fish stories b y C h ris M a x we l l
,1 0 0 +
L B u lua
It was Monday, March 28th and after a long day of work, I was ready for some fishing. The week before, a few friends and I made plans to fish a selected spot on the south east side of Oahu. Unfortunately, the spot we had planned to go already had a bunch of guys fishing so we ended up going to our regular spot just down the coastline. Since I was working most of the day, I was one of the last guys to hike down the trail and get my poles set for slide baiting before the sun went down. After rigging up my gear and several casts, I got my lead stuck and was ready for the sun to go down so I could slide some bait down my line. Nightfall quickly came so I readied my two first slides with some fresh tako that I had brought with me. I walked out to my poles and slid down my bait along with the rest of the guys that were fishing. It was now about 8pm and everyone had their bait down. The only thing left to do was sit down, relax, and have a few beers and pupus while we wait and hope for an ulua to bite. Sure enough, around 9pm, we heard a bell going off. As we all shined our lights at the point we could see my friend Brandon’s pole dipping over and over. Brandon took notice quickly and jetted out to his pole. After taking his bell and tie cord off he quickly began to crank down on his reel. After a few boosts Brandon started to bring the fish in which seemed to be a small ulua. Unfortunately, half way in the ulua spit the hook and got away. Everyone walked back to their chairs and coolers and continued to wait in anticipation. At around 10 pm I was getting tired so I sat back in my chair and caught up on some much needed sleep. About an hour later, as I was dozing in and out of lala land and I heard a bell go off. I woke up and quickly shined my light towards the point along with everyone else and saw my pole bouncing up and down. As I ran to my pole I heard a little ratchet along with the bell and I thought, “ok, it’s on”. I quickly took my bell and tie cord off, grabbed my pole and gave a couple hard pulls to be sure whatever bit my pole was on. After a couple of tugs, line started ripping out of my reel. I soon realized that whatever this was, it was big! As the runs slowed down, I kept the pressure on and tried giving a couple of boosts. Whatever it was, it did not want to budge. So I kept the pressure steady and waited for its next move. As I was holding the pole I began to realize that this was probably a big ulua. I could feel my rod tip pulsing slowly and I had a hunch that this was an ulua and not a shark or stingray. After a couple minutes of pressure I was able to get a few boosts in. Immediately after, the fish took a couple more runs. I decided that this fish was not ready to come in yet so I let it sit outside the line up of poles and waited for it to tire out. Slowly, the fish would swim a little to the left, then a 20
Lawai‘a Magazine
little to the right, and then back left again. All in all the fish seemed to be content on staying where it was. As several minutes passed, I was able to gain some line back into my reel. At this point the fish was starting to tire. I tried to keep patient to make sure this fish was fully worn out before I brought it in closer to the other poles and rocky shoreline. I didn’t want the fish to tangle any of the other poles or take a run against the rocks. Slowly, as I applied pressure, the fish came in closer and closer. After a few more minutes I looked down at my Newell 646, filled with 100lb Trilene, and noticed there was only 30-40 yards left to go before this fish was in gaff range. At this point I knew I had to take control of this fish so I boosted with all the energy I had left in me. The fish then began to swim to the right towards a cove in the rocky shore line. I quickly scampered across the rocks to the right to keep my rod tip in line with the fish in case there were any potential rubbing points on the rocks. As I got to the cove and made one big boost, the fish surfaced. Sure enough, through the whitewash I could see a big ulua floating. With some big surges hitting the rocks it was a little dangerous to gaff in the front of the cove area. As I saw a big surge forming I thought to myself that this was my chance to land this fish. As the surge came in and picked up the fish, I boosted my pole as hard as I could. As I boosted I saw the fish just barely clear the ledge in the surge of water. As the water began to recede, I noticed the ulua was wedged on the ledge by only its gills and was starting to fall back in the water. Before I could say anything, gaff man Travis Lee came in and saved the day by sticking a pole gaff in the ulua’s head before it had a chance to fall back into the water. Travis then dragged the fish up on the rocks and away from the surging water. As our whole gang just stared in amazement at the size of this fish, we were thinking this could be a 100+ lb ulua. I had such a big adrenaline rush that it took a while for me to realize that I had sprained my ankle while chasing the ulua along the shoreline. So I guess you could say that I got the fish but the fish got me too! Once I caught my breath some of the guys started to take pictures. As I was smiling for the camera, I heard another bell on the point go off. We all turned and looked to see my other pole bouncing up and down. I couldn’t believe it! 5 minutes after catching the biggest fish of my life my other pole bites. I fought that ulua for a few minutes and one of the guys hand lined it over the rocks. The ulua weighed in at 19 lbs and I quickly threw it back so it could live to fight another day. ( Until we meet again my friend…..) So that’s the end of my story. I want to thank all of the guys who were fishing that night for helping me both on the point and on the trail hiking up. A special thanks to “Big Mike” for bringing a hand scale and a fish bag. That was a big help!