Boom Boom II

Back in the salad days (or more appropriately, the fish course) of our Hawaiian experience, Luis and I went fishing on a boat called the Boom Boom II. It's a full service boat where Capt Tony and Rex, a crusty old fisherman with three teeth, bait the hook, cast the line, remove the fish from the line and fillet it for you to take home. The only tasks that remain are holding the pole, swinging it back and forth and reeling the fish in. It requires patience more than skill. It was still pretty exhilarating to realize that a fish was biting and reel that sucker in.

The fish we caught were skipjack tuna, also known as aku. It took a long time for the fish to start biting but once they did, it was one after another. We took turns with 4 other people on the boat and everyone got at least one fish. I spent a good portion of the time up on top of the boat where Capt Tony was steering and swapping tales of the sea with Rex. Rex had some good ones including the time he was night fishing off the coast of Molokai and got swept out of his boat by a big wave. He floated onto shore and spent the next few days picking opihi (limpets) off rocks to eat. He finally flagged down a passing ship and was rescued.