# Kauai



## andyotto (Sep 11, 2003)

I know its a long shot but anybody fished Kauai Hawai? Just booked a trip with my family for next Christmas. If so any recommendations for a charter? We are up on the north shore but will have a vehicle to travel. Also any info on shore fishing as far as gear and places to go. I’m going to start researching as much as possible but you never know what to believe from sites like trip advisor. Thanks


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## Cat Power (Jan 6, 2013)

My favorite island 

Absolutely gorgeous 

Never fished, pretty rough seas


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## andyotto (Sep 11, 2003)

Cat Power said:


> My favorite island
> 
> Absolutely gorgeous
> 
> Never fished, pretty rough seas


Fishing won’t be the main activity but with all that water around I know I won’t be able to help myself.


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## andyotto (Sep 11, 2003)

Cat Power said:


> My favorite island
> 
> Absolutely gorgeous
> 
> Never fished, pretty rough seas


Btw if you have any other non fishing tips you’d like to add it would be greatly appreciated as well.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

Well I cant tell you about charters or the specific island or the best techniques...

On my honeymoon I spent some time fishing the big island and Maui. Had no idea what I was doing, and didnt ask locals. Did not fish anywhere but from shore.

I went to the local Target store and bought an ugly stik, some split shot and hooks. Also some shrimp. Caught a variety of small fish. Of course I lost the biggest fish I hooked. Felt like maybe 1lb or so. Not big but assumed it was one of the sweet looking trigger fish I saw snorkeling.

I couldn't catch crap on artificial baits from shore. First time fishing salt though.
Structure was extremely important to getting bit.

I did see guys fishing surf rods. Never talked to them. Wish I did but it was my honeymoon not fishing expedition. Wish I spent more time fishing now lol


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## Cat Power (Jan 6, 2013)

Take the helicopter ride around the island 

It’s incredible


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## TheCrawdad (May 9, 2009)

Kauai is my favorite island. Never fished there, but even if I went back I wouldn't feel bad if I didn't get to go fishing. The canyon is worth the trip. The beaches are second to none. Hunt chickens instead of fishing. They're everywhere.


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## Cat Power (Jan 6, 2013)

Sure are

Lol


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## Big Frank 25 (Feb 21, 2002)

http://www.albatrosskauai.com/new-page-2


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

Hunter S Thompson wrote about fishing in Hawaii, lol. It is a fun read.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curse_of_Lono


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## bouttime (May 20, 2010)

NaPali coast hike to the waterfall or all the way- make sure you get there first light


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## bouttime (May 20, 2010)

Not the best time for fishing in Kauai and for off shore charters .The run they have to make takes up most of the charter- best fishing is around the big island.


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## Wall-llard Willie (Sep 10, 2004)

Not Kauai but fished with Start Me Up on Maui last April and had a GREAT time. We did a private "hardcore" charter that left at like 2 am to be on the fishing grounds at sunup. Landed 3 Mahi Mahi with the biggest coming in at 31 lbs


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## gotskunked (Nov 4, 2009)

I was there 2 years ago last September. I did a charter for mahi and I think we landed 4 or 5 in a morning trip, only about 8 to 10 miles offshore. The Captain said tuna fishing can be good at times and get up to couple hundred pounds and can even be caught much closer to shore as well. All fish were caught trolling back and forth next to a single buoy. They said they look for birds on bait or any floating debris will hold fish, other than that seemed like pretty random trolling. Deck hand told us shore fishing can be very good around creek mouths and jeddies. He said there are some really big bone fish to be caught and he liked casting gold spoons. There was a high mountain lake and I believe a stream or two where they plant trout. Deck hand said they get nice sized there. The season for them was closed for the trout while I was there I think. Please double check, but they told me no fishing licenses required and no fish limits. According to them only a handful if charters on the island and very few open water fisherman. If you go out on a charter just beware it gets super rough there. We were out in 8 to 10 footers and they said it wasnt that bad for them and not talking rollers either. Wish I had planned for the shore fishing as it sounded interesting, especially the bone fish. Dont recall name of charter but will try to look it up as i would def reccomend. It was pretty reasonable as well. My wife didnt wanna get sea sick so I hopped on with two couples and I believe I paid somewhere between 120 and 150 for morning trip. Most definitely bite the bullet and do a helo ride it was awesome, probably highlight of the trip. Awesome hiking as well, but be prepared to ruin a pair of hiking shoes from some serious mud.


