Found ourselves on Kauai for a work/play trip. Many of the more popular attractions (Wailua River and Na Pali coast) were closed due to recent flooding but found plenty else to do.
- Kokee State Park
Hiked through clouds for most of the trail which made for some pretty surreal scenery.
- Lolo Point
Clouds cleared just long enough to sit at Lolo Point and eat some spam musubi for lunch.
- Wamea Canyon State Park
Loved the deep color of the clay.
- These guys are so fun on lighter set ups.
Caught a half-day trip and picked at some small yellowfin and skipjack. Threw a bunch of different lures and flies at them and had three fish on a handful of times. Fishing regulations and practices are quite different than what I'm used to in So Cal and was surprised to release a few of the smaller ones as soon as they hit the deck. Fish weren't out of the water too long, no visible signs of bleeding or foul hooks, and the deck hand knew what he was doing. That being said, never thought I would be catching and releasing tuna.
- Skipjacks fight pretty hard.
Hit a few skipjack and these little guys fought as hard as the larger yellowtail. According to the crew, skipjack are the liveliest on the line and definitely felt it reeling them in on a spinner set up (they hard large baitcaster reels but we also used a small spinner once we got on the smaller fish).
- Hotel room poke
In Hawaii it common practice for the crew to keep most of the fish (if large enough) to take to market. Since we weren't cooking, it wasn't too big of a deal but did bring two fillets worth to make some poke in the hotel room. Bought a $12 chefs knife at Safeway, ponzu, nori furikake, and wasabi and had a very tasty four ingredient poke in our hands.
Did our share of beach sampling, tropical drink drinking, and local dining as well. Felt too short, but just another place to look forward to visiting again.
