Hawaii

Jon Jon guides fly anglers in his kayaks around Maui. I have seen him in Kehei, but have not fished with him.

http://localfishingknowledge.com/fly_fishing_maui

Pm @Mingo .
He has most Hawaiian fishing dialed in.

I'm heading to the Islands for two weeks first stop in Aug Maui, then a jump to Kauai in Sept. I will be watching this thread closely. I have been to both islands before but at those times I was looking for surf spots so fishing in the islands is new to me. Fly pic that would be worth tying would also be nice. ffb, I will be looking forward to a trip report.

PM Mems or search his posts.
He lives on and primarily fishes the Big Island but can most likely give some good recommendations and info.

Old406Kid said:

PM Mems or search his posts.
He lives on and primarily fishes the Big Island but can most likely give some good recommendations and info.

Click to expand...

Yes Mems has some good information I've talked to him. Nice guy very willing to help.

I'm heading to the Islands for two weeks first stop in Aug Maui, then a jump to Kauai in Sept. I will be watching this thread closely. I have been to both islands before but at those times I was looking for surf spots so fishing in the islands is new to me. Fly pic that would be worth tying would also be nice. ffb, I will be looking forward to a trip report.

Bagman - In Kauai, check into fishing the old sugarcane plantation processing ponds...many are stocked with smallmouth, largemouth and peacock bass.

Jim B.

Aloha Jon, most have given you advice I would have suggested. You can go to Molokai and DIY, but it would be a lot easier with Clay, too bad he is booked up. There are some big hungry bones on Molokai. Jon Jon runs a fishing charter business, but I have not fished with him. Some on this board had bad experiences with him. It depends on where you are staying, but you can catch papio, small trevally all most anywhere. Use a small clouser or a gummy minnow and strip like hell. Makena, big and little beach, kihei, Lahaina warf, flemming beach all have fish. I did see two huge bones at flemming 30 years ago that were the size of sharks. The wind in Maui can be tough after 10:30am so fish early. Good luck, let me know if you need more help. [email protected] Mems.

Last year when I was in Kauai, I just took my 8-wt out on my own and cast in likely looking water. I caught an assortment of fish, from small bonefish to trumpetfish. Guides are good, but not essential. Fish off rocky breaks or beaches -- I had a load of fun and no hassle. My best success on Kauai was on the south side along the Maha'ulepu Heritage Trail (starts at Shipwreck beach). I caught several fish just east of Shipwreck Beach in the rocky strands below the bluffs. There was also good fishing out at the east end of the trail Gillins Beach, too.

But I also fished off the rocks in front of the condo we rented in Kapaa and caught fish.

Thanks for the tips guys. Looks like I'll be bringing the 8wt. We're staying in Maalaea at one of the condos on the beach there and looks like there's a good stretch of beach from there down to Kihei so at the very least I hope to be able to wet a line along that beach in the mornings before the wind picks up. I'll report back for sure. Papio look like they could be a lot of fun if I can run into some. Doing some reading it sounds like a good set of pliers will be a good idea for unhooking some of these different types of fish!

Keep an eye out for sleepers
Intermediate lines are less affected by wave action
Less wave mending
Good luck Jon!

Dan Nelson said:

Last year when I was in Kauai, I just took my 8-wt out on my own and cast in likely looking water. I caught an assortment of fish, from small bonefish to trumpetfish. Guides are good, but not essential. Fish off rocky breaks or beaches -- I had a load of fun and no hassle. My best success on Kauai was on the south side along the Maha'ulepu Heritage Trail (starts at Shipwreck beach). I caught several fish just east of Shipwreck Beach in the rocky strands below the bluffs. There was also good fishing out at the east end of the trail Gillins Beach, too.

But I also fished off the rocks in front of the condo we rented in Kapaa and caught fish.

Click to expand...

Sounds like we rented the same condo hah! Poipu beach was also good really early before the ten thousand people showed up.

ffb said:

Thanks for the tips guys. Looks like I'll be bringing the 8wt. We're staying in Maalaea at one of the condos on the beach there and looks like there's a good stretch of beach from there down to Kihei so at the very least I hope to be able to wet a line along that beach in the mornings before the wind picks up. I'll report back for sure. Papio look like they could be a lot of fun if I can run into some. Doing some reading it sounds like a good set of pliers will be a good idea for unhooking some of these different types of fish!

Click to expand...

golfman44 said:

Sounds like we rented the same condo hah! Poipu beach was also good really early before the ten thousand people showed up.

Click to expand...

Walk to the far end of the spit until you cannot go any further and cast north (parallel with the beach) just into the shallow water on the inside of the reef. Also cast towards the deeper water. If you should hook up with a bone hang on! These fish are HUGE!

I'm teaching Fly Fishing Merit Badge at the scout camp on Kauai the 3rd week of June... Trout season opens that week... since I'll only be there a week, I don't know how long the trout season lasts. I'd love to do some smallmouth bass in the rivers of Kauai... I fish peacock bass on Oahu, so no need for me to fish for them on Kauai. On Kauai there are several guides. Smallmouth are small so light tackle for the streams. Saltwater... anything goes from very small to strip all your line off the reel. LOL. A freshwater non-resident license is $10 for 7 days. Saltwater... no license required.

Trout would never even cross my mind on the islands. I could see why the locals would like it purely as a novelty. But who the hell would fly into saltwater paradise and fish for trout(or smallies, for that matter). Peacock bass would be a must for me, though. I'd probably even hire Stan to put me on some of those. I'd DIY for everything else.
I chuckled when I read about paying to watch Jon Jon fish. I've heard that many times, but the no pics is new to me. Doesn't want spotburning? He's going to love Reeltrout's post.

Update. I have no idea what I'm doing. Turns out the wind never stops blowing in Maalaea Bay in front of where we're staying, so when I went out this morning the wind was howling and had no luck but its a fairly shallow featureless beach anyways. Did try the Kihei beach. Pretty sure I saw Jon Jon fishing the north end. I went down to the south end and stared cluelessly at the water and waded around and made some casts with no luck. There was a more sheltered and shallower spot at the southern most end that I made some casts into as there was a ton of small baitfish and some schools of larger baitfish moving in and out and saw some needle fish jumping around but nothing bigger followed in. Walked out more towards the breaking waves and deeper water and did have one hard grab. Going to give it one more go tomorrow morning.

What direction was the wind blowing. I've surfed the Lahina Harbour break water in Aug very early and had no wind at all. If you look at a air view of Maui it looks like two mountains with a valley in the middle. If your anywhere near the middle/valley you will get more wind. I'm rooting for you.

Bagman said:

What direction was the wind blowing. I've surfed the Lahina Harbour break water in Aug very early and had no wind at all. If you look at a air view of Maui it looks like two mountains with a valley in the middle. If your anywhere near the middle/valley you will get more wind. I'm rooting for you.

Click to expand...

We're in the middle of the valley. Wind has been out of the North. Went out to Makena later in the morning for some swimming/snorkeling and there wasn't any wind at all. It's a family trip so won't be able to get much more fishing in but am going to try and get out at least next morning if not Friday morning before we head to the airport.

ffb said:

We're in the middle of the valley. Wind has been out of the North. Went out to Makena later in the morning for some swimming/snorkeling and there wasn't any wind at all. It's a family trip so won't be able to get much more fishing in but am going to try and get out at least next morning if not Friday morning before we head to the airport.

Click to expand...

I know just what your saying about family trip. I've been married 50 years in Aug. I found out a number of years ago that on a family trip it is better to not expect that there will be any time set aside for your vacation, It's all about family. As well it should be.