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## andyotto (Sep 11, 2003)

gotskunked said:


> I was there 2 years ago last September. I did a charter for mahi and I think we landed 4 or 5 in a morning trip, only about 8 to 10 miles offshore. The Captain said tuna fishing can be good at times and get up to couple hundred pounds and can even be caught much closer to shore as well. All fish were caught trolling back and forth next to a single buoy. They said they look for birds on bait or any floating debris will hold fish, other than that seemed like pretty random trolling. Deck hand told us shore fishing can be very good around creek mouths and jeddies. He said there are some really big bone fish to be caught and he liked casting gold spoons. There was a high mountain lake and I believe a stream or two where they plant trout. Deck hand said they get nice sized there. The season for them was closed for the trout while I was there I think. Please double check, but they told me no fishing licenses required and no fish limits. According to them only a handful if charters on the island and very few open water fisherman. If you go out on a charter just beware it gets super rough there. We were out in 8 to 10 footers and they said it wasnt that bad for them and not talking rollers either. Wish I had planned for the shore fishing as it sounded interesting, especially the bone fish. Dont recall name of charter but will try to look it up as i would def reccomend. It was pretty reasonable as well. My wife didnt wanna get sea sick so I hopped on with two couples and I believe I paid somewhere between 120 and 150 for morning trip. Most definitely bite the bullet and do a helo ride it was awesome, probably highlight of the trip. Awesome hiking as well, but be prepared to ruin a pair of hiking shoes from some serious mud.


Thanks for the info guys. Love to know the name of that charter if you find it.


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## gotskunked (Nov 4, 2009)

Just did a search and looks like we went out with Ohana charters with Capt. Lance out of Lihue. He was younger guy but friendly and informative.


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## bignoccursg (Dec 31, 2002)

I fished there several years ago. We caught a few mackeral, not much size to them. 
Make sure you take that trip up the mountain to Waimea Canyon, it's amazing that the island would have something that size to visit.


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## Tubes77 (Apr 28, 2004)

I fished there on my honeymoon which is coming up on 25 yrs ago, so I can't give you charter recommendations but some general observations. When I was there there were two basic options, open water ocean fishing or inland Peakcock Bass fishing. I was torn, but opted for the open water option. Like someone said, I don't think we had to even buy a license but I think we had to be a certain distance off shore. Anyway, we trolled and caught Wahoo, dolphin (Mahi Mahi), and quite a few yellow fin tuna. The tuna were mostly about 10-15 pounds but we caught a few larger. They wanted to hook blue fin, but that didn't happen. I believe all the charters there are "shared catch", which means the boat owns whatever you catch but will share some fish with you. Makes sense because what would you do with 50# of fillets on an island 3 thousand miles away. Mostly they are reserving the ownership of any high dollar blue fin so that they can keep the money. They offered us all the Yellowfin, Mahi Mahi and Wahoo we wanted. I took a bunch of each as we were staying at a B&B so they cooked up some for us and kept the rest. Here are two pics from then, the fish weren't as big as I remember, but God, I was sure skinnier! LOL


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## Northernfisher (Jul 29, 2010)

Tubes77 said:


> I don't think we had to even buy a license but I think we had to be a certain distance off shore.


Nope. Fish wherever in the ocean you wish without a license:

_HAWAII FISHING LICENSE INFORMATION
_

_If you're looking forward to shoreline or boat fishing in Hawai‘i's ocean waters, you may be pleased to know that no license is required for marine recreational fishing._
_But if you want to do some freshwater fishing, *a Freshwater Game Fishing License is required in order to take introduced freshwater game fish.*_
_You can purchase your recreational freshwater Hawaii fishing license online from the Hawaii Dept. of Land & Natural Resources or buy a license in person from an authorized fishing license agent. # 1_
Note the *introduced freshwater game fish* part of that.
_
# 1 https://www.takemefishing.org/hawai...MIqPWfxb-54QIVUxh9Ch0qpQK4EAAYASAAEgKl8vD_BwE_


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## piketroller (Oct 24, 2016)

Northernfisher said:


> Nope. Fish wherever in the ocean you wish without a license:
> 
> _HAWAII FISHING LICENSE INFORMATION
> _
> ...


I wonder if their definition of “take” would extend to just the pursuit of fish i.e. do you even need a license for freshwater C&R?


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## Northernfisher (Jul 29, 2010)

piketroller said:


> I wonder if their definition of “take” would extend to just the pursuit of fish i.e. do you even need a license for freshwater C&R?


I do not think so, you just say you are fishing for native species.


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## Tubes77 (Apr 28, 2004)

You might want to check to see if that Peacock Bass fishery is still an option. Now that I look back at it, I've been ocean fishing many times since that trip, but I've never been to a place where they had the Peacock Bass. They supposedly fight like crazy and are supposed to be pretty aggressive. If I were to do it again, I'd probably try for the bass.


