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My family and I are headed to Maui next week. We will be staying at Makani Sands in Honokawai, which is between Napili and Lahaina. It's been 28 years since I've been there. It's just us adults on this trip. My brother and I did a fishing excursion way back then when we were teens on a boat out of Maalea Harbor. I want to say that it was called the Excel (?). I don't think any relation to the boat in San Diego. Anyways, we were not impressed with the couple of peanut tuna we caught that day. Maybe it was because of the tough weather conditions that day, but I felt we got a typical tourist trip out to some fish attracting buoy. And we did not catch much (a handful at most of real small fish) trolling for tuna, and other pelagics. Anyways, I'm seeking some advice on guides or charters in the area that you've really enjoyed (and also ones to avoid)... either trolling or bottom fishing. I am also thinking about packing a medium spinning outfit in my luggage just to tangle with some light tackle inshore species. Have any of you ever tried doing this? Mahalo in advance for any tips, tricks, or advice! Aloha!
Will also post on the Hawaii board...
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I found that tripadvisor.com was helpful when searching for a fishing guide when we went to Hawaii last year. We fished out of Kona.
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I used to travel to Maui 1 to 2 times a year when I was project managing starbucks construction. The local refridgeration guy turned me onto the surf fishing , (which I liked much better than the boats which can be hit and miss)
Take your spincast gear, you will need a heavier reel with 20lb test. Pick up a couple heavy floata at Walmart there, About the size of a baseball, and they look like a swimming pool line float. run about a 8' leader behind it , tie on a fly that looks like a shrimp ( turquoise green with a red head about 2" long . Wade out to waist deep or so , cast as fare as you can, then retrieve as fast as you can reel will jerking the lure at the same time. And I mean faster than you would think a fish can swim. You will catch mostly a fish called ope'e, they fight very hard and are excellent eating. they are a white pan fish type fish with a long pectorial finn, (Looks like wire or string. ) They range from 1-10 lbs, but a 1 lb one will feel like a 6 lb fish. They are fun. You will catch othe types with this set up also. My son caught a 4' barracuda at night right outside our hotel
good luck
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I was there in February and did some fishing durning some free time. There is a fishing shop in Lahaina called West Maui sports and tackle supply. The guy that in there was very knowledgeable and full of information you just have to ask. We did one morning of bottom fishing/whale watching. We went with UFO adventures. It was an inshore bottom fishing with lighter gear. Rods and reels were nice and the captain and mate keeped things running good. Everyone on the boat caught fish and we were there during the slower times of the year for fishing. We caught a lot of trigger fish which got thrown back, bluefin travally or Hawaii name (Omilu), gray snapper (Uku). And a few tasty fish called Nabeta. They gutted the fish for us cleaned them and put them in ziplock bags for us to take back to the resort.
We did take our own gear I had a medium weight rod 6'6" with 10 pound mono. A few fish straightened out our crappie jig hooks that we brought. I would recommend buying hooks over. We took some jerk baits and top water lured but only caught one and missed a few on the jerk baits. Best thing for us was a bobber and a 4 to 5 feet leader to a hook tipped with slices of squid. The guy from the bait shop showed us how to cut. They use a heavier leader than there main line is usually double the size than your main line.
Check your line often the coral cuts it up quick. Think small the size hooks we used on the inshore trip was like a number 6 hook we use for worms but a lot heavy wire. Jerk baits were around a size 7 to 9 rapala. You do not need a license to fish and there are some no fishing areas but they are marked really well.
We fished around the marina in Lahaina but mainly just walked the beaches by the resort. We caught some fun reef fish lots of color on them. Watch out for the puffer fish and eels. Let me know if there is something else I may have missed. Talk to the locals fishing all the ones I talked to were very nice and willing to help.
Good luck and have fun!
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Thanks for all the advice guys... Leaving in the morning!
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