Finally got out this year!

[Daryl Wong]

Aloha gang,

The weathers been terrible for the last five weeks. So our gang hasn't been able to get out . When we did get desperate enough to go on a nasty Sunday two weeks ago I ended up with a blown out tire on the way. We pulled over and were able to get all the lug nuts off except two. One sheared of and the other just spun it the hub. This prevented us from taking the tire off to change. We finally ended up taking the whole hub off the spindle, grinding the stud off from the back and then going back and putting on the spare. Meanwhile while Joe and I were doing this, my cousin said two crack heads came by to rip off the boat seeing that there was no truck hooked up and no one around. They didn't realize he was under the trailer checking out the other tires. He could see them get off their bikes and when they approached the boat, he got out from under the trailer with a hammer. They got surprised and then said got a flat? DUH.....then they left.
By the time we got the spare back on it was almost noon. We ended up back at my place and took off all the tires and did maintenance.

The following weekend the weather broke and was dead calm. I had a rare Saturday of and Monday was a holiday. Pete our living legend at 71 years old and I decided to get out to see if the Onos were still in. We launched at 7:30 am and went to our favorite spot. The bait were everywhere and I could tell it was perfect conditions. I saw a few nice AJ's or Kahalas as they are called here and watched them cruise the bottom. Very few people eat them here. Pete has a friend that eats them and loves shooting them. So rather than waiting to see if the onos were around he dove and shot a nice 20 lb AJ. It was a nice center mass shot which is Pete's favorite shot. It gave him a struggle. When he finally got it up, here comes the Ono school.... there must have been a dozen or more. I lined up on the nearest one and pulled, and pulled and pulled. What??? When it finally went off I ended up jerking and missing! The Ono wasn't even fazed. I reloaded and had another one come in. I pulled, and pulled and then hey, what the hell? I turned my gun over and found that my push rod had come out and was jammed on the side of the trigger mech.

Wait, this isn't supposed to happen to me! I make these damn guns and this one is mine. I even let my friend borrow my super magnum and she shot a world record tuna on film with it!
Shit, I missed a second time. This time I got my knife out and pushed the rod back in place. Pete was still getting his fish off and the onos were very where. They were milling around because of the blood and the chum we were chumming with. I finally reloaded and then shot a nice one. I strung that fish up and put it on my stringer. The onos were still around and I saw another one nearby. I got that one to come in and shot it. This time when I got it up, I dragged it over to Pete so that the school would follow it. One fish went right across and in front of Pete and he shot it. Center mass of course! We took our fish to the boat, took a few pictures and then went back in. It's a good thing I have a good waranty for my guns. I had to fix my own gun this time. So if your push rod ever gets jammed some how, I appologize in advance. It's called Shit happens.

Within a half hour another one came by. It was pretty good sized for Hawaii standards and I got a nice shot on it. I took that back to the boat and went to check on Pete. We waited a few hours and no fish came by so we called it a day.
I was taking the boat out on an overnight trip the following day with Joe Strona, and Kaipo, so I had to refuel and get supplies for the next two days. Back home to four Onos went 53,48,36,32 lbs. We cut up the two smallest and I took the two biggest to our local auction block.

Sunday, Joe Strona, Kaipo and I left for our overnight trip. We arrived around 8:00 am and the water was crystal clear and calm. The ride over was like sliding on ice it was that smooth! Normally our ride is 3 hours and we got there in 1 1/2 hrs. We got there so early we decided to troll until the sun got higher. No takers.
We had a blast spearing our favorite Parrot fish and I took Kaipo to an Ulua house where he got his first ulua. I ended up trashing three shafts on three uluas. Joe got a personal best Kumu or goat fish of 4.6 lbs. The record is 5.2 lbs so it was a huge one. We all had a blast exploring new grounds and finally getting back into the water.

Wednesday I had a Dr's appointment but the water was still dead calm and Pete had the Ono itch so we went on a late morning dive. We got to our usual spot. I got in first and while waiting for Pete, two nice onos came by and I got the biggest of the two. Pete finally got out and I dragged the ono over to him and the mate followed. Pete took a long shot but the ono gun I made for him doesn't shoot 50 ft. He was 20 ft short! I asked what took him so long to get out and he said he was feeding our pet turtle chomper. Later while waiting for more Onos, a big 12ft tiger shark cam up on us. It got withing 8 ft of me and then turned. It wasn't aggressive and was just checking us out. By then the current was running due to the full mood tide so we came in early.

It was great to get back into the water. A good friend of ours Bob Bachmann has been waiting to come over and visit. Pete called him the other week but he had business to take care of. So I'm sure Pete will rub it in when he calls Bob.

I hope theweather holds and I can give another report next week.

