Mike's First UluaI always wanted to go slide-bait fishing for ulua. In 1995 while whipping a black pili plug outside of Hana Bay Maui, an ulua of least 50# struck my lure not more than 25' from shore. The fish ripped off 75 yards of line and promptly wrapped my line around a coral head and broke it. It was easily one of the most exciting 30 secs of my life (right up there with getting caught inside at backyards with 15' plus waves). I was hooked. I had to catch an ulua. My dream job as the sole x-ray tech at Hana was going to be eliminated because of financial difficulties there so, I moved to Kauai. I purchased Jim Rizzuto's #2 book and studied it backwards and fowards. I went to Kmart and bought a 13'6" sabre with hilo guides made by Kimura. I obtained a Penn Senator 6'0 from my sister, loaded it with 80# test and made up some terminal tackle from diagrams in the book. I was set. I picked a spot that looked good to me (what do I know?) by the Lihue airport close to Ahukini landing. I had no bait except for some ika that I would use to hopefully catch live bait to slide down my new pole. I was expecting nothing more than a learning experience and a night under the stars. I started out at around 12 noon june 29 1996 and carried way more stuff than I really needed out to my spot. I set up my little camp and fishing gear and prepared for a afternoon and night of fishing. I started dunking for live bait around 1:30 2:00 in the afternoon and fished straight through till 11:00pm without so much as a strike. I had lost all my lead except for a few 1/2oz bell sinkers and some split shot. I was exhausted and frustrated. I wouldn't even get to bait my new pole. I decided I had to keep trying so I tied all my little leads together with sugi and baited my dunking rig one more time. 11:30 A Strike! my dunking rig bent over nicely and I ran to it and excitedly reeled in a 2# red fish (which I still don't know exactly the species). It was the same color as a menpachi but shaped more like a To'au) I hooked it behind the head and slid em down. I was tired and hungry so I went back to my little camp and ate something. As I looked east out over the ocean I noticed off in the distance storm clouds and lightning. As I looked the wind suddenly began to grow. The wind was fierce now, at least 30mph or more. I heard my bell ringing on my ulua pole so ran down to investigate. My bait had come all the way back to my pole and was banging against the rocks hence the bell ringing. The wind had caused the waves to come up considerably and had pushed my bait back. At my present angle the bait would'nt slide into the waves. Rain began to fall. In the wind and rain I walked my pole up the point in hopes of getting a better angle on the waves so my bait would slide. The bait finally went back down. I put the pole back in it's holder and went back to camp soaking wet. Miserable and very tired I sat under my tarp. Not more than 10min later my bell starts ringing again. God! the bait is slapping against the rocks again and by now it's a full-blown storm. Wind 35-45 mph with driving rain. I grab the pole and once again start walking up the point to get my bait back down. As I'm walking up the leadline breaks! @##$%%$#@#$ Damn! I reel my fish i! n and set it in a tide pool ( thankfully it's still very frisky) tie another leadline on and try to cast. The wind is so strong I can barely cast (keep in mind I'm a total beginner and can barely cast to begin with). On the 4th or 5th try I get the stop ring stuck in the rocks and lose everything pulling it out. I'm getting a little psycho now but I refuse to quit, too much already invested to pull out now. I go back up to camp and retie the whole outfit in the driving rain. I decide for this to work I must set my pole up the point so with only a sand spike I trudge up the point to look for a likely spot. Nothing,nowhere to put my spike. I don't even think twice about moving several boulders 25yrds or so to set my spike. With a newfound pychosis induced strenth I cast mightily and on the first try I get my lead maybe 20yrds from shore. I retrieve my bait and slide him on down. This time it slides right on down and stays there. I'm soaked,exhausted, thirsy, hungry... I drink, eat some stale cheese puffs and lie down on my cot under my tarp. the rain now is coming down so hard the tarp is forming huge puddles and sagging under the weight right on top of me, so for the next hour or so I hold up the tarp up and off of me with my arms. The heat from the sun wakes me up, I look at my watch, it's about 5:30 or so. It is a brilliantly sunny morning, very little wind. You could never tell the weather was so terrible the night before. I was thinking that I never wanted to go ulua fishing again...ever. That was probably the most miserable experience ever. Jeez, now I'm stuck with this $200 fishing pole. My bell starts ringing but I think it's just another wave. I can't see my pole from under my tarp but through bleary eyes I look at the ocean and at this moment there are no waves. I jump off my cot and look at my pole and it's bent in half and now I can hear the line screaming out of the reel! I jump up ba! refoot and run down the rocks to my ulua pole, line is just sceaming out. After it's initial run I take the pole out of it's holder and try to get some line back, my God! whatever is on the other end is huge! I'm in this bay and the fish goes up the point, turns and goes down the point. After a 1/2 hr of this I've got most of my line back but I haven't seen what's at the end of my line. Finally the fish surfaces maybe 30' or so from me and it's huge. I realize I'm alone with only a 3' hand gaff and I don't know how I'll get em out of the water. At this point the fish is exhausted and as I'm going over my options a 3' wave washes the beast onto the rocks. As the wave recedes it gets wedged between two rocks, another wave comes and pushes it further up the rocks and it comes to rest even further up. Without thinking twice I scramble over the rocks and with my little gaff and get it squarely in the lower jaw. My first time and I scored a 73# ulua. If you're ever in Lihue, go see ! Jean at Lihue Fishing Supply. My picture is there, proudly holding my first ulua. Mike
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