HONOLULU (KHON2) — Video of a large ahi being reeled in from shore has racked up over 150,000 views on TikTok.
The fight lasted 30 to 45 minutes at Makua beach. In the end, Kuni Pule secured his first shore-caught ahi.
“The experience was just indescribable and being able to be there and witness everyone’s reactions filled me with so much joy,” Pule said.
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Excitement was clear upon everyone’s faces as they celebrated the catch in the video posted to social media on July 10.
Pule said the fish weighed 41.48 pounds gut and gilled.
“We had sent the fish to get gyotaku by Devin Walter at Sundance tattoo than we cut the fish up to share with family and friends,” Pule said.
The ahi was caught whipping with a ten foot, seven inch Okuma Hawaiian Custom rod. He used a 4500 slammer IV and Spearhead Ryuki 110 minnow lure. The main line was 25 pounds with a 30 pound j-line leader.
Pule has been fishing for over ten years and said he would “like to give a shoutout to my friends and family that was there, without them I wouldn’t have got this special moment.”
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Carl Meyer, a research professor for the Hawai’i Institute of Marine Biology provided an explanation for the incredible catch.
“The west side of Oahu drops off very quickly to deep water so the natural pelagic habitat of ahi is already very close to shore along that coastline so it is not that surprising,” Meyer said.
Ahi are known to frequent deep waters, however Meyer recalled instances where the fish were caught closer to shore in Kaneohe bay and Heeia small boat harbor.
“Sometimes pelagic fishes stray into shallow waters especially if deep water is close by,” Meyer said. “Kudos to the fisherman – that is a big fish to land on that skinny pole!”
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