2016 Hawaii - Hawaii (Day 15)

We decided to start the day at Honokohau. We found lots of fish at the boat ramp but most of them were super tackle shy. Michael found a couple of Whitespotted Filefish, aka Barred Filefish, and had one bit but it eventually snapped him off. While he was retying, I tried for one of them and hooked up immediately. It was a gut wrenching fight on #26 hook and 2lb fluoro, but Michael helped to land the fish at the boat ramp.

Whitespotted Filefish (Cantherhines dumerilii) - Species #533

We fished there for another hour hoping Michael can catch the other Whitespotted Filefish, but it was too cautious and refused to bite.

Eventually we decided to fish at the front of the harbour along the jetty to see if we could find anything new.

I've seen many Forceps Butterflyfish at Makai Pier and tried to catch them, but they were way too smart to take the hook. They knew how to strip the bread off easily. However, there were a number of Forceps Butterflyfish at Honokohau that were crazy for bread and we ended up with a double header!

Forceps Butterflyfish (Forcipiger flavissimus) - Species #534

Unfortunately, that was all the new species we could find at Honokohau.

We returned to the hostel for a break since my second cousin had passed the flu to me. Being sick on a trip like this sucked big time. After lunch and a little nap, we tried Kona Pier for the afternoon.

The breakwall at the pier had many fish, but not many of them wanted to bite except for the Whitespotted Filefish and the usual reef fish bait thieves.

We went to fish another side of the pier and started chumming with bread. We soon saw lots of reef fish including a large Sea Chub and an Orangespot Surgeonfish. I had one Orangespot Surgeonfish bit the bread fully and the hook disappeared from sight but somehow the hook did not set. With a larger pieces of bread, I was letting it sink to the bottom for the Orangespot Surgeonfish when a large female Redlip Parrotfish came unannounced, took the bait, and quickly ran my line into the rocks. With 10lb fluoro leader, it was quickly over as the sharp coral rocks cut the line within seconds.

There were lots of reef fish caught on bread but no new species. I did get a beautiful male Bird Wrasse.

Needing to use the washroom, I was walking along the beach area when I saw some Mullet in the shallows. They were well away from the bathers and snorkelers, so I chum some bread to see if the Mullet would feed on the bread...and they did!

I quickly forgot the need to empty my bladder and Michael and I spend at least an hour trying for these Mullet. Michael had an easier time, but it took me longer and a slip off the algae-covered rocks later to get one.

Flathead Grey Mullet (Mugil cephalus) - Species #535

There was one lone Raccoon Butterflyfish that were taunting us. We tried for it for a while but could not get it to commit.

Eventually, we moved to the end of the pier...and lo and behold it was full of all kinds of Butterflyfish, including many Raccoon Butterflyfish. I got one easily, but Michael could not get one among all the other Butterflyfish.

Raccoon Butterflyfish (Chaetodon lunula) - Species #536

We were treated to a fantastic sunset.

During the afternoon, we caught a Hawaiian Chub that was large enough to keep. I heard Enenue were great for poke or sashimi. We went around different restaurants to see if any of them can prepare poke for us, but none would do it citing health codes. Strangely, a couple of Asian restaurant thought we wanted to sell the fish to them. Hm...

Instead, we returned to the hostel and I got down to work to prepare some sashimi. Enenue sashimi was awesome with the taste of seaweed (limu) already infused in the meat, since the Sea Chub feed predominantly on seaweed. I was so tired that I could barely crack a smile...but darn it was tasty!