Pan fried Menpachi and Aweoweo

One of the most delicious ways to cook up small pan size Menpachi and Aweoweo is to fry them up whole. This recipe is fairly simple and can be modified to suit your taste. Here are the steps I use:

Ingredients:
Pan size fish (between 6-8 inches)
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Cooking oil

1) Clean and gut the fish. With Aweoweo, removing the scales is optional, but if it is a large one, I recommend scaling it.

2) Cut some diagonal slits into the side of the fish. These slits are to absorb some of the spices as well as to easily check the status of the fish during cooking.

3) Blot the fish with paper towel and rub salt and pepper on the outside and inside of the fish.

4) Add some oil to a frying pan or wok to about the 1" level (more if it's a thick fish).

5) Heat the oil, but the trick is to make sure the oil isn't too hot. If the oil is too hot, the fish will burn on the outside and still be raw on the inside. I usually put my stove on medium heat.

6) Dip the fish in cornstarch to lightly coat each side.

7) Put the fish in the oil to cook for approximately 3 minutes on each side. Do not disturb the fish while it is frying. Moving the fish too early will damage the skin of the fish. For a large fish, you may need to fry it for a minute or two longer per side.

8) Remove it from the pan and place on a paper towel to absorb the oil.

9) Top with garlic salt (or shoyu) and enjoy with steamed rice.

Aweoweo and Menpachi

Went out last night to try catch some redfish. We had originally planned to go fishing on the east side but the conditions were not right so we ended up fishing on the south shore close to home.

Jon brought up a Menpachi within the first 10 minutes of getting our lines in the water. He also brought up a decent size Aweoweo shortly after.

Sadly for me I wasn't able to bring up anything. Must be the fishing gods aren't happy with me.

However, I was pleased with the fact that my new Nitro rod was able to cast out decently far. If I had to guess, I was regularly throwing a 2 oz lead about 75 yards out. We were fishing from a cliff so that probably skewed the numbers a bit, but in general I was pleased with the distances I was getting.

It was moderately windy, the current was strong, and we were getting stuck on Oahu fairly often, so after a few hours we called it a night. Not a great night for fishing, but I was happy to just get out there to test my new gear. Hopefully I'll get a chance to break in my new gear and catch something our next time out.

Nitro Surf Graphite

I picked up the 10' Nitro Surf Graphite from Sears at Ala Moana for $95. The pole is rated Med Hvy action (12-30 lb line). Model number is NS100MH, and the length is 10 feet.

Unfortunately there wasn't much information on this rod available on the web, so I'll have to do my own review after I try it out this week.

Nitro also produces another series of whipping rods called "seatech" as well as heavy action ulua poles in the 12'-13' range. I have heard many good things about the ulua poles, but I wanted to buy a good all around pole without spending a lot of money on a custom made rod. With the Nitro Surf 10', I can use this rod for almost anything from whipping for aweoweo or mempachi to light dunking for papio or smaller sized ulua.

Daiwa Exceler 4000

Here is a picture of the Daiwa Exceler 4000:



Specifications:
Ball Bearings: 6
Gear Ratio: 4.9 : 1
Weight: 13.9 oz
Line Capacity: 300/10, 260/12

I paid approximately $62 off of ebay (including shipping).

I've loaded it up with a mono backing and 300 yards of 20lb Power Pro. It will be put to the test this weekend at a spot on the east side of Oahu.

Aweoweo pics

Since I haven't been able to go fishing recently, I've decided to share some pictures from a fishing trip in January of this year (2007). My friend Jon and I went to his "secret spot" on the North shore of Oahu. All of them were caught using grubs and glowsticks.

The bite was on and we were bringing one up every few casts. Unfortunately, the bite lasted only for about an hour and then the aweoweo moved on.

I can't wait to go fishing again. I think we're planning something for Thanksgiving weekend which means I need to pick up the rest of my fishing tackle before then.

My Return to Fishing

Welcome to my new blog about fishing on Oahu. I've actually been fishing since I was about 5 years old. My family used to spend a lot of time on the North Shore of Oahu having bbq's and fishing at Haleiwa. As I got older, I dabled in Ulua/Papio fishing thru high school and college.

After college I moved to California and my fishing adventures took a back seat to career and family. I did some fresh water trout fishing and some pier fishing down in Santa Cruz, but these were few and far between.

I've since moved back to Hawaii and plan to start fishing again. My buddy Jon is a hardcore fisherman and will most likely be my fishing buddy. It's always good to fish with a buddy in case of emergencies *knock on wood*.

Unfortunately most of my gear has either been thrown away or left on the mainland so I've slowly been acquiring some new gear. I recently purchased a 10' Nitro Surf medium/heavy rod for all around usage. Additionally, I also picked up a Daiwa Exceler 4000 which I will be loading with 20lb PowerPro line. I still have my Ulua gear from my younger days but I'm not sure how much Ulua fishing I'll be doing. I'll probably spend a lot of time whipping and dunking for small game.

My plan is to keep a record of my fishing trips (catch or not) and update this site... Hopefully I'll have some successful fishing stories to tell soon.