Aloha,Daryl

[KEYSKILLER]

damn fine fish and hell of a story

send the gun back it has a lifetime waranty :D

[Red Tide]

Nice chicken salad:D I hate when the day starts off and all you have is bad luck and chicken shizzle to work with.
You guys in Hawaii have some strange names for your fish and stranger nick names. If your turtle friend is nick named chomper, what do you call the 12 foot Tiger Shark?
Around here 12 Foot Tiger Sharks eat turtles.:eek:

[Md Spear]

" The weathers been terrible the last 5 weeks."

Daryl........thats a riot .:D:D.... Hawaii ......MMM.... We had snow w/ an ice storm in the North East mainland.

Great story and pix. Makes me want to move to be in your bad weather.

[SpearMax]

Gotta love that "Ono itch"! Way to go Pete and guys.:beer: :beer:

Great spearing there Daryl in your latest islands adventure. Tony

[WMELWAY7]

That is awesome. I cant wait til my trip to the big island this summer!

[Dnice]

Nice report,
I just got back from Oahu and dove town side quite a bit. Those fish are smart!! Looks like getting offshore and finding some secret reefs is the way to go. Congrats on a nice catch, fat KUMUS!!!

[float 'n stalk]

Nice Daryl! I figured Pete would have taken a shot at the Tiger....:D

[Into The Blue]

Hey Daryl, Great story and glad that you finally got out!! I couldnt help but notice the hat you are wearing in that one picture!! Thats a Custom Rod and Reel hat and thats the place i work at!! I work for Tom Greene!! hahaha!! Way to Represent!! Nice Fish and congrats again!!

[Rifreediver]

congrats daryl on getting to go out... tell kaipo congrats on his first ulua.... i think i might be able to make it out there in april since i cancelled my trip to england....hopefully ill see you soon


Frankie

[kev the sea dog]

Great story. Nice pics. Congrats on the fish and conditions. Peace.

[Daryl Wong]

Aloha Gang,

Glad you enjoyed the report. The weather has been super nice and held up this weekend. So it was back into the blue looking for the onos again.
I gave the guys a choice. Shoot a bunch of fish or spend the day looking at blue water and maybe some sharks and turtles. Old man Pete said the onos are only here for a few months and we can shoot reef fish anytime. That pretty much summed up the vote.
Also I had a friend Craig Dockendorf in town with his soon be be wife. They came over from Kauai on their way back home to California. He popped the question in Poipu Kauai and after much groveling she finally said yes. The one caveat was that he could only dive until 10:30 and he had to get back in to catch an early afternoon flight out.
So we met at my place and Craig followed us to the pier. Launching at 7:00 am, we were able to get in three hours of diving. Of course the beautiful weather turned the minute we got out. It rained for two hours on and off and was windy and overcast.
When we first got in. I had my buddy Kaipo stick next to me. My job that day was to shoot small bait fish to use as chum. I must have speared a dozen stick fish.
With in the first half hour two onos came in. I threw some chum out and as it was drifting down, one of the onos came in. I told Kaipo to drop down and just shoot it when he got up to it. Kaipo dropped down and from about six ft away, missed! Of course the ono made a big circle and came back to check out the shaft. Then it slowly swam away while I was dropping down to shoot it with our rail gun. We told Kaipo to get used to missing. We all miss and it just makes us appreciate the times we do land an ono. No one else saw anything so a we left to drop Craig back off at the pier. At the pier, we said our farewells, and headed back out. Our second stop was a small pinnacle . The gang was suiting back up and I jumped in to start shooting bait. While I was chumming two onos came in. Everyone was still on the boat so I dropped down and shot the closest one with the rail gun. By the time I got it up, the gang had arrived. Two other onos came in to follow, but no one could get a shot off. The water go cloudy and we could barely see the bottom at 100 ft. I saw the big tiger there last week and it wasn't fun to be there in cloudy water so we pulled up and left. It was back to the first spot.
There the bait were everywhere and I started shooting more bait. By 3:30 I had had enough. I had shot three nice yellow spot papios, a 12 lb milk fish and headed back for the boat. Kaipo and Ron wanted to hang out for a little more. Just as I was getting back to the boat, I saw a school of 12-15 onos on the surface coming to me. I dropped some chum and they started to angle down to check out the pretty silver fish chunks. I swam up to th closest one and strung it on Rob Allen shaft. While it was running in a big circle the shaft came back through and toggled at the barb. I held onto the float line since it was making a big circle below me. Then I realized that there was no tension on the line and the fish was still going in a circle on the bottom with the shaft hanging out on one side. The small diameter cable had cut at the back of the shaft! Shit, I saw the frays but didn't think it was too bad. :( The boat was only 20 yards away so I swam over and got my super magnum that Craig was using in the morning. I loaded, got back in and the other onos were still milling around. My ono on the bottom was gone so I chummed a little more and two more onos came in. I shot the closest and it was fish on! I got that in and took a few pictures with Pete who was taking a beauty nap on the boat and when Ron and Kaipo got near they saw a few onos but couldn't get them to come near. They were wise to the chum trick. We ended up with two nice onos and a bunch of the best tasting of the Jack family. The biggest ono was 40 lb and the small one 36 lbs.
We all got back safely despite the three pesky sharks and still had fingers and toes.
The onos should be around for another few weeks if we are lucky. I'll know Wed when we do a half day dive in the afternoon.