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## Northernfisher (Jul 29, 2010)

andyotto said:


> I know its a long shot but anybody fished Kauai Hawai? Just booked a trip with my family for next Christmas. If so any recommendations for a charter? We are up on the north shore but will have a vehicle to travel. Also any info on shore fishing as far as gear and places to go. I’m going to start researching as much as possible but you never know what to believe from sites like trip advisor. Thanks



I popped into Jay's in Clare last night to get a new pair of waders. The guy that worked with me was from Kauai. You should plan a trip over to talk to him. He lived on the north shore. Nice guy.


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## andyotto (Sep 11, 2003)

Northernfisher said:


> I popped into Jay's in Clare last night to get a new pair of waders. The guy that worked with me was from Kauai. You should plan a trip over to talk to him. He lived on the north shore. Nice guy.


Thanks for the tip. I'm sure I'm sure Ill get over there sometime between now and the trip.


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## Trunkslammer (May 22, 2013)

Darn just seeing this Andy. The wife and I honeymooned their 8 years ago in late October. We fished with Captain Don out of Lihue. His mate was surfing that day and he asked if that was ok. I replied, heck ya we can handle the back of the boat just tell us what to do. Had a blast. Went out to a bouy a few miles off shore and trolled. As we trolled we had rods in hand with squids on the surface about 200ft back and we kinda jigged or ripped them across the surface. Gotta try to keep the baits away from the birds haha. We caught a bunch of 10 to 15ish lb yellow fins. The deal was if we caught any large tuna worth $ we let him have those or shair them i cant remember. Anyway he took enough for dinner and gave us the rest. What we didnt eat we froze, bought a cooler and taped it all up labeled it and checked it as luggage on the plane. That was the cheapest way to get it back home, although the tuna wasnt nearly as good once frozen. We rented a jeep while we were there and im glad we did as the napali coast park at the SW side of the island is were the road ends and things got fun. The beach there was something out of a magazine. 

If you go to the south end stop in Wiamea at the Ishihara Market. Go to the back meat counter and get Poke to go. It will blow your mind it the best raw tuna ive ever had. We stoped there every day for Poke and ate it for breakfast and lunch some days haha. 

We brought our own snorkel gear and had a riot snorkeling all the reefs around the island. Absolutely amazing. Holy crap i cant wait to get back to that island.

Also did a catamaran ride out to the Napali coast which was amazing also. 

Dont be afraid to get off the beaten path and explore around there. We found little beaches and reefs and all kinds of cool places. The jeep kinda made the trip!

We stayed a couple days in Honolulu and I couldn’t wait to get out of that rat race of a city it wasnt for me. 

If I think of anything else ill let you know.


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## andyotto (Sep 11, 2003)

Trunkslammer said:


> Darn just seeing this Andy. The wife and I honeymooned their 8 years ago in late October. We fished with Captain Don out of Lihue. His mate was surfing that day and he asked if that was ok. I replied, heck ya we can handle the back of the boat just tell us what to do. Had a blast. Went out to a bouy a few miles off shore and trolled. As we trolled we had rods in hand with squids on the surface about 200ft back and we kinda jigged or ripped them across the surface. Gotta try to keep the baits away from the birds haha. We caught a bunch of 10 to 15ish lb yellow fins. The deal was if we caught any large tuna worth $ we let him have those or shair them i cant remember. Anyway he took enough for dinner and gave us the rest. What we didnt eat we froze, bought a cooler and taped it all up labeled it and checked it as luggage on the plane. That was the cheapest way to get it back home, although the tuna wasnt nearly as good once frozen. We rented a jeep while we were there and im glad we did as the napali coast park at the SW side of the island is were the road ends and things got fun. The beach there was something out of a magazine.
> 
> If you go to the south end stop in Wiamea at the Ishihara Market. Go to the back meat counter and get Poke to go. It will blow your mind it the best raw tuna ive ever had. We stoped there every day for Poke and ate it for breakfast and lunch some days haha.
> 
> ...


Thanks Jake for the great tips. We already have a jeep rented. We don't go till Christmas so if you think of anything else let me know.


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## Northernfisher (Jul 29, 2010)

andyotto said:


> I know its a long shot but anybody fished Kauai Hawai? Just booked a trip with my family for next Christmas. If so any recommendations for a charter? We are up on the north shore but will have a vehicle to travel. Also any info on shore fishing as far as gear and places to go. I’m going to start researching as much as possible but you never know what to believe from sites like trip advisor. Thanks



Here is a link that my give you some ideas as to some of your options.

https://www.hawaiinearshorefishing.com/category/jigging/

Good luck


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## stlhed (Feb 11, 2003)

Northernfisher said:


> Here is a link that my give you some ideas as to some of your options.
> 
> https://www.hawaiinearshorefishing.com/category/jigging/
> 
> Good luck


I have done the peacock bass fishing. It's a great time.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

There are Peacock Bass in Florida.


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