Written by Paul Belmudes   

Inspiration from Josh Holmes @ Yakabout.com.au

Much aloha and mahalo to Josh Holmes, aka "YakAss" of Yakabout.com.au. Yes... if you are visiting this site from Josh's recommendation to see the similarities, it's because of the software program "Joomla" that I am using.  With limitations to Joomla, YakHawaii is not meant to be a copy of Yakabout.  I've made changes to my website on the request of Josh, but there are limitations  The software I used for the template came out of the box (Artisteer) that you can see by their demo from the Internet that gave me the options of having 2 or 3 columns.  Yes I chose a center based main content feature with side columns on each side similar to Yakabout and designed my own header.

Before I started this site, I did communicate with Josh and he recommended Joomla as his content management system (CMS) and said it was not an easy program to work with but managed the content well, so I went with it.  To have a CMS for articles, photos and videos, it's important to have the options of extensions that work in Joomla (photo gallery, comment section, etc...) in comparison to designing your own... that is why I chose Joomla CMS over others such as Wordpress, Blogger and Drupal.  Design your own site and you will see why.

Now I really want to say that YakAbout to me is the best content driven website out there dealing with videos and article writing about kayak fishing.  If you have not visited this site, I highly recommend visiting Yakabout. This site is a great place to learn from on rigging a kayak.

What draws attention to videos on a great website are shark stories that are on edge, whale stories because they are so huge in comparison to the size of a kayak.  Great websites share personal experiences in the water... you never know what you are going to hook-up from a plastic floating device.  And of course you need informative product reviews on "how to" equip a kayak for fishing.  Josh is a fantastic writer that gives an Aussie spin on things and I enjoy his camera angles from his AI with his commentary on videos with suspenseful sound editing.

No my site is not a copy of Yakabout but shares foundations from the building blocks of CMS and videos in which everyone adds text and music to video.  Since Yakabout started way back when, he will always be an original one no matter if he changes his look.

Everyone who accessorizes a kayak for fishing uses various vendors on the web who pretty much sell the same thing.  Your rigging can be very simple to heavily equipped based on your pocket book $$$.  Our world of kayak fishing is very limited to the manufacturers of equipment and we will have some similarities including the waterproof cameras we use. Nowadays, I see more and more cameras out there on kayaks and videos posted to YouTube from the Big Island as well as all over the world.  You are not alone Yakabout!

The bottom line to all of this... kayak fishing is kayak fishing.  As I explained to Josh in an email, a newspaper company is a newspaper company.  Pick one up and it shares the same similarities of design and content to all newspapers through out the world... news of the day, articles, photos, classifieds and so forth and focuses on local content. Same with a kayak fishing website using Joomla such as Kayak Fishing Magazine.

I am sorry that his website is experiencing a hacker and I only wish him the best as he designs Yakabout 2.  As you discover new videos that fancy kayak fishing, just enjoy the content and don't worry about the "Artisteer" cookie box web site that YakHawaii uses. Thanks for the inspiration Josh and you deserve a lot of credit.

And I want to thank Chris Finch at Reel Islander Adventures, my kayak fishing buddy and friend who got me involved in kayak fishing after we read an article about it in 2006. And since I spent my time on the water video capturing his catches this last year (he catches often and posts his videos), I decided to mount my camera for myself featuring my hook-ups.

UPDATE: I have not been out on the water for three weeks as I was on holiday in California and hope to share some new future experiences as I get back out there.  Aloha!

Written by Paul Belmudes   

The Solunar Table and Moon Phase said "Average Fishing at Best"...

Got a call from Reggie Thursday night asking me if I wanted to fish South Point on Friday morning. After spending the morning kayak fishing with Reggie paddling (pedaling) 10 miles up and down at Keauhou with no success, it was definetly something I wanted to do, I just had to clear it with my wife. With her o.k., the plan was to launch at 7 a.m. at South Point. It took me two hours to get to Reggie's house Friday morning. The winds were a little alarming and we could see that the South Point was going to be called off. So we decided on a alternative plan to fish Miloli'i.

Miloli'i is located 30 miles south of Kailua-Kona at mile marker 89 down traveling down a long and winding road. It was my first time to fish there. This village is considered to be a very tight local fishing community. As we scouted our location to launch, Reggie pointed to the protective cove on the right side of the bay close to the old boat launching and the specific angle to travel through the bay to avoid the wave break. He also commented that this would probably be a day to get to know Miloli'i as it looked as though the fishing was going to be quiet, especially since we blanked the day before in Keauhou. There were no boats or fellow anglers in sight to confirm this feeling. It looked as though we had the whole bay to ourselves. Maybe the solunar calendar was right saying that the fishing was going to be average at best for the west side of the Big Island!

The surf was up and it was low tide as when we departed the launch area around 8 o'clock in the morning. Reggie led the way and the current was soft moving south to north. The winds were calm in this protected village and the water settled like a lake past the wave break. The drop-off shelve was very fast to get to, directly west and we were only one-half of a mile out at 40 fathoms. We decided to move south and started talking about how slow we expected the day to be. Boy were we wrong as not more than a few moments after our conversation, Reggie took a strike. You never know if you'll catch a fish unless you are out there.

The sudden strike for Reggie was thought to be an ulua hit by its characteristics. Then within a minute of Reggies strike, I took a hit to my line. The reel screamed fast as the fish peeled out and ran out another 150 feet of line before I slowed it down. It was heading towards Reggie's kayak and his fish on his line was heading towards my kayak. We thought for a moment that maybe we were on the same fish but that thought quickly changed. My fish dove straight down and as well as the fish on Reggie's line. Again we thought we hit an ulua school with those signs.

Not wasting anytime, we both reeled up our lines and five minutes later, we both spotted an ono down sixty-five feet between our kayaks. Whose was it? Reggie and I were within 30 yards of each other. Since I use a Hobie Revo with a pedal system, I quickly changed my rudder direction to the right as I held my line tight to pull away from the area so our lines would not get caught up with each other. Dragging my fish behind me, it was now clear that both Reggie and I had ono on the end of our lines. Within moments of each other giggling, we hauled in our catches, took photos and headed back in.

It was an unbelievable day on the water as this sight seeing advenure definitely turned out to be a recommended tour on the Big island of Hawaii. We were in and out of the water within an hour and it was an exceptional day for fishing.