Mike, I got the hat from Tom Greene. Give him my regards. I had lunch with him and met him as a sponsor to Sheri Dayes Blue Wild dive expo. He had told me about the new young dive fanactic he had at the store. :thumps: Sorry we didn't get to meet the few times I went in. You had just started then. Tell Tom its my lucky hat! :thumps: As you can see it is well worn. Actually since I'm an old fart now and may hair is thinning I have to wear one now! Next on my list is hearing aids and old man shoes. Got the shoes next the hearing aids! I can still see onos though, may not hear them. haha.:eek:

Ryan, Pete did have his power head loaded and ready to shoot when the tiger came in last Wed. But the shark had already turned back into the deep and was gone by the time Pete got up to me.

Franke, Tom is coming in April. We can all dive if you get out here.

I'll give a report on Wednesday's dive.

Aloha,Daryl

[southbound]

Good story Daryl, Nate and I are leaving for Kona on the27th. We got 2-3 days of diving lined up with Rick and Angela, I can't wait. Still hope the gang can make it over for some Kilua Pig on Sunday. Dive safe, Chris

[ApneaSpearo]

nice fish Daryl and crew :toast:

[Troy]

I gave the guys a choice. Shoot a bunch of fish or spend the day looking at blue water and maybe some sharks and turtles. Old man Pete said the onos are only here for a few months and we can shoot reef fish anytime. That pretty much summed up the vote.


Smart move, I would have voted the same way! This is why I enjoy diving and or talking to the more experienced divers as they often know where the fish are. Here on Maui, our last two ono trips are the exact opposite, with the exception of seeing a tiger shark approximately 12 ft. on both days. Somehow whenever diving with Lance Otsubo big sharks seem to appear out of no where. This makes diving with him so much fun. Too bad the camera was not rolling as it would have made for some nice footage!

Anyways, sweet report Daryl. Looks like Oahu was the place to be for the ono action the past two weeks. Might have to jump on a plane and get in on some of that action with you guys while it lasts.

[Christo]

Aloha Daryl,

Wow, I hope to get just one of those ono's when I make my bwh trip this April.What kind of mindset must you have to go strapping on shark bait on you like that? I for one would feel like the crash test dummy for sharks:eek:
Is this technique advisable only for very clear viz and do you always chum?:beer:

[Natedogg]

WOW Daryl! That’s some good hunting! I hope I'm able to do half that at Pete's age. I know your schedule might be booked up but I hope to see you and Joe soon. If not, both my flights are out of Oahu, maybe lunch? Do you need anything from the mainland? Wait, wait a minuet...I'm getting something through E.S.P... Bring more sunshine and Ahi? :thumps: Check!

[Daryl Wong]

Aloha Nate,

Yes bring good weather! It's been great so far and hope it stays that way. The onos are still in and I got out for a half day today. While chumming all kinds of critters came around. There were rainbows, Yellowspot papios, Paopao uluas, Omilos and one nice ulua that came by following two sharks. I shot the ulua and one of the sharks went nuts trying to get at it. It finally gave up and we got the ulua in. It was 34 lbs.
I shot a nice ono (35lbs) when we first got in and then while swimming back to the boat, I shot an second ono that came by that was 40 lbs. It looked weird to see my float go under with a 34 lb ulua following it. It didn't stay down long and I got it in before another shark came in.
The weather looks good for this weekend so we'll get out to look for onos again or take an overnighter to shoot our kumus and uhus.
Let me know when you get in town.

Aloha,Daryl808.256.5628

[kill shot]

Nice fish Daryl.



Eric

[Griswold]

Nice shooting. Good to see that the elf is still a pretty good indian.

[Desert Diver]

Daryl,

Love reading your reports and checking out the pics. Thanks for taking the time.

How often do you have 12' tiger sharks show up to the party? It would make me want to keep a second pair of eyes close while I was chumming.

[Daryl Wong]

Aloha Guys,

Thanks for the kind words. The onos should be here a few weeks more. I have noticed over the years that they like to have very calm, clear water. Also if there are no bait around, no fish. So if the waters fairly hazy, we don't go. thats when we usually see the tigers. There seems to be three Tigers in the stretch we drift dive. The small one is about 8ft with very darkd colors and the other two bigger ones with less colored stripes. In fact the big one is mostly all grey. Another thing is that our pet turtle is always gone when the tiger shows up. If he's not there, we get a little skittish.:eek:
Our gang usually only dives this stretch from November to march. The rest of the year its blasting reef fish. We see the tigers about 2/10 times. And each time it was only to come by and let us know we're' in his back yard and he knows we are there. :D
I don't carry a bangstick and never had to use one lately. My partner Pete has one and uses it whenever he can. I don't like to shoot anything I can't eat and don't want to eat a big shark.:eek:
We don't have the big onos like the lump or the rigs, but we do have nice sized ones and only 15 minutes out from the pier on th windward side. And 5 min from my house on the east side. Biggest on average here is about 50 lbs although I have shot two in the sixties 61,66lbs here.
I hope to shoot one in the triple digits one day.

