My son's first two kings were giants!

[Prof. Salt]

Matthew came home for a few days before a two year assignment to Okinawa. He came home and asked if we could paddle offshore and I'm sure I could hear the angels singing. We loaded all our gear and had a friend Bert meet us at 3:45 am, we loaded up and headed South to some "sure-thing" king fishing. When we arrived WAY down the beach, we began to unload kayaks and I looked around for our Tackle Pods. They had all my gear, every lure, the sunscreen and gloves, sunglasses, camera, video cams and anything else I wanted. They were still in the living room at home. In my entire life I have never forgotten something so important on a fishing trip. Hmm... I shrugged and looked at Bert. He gave us a couple of wire rigs and lures, and away we went, paddling Reloads with big holes right in the middle of the kayaks. I have just a few days to teach my boy how to fish offshore and I will get it done despite whatever self-inflicted problems rise. We had no GPS or fish finder (that's mounted to my stinking Tackle Pod!) but we found the structure anyway and caught fish.

Matthew scored his first kingfish on the way out ...a whopping 49 inch beast. His next king was even better, going 55 inches! I showed him how to handle big fish at the kayak by tailing them and removing hooks. He decided to switch to bottom fishing after that, and he caught lots of new species for his list. He's trying to learn some techniques to fish in Okinawa, and I figured trolling and jigging near the bottom probably work everywhere.

I caught a BUNCH of kings, along with two nice snapper and a new species for me, a Tomtate Snapper. Few photos were taken because... well, we already covered that. The one here was taken on my iphone. Bert, who had not caught more than one king on any one trip, landed double digits.

This morning we got up and went to MP for more action. We took the Tackle Pods this time and it was a less stressful experience. Matthew landed his own kings, dealt with tailing and removing hooks like a pro, and after putting three eating sized fish in the bag decided to concentrate on jigging again. He stayed busy with a variety of species again while I hammered 22 kings. Sharks were thick some of the time, and they stole and maimed several kings. They also stole $80 worth of my Halco lures. I need a Halco sponsorship...

[kickingback]

Well done!!! Excellent report Glenn! Congrats on having your son out fishing and catching! Good father! Let him know I thank him for his service! Good son!
I lost THREE Halco lures myself on Thursday. Damn Spanish macks were snagging them and biting them off even AFTER I added 36" of titanium wire. They were just toothy that day.
I was catching my smacks on the bottom dropping the Halco down to jig it and when I reeled them up they would all jump in the air and shake the hook. Too funny.
If you do become a Halco sponsored angler I may have to hit you up for some smoking deals on them!

[Tombo]

I can picture your son kayak fishing off Okinawa. Maybe go in a boat first, some big critters over there.
Can you tell your son thank you from me for his dedication, my father was a retired infantry officer.

[Prof. Salt]

Thanks Kickingback, Halco likes my posts, but has not hinted at any kind of deal. I use what works, so I'll keep buying them like everyone else I suppose.

Tom, I told him to start in a boat first and get the hang of things. When I told him they rent boats and gear by the day he smiled and said he might come home broke and a good fisherman. That's my boy.

And Thanks, I will pass on both of your kind thoughts.

[bigfost]

Sorry, but I had to laugh at how your report started. Those 345 AM mornings will do that to you sometimes.

Congrats on making lemonade from lemons and for getting out there with your son. Quality time spent with your kids, of any age, can't be beat.

[Tagdog]

Sounds like good trips despite the missing tackle pods. Which Halcos do you use I have a blue Halco Max 110 that I have caught Yellow fin Tuna on and my biggest King Fish! I thought I was the only one using these for Kingfish. My favorite lure!

[Killerbee]

Congrats on a great trip!

[Prof. Salt]

Tagdog, the baitfish pattern gets more strikes than any other I’ve tried. I’ve tried pilchard, chrome red head, bruised mackerel and a few others. All get hits but baitfish just gets smashed all the time!

[kickingback]

Agreed!!!^^^

[rattlesnake68]

Looks like that was a GREAT trip. Glad you all got into them heavy.

[Tagdog]

I actually use the Halco Max 130, it's the 80 grams. Are ya'll using that one or the lighter Max 110 which is 30 grams. I have been using the Pilchard pattern but my go to Tuna one is the Baitfish, so I'll try that.

[Prof. Salt]

Tagdog, I get 5x more kings on the 110 than the 130. I have pulled both and the small one is just in a different class. Not sure why they like that one so much but they really do!

[Tagdog]

Thanks for that info. The Yellow Fin Tuna love that 80 gram Baitfish! I guess the 30 gram trolls better from the slower kayak. Until now I I did not think about using the smaller one but I'll have some before my next trip!

[lahai1dj]

Way to go!!

[AcousticTennis]

LMAO I still cant believe yall needed Bert to bail you out of the tackle mistake. I'm so proud!

[Prof. Salt]

For the longest time I believed bigger baits were better. Big kings will hit big baits, but they’ll also hit small baits. If you can match the common hatch (lots of small bait right now) then your rods will stay bent and your smile muscles will get tired.

...and yes, Bert bailed us out!

[ChrisCastro]

A couple of stud kings like that will have him coming back for more!

[Prof. Salt]

We went back today, and the sharks were stupid thick. We probably saw 20 breaches when spinners or blacktips would spin in the air, crashing down with lots of noise and foam. A 10 foot hammerhead was parading around with his cobia homies, but they wouldn't bite. A 12-13 ft hammer swam beside me with his massive dorsal fin almost even with my eye level. His one large cobia friend swam up to me, but he and his giant taxman left before I could pitch him a ribbonfish.

[Tombo]

Holy mackerel! Did you get a pic?

[Prof. Salt]

After I get Matthew to the airport tomorrow I'll go through the video stuff and see what I got. The hammers were typical: show up for a few seconds and then disappear. That huge dorsal beside my kayak was very cool though!

[prolog22]

Cobia under large sharks is an opportunity.. There gotta be a way to get them..