Home / Fishing
Fishing here, for the people who live here
Fishing on Maui isn't a visitor activity that residents watch — it's how a lot of this county starts a Saturday: tackle on the rocks at first light, boats out of the harbor before the trades build, a cooler that has to earn its ice. This page is the standing home for it: the ways people fish here, the seasons in general terms, the state rules that actually apply to residents, and — once the first edition runs — the weekly layer of conditions and verified listings.
The ways residents fish
From shore
The most local way there is. Rocks, beach parks, and harbor edges at first light — dunking, whipping, and slide-bait rigs off the points, families spread along the sand, grandparents teaching grandkids how to tie a hook. Shoreline is where Maui's fishing culture lives, and most of it is open to fishing unless a restriction is posted.
From a boat
Māʻalaea and Lāhainā harbors and the Kīhei boat ramp are the morning launch points. The water off the county's islands is pelagic water — tuna, mahimahi, ono, marlin — and the state maintains fish aggregating devices (FADs) offshore that concentrate the action. The Division of Aquatic Resources publishes the FAD program's details.
From a kayak
Kayak fishing has grown into its own fleet here: launched at dawn off the leeward shores, trolling the ledges within paddling range of the beach. Quiet, close to the water, and very much a residents' scene — with the same rules, limits, and weather judgment as any other boat.
With a charter or guide
Most residents book a charter the way they book a plumber — when the job calls for it: visiting family who want a day on the water, a crew splitting a boat for a birthday, a first try at offshore before buying gear. The harbor fleets run shared and private trips, and their listings live in this page's weekly layer once it opens.
Shore fishing: the spots residents actually fish
Shore fishing is where Maui's fishing culture lives — and most of the island's shoreline is open to it. These are the spots residents actually fish, each one checked against the source that controls it: the state for the rules, the county and state parks for the access. No secret spots, no invented rules.
- Residents fish free — no marine license, no registration. Visiting family 15+ needs the state Nonresident License ($20/day, $40/week, $70/year, online at fishing.hawaii.gov) unless they're active-duty military or under 15.
- Two closures to memorize: moi is closed June–August; ʻamaʻama (mullet) is closed December–March.
- Measure before you keep: moi 11″ (bag 15) · ʻōʻio 14″ · ulua/pāpio 10″ (bag 20 total) · kala 14″ (bag 4). Sizes are fork length.
- Maui's own goatfish rules: kūmū 12″ (bag 1) · moano 8″ · moano kea 12″ (bag 2) · munu 8″ (bag 2) · weke nono 12″ · other goatfish 8″ · ʻōama bag 50, hook-and-line only.
- Uhu on Maui: 10″ minimum, big uhu 14″, bag 2 total — and the two big terminal males, ʻeleʻele and uliuli, are no-take on Maui, period.
- No statewide pole limit — but Kahului Harbor's FMA caps you at 2 poles with tight gear rules, and lay nets are banned within 3 miles of Maui's whole shoreline.
- Parks close at night. County beach parks post their own hours, and the county code closes every park 10 p.m.–6 a.m. unless posted otherwise.
- Rules change. DAR's current regulations are the word that counts — this box is the shape of them, not a substitute.
Kalama Park & the Kamaʻole shoreline — Kīhei
County beach parks strung along South Kīhei Road, sand broken by reef points, posted 7-to-7. Fish the points and the quiet ends of the beaches — dunking for ʻōʻio over the sand, whipping for pāpio along the reef — and leave the lifeguarded swim zones to the swimmers.
Polo Beach & the Wailea points — Wailea
A county beach park (parking, restrooms, no lifeguard) with the Wailea shoreline accesses signed along Wailea Alanui Drive. The lava points between the beaches are the fishing ground: whipping for pāpio, dunking off the deep edges. Wave-washed rock — keep your footing and your eyes up.
Haycraft Park — Māʻalaea
Ten parking spaces at the end of the condo strip, and the County itself lists shoreline fishing among this park's uses. Sand running east toward Sugar Beach; dunking water. Mornings, before the trades own the afternoon.