Aloha,Daryl

[SpearMax]

We don't have the big onos like the lump or the rigs, but we do have nice sized ones and only 15 minutes out from the pier on th windward side. And 5 min from my house on the east side. Biggest on average here is about 50 lbs although I have shot two in the sixties 61,66lbs here. I hope to shoot one in the triple digits one day.

I predict that will happen soon. Good luck in that personal record quest Daryl! :beer: :beer:

[Griswold]

Your boat ride sounds like a dream. I have a 3 hour drive to get to the water, and then another 1-1/2 hours to get to where the fish are. I think the fact that you have to want it pretty bad is good in many ways though. If there were high rise condos, pretty beaches and easy access here, I don't think the diving would be as good.

Glad to see you're not spending all your time working. Keep the pictures coming.

[BreathlessSight]

I had the pleasure of diving in hawaii last week. Kurt said I was good fortune for the week prior I guess the weather was terrible and lots of wind. Oahu still get fish!!!! The trips out there keep getting better and better! We found ourselves knee deep in Ono (wahoo), swam along side a mother humpack whale and calf, and I got a good tan while kayaking for miles to our destinations.
Im glad you got to get out there. There was so many Ono on the east side! Then we went southside and you know not many people see Ulua (GT) there I guess. Well we saw 8 giant ones of 60lbs and bigger. I guess thats rare on the south side, so instead of shooting em we took photo. We also were able to enjoy some fresh Ono sashimi and steamed Mu chinese style. It was delicious!
Anyhow I just wanted to say thank you for your generousity in the past and to give a report on how much fish are around last week. Keep it up!! Here is a pic I took of Kurt's Ono he took with his 110cm effesub. I was a bit nervous, he only had about 80ft of reel line but he stoned it, 33lbs. I tried for a larger one with the same gun. I shot the fish, which we got on film, and it took off hard. I hit it behind the gill but it didnt phase him. In a blink of an eye the fish was out of sigt and I was being drug for only 15ft before the mono broke from the shaft. It aint cheap living in hawaii so you make do with what you got I guess.
Thanks again for getting me started in all of this and for you generosity towards a stranger. I appreciate it! Congrats to Joe for the big Knife Jaw as well!
Here are more pics from the adventure. http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=12130909&blogID=360992432

[Daryl Wong]

Here's a short dive report since I only got out for two hours today.

My cousin Ron and I went out after I finished work to do some drift diving. The onos are in and we wanted to check out a few spots. by the time we loaded up and got in it was 4:15pm. I started up chumming while Ron was getting his gear ready. I was going to shoot some bait fish and then try out the new video camera I got recently. While I was loading my gun and hooking up the camera to my float, I saw two ons come by. I called Ron and told him they were here. One ono came in too close and it was fish on! A shitty shot high on the back but it held. Ron got in and I started chumming or burlying again as they say in Oz. This time five pesky sharks came up and started stealing the chum. They weren't to big but had attitude. When we would dive on them to chase them away they'd charge you. Next time out I'm bringing a few re straightened shafts to give them an attitude adjustment. They left when we quit chumming and so I started a new chum slick. I noticed two fish that didn't seem like AJ's because they were too skinny, yet didn't have the wide pectoral fins like our Uluas. I dropped down and saw that they were two nice African Pompanos. They Don't get huge like Hatteras or Florida, but they still taste just as good. One circled the chum and then it was lights out. Spined him.

I took that one back to the boat and then went back to see what Ron was up too. I got eh video camera off my float and started filming the bait fish and the sharks that were below and eating our chum. I saw Ron pointing at me and behind me was a single ono coming in. I filmed the chum going down and the ono coming up to the debris. It saw Ron closing in and drifted away Ron took a long shot and it moved out. Now he's going to be thinking about that miss and worse I will remind him that I have it on film! By now it was getting dark and the sharks were coming up on us instead of hanging below, so it was a good time to leave. WE got to the pier at 7:00 and its off to shoot reef fish tomorrow. Dive report when we get back

Aloha,Daryl.

[scubadown16]

Nice work Daryl... I'll take a bad shot anyday if it means I still land the fish...

[Christo]

I have been reading that excellent book 'Spearfishing on the island of Hawaii' by Sonny Tanabe and I am amazed by your divers over there. Some of their catches are marlin,ono and YFT speared from shore diving!
You guys are the ultimate blue water hunters keep the reports coming,I cant get enough !:thumps:

[KeysKid]

Those are some nice fish, Good to see you got out Daryl.

