Freshwater Hawaiians!

  • This week I had the pleasure of hooking up with that other windward Big Island fish slayer, aka Akira dkt, to do some fresh water hunting at Lake Pleasant, AZ. The last time I spoke with Josh we were standing in a parking lot at Waiakea Ponds/ Wailoa River discussing the build I wanted him to do for a travel-take down gun. The first meeting having taken place at Tokunaga's in Hilo. Now here we both were in AZ (me because my job has me based here, and for Josh he was attending his sister's graduation) with a chance to go and see what damage we could do in the lakes around Phoenix. Due to the heavy rains AZ has had, the water in some of the lakes was too dirty to dive. But lake pleasant was at least good enough to dive, though not super clear. Both Josh and I had visions of shooting striped bass, but only got a few sightings. Water got dark and cold at 30-50', so most shooting occurred in mid 30's. All we were able to shoot were carp...although other fish were sighted, only carp and striped bass are legal for spearing.:nono: But shooting fish is shooting fish so we made sure we shot a lot of whatever we could legally shoot. Day one the total fish taken were 13 decent sized carp...not a great culinary success but they are a lot of fun to shoot and put on your kui! Day two ended in a total count of 10. Out of self preserved pride I will only say that we traded positions for who shot the most fish:cool2:


    Having Josh here in AZ for a couple of days was a great boost of local Big Island stoke. This kid can hunt! And yes, the smile you always see in his fotos is real and genuine...reminded me of diving with my sons. As for the gun build...absolutely beautiful.Weve already started talking about my next Akira dkt build. His wood working is masterful and allows the character of the raw blank to come through. I gave him a few "must haves" that I wanted to see in the build and cut him loose to design and create as the builder. I will be taking this gun to Indonesia and back to Big Island to "baptize" the gun next month as my 17 year old and I set off on another exotic adventure....the accounting of which will not be found in the "Freshwater Shooting" thread. :laughing2:


    Ive asked Akira dkt to post about the build and share the pictures he has of the build progression. For any of you looking for your next build, especially if you want a unique and innovative approach to guns, talk to Josh.



    Can't upload the pictures for some technical reason...maybe Josh, you can throw them up on a reply


    Big Mahalos for reading...


    A Hui Hou!


    Aloha!
    Makoa

    HUI KOA KAI O HAMAKUA
    MAHALO KE AKUA
    E MALAMA I KE KAI

    Edited 2 times, last by makoa: Pictures ().

  • First of all I would like to thank Makoa for his genuine hospitality and his willingness to show me some of his freshwater stomping grounds. This guy on both dive days, drove almost an hour to pick me up from my family's house, and about an hour half to the dive spot, he let me use some of his dive gear and even got me to shoot the first fish of both dive days.


    I had a blast shooting carp, seeing other freshwater game species in their habitats, sharing the stoke of attempting to lift a heavy kui for pics :laughing: , and the awesome conversation shared while driving to and from the lakes about freed dive safety, spear guns, fish, hunting, camping, and future adventures to be had.






    I was pretty bummed that i did not bring my go pro into the water (forgot to bring my charger) although, in 1-3ft viz, it might not have mattered too much. These carp are everywhere, cruising the bottom, and jumping out of the water. They are one of the two spearfishing regulated species in Arizona lakes. Although not the best table fare, spearing these fish is a lot of fun, and I like to think it helps to support the health and presence of native herbivores in the river systems. :thumbsup2:

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