The Heartbreak of Fishing 

It was a dark night and we were heading to Laupahoehoe Point, a common fishing spot, a 15 minute drive from my house . In the  1800 Laupahoehoe Point  was a small fishing village and a scenic outlook . It’s also famous for the tsunami that happened in 1946 where an entire school was swept out to sea . On that  night the stars were sparkling. The sky was dark. There were waves and lots of white wash so it was a good night to be fishing.

My dad is a fisherman. He grew up fishing, up and down the Hamakua coast. My uncle taught him how to fish, in turn my dad taught me everything he knows. It’s better to fish on the Hamakua coast when there is no moon and there is some  commotion, white wash, in the water. It is also better to fish on a dark night because the ulua don’t really like the light so they hunt their food at night. It’s easier for them to hunt their food then because the daytime fish go and sleep and night fish come out during the night. So you want a little white wash and commotion in the water because the bait fish hides inside and it makes it easier for the ulua to hunt the bait fish. 

When we got to our spot we set up camp and poles .We were just chilling under the tent talking and all of a sudden the bell rang. My dad was like “Your pole! Your pole! I started running on the rocks praying to God I wouldn’t twist my ankle or fall. I grabbed the pole and the fight began. As I fought the fish my dad

was yelling “ Reel, Reel! Boost!. I fought the fish for like six minutes. Then I saw my double line and rubline which meant the fish was coming close . Then the fish let go and my bait came flying back at me. “ Everybody was like “Noooo“Nooo”! It was really heartbreaking to lose my first fish that way.

It was tough  to lose this fish, t we just had to think positive and just keep trying. Funny thing , as I was writing this story I went fishing over the weekend and I caught my first two ten pound ulua in one night! So you just have to think positive and never give up, just keep trying. It’s called fishing not catching.