[pirate_diver]

NICE FISH. This is the first report of your's I have read Daryl and I must say that you guys did a number on those fish. WOW! And the casual reference to the 12' tiger shark is great. All in a days worth of spearing out there I guess. I like your guns too...they are pretty sharp. I look forward to seeing more posts from you.

[Daryl Wong]

ALoha Guys,

Glad you like the report. The weathers been so good lately, I haven't been in the shop. Sorry guys, I'll get to the guns this week.
We got up early Sunday and decided to leave the onos and shoot some reef fish and look for uluas. It's not often the water is this nice and this means we can check out some areas that are normally too rough to go to.
The highlight of the day was our second dive of the day when a mother Humpback and calf came swimming by in only forty ft of water. She was right at the drop off and hovered there while the calf nursed. I was close enough to he boat to swim over and grab my video camera and video about three minutes before she decided she didn't want two divers watching. Kaipo had never seen a whale up that close. We could have touched her while she stayed in one place. The calf was only about ten ft long. Cute!
On one dive I shot a nice Jobfish or Uku, and then later I saw an ulua freeswimming and dropped down and shot it.
Ron later shot his first big uku too. The ulua was 38 lbs and the ukus 15,and 13 lbs.
Kaipo who has just started diving with us got his second ulua in two trips. This one was 30 lbs and it is bigger than his last. Looks like he is only going to get bigger ones each time!
All in all it was a great day, nice weather, lots of fish and great scenery. On the way back we wished it was a long weekend so we could top it off with a few onos.
But no complaints. No sharks and we got home safely.

[KeysKid]

Nice fish Daryl! Keep up the good work!

[kill shot]

Nice fish Daryl.



Eric

[spearguam]

Dr Wong,
Thanks for the great reading, fish reports, and motivation to become a better diver.

I am pretty new to spearing, and quickly becoming a fan of your work. I was wondering which of your guns you use for these outings. What is your main reef gun and what is your main blue water gun? It looks like you are using a Hawaiian breakaway for the Ono hunting. Do you use a reel or breakaway for the reefs?

You will probably receive a phone call from me (along with many others) within the year. Your guns are just beautiful. I am currently living in Guam, but Southern california (Santa Monica) is home. I have my mind on a 57.5" Magnum Hybrid, but we'll see.

Mahalo,
TIM

[kitespearo]

Awesome pics and fish..

[Daryl Wong]

Thank you for checking out the dive reports. You probably have most of the same fish off Guam that we have here. My brother in law lived there 7 years and did a lot of diving there.
The main reef gun I use here and travel with is the 55in GR gun. I'm a 9/32 shaft guy and it is what I use here.
Many of my buddies in the gulf use the bigger 5/16 shaft with that same gun on the rigs.
The Florida guys use the 9/32 shaft like me.
For blue water I pretty much use either the 63in ono gun or the super magnum. Both have the same specs.
The difference is that the Super mag is much more maneuverable so if I dive for Tunas off Costa Rica or Puerto Vallarhta, I take the Super mag. If I know that I am going to be around structure all day, then I might use the ono gun.
Both guns will do the job as the current Men's YFT and Black marlin records were set with ono guns while the Womens YFT and Men's Striped marlin records were set with magnums.
Always use a breakaway system when blue water hunting. Even if for peanut Dolphin. You never know when something big will be around. Even is you jump in with a reel, have a short bungee and float attached to it. Better to be safe than lose a gun.
For Hawaii I have a reel on the gun but it is only because I don't take the reel off since I use it in Florida when I dive. I use a float line in Hawaii, but the reel does come in handy when I jump on Ulua houses. I just switch the shaft to a slip tip and 600 lb cable.
The 57.5 magnum is a good all around gun. It has the same band pull as the 61in Riffe Island yet packs all the same specs in a smaller package and has great maneuverability.
The 55,57.5, and the 60 in magnums are popular sizes for Southern Call divers hunting wsb. The different lengths are usually reflections on the divers preference or size.
Bigger divers can use bigger guns which are proportional to their size.
Glad you enjoy the reports. Here are a few pics of fish taken with the different guns.


Aloha,Daryl

[kill shot]

Beautiful Yellowfin Daryl!!



Eric

[Daryl Wong]

