Fishing in Oahu – Prologue

2013/06/202020/11/25

Just before I started working for new company where I can't have annual leave for the first 6 months, I took my family out to Oahu for early summer vacation between 16 and 24 June, we went camping with a tent from Survival Cooking for a week. After all these island hopping on the Pacific, going to Hawaii to check things out made good sense including my wife could enjoy shopping and our sons many activities.

If you know Hawaii already, please skip to the main part.

1. Hawaii and Japan

Hawaii is geographically located in between the mainland US and Japan in the Pacific . For the people living in Tokyo, this is the closest "America" 7 hours international flight away at the same time gives the similarity of "tropical south" that of Okinawa or Ogasawara. Population consists of 14% Japanese descent and 40% Asian descent further adds to this familiarity and in 2012 alone there was 8 million visited Hawaii from Japan.

2. Oahu

Oahu is the state capital island of Hawaii holding the highest concentration of population of both locals and visitors. Honolulu, the capital city, is located on the southern coast of the island and its main street of Waikiki accommodates everyone of all age group and interest. Just 5 minutes walk from hotel or shopping centre, you can be at the view such as this.

3. Hawaiian Bonefish or Oio

One thing about bonefish in Hawaii is that average size is very large and it is rare to see ones below 4lb. They live mostly in the deeper part of coral reef and push on to shallow feeding on crustaceans in low light or tide rising hours. In shoreline parks, you can be eating your lunch next to very shallow water where you see big bonefish slowly scavenging for food.

The pale green back and the rest of body shining in silver armour makes this fish blend in perfectly to the background, so it demands certain amount of time invested before you feel more comfortable fishing this ninja.

In order to sustain their body mass, they are glutton in nature much like carp is and they are very curious fish who follow the silt puff you create while walking over flat. But once they find something is not right, then they turn away and speed like torpedo back to the deeper water. This contradictory nature makes this fish valuable game on this island.

4. What About Other Fish?

The have plenty of good old tropical fish in shallow seawater such as trevally and barracuda. You can go offshore for dorado and tuna. There are many tilapias in fresh/brackish water. You can find largemouth bass and peacock bass in Lake Wilson. Dense population of anglers don't make any of them too easy, but there are plenty of fish to play with and excitement guaranteed.

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