Oahu North Shore in March

[TravisAZ]

Heading up to the north shore for a week in mid-march. Looking to do some shore fishing, and looking for some good recommendations. I will probably bring along a med/heavy spinning outfit with about 300 yards of 50lb braid. Not sure what else I need or if this is overkill for what I can tie into for shore. I could bring lighter stuff if advised.

Random Questions:

1.) Where is the best place to buy bait up north?
2.) I might be interested in a 'party boat' type charter, but can't afford the big bucks to hire my own boat. Any options up there worth trying?
3.) Im under the impression I don't need a license - is this correct?

Im just a haole looking to get some line wet and relax a bit - maybe put dinner on the table 1 or 2 nights.

Thanks guys!

[Hinalea]

Aloha Travis, Your spinning outfit will work here if you can get your lures out 50 to 75 yards. Lots of areas on the north shore you can walk and reach Jacks, barracuda, maybe some ladyfish. Rapalas, Kaku lures, and chromed metal spoons, and yellow or white feather jigs work good here. If you baitcast, theres a lot of sand pockets that you should be able to reach from shore with no problems either. You can use cut squid strips, about 1/2"wide x 3" to 6" long, squid or octupus tentacles will work too for good sized jacks and bonefish. Or just use 1/2" to 1" chunks of fresh shrimp for a wide variety of smaller reef and bottom feeders like goatfish, threadfish, bonefish etc. You can buy frozen shrimps at Times, Foodland, Safeway supermarkets, and if you need hooks and fishing supplies, you can check out the Walmart stores, Sports Authority, or look in the local yellow pages for listings on fishing supplies. 1hr before and after sunrise, and 1hr before and after sunset on a rising or declining tide is best.

P.S. You can also just hang a cane pole with 5lb test mono, split shot sinker and a tiny hook baited with shrimp right where you stand at the waters edge and try catching some basic reef fish for fun. Great fun for the ladies and kids too.

My Nickel's worth,

Hakuna Matada

[TravisAZ]

Thanks for the reply, Hinalea!

couple of quick questions:

1.) What size/color of rapalas work best out there?
2.) What size hook/weight for dunking?

Thanks

[Hinalea]

Originally Posted by TravisAZ

Thanks for the reply, Hinalea!

couple of quick questions:

1.) What size/color of rapalas work best out there?
2.) What size hook/weight for dunking?

Thanks

1) 3-5" inchers, Silver on white, red on white, blue on white, salmon or pink on white
what feels good to you. 5' mono leader 20-30# test attached to a decent weighted floater for casting distance and more splash on the retrieve.

2. I hate to admit it but I dont even know what size hooks I use , so I will have to go to the fishing supply to get the size and style for you. I just eyeball the (circle) hook for the size of fish I like catch which is usually 2-10 lb range. For your 50#braid I would go with 30# to 40# mono leader line for the hooks (because of reef and teeth) and a 4-5 oz lead sinker (wind and current considered) for dunking. Get back to you soon on the hook size.

Aloha

[CMonster01]

You can get hooks and terminal tackle at J&E Fishing Supply (amazingly good selection there) and those ladies there know exactly what to get for the kind of fishing you want to do. Tricky to find them if you are not local, but I suppose you can look it up with mapquest or some such.