Aloha Gang,

The weather is still beautiful, but we decided to hunt reef fish this weekend. My buddy Joe shot two onos on Sat so we had fillets in the cooler already and wanted to dive the north side which is usually rough and has high surf this time of year.
On the first dive we hopscotched the boat. This is when you drop two divers off and take the boat down current and anchor. Then the diver or pair of divers get in and go down current and hunt till they reach the boat. Then they pick up the other two who are also going down current. . You can cover more ground that way and not have everyone dive the same area. It only works when the weathers nice. Otherwise its always best to have a designated boat driver. We had only three of us this weekend so I was the lone ranger most of the day. I don't unless I have too. I never really totally relax and end up looking at the boat every five mintues to check on it. For you new guys its always best to have a partner, but it isn't always that way. So when we do this with me as the odd guy I usually only park the boat a few hundred yards away and we do short dives with limit of 45 minutes. After 45 minutes the two divers swim to the boat and pick the odd guy up. This worked great on the very first dive. I was in the water only five minutes and speared a free swimming ulua 43 lbs. It bent my shaft and then I had to rebend it straight. I still shot a few more fish and then saw another small ulua free swimming and when it went between to boulders, I was waiting on the other side and shot it. I shot a few more fish but the stringer was pretty heavy to pull when a shark showed up. It was one of those too big to ignore yet too small to know better and leave me alone. It kept coming around to steal fish and even though I'd chase it away it would circle back. This made it hard to spear fish. each time I though it was gone and shot a fish it was right in my face. The last fish it came too close and then tried to get the fish off my shaft while I was holding the shaft. It tried to poke it away and it must have looked like I was trying to feed it the fish instead of chasing it. That was too much. I still had another 10 minutes before the boat was coming and my shaft was all bent from the last ulua so I undid my shooting line and loaded up. The next time that shark came, it got a shaft in the tail and did a spinning dive and then with the shaft hanging out the barb caught a rock and pulled the shaft out. I didn't want to kill it, but didn't want it to come back either. The shark took off and I got my shaft back which was bent worse than before but better the shaft than me. I don't carry a bangstick like some of my partners. If it gets to the point where I have to use a bang stick, I would rather just shoot the shark than load up a bangstick and then wonder if its going to work. Shafts are relatively cheap and faster to load and shots farther.
This dive trip was a new first for Kaipo. He was just saying he had never shot a "Nohu" or scorpion fish. He always thought they were bright orange. We told him they only changed that color when they were dead. Living they look like rocks! If you see one move, never take your eyes off it. The minute you do and look back, all you'll see is rocks again. For the Northern Cal guys, it looks like a big Cabazon. Bill Mac says he loves eating it and you can tell he knows his fish because all the locals here go nuts for it. It has white flaky meat and tastes great! Last trip Kaipo had never shot an ulua on his own and ended up shooting his second one! Now he wants to shot an ono.
The water was crystal clear all day and absolutely no wind. The current was light and it was a great day to dive. One day I have to get some of my friends over to do the diving boot camp to get ready for the competitions coming up.
The best thing about the days dive? We got back safe and sound and the boat ran great. Oh and the water was 75 degrees. Spring is almost here!

Aloha,Daryl

[Bill McIntyre]

You're killing us Daryl. I hope the weather turns bad so you have to go back to making guns.:)

I do fondly recall those Nohu. I remember taking new guys out and pointing to the Nohu, and they would look behind "the rock" to try to find what I was pointing at.

[Daryl Wong]

Aloha SB gang,

The weather was shitty, but better than staying home. No onos. The good news is I got a nice ulua, the bad news is Imay have a fractured wrist. This morning when I was taking the ratchet off the winch to unhook the boat, the ratchet snapped and the handle whipped around and hit my chest and then my right hand right on top in front of the wrist joint. My hand was numb for a while and I got a big bruise on my chest.
It seemed ok during the day, but hard to load the gun. Then when we got back it really stiffened up and now I'm typing with one hand. Good thing I'm left handed. The wrist is swollen now and hurts like hell. Motrin 800 helped and today it felt better. I called a friend and he said not much can be done so to go easy on it. If it doens't get better I have to get it xrayed.
We also checked an ulua house and Joe shot a huge one about 60 plus lbs. The sliptip didn't toggle and all he ended up with was a bent shaft.
Later we went to another hole called the deep hole and there were a school of bluefin trevallies all about 10-15 lbs. But two fish were bigger and one much bigger than the other. The larger one left before we could finish breathing up so I just dive bombed the hole before the other one could leave. I saw it just as it came out from the archway and shot it behing the head. The tip toggled on theother side of its belly and it went nuts. It wasn't a kill shot so the cable ripped the side open and I barely got it to the surface where my dive buddy Little David put the kill shot into its head. As long as I can load a gun, I'll be out next weekend.

Aloha,Daryl

[Christo]

Aloha Daryl,

Tough luck on the wrist, good thing it wasn't more serious, I hope it heals soon and you are back in top flight for this years nationals.I would take shitty weather any day for some of that awesome indigo blue water.
Are next years worlds championships being held in Hawaii? If so I think you will win in your backyard. Good luck in the nationals and take care of that injury:beer:

[JLittle44]

Wow, two years of spearfishing by my standards crammed into one thread and a few weeks of Hawaii standards. It's awsome hearing the story told by a master.

[Captn Ron]

Aloha Daryl,
Wow great reports....I'm jonesing to get over to the islands. Thanks for posting pics and stories.

[Daryl Wong]

Aloha Ron,

Ray comes over to surf, come on down with him and dive with us. There is always room for you on the boat. I have a few guys from Northern cal coming next month and it should be a blast.
Here's a pic of the boat with my friend Adam from Jersey, Bonnie from Northern cal and My dive buddy Diver Joe.

