So after a friend of my dad's told us that Kaneohe Bay is the breeding ground for Hammerheads we were set on trying to see one or better yet, catch one!! We headed to the Fishing supply store to see what we'd need.
We were excited to find some awesome pink fishing poles and when we saw that the reel lights up when you turn it we were sold. We were thrilled when the men at the store said we'd for sure catch one if not more. We bought some squid & shrimp and we were told that's what a Hammer pup would eat and we headed to the pier.
It wasn't the best day for Shark fishing. Or maybe fishing at all. The winds were out of control and unfortunately were gusting towards us and not away from us...so casting our line out into the wind was difficult. We couldn't ever get it too far out and once we would the wind and current would slowly carry it back into shore. We were determined and stayed out trying until the rain came.
Day 1 =
Sharks-0
DAY 2: We headed back to He'eia Pier to try again. No rain this day but the winds were still really strong making it difficult to get our hooks out into the reef that was a good 60 feet away.
A big milestone for me today was loading my own bait! I finally found a way to put the squid on the hook all by myself. It was a pretty nasty experience but I'm glad I did it. I felt like such a big girl and I'm sure Brooklyn enjoyed the break.
Eventually Keanue came and met up with us and had some ideas of other places we might have better luck so we followed him to Waikalua Beach Park. It looked promising. We hadn't even gotten from the car to the shore before one of Hawaii's many kind locals started striking up a conversation and trying to help us out.
His name was Jerry. He said our poles looked good, our bait looked good, and the location was good. He'd caught hammer pups right off the shore before when he was really wanting fish. We were confident and loaded our bait. After a little while Brooklyn helped me get the guts to walk out into the water a little help us cast our lines further. I wasn't even to my knees but was sure at any second a shark would be biting my ankles and I quickly headed back to the sand.
We fished for a couple hours and I'm proud to inform you I CAUGHT SOMETHING!!!
A crab. BOOOO. It was a tiny one. I didn't even see it on my bait, Keanue did. It was funny because I didn't really catch it, it just grabbed onto the squid and wouldn't let go.
I wasn't about to try and hold it but still wanted a picture with it..here's what Keanue and I came up with. Can you tell whose arm is whose?
The time came for Brooklyn to head to work but her mom and I decided to give it another go. We'd heard from several people that sharks like brackish water (mix of salt water and fresh water). Like the areas where the ocean meets a river or canal. So we decided to try the canal. We had a great time. Jeanne gave it a few throws.
And I managed to catch another crab. A pretty big one too.
As we chatted and waited a cute dog came running over and ended up hanging out with us for a while.
No sharks today but still some impressive stats...
Day 2 =
Sharks-o
Crabs-2
Dog-1
Matthew Fox sighting-1
Day 3: When I got home from Day 2 of trying to catch a shark I started doing a lot of Hammerhead/Kaneohe Bay research and found a news article about dozens of Hammerhead pups found dead tangled in a net left in a place called, Waikalua Loko Fish Pond in Kaneohe. Waikalua pond sounded so familiar to me. I realized it was the street the church is on and happened to be the street Keanue had just taken us to the day before so I google earthed the pond and it was the name of a certain portion of the bay just 80 feet or so from where we were standing in the water that day!!!
You can imagine my excitement at this point in knowing we were in the right place and that they were out there. So the next morning we were up early and headed back to get closer.
We wanted a shark bad but we knew to get one we were gonna need to get out a little further. Next to the beach there's a pier that's length would take us out right to the edge of the "pond" where I was sure we'd be able to catch something but it had a gate and a private property sign. As we all know desperate times call for desperate measures and so we jumped the gate and rushed out onto the pier, behind a small wooden half wall we thought would keep us a bit hidden. We hooked some squid, threw out the line, and got back behind the wall as fast as we could. This day there was less wind and we were able to get it out there a ways further than we had previously I was positive today was the day.
We weren't there long before we heard feet walking towards us...that's about the time my nervous giggles usually set in. Three security patrol type men came. They asked us what we were fishing for and were surprised for us to answer "sharks." They said we were definitely in the right place and they were sorry we hadn't had any luck because they needed us to leave. Apparently we were on the property of a rehabilitation center and weren't allowed on the pier. BOOOOOO! Today was gonna to be the day!!!
Day 3 =
Sharks-0
Crabs-0
Puppies-0
Matthew Fox Sightings-0
For two ridiculously impatient women 3 unsuccessful days was all it took for us to lose interest and find other things to do that offered a little more instant gratification. Before you write our experience off as a failure look at our totals:
TOTAL:
sharks -0
crabs-2
puppy-1
matthew fox sighting-1
adorable pink fishing pole-1
Even though we didn't walk away with a Hammerhead in hand...we did have in hand the cutest pink fishing poles ever and with stats like those we can in NO way call this a loss.
We remained determined and decided if we can't bring the sharks to us then we'll go to them...so we booked the SHARK CAGE!!
dun Dun DUN!!!
