The Solunar Table and Moon Phase said "Average Fishing at Best"...

Got a call from Reggie Thursday night asking me if I wanted to fish South Point on Friday morning. After spending the morning kayak fishing with Reggie paddling (pedaling) 10 miles up and down at Keauhou with no success, it was definetly something I wanted to do, I just had to clear it with my wife. With her o.k., the plan was to launch at 7 a.m. at South Point. It took me two hours to get to Reggie's house Friday morning. The winds were a little alarming and we could see that the South Point was going to be called off. So we decided on a alternative plan to fish Miloli'i.

Miloli'i is located 30 miles south of Kailua-Kona at mile marker 89 down traveling down a long and winding road. It was my first time to fish there. This village is considered to be a very tight local fishing community. As we scouted our location to launch, Reggie pointed to the protective cove on the right side of the bay close to the old boat launching and the specific angle to travel through the bay to avoid the wave break. He also commented that this would probably be a day to get to know Miloli'i as it looked as though the fishing was going to be quiet, especially since we blanked the day before in Keauhou. There were no boats or fellow anglers in sight to confirm this feeling. It looked as though we had the whole bay to ourselves. Maybe the solunar calendar was right saying that the fishing was going to be average at best for the west side of the Big Island!

The surf was up and it was low tide as when we departed the launch area around 8 o'clock in the morning. Reggie led the way and the current was soft moving south to north. The winds were calm in this protected village and the water settled like a lake past the wave break. The drop-off shelve was very fast to get to, directly west and we were only one-half of a mile out at 40 fathoms. We decided to move south and started talking about how slow we expected the day to be. Boy were we wrong as not more than a few moments after our conversation, Reggie took a strike. You never know if you'll catch a fish unless you are out there.

The sudden strike for Reggie was thought to be an ulua hit by its characteristics. Then within a minute of Reggies strike, I took a hit to my line. The reel screamed fast as the fish peeled out and ran out another 150 feet of line before I slowed it down. It was heading towards Reggie's kayak and his fish on his line was heading towards my kayak. We thought for a moment that maybe we were on the same fish but that thought quickly changed. My fish dove straight down and as well as the fish on Reggie's line. Again we thought we hit an ulua school with those signs.

Not wasting anytime, we both reeled up our lines and five minutes later, we both spotted an ono down sixty-five feet between our kayaks. Whose was it? Reggie and I were within 30 yards of each other. Since I use a Hobie Revo with a pedal system, I quickly changed my rudder direction to the right as I held my line tight to pull away from the area so our lines would not get caught up with each other. Dragging my fish behind me, it was now clear that both Reggie and I had ono on the end of our lines. Within moments of each other giggling, we hauled in our catches, took photos and headed back in.

It was an unbelievable day on the water as this sight seeing advenure definitely turned out to be a recommended tour on the Big island of Hawaii. We were in and out of the water within an hour and it was an exceptional day for fishing.