Aloha,Daryl

[Griswold]

Great reports Daryl. Hope the wrist gets better quickly.

[jmik90]

Aloha Ron,

Ray comes over to surf, come on down with him and dive with us. There is always room for you on the boat. I have a few guys from Northern cal coming next month and it should be a blast.
Here's a pic of the boat with my friend Adam from Jersey, Bonnie from Northern cal and My dive buddy Diver Joe.

Aloha,Daryl

Speaking of jersey,the season is almost here,when are you going to come up north Daryl?

[rigdvr]

nice reports Daryl. Youre making it hard not to max out another card to make my annual trek over.....

[coastalherper]

Wow, beautiful fish. I wish I could be in the water right now.

[Daryl Wong]

Aloha Chad,

My wrist is grayish yellow and except for the gouge that is healing I can load bands now and thats the main thing.
Yesterday there were only two of us. The others had Easter brunch, and kid stuff to do. Pete has a nasty cold and a bad cough so he's laid up. Kaipo and I decided to give the onos one last try. So we went out.

The winds are still blowing, so there wasn't' much bait around and the water was pretty choppy. With the full moon it was hard to anchor and swim in place so we decided to jump on Ulua houses after a few hours of seeing only blue water.

The fist hole was empty and then it was onto the deep hole. It's actually 68ft but looks deeper since its on a drop off. When we swam up to the archway, there was a school of omilus and one big ulua just leaving. The timing was wrong and they must have seen or heard us. Back to the boat and onto the next spot.

The next spot has been productive. It is a large ledge that I shot an ulua on the spear hunter show. Since we only had one shaft with cable, I gave it to Kaipo and told him to go on the side that the uluas hang out. I was going to cover the exit. We both dropped down and when I got to my end, there was two uluas circling. I waited for them to go to Kaipo's side but they just stayed there. The bigger of the two, came up to me and I thought better stone this one or end up with nothing. I dropped it and the other one slowly headed to the other side. I was hoping Kaipo was still there and a second later, I heard his gun go off. I saw him hanging onto his reel line as I brought my fish up. It was going crazy and he had lined the fish. I pulled the shaft out of my fish and reloaded. A kill shot later and we pulled off a rare double out of an ulua hole. This is one of the few times we've done that. Most times its who shoots first that gets the fish.
With only two of us, we took turns taking pictures and then onto the next hole.

The next hole was empty, but had fish around so we changed out Kaipo's shaft and speared some Uhus and Reef fish. The wind was starting to pick up more and I thought we should go and check the deep hole again to see if Joe's theory of them coming back in a few hours was true.

The deep hole was loaded with uluas this time. It had a few in the 30's and three or four in the 60 plus range. But they were swimming agitated when we got there and before we could breath up, they started leaving single file in a hurry. We'll you can't always have your way. As we were swimming back to the boat along that drop off, I saw three uluas mid water. I looked to my right to see if Kaipo saw them and he was already lining up. I dropped down and when Kaipo shot, he missed! They looked closer than they were and his shot was short. The Ulua that got shot at made a big circle and came back to see what happened. Only problem, I was there with my gun and shot him with my barbed shaft. Lucky we were on the drop off and he took me out to the deep. It was a crappy shot but enough that Kaipo could reload and put another shot into it. This Ulua was a Kagami ulua or African Pompano to most of you.
That was it for the day. Kaipo and I both found our Easter fish!

Aloha,Daryl

[Stick 'EM]

Nice work Daryl, great shooting . Looks like a great way to spend Easter. It's snowing and 28 degrees here. Staying dry today. -Mark

[Daryl Wong]

Hi John,

I'll be up your way this summer. I'll be trying to make a stop in Jersey and New york on my way to the Nationals in Rhode island. If so, we'll have to plan a get together with all the Jersey and New York guys! Hope is warms up soon for you guys to start balsting the blackfish and stripers!

ALoha,Daryl

[deepdown]

Nice Kagami Daryl. Glad to hear you had a good easter.

Gerald

[jmik90]

Hi John,

I'll be up your way this summer. I'll be trying to make a stop in Jersey and New york on my way to the Nationals in Rhode island. If so, we'll have to plan a get together with all the Jersey and New York guys! Hope is warms up soon for you guys to start balsting the blackfish and stripers!

ALoha,Daryl
sounds great Daryl,hopefully ill see you then,give me a call when your here.

[Sheri]

Daryl, you make it look so easy, but each of those fish is a trophy.

That last picture -- a stringer full of mu's!!! Wow....unbelievable! Most people have no idea what that represents. There's no real comparison here in Florida. There's no fish here that is that spooky. The closest thing might be a stringer full of mahoganies. Well done. :thumps:

[Rinaldo]

Daryl, you make it look so easy, but each of those fish is a trophy.

