Got the opportunity to go out to the NASA buoy with a boat yesterday. The owners of the boat are contracted to do the maintenance on the buoys and clean the sensors. We were invited to come along to the buoy, maybe get in the water and then after the sensors were cleaned head over to Mokoniki rock off Molokai to go dive with the hammerheads. Needless to say I was pretty excited about the opportunity.
Unfortunately as the day wore on plans had to change a little. Right as we were entering the water the captain got a distress call from a friend whos boat had flooded off of mokoniki rock. So after we jammed over there we spent the next 4 hrs towing them back to Mala ramp on Maui. With the day pretty much shot the captain decided to make the run out to the NASA buoy regardless since the weather was nice and he didnt have many more opportunities in the near future.
We made the 1hr 10min run to the NASA buoy which is anchored in ~4800ft of water about 8 miles off the back side of Lanai. As we rounded the back side of lanai we were greeted with glassy crystal clear water. When we got to the buoy there was a huge bird pile with bait fish and tuna hitting the surface. The captain tied off to the buoy they were to clean and my buddy and I geared up and swam up current to the other buoy. Unfortunately though there were tuna everywhere the current was ripping at about 2-3 knots which made the diving near impossible as the boat was tied up and unable to retrieve us if we hooked up to a fish. Not to mention the 6-8ft oceanic white tip we had spotted as we got in.
Regardless we swam up to the other buoy just to check it out and enjoy the fleeting glimpses of 10-40lb yellowfin tuna and smaller skipjack tuna.
As we hung on to the buoy I caught a glimpse of something shimmering a little up current from us and about 15ft below the surface. after a few seconds of looking at it I finally realized that it was the tail end of a long piece of fishing line that disappeared into the blue up current. Since this fishing line was just hovering in the 3 knot current and not tangled on anything I was rather baffled as to what I was looking at. I handed my gun off to my buddy and made the hard swim up current to where I dropped and grabbed the end of the line. As I started pulling I could feel something pulling back. Astonished I started to pull line in hand over hand and within a few moments a small yellowfin tuna or "shibi" as we say in hawaii came into view. Long story short I pulled in a nice little ahi with my bare hands. Still green as can be he did give a little run which cut through my glove and finger subsequently.
So the day didnt end up like we had hoped but came with a pleasant surprise none the less.
Unfortunately as the day wore on plans had to change a little. Right as we were entering the water the captain got a distress call from a friend whos boat had flooded off of mokoniki rock. So after we jammed over there we spent the next 4 hrs towing them back to Mala ramp on Maui. With the day pretty much shot the captain decided to make the run out to the NASA buoy regardless since the weather was nice and he didnt have many more opportunities in the near future.
We made the 1hr 10min run to the NASA buoy which is anchored in ~4800ft of water about 8 miles off the back side of Lanai. As we rounded the back side of lanai we were greeted with glassy crystal clear water. When we got to the buoy there was a huge bird pile with bait fish and tuna hitting the surface. The captain tied off to the buoy they were to clean and my buddy and I geared up and swam up current to the other buoy. Unfortunately though there were tuna everywhere the current was ripping at about 2-3 knots which made the diving near impossible as the boat was tied up and unable to retrieve us if we hooked up to a fish. Not to mention the 6-8ft oceanic white tip we had spotted as we got in.
Regardless we swam up to the other buoy just to check it out and enjoy the fleeting glimpses of 10-40lb yellowfin tuna and smaller skipjack tuna.
As we hung on to the buoy I caught a glimpse of something shimmering a little up current from us and about 15ft below the surface. after a few seconds of looking at it I finally realized that it was the tail end of a long piece of fishing line that disappeared into the blue up current. Since this fishing line was just hovering in the 3 knot current and not tangled on anything I was rather baffled as to what I was looking at. I handed my gun off to my buddy and made the hard swim up current to where I dropped and grabbed the end of the line. As I started pulling I could feel something pulling back. Astonished I started to pull line in hand over hand and within a few moments a small yellowfin tuna or "shibi" as we say in hawaii came into view. Long story short I pulled in a nice little ahi with my bare hands. Still green as can be he did give a little run which cut through my glove and finger subsequently.
So the day didnt end up like we had hoped but came with a pleasant surprise none the less.
