Cy's Fish Story

The handwritten date on the back of this photo is 11/5/2001. As my brother Cy tells the story, he was standing in hip deep waters fishing off of Bowls behind the Ilikai at about 6 in the morning. Rain runoff had muddied the waters. He was using oama for bait on 12-pound test line when the Kahala struck. There was no way he could horse the fish in with such light gear, so he fought it for about 30 minutes before it started to weaken and he was able to slowly reel it in. As it got within netting distance, Cy realized that the fish was too huge for his tiny net so he decided to back up slowly onto the sandbar, dragging the fish with him.

All of a sudden there was a huge splashing, commotion in the water. Cy at first thought that it might have been the Kahala's mate, but he couldn't see through the muddy water. The next instant, the line with the fish attached slackened and the water beneath him turned a bloody red. That's when he saw a shadow approaching him. He grabbed rocks and started throwing them at it. As it got closer he saw an eye glaring at him. It was the eye of a 15-foot tiger shark. The intensity of the stare so scared him and with little else that he could do, he looked away. Then the shark swam away.

Cy brought all that was left of the fish home. It weighed 5 pounds. My mom took this picture . . . and good thing 'cause that's a pretty unbelievable fish story if I ever heard one . . . yeah.