That last picture -- a stringer full of mu's!!! Wow....unbelievable! Most people have no idea what that represents. There's no real comparison here in Florida. There's no fish here that is that spooky. The closest thing might be a stringer full of mahoganies. Well done. :thumps:

That coming from Sheri must mean it's one hell of an accomplishment !
Great to see you out on the water doing what you love Daryl. I took a look at every picture in this long thread and am impressed and amazed to see the variety and the shear size of the fish you take on a regular basis.

I hope to see you this year at the next expo (you too Sheri).

Keep loving life and God willing I'll be talking to you soon about a custom gun.

Rinaldo

[Christo]

Daryl, you make it look so easy, but each of those fish is a trophy.
:stupid:
And he has not peaked yet! Its going to be a hot summer:gun:

[Daryl Wong]

Thanks Sheri,

Yes Rinaldo coming from her it is special. Sheri I've never speared a mahogany snapper, but if you say they are as hard to shoot as Mu I believe you. I've never speared one in all the times I've gone diving in Florida. They must be those spooky fish I only see in the distance. I think I must have come close to drowning a few times trying to bring some of those spooky fish in. I bet that is what they were. Not very big but skittish.
I heard you shot one and a big one too. Any pictures? Then next time up I know what will be on my fish wish list besides a big cobia which you are the Cobia queen.
Bobby we will be shooting some big Uhus and Giant uluas when you visit. By then Christo should be ready to do some light diving. I'm still longing for some cow heel soup,Roti, and juniors great fish soup! Hope to see you in Venezuela.

Aloha,Daryl

[Christo]

Venezuela it is! Got my 'passport stamped' this morning by the one who knows best.:cool:
Let me know if I can be of any help down here,I would be glad to!:beer:

[carlsbadspearo]

wow i love reading those reports!

[Daryl Wong]

Aloha SB gang,

I've been boatless for the last two weeks due to trans problems. I did get out Sat with a friend for a few hours and finally got wet. Didn't get too many fish, but Joe my partner had a close encounter with a nice tiger shark. It ate my bigest mu I had on the stringer.
Wed, I went out with our hero Pete who just made 73 recently. While getting bounce around in his small 15 ft zodiak, I realized why I have a big boat. You don't get beat up in small stuff.
We did a few drifts dive and we both shot a few fish. Mostly parrots. On the last dive I snapped my C4 flaps. But got a nice Ulua in our deep hole. I spined it and it was an easy pull to the surface.
Here are a few pictures.

Aloha,Daryl

[kill shot]

Nice fish Daryl. Happen to be sitting here at Sunset last few days enjoying some time off, leaving tomorrow unfortunately.

Eric

[headpharmd3]

nicely done!! i broke my fin thursday and am in the market for a new pair. i think i am going to go with some fishers.

[Bill McIntyre]

Damn, I should have retired in Hawaii.

Which gun do you use for those big uluas?

[settingsteel]

WTG:thumps:...The smiles say it all...and that stringer full of mu's is :beer:

[Daryl Wong]

Aloha Bill,

I used the GR semi enclosed track hybrid. I've been trying to consolidate and bring only one gun when I dive on someone elses boat. So I bring an extra shaft for fish and one extra shaft for ulua. I have a reel on the gun, so I can jump in to check houses quickly without haveing to deal with a float line. When theres current on some of the deep houses, it really helps to not have drag on a floatline.
The dedicated ulua shaft is a threaded 9/32 shaft and a 6mm slip tip. I run 600 lb ss cable with only a 1 1/2 wrap to make loading faster and less cable to tangle.

Eric,
next time give me a call and we can get out or get a drink or two or three.:thumps:

Howsit Nate,
Last Sat Joe and I went out on his friends boat for a late afternoon dive on Sat. We anchored up on a reef in about 50ft and hung our floatline and stringer off the back of the boat. We were shoting fish and putting them on the stringer, when Joe shot a nice Papio and when he went back to the stringer there was a 10-12ft tiger munching my big Mu! It saw Joe and swam off slowly. Joe was wondering if it was coming back and pulled his fish off the shaft and onto the shooting line. Just in case , he reloaded and unhookd his shooting line from the reel.
Sure enough, it made a big circle and came back towards him and the stringer. He waited to see if it was going for the stringer again and when it was about ten ft away, he swam towards it to ward it off. Normally this makes sharks turn and leave. This time it sped up to him and not wanting to wait, he let go his shaft from about six ft away as it sped up to him.
Next thing I know, I look back at the boat wondering where the hell is diver Joe? :confused:
He's back onthe boat waving at me with his empty gun. I got over there and he told me the story. Since he shafted the shark, we got a new shaft on his gun and got back in. Didn't see the shark again but later a big reef shark came in and we decided that was enough pus the current was ripping by then.

Setting steel,
The Mu's are alwys fun and challenging to shoot. You guys have some nice fish to shoot too. I especially like shooting your Muttons!

We'll landlocked again today so its back to the sweat shop.

Aloha,Daryl

[ALWAYS LUCKY]

how often are u guys seeing tigers...how do they usually react toward divers?