How To fish in Hawaii.

Here in Hawaii our fisheries are unique in the world. We have a combination of fresh Lava rock shores, jagged reefs, sand, waves and wind, that is different from just about anywhere else on the planet. Add to this that Hawaii has some of the hardest fighting, and largest, reef fish in the world, and you have a place that is both difficult, and rewarding to fish at. Methods have been developed and perfected here in Hawaii to best utilize fishing equipment, and to take advantage of what otherwise would be seen as places impossible to productively fish. In the following pages and videos we lay out some of the best ways to fish here in Hawaii, and help to teach you, how to fish in Hawaii. Please remember, if you are going to fish in Hawaii, be respectful, use barbless hooks, and release the large brooding fish so that we can all have more fish in the future.

Hawaii FIshing Method 1 - Whipping

By far the most popular, and in my opinion fun, ways to fish here in Hawaii is locally called Whipping. Whipping is in essence using what some may know as a modified Carolina rig, here called a whipping rig, to cast out from shore and retrieve a lure, typically a soft bodied grub of some kind. While in other places people use this rig to fish the bottom, this rig is almost always used here for medium to top water fishing, as in most places in Hawaii a slow retrieval of this rig will cause snags on the reef, which will likely be impossible to retrieve without diving. Similar to this rig is a bobber rig, which uses close to the same set up as a whipping rig with the replacement of a lead weight for a bobber. This is used for more static bait fishing or very slow retrievals of a lure. Below is a video showing the set up of both a whipping rig, and a bobber rig. 

Hawaii FIshing Method 2 - Dunking

A second and also very popular way to fish in Hawaii is called Dunking. Dunking is a more sedentary type of fishing when compared to whipping. The essence of dunking is the dunking rig, some times called outside of Hawaii a Three-Way Break Away Rig. The Rig is simple but effective. A main line is tied to a three way swivel, which is tied off to a lead and a hook respectively. An important detail with this rig is that the lead line, the line from the three way swivel to the lead, is always a weaker test than both the hook line and the main line. This allows the rig to be retrieved from the water with the confidence that your hook line will be breaking far after your lead line in the event of a fish hooking up, and your lead being stuck in the reef or rocks. Bait, either live or dead, is used on the hook, and allowed to sit in the water column until a fish bites. Below is a video on how to set up a dunking rig. You will find us using a dunking rig in many of our other videos, often accompanied by whipping while the dunk is sitting in the water.

Understanding Your ROd - Power Vs Action

When deciding to begin fishing in Hawaii or anywhere for that matter it pays dividends to have a deeper understanding of your fishing rod, and how that particular rod might effect your fishing styles. I want to explain two main points in this section, fishing rod action, and fishing rod power. Ever rod has action and power, many write the information near the butt of the rod, but some do not or some might be so old the writing is long gone. Knowing the interaction between action and power will help you understand what rod to buy and how it will act when you use it.

The action of a fishing rod describes two main things where your rod begins to bend, and the sensitivity of your rod. Action is on a scale going from extra fast, fast, moderate, to slow. These names help a lot in understanding how each class of action will effect your rod. These “speeds” refer to how quick your rod is able to transfer a force from one end to the other, from you to the bait, or the bait to you. In essence it is the sensitivity of your rod. An extra fast rod will be extremely sensitive, transferring any force from one end to the other. This effect means you will feel everything out there, any fish, waves, and wind. Any movement on your end will cause your bait to move, and any movement of your bait will cause you to feel the effects as well. On the other end of the scale a slow rod feels spongy and has little to no sensitivity. Your rod is “slow” to responding to force on either end of the rod. Most rods out there are either fast or moderate action. We will break down exactly how action effects your fishing styles after explaining power.

Fishing rod power describes how stiff your rod is and how much force your rod can handle. Power is on a scale going from ultra light, light, medium light, medium, medium heavy, to heavy. As before the scale does a lot to help us understand how power works. An ultra light rod will be extremely “whippy” feeling like a thin bouncy stick, and having no “backbone” An ultra light rod is used for ultra light fishing, or fishing for very small fish. Normally it would be strung with 4-8 pound test and a 2000 or so series reel. On the opposite end a heavy rod has near to no flex to it. It is extremely stiff with a strong backbone. The rod is used for bigger game fish and feels like a long broomstick. The rods will be strong with higher strength line, think 50 pounds plus. The remaining rod types fall in between these two ends of the scale, as they do for the action as well. We will describe how action and power steer you to different fishing methods below, for now the first segment of this video will show you how to better tell apart action and power. This section ends at 14:02 and picks up below.

What Fishing rod i have? - Spinning vs baitcaster vs fly

This segment is targeting people who might have found or been giving a rod and are unsure of what type it is. Maybe you did not know there was different types at all. We will cover the three primary types of fishing poles, spinning rods, conventional / baitcasting rods, and fly fishing rods. These rods are made for 3 different types of reels, which hold the same names as the rods. It might not be immediately evident that these rods should be used with their corresponding type of reels, but due to a few factors it helps a lot to keep them matched up. Telling the rods apart is not as clear as one would like, but there are a few hints that can help you tell them apart.

We will cover the most simple to tell apart first, fly fishing rods. There is one simple thing you need to look at to know if your rod is likely to be a fly fishing rod, the bottom of the rod (the rod butt). The butt of a fly fishing rod is almost nonexistent on most. If your rod ends at the reel seat (where your reel connects to your pole) it is probably a fly fishing rod.

The difference between conventional / baitcaster (we will just call them baitcaster rods from here out) and spinning rods is a bit less obvious. Baitcaster rods should be used with the reel and rod eyes facing up. Spinning rods should have them facing down. Without a reel though, rods are not immediately able to be known apart. The exeption to this is that some baitcasting rods have a trigger on the grip for your pointer finger to hold. If there is a trigger on your rod, it is a baitcasting rod. These rods can be used interchangeably if needed (a spinning reel on a baitcasting rod ect.) but this lowers the performance of the rod and can risk breaking the rod. Rods are made with the blank being intended to bend in a certain direction. The two rods are made to bend in opposite directions.

The most simple way to tell if your rod is a baitcasting or a spinning rod is to look at the eyes. The eyes of a baitcasting rod are normally set equidistant from one another, with the exception of the top 2 eyes. On a spinning rod the eyes start out far apart, and become much more close as you move to the tip of the rod. Baitcasting rods will at times have eyes made of all steel, this is rare on spinning rods. The time stamped section of the video below covers the differences between all three of these rods, and will help you visualize the differences. Section starts at 14:02.