I am writing you to thank you for recommending Capt. Tad and Reel Luckey for our fishing adventure while on our honeymoon. Granted we had the most spectacular weather for the day and the always choppy waters of Maui resembled many of the lakes and ponds Colleen and I fish back home in New Hampshire.
The guys were ready to rock and roll as soon as we arrived, we were actually early by 20mins which they really loved. We slammed the bait right off the bat, which Tad explained is rare but we took advantage of what was given to us that day and headed out to one of his special spots. We were not fishing for 20min when we hit a fish, Colleen was up and she handled the light tackle like a pro and landed a nice amber jack about 25lbs. Later we had a miss by a hungry ono, then the fun really began. With the weather conditions we had and the type of fishing methods Capt. Tad uses trolling live bait at slow speeds set us up for two spectacular shows by two giant ono. My fish came up to the bait and just swam behind it checking it out, then Tad tapped the gas on the boat and pulled the bait away from the fish. As you may expect this hungry ono did not like this and he exploded through the water and took the bait. I have fished for King Salmon which are known for their epic runs but this fish’s initial run made all those look like a joke, searing speed and a awesome fight. My fish measured in at 64″ long and they guessed at least 55lbs, Brian stated that it was the biggest ono he had ever seen. Colleens 45+lb ono had an even more epic strike (aerial show) which I missed but she did a great job fighting the fish. I have never seen her smile so big in my life and I was so proud of her for fighting that fish all the way in. We landed one more ono about 35lbs, all three fish didn’t fit into the cooler which was wicked awesome. We left the boat with about 10lbs of ono, which is the best fish I have ever eaten in my life (can see why ono means delicious in Hawaiian). Capt. Tad gave us a great recipe and we cooked it in our room later that night, we ate ono for two days straight YUM!
Capt. Tad and Brain are my kind of people and they love to fish as much as we do. They were super guides showing us how to jig up mackerel, how to rig the baits, how to fight certain fish, laid out game plans for when we got a bite, encouraged us when we were fighting the fish, and where just as excited as us when we landed our big ono’s (Brian was shaking as much as I was). I could go on and on about these two guys; they enjoyed us as much as we enjoyed them. It was all in all a home run and I would fish with these guys any day and plan to in the future. I love their fishing style, how they conduct themselves, and their love for the adventure.
To be honest if we didn’t catch a fish it would still have been a great day with these guys because just being out there enjoying the water with Tad and Brain was worth the price of admission. Again thank you so much for helping us pick the right charter, you really know what your doing and I would recommend anyone to talk to you about booking a fishing trip on Maui.
Take care,
-Shane Keyes
