February 1995 Reprint: Slide-Bait Tech Talk - Part 3 - Making Your Own Magic

Publisher’s Note: By reader request, HFN is reprinting all three of Todd Hayashi’s Tech Talk series. This is the final one printed in February 1995.

I slid my first fish of the trip into the cooler. I was elated to have had the good fortune of landing an ‘omilu after two long, uneventful days of fishing. As I did so, my fishing partner got his fourth fish after having just arrived the night before. He kept on fishing and I just kept on wishing. How he managed to get so many strikes was simply a mystery. Was he just lucky? Was it fate? Was it magic?

I watched and watched, determined to figure out his secret, until finally, it hit me. He was doing something I wasn’t. Kahana Itozaki was moving constantly. After spending a few minutes whipping for small game (moana, ta‘ape, malu, wahanui, aholehole, or others), he would check his baits, recast his poles and slide a fresh bait on each. Then, when he had finally finished, he’d start the cycle all over again, as if he were some sort of cybernetic fishing machine.

Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, of course, but it does serve to illustrate the focus and intensity with which the man approaches ulua fishing. Kahana