As for the guided ocean kayak fishing trip I took looking for trevali.......
It was absolutely fantastic!
And because it was hard to locate online, and I was so impressed by the experience, I am going to post a bit of an online plug for the guy who runs it here. Hopefully, at least one of you will give him a call and confirm or counter my description below on your next trip.
The guide:
Hats off to the guide, Nathan Kirsch. Dude works his butt off, has quality equipment, knows his target waters, the fishery and is as nice and professional as they come. I was highly impressed by him and man o man was it a GREAT time! As such, I am writing this post so that other OFFers do not miss the opportunity to support his very small (its only him), personalized business when you take the inexpensive and quick trip to Kauai.
Nathan is also a full time deck hand on a larger operation in Kauai. I am not familiar with that business but wanted to note that he fishes 7 days a week (when there is business available), either as a deck hand, or running his own business. Just wanted to point that out to detail his exposure and knowledge. The kayak gig is small, but his skill set did not seem to be. And if you look at the gallery on his website, I think it speaks for itself.
He also allows you to keep all of your catch if you'd like to. Most (as far as I can tell all) boats in Kauai do not allow clients to keep anything over 25 lbs as the rest can be sold to fish markets. However, Nathan does not limit you in that way, which is unique to that area. (I did not keep one fish..... all were released, though, I could've.)
Dude even took me out on Thanksgiving morning even though we had planned for Tuesday originally. Weather was best Thursday so he gave up part of his holiday to make sure I had the best experience I could.
The trip:
I only booked a two hr morning session with him, on a tandem Hobie peddle kayak with him in the back and me in the front. He called me two days ahead to ask me exactly what I wanted to do... what species I wanted to target, methods I wanted to use, catch and release vs retention fishing, and to discuss my overall angling skill set. The trip was absolutely tailored to my very specific requests. I could've taken my own kayak and he would have mirrored me.... but, for my first time ocean kayaking, I wanted his experience and guidance to drive the trip. A decision that I am very happy with.
We launched from a small harbor (Im not going to name it because thats his deal, not mine) just before dawn and trolled a big rapala and casted large poppers for GTs. In short time I was able to hook and land four GTs, ranging from about 5 - 15ish lbs or so, without even leaving the bay. They fought well and were absolutely gorgeous fish.
We started heading offshore to target GTs and tuna but were halted by a large pod of spinner dolphins that schooled all around us, rising out of the water literally within arms reach of the kayak. I asked to stick with them for a bit to take a video for my wife and he accommodated.
The wind eventually picked up enough and the time had flown by so we didn't make it offshore this time, though if I had booked a longer trip I am very confident that Id have landed a tuna or more GTs, likely much larger than I did in the bay.
@ IrishRover:
He also OFFers sightseeing kayak tours, whale and dolphin watching etc.. Including the fishing.... any of these would be incredible for your 50th. Congratulations by the way sir. You obviously found the right one and have worked hard along the way! Hats off to you and your wife.
I have attached some photos from the trip and eventually will add a few clips from my go pro (If I can ever figure out to edit it).
Last but certainly not least... The trip was priced right! His rates are much lower than other operations I found though in my opinion, he could charge much more. Anyway.. if you head to Kauai, I highly recommend bucketlistadventureskauai!