After weeks of gusty trade winds, the weather finally shaped up and I got a call from Travis Kashiwa to see if I’d like to go for an after-work dive. Travis, my main dive partner these days, is also my classmate from Maui High School, and a US Team National champion. He holds the world record for white ulua at 144.2 lbs and always helps his friends land exceptional fish. We decided to meet at the beach w/ our friends Jason Hijirida (aka “Hij” and also a team national champ) and Jason Luke. Just a few days prior to this when the weather was bad, Travis and I went out to the North Shore and together, landed my very first white ulua and biggest catch to date. It ended up weighing 56.75 lbs! I was stoked! So upon planning this after-work dive, we decided ahead of time that if we saw an ulua, we would let Jason Luke shoot it, since he was the only one out of the group that had yet to land one. My first big ulua:
Apparently Jason got really excited about this news and just started focusing one what it would be like to shoot an ulua. He visualized it several times throughout the day, and even practiced pointing his speargun at a gyotaku print of an Ulua that hung in his house. Jason and I got to the beach and waited for Hij and Trav. I was going crazy! The water looked so nice I could hardly contain myself. Every minute that passed as I waited for Trav, was painful because it was one minute less spent in the ocean on day like this. I kept calling him to see where they were, as if that would make them get there any faster. When Hij and Trav arrived to the beach they saw what the fuss was all about and Trav exclaimed, “Well hurry up! Don’t keep me waiting!”
We all laughed like giddy little kids as we suited up and got our dive gear ready. As soon as we got to our dive spot, Hij slipped in w/ his video camera and instantly poked his head out and shouted “There’s onos! Right under your boat- ONOS!” Travis and I were still getting our masks and fins on and were nowhere near ready. Hij just filmed the fish and kept calling for someone to come shoot one. Jason Luke entered the water but didn’t take an immediate shot, and eventually the onos swam off. Once we were all in the water we swam to an Ulua house and it was LOADED! There had to be at least 20 BIG uluas swimming in and out of the structure.
Jason tried to relax and kept preparing for his moment by breathing up on the surface. Hij did a drop w/ his camera and was surrounded by huge Uluas. He got some awesome footage then carefully backed away so that he wouldn’t scare them. Jason finally felt ready and did a steep pike and began his descent. When he got to the bottom he settled then pointed his gun into the Ulua house. From the surface you could not see the fish, but suddenly he shot. He started pulling a whole bunch of slack shooting line towards him, and we all assumed that somehow he had missed. What a bummer. Then all of a sudden the line went tight and the fight was on!
He managed to horse the big Ulua out of the house for a brief moment before it charged back into the cave and unfortunately broke his shooting line and took off out the back door w/ the shaft still in its head. Travis, Hij and I scurried on the surface and tried our best to keep up w/ the beast, as he darted out into the deep. I was kicking my hardest and trying not to take my eyes off the fish. After about 10 minutes of chasing him around, he started slowing down. He was dying and starting swimming up into mid water. Hij then dropped down and placed a perfect back up shot into the fish, killing it for good. When we returned to Jason at the Ulua house, he had no idea what had happened until we presented his massive fish to him. He was then the happiest diver I had ever seen, and the day was made right then and there. I swam with him back to his kayak and was helping him reel in his line and load the fish into the boat. Once were done I slid back into the water, only to see Trav swimming up w/ an ono in his hands!!!
“Where’d you get that from?!” I demanded with complete jealousy. “From the Ono house back there! Haha!” Trav replied w/ his usual sarcasm. “Oh whatever Trav!” I shouted as I swam off to go look for goatfish. But before even being able to scan the bottom of the ocean floor, I saw a school of onos approaching! I only had my 100 Beuchat in hand; it’s my smaller gun I brought to shoot kumus with. So I stretched out my arm and gave a few swift kicks, and aimed for the skinnier tail end of the fish and pulled the trigger! My reel was spooled in about 4 seconds and the fish took off like a rocket! I just kept hoping that it wouldn’t rip off, and fortunately he didn’t. Once I had him in my hands, I was sure to swim up to Travis and thank him for directing me to the “ono house”. It was an epic day to say the least. With only a few hours to dive before the sun went down, Hij managed to get some awesome footage and some nice goatfish, Trav and I had an ono each, and Jason had his dream fish, which ended up weighing 60lbs! Needless to say this after-work dive was one of the best dives ever. We came home in the dark, celebrated Jason’s catch w/ a beer each and went to sleep happy that night! It’s amazing how much fun we packed into those few hours and I know the memories will last forever. Going on another after-work dive now…wish me luck!
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Tags: Diving, Fishing, Maui, Spearfishing
Holy cow, Kimi! Awesome
sounds like a great day. and that ono was soooo ono! (okay cheesy, i know)
Wow, nice fish and photos that’s awesome.