Ask the Big Kahuna
“Answering the most common visitor questions”
Question:
Is it true that there are trout and a trout fishing season in Hawaii?
Mahalo,
Curious in California
Response:
Aloha Curious,
Amazingly, yes, there is trout fishing on Kauai — in Kokee on the northwest side of the island. And, of course, the trout are rainbow. Here’s the hook-line-and-sinker, quoted verbatim, from the State of Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources:
“Location: The Kokee Public Fishing Area includes certain streams, reservoirs and ditches in the Kokee State Park on Kauai.
Permitted: With a valid Freshwater Game Fishing License, to fish with one pole and line or one line using one baited hook attached to the single line, or possess any rainbow trout during the trout fishing season, beginning the first Saturday in August and continuing for a period of 16 consecutive days, then only on weekends and holidays for the remainder of August and September, unless suspended.
To use a dip net up to two feet in longest axis, excluding the handle, to land hooked trout. To take up to seven trout per licensee per day during the open season, provided that additional legally taken trout may be possessed under refrigeration. To fish between 5:30 am and 6:45 pm during the open season, provided that all fishermen report before and after fishing activities to designated checking stations.
Hawaii freshwater fishing licenses are available online. The Freshwater Game Fishing License (FWGFL) is required if fishing for rainbow trout in the Kokee Public Fishing Area, Kauai.”
And when you get bored with all the fishing regulations, there’s also seasonal plum picking and pig hunting! You don’t want to know the rules…
May da Big Kahuna suggest that, instead of fishing, you consider leaving the fish in their water homes where they live (unless you are in a survival situation). We are learning that fish do us humans more good when they stay in the water.
To visit fish in their natural habitat, try a snorkeling or SCUBA diving adventure, though you won’t see freshwater trout in the Blue Pacific.
The fish and I thank you, as do our respective descendants…
Big Kahuna