Gone Fishin'

The coastal waters surrounding Hawaii, and in particular the Big Island, contain some of the best game fishing in the world. Expert anglers come from far and wide to take boats out and pit their wits against huge Marlin, Mahi Mahi, Ono, Tuna and for the really brave, Shark. The pier in Kailua Kona sports black and white photos of local fisherman who have caught Marlin in excess of 1000lbs in these shores. There are alot of photos on display.

With that in mind Phil, Kobe the dog & I rose at 4:30am to drive north up the coast to meet Phil's friend Sky, who was going to take us out for a morning's fishing in Kawaihae Bay. This was Sky's third boat and he'd had a lot of success in these waters.

Now first up I have to admit i'm not the world's greatest sailor. When you grow up in the furthest place in the UK from any sea, the options for marine fun are some what limited. Paddling a canoe down the River Leam and trying not to fall off my mountain bike into the Regents canal was close as it got in Warwickshire.

A brisk offshore wind should have alerted me to conditions out in the bay, but as I grasped the boat's wheel in one hand and my first beer of the day in the other, everything was right with the world. Sky hooked up four rods with brightly coloured lures in the shape of small squid. Phil had brought his homemade 'chummer'. It consisted of a plastic water bottle filled with sprats, bloodmeat and other ghastly things likely to attract passing fish to come check us out.

After a couple of trawls in the sheltered waters of the bay without sucess, Sky pointed the boat west and to a buoy 5 miles off the coast. We raced another boat out to this marker. Apparently this was a fine spot to find Ono (not the Japenese artist and band splitter, but a long slender fish). As we pulled up to the spot and threw the lures into the ocean a local fisherman was grapling with a Yellow finned Mahi Mahi. This was a good place.

Circling around the buoy nothing was tugging on our lines. At this point Kobe the dog started to feel unwell. Sheltering behind my back the young pup decided to drool over my trousers. This was not a well dog. The offshore winds and swell had made conditions for our little boat interesting. Well I say interesting, try combining the movement of waltzers at a fun fair with the smell of rotting bloodmeat, that kind of 'interesting'.

Consuming beer on a boat is all well and good, until you see it again as you projectile vomit over the side. The combination of our small boat rocking about and a sick puppy on my lap was not a pleasant one. I suddenly didn't feel too chipper. We still hadn't caught a single fish. This was not in the plan. Grasping on to the side of the boat I tried to fix my view on the shoreline and anything that was not rising and falling all the time. Kobe started whimpering and was too sick to even drink some water. I wasn't too far behind.

Still without a single bite, Sky took pity on us and directed the boat towards Mauna Lani and more sheltered waters. Phil's 'chummer' had not produced it's desired effect and the schools of fish we had hoped to attract were nowhere to be seen. Sky changed the lures but I had the feeling that this wasn't going to be our day. Sky then told me of the time that a 12 foot Tiger shark had swum up by the side of the boat to check him out. I suddenly was scouring the sea for dorsel fins.

A further hour pacing along the quieter waters of the coast still did not produce any fish. For one of the most rich fishing grounds in the world they certainly were awful shy. It's just luck of the draw I guess but my dreams of a Rick Stein type feast with the fresh fish we caught wasn't going to materialise. I was fully concentrating on not trying to vomit again. My trousers were now covered with dog drool.

After four hours we finally pulled in to harbour. I was glad to put my feet back on dry land. Not a single fish had come to say hello and I needed a good lie down. As Sky washed the salt water off the boat he cheerily asked if I would like to go out fishing again before I left for Australia.
"Mmmmm eerrrrr ughhhhh" was all I could rely....