but my watch says its already 5pm and we are at least an hours swim down current from our entry point. I don't see much out in the deep so I head in shallow and see a nice omilu swim right below me. I take a drop and hide behind a rock. I start to dust and peek up and the omilu is right in front of me. I get a good shot in the gill plate and swim back towards my float.

We decide its finally time to head back since it was getting dark. On the journey home I take a drop on a Mu and get a shot off. We drift back to the omilu house and can see the sun setting which gives us just enough light to check the house. Out of the corner of my eye I see a HUGE omilu swimming mid water. I throw my spoon and so does Jesse but fail to entice the beast.

Right around that time I see another omilu/ulua swim into the back part of the cave. By this time its getting really dark so we decide to call it a day. We had to swim around the fishermen's lines and climb out in the dark.

So ends the story of another epic dive with JP!