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I have always loved fishing my whole life! I started when I was 3 years old with a bamboo pole catching tilapia in the stream at Moanalua Gardens Park. I got my first rod and reel when I was 5. My Mom forced me to take piano when I was 8 and my smart Dad made a deal with me that if I practiced my piano every day for 30 minutes during the week, then he would take me fishing on the weekends! We went fishing almost every weekend until I could drive myself with my friends. My goals were to catch an Ulua from shore and still haven’t accomplished that goal.
I began my Pediatric Dental career in Oceanside, CA in 1992. In 1994 I caught my first marlin in the East Cape in Baja California and was hooked on offshore fishing! My friend and I were thinking of buying a Zodiac from Costco at first. As I studied doing research on many types of boats decided on a 33’ Blackfin because it was a modified Bertram with a low sleek profile and low freeboard with a deep V hull.
I’ve been reading all the major salt water fishing magazines and especially enjoyed articles by Mike “the Beak” Hurt, who was the offshore editor for Marlin, Sportfishing, and Saltwater Sportsman magazine noticing that he had a 619 San Diego area code called him looking for a mentor because owning my first boat was a lot more that I thought it would be learning how to drive it, maintaining it, and learning how to catch fish with it! He looked at my boat and gave me suggestions on modifying it from an east coast to west coast boat removing the fighting chair and adding a bait system. After a year he was done with his previous commitment of running another boat and I hired him to run mine! He mentored me educating me on driving, maintaining, and fishing resulting in a lot more fun and catching tons of fish with a boat that was in top shape!
In 2002, I decided to move back home to Hawaii to be closer to my family and most of all to fish in warmer waters with a chance to catch some BIG fish! Now after doing a lot of bait fishing for striped marlin in Southern California, I had to adjust to lure fishing in Hawaii for much bigger fish. I fished with some friends that helped me and the learning curve was slow losing a lot of fish for many different reasons as well as my boat breaking down not being able to find a good boat mechanic. In 2004, I caught my first ahi in the Ahi Fever Tournament and took 3rd place the year my daughter Taryn was born! In 2005, my brother in law Gilbert Yoshida said that he was a mechanic and could look at my boat. He was the best gift because he jumped in and fixed everything on the boat till today not having to hire anyone! He’s my main crew who can drive leader, gaff, and anything else that’s needed learning by trial and error improving with more experience.
In 2010, my friend Steve Lee introduced me to the Waialua Boat Club (WBC) that showed me a very different side of fishing! Many of the club members were excellent fishermen that freely shared their knowledge and experience of where the fish were, what they were biting, different techniques that they use which I learned a lot shortening my learning curve. I was raised in a secretive environment of scarcity and competition where I wasn’t supposed to show the other guy my technique but as I thought about it, I never caught an Ulua my whole life so who would care about what I did anyway and maybe if I came from a more abundant and cooperative mindset of sharing and helping others, I may have caught an Ulua! I now enjoy fishing more than ever learning from each other and cheering for my friends to catch a big one, celebrating with them when they do! Another part of the meeting that used to go over my head for a few years was when Uncle Roy Morioka talked in the legislative and government part of the meeting, where he would review the bills and updating us on what’s going on in the government. As I began studying this more and hearing Uncle Roy telling us all the time that we need to get involved by taking action and making a difference because we need numbers. As I have been studying and understanding this more, now it has become a passion of mine to make a difference by getting the numbers of fishermen together having a louder voice which is the inspiration of my Lokahi Fishing app! I believe that there are many fishermen like me who have been fishing for years and had no clue that a few leaders in the fishing industry like Uncle Roy and Ed Watamura have been fighting for us for 20-30 plus years and if we knew what was going on that we would help our own cause taking action together! I envisioned creating a communication tool that would solve my own challenge before I went fishing which is checking the wind, tide, moon, weather, sea surface temperature, current, and most importantly what is biting, where it’s biting and what they are biting on all on one place that is exactly what the Lokahi app does! The WBC has improved my fishing experience and luck winning many club tournaments and winning the Ahi Shootout, the biggest tournament on the island! The WBC has honored me with the highest awards of the Fishermen of the Year and the Sportsman of the Year for service to the club promoting me to Vice President for my second year! I am engaged to my beautiful soul mate Lauren, who is my lucky fishing partner and have a wonderful daughter Taryn, both of whom fulfill my life growing together enjoying our journey! I have a successful pediatric dental practice with a team I love working with delivering outstanding dental care in a fun and loving environment to our wonderful patients! Lauren and I enjoy real estate investing here in Hawaii and on the Midwest.
My passion now is to add massive value to connect fishermen to fishermen and fishermen to fish with my Lokahi Fishing app! I’ve had this idea for a few years now that was stalled not having the right development team. In December of 2017, I got lucky and attracted Rich Christiansen, who is a business developer specializing in apps and websites moving our app forward very nicely creating an outstanding product! Our fisheries consultant is Ed Watamura, who is the president of WBC, member of the Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council, NOAA Non-Commercial Fisheries advisor, etc. adding valuable insight in making the most impact toward sustaining our fisheries!
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