Hawaii angler lands rare giant ulua

A Hawaii man has fulfilled a dream shared by shore fishermen throughout the islands with the rare catch of an ulua weighing 100 pounds or more.

Del Saldajeno, 45, was camping on Oahu with his children earlier this month when the 106-pound fish took his bait.

“I thought it was a big shark because it fought like one,” Saldajeno told For The Win Outdoors. “But after a 20-minute fight I focused my eyes with the help of my headlamp and I could see the underneath part of its jaw and I yelled, ‘It’s a GT!’ ”

The ulua, which inhabits tropical reefs in the Pacific and Indian oceans, is commonly referred to as giant trevally, or GT. The fish are prized for their power, but also because the larger uluas around the Hawaiian islands are so elusive and caught almost exclusively at night.

Saldajeno, whose previous best catch tipped the scale at 73 pounds, told Hawaii News Now that he had been trying to join the exclusive 100-pound club for 23 years.

“Some fishermen have gone their whole lives not catching one, so it took me 23 years. So that’s pretty lucky,” Saldajeno said.

Saldajeno, who lives in Wahiawa, told For The Win Outdoors that he and his 12-year-old son, Xyrus, and 10-year-old daughter, Kanoe, had been camping at an undisclosed North Shore beach.

“The fish hit right after the kids and I had finished dinner and I was letting them burn off the sugars from the s’mores,” Saldajeno said. “They were playing around the campfire and I had just set up my rods.”

The ulua, which took a small reef fish used as bait, was reeled through crashing waves. Xyrus and Kanoe gazed wide-eyed as the massive ulua washed onto the beach, and Xyrus handed his dad a gaff.

“The kids were in awe,” Saldajeno said. “It was the biggest fish they’ve witnessed daddy catch. I gave each one of them a big hug and thanked them for being such great troopers.”

The ulua was hauled to the campsite in a tarp and placed in a cooler. After returning home, Saldajeno had the fish printed on a rice-paper canvas, as part of a Japanese art form called Gyotaku.

He then prepared a feast for family and friends.

“Especially those that are no longer able to rough it outdoors, and elders that can no longer go fishing,” he said. “We made smoked fish and fish burgers with our share.”

For the sake of comparison, the International Game Fish Assn. lists as the all-tackle world record a 160-pound, 7-ounce giant trevally caught from a boat off Tokara, Japan, in 2006.

–Top images are courtesy of Del Saldajeno. Bottom image showing an ulua underwater is via Wikipedia