Kanahā Beach Park — Kahului
Four lots, 189 spaces, broad white sand by the airport — and steady trade winds the County warns you about in its own park description. Dunking for ʻōʻio, whipping the reef edges. No lifeguard; the harbor next door is a separate regulated area with its own rules (below).
Kahului Harbor — know the FMA rules first
The harbor is a state Fisheries Management Area: 2 poles max, one line each, landing nets only, no snagging, 50 fish a day cap. It's also a working DOT commercial harbor — DAR's fishing rules don't grant access to harbor property, so fish only where access is open and posted, and stay clear of the security zone around cruise ships.
H.A. Baldwin Beach Park — Pāʻia
A long sand beach park on the Hāna Highway — shoulder parking for ~100 cars plus a sand lot — with lifeguards at the main beach. Dunking over sand away from the swim area. Full north-shore exposure: when the winter swell is running, this shoreline is out.
Hoʻokipa Beach Park — Pāʻia side
Three lots and 170+ spaces at Mile 9, lifeguards 8 to 4:30, sand below a rocky point. Whipping off the rocky ground is the old pattern here — on calm, small-surf days only. This is world-class big-wave water; if the surf is up, the answer is no.
Māla Wharf — Lahaina
Lahaina's working small-boat corner, reopened to recreational use in October 2023 after the fire. Whipping and dunking off the wharf area. Note: DLNR flagged possible contaminant exposure here in 2023 and said fish safety was then unknown — check current Health Department guidance before eating fish from the immediate burn-zone shoreline. (Lahaina Harbor itself is commercial-operations-only for now — not an angler spot.)
Black Rock & Kahekili Beach Park — Kāʻanapali
Park at Kahekili Beach Park (65 Kai Ala Dr) and fish the point and reef edges — inside the Kahekili Herbivore Fisheries Management Area. Fishing is legal here; uhu, surgeonfish, nenue, and sea urchins are not — taking any of them is illegal, and feeding fish is prohibited. Swimmers and snorkelers everywhere — cast clear of people.
Hāna Beach Park — Hāna Bay
The County lists fishing among this black-sand park's sports, with 140 mostly street-side spaces on Keawa Place. Fish the shoreline. The pier is not part of the deal — it's a condemned, barricaded state harbor structure. Stay off it.
Waiʻānapanapa State Park — Hāna
The State Parks division lists shore fishing among the park's activities — inside a wild black-sand coastline of stacks and blowholes. Reservations are required, hours are 7 to 6, residents enter free with Hawaiʻi ID (visitors pay entry and parking). Book before you drive out.
Keʻanae Peninsula — Keʻanae
A rugged lava peninsula off the Hāna Highway past Mile 16: gravel access, limited roadside parking, no facilities, and fishing on the County's shoreline inventory. Dunking and slide-bait water in the local pattern — and full north/east exposure on flat lava. Calm windows only; if there's whitewater on the point, don't fish it.
Mākena Landing — Mākena
A small park with a sandy entry and rocky reef shoreline, parking and restrooms on site. Whipping the edges, dunking the pockets. Boat and kayak traffic at the landing; no lifeguard. This is north of the reserve line — the closure starts south of here.
Mākena State Park (Big Beach) — Mākena
A mile and a half of wide sand with dunking water off the ends, away from the swim crowd. The County's Ocean Safety Guide flags this beach for dangerous shorebreak that causes neck and back injuries — that warning is for anyone standing at the water's edge, rod or not. Heed the lifeguards; never turn your back.
Don't fish here
Honolua & Mokulēʻia Bays — a Marine Life Conservation District: no taking of any marine life, full stop. ʻĀhihi Bay to La Perouse Bay — the ʻĀhihi-Kīnaʻu Natural Area Reserve: no fishing, and carrying fishing gear into the mapped portions is itself a violation; take the boundary from the posted signs. Molokini — an offshore MLCD; the only legal fishing is trolling from a boat in its outer subzone, which has nothing to do with shore fishing. Hāna Pier — condemned and barricaded. Lāhainā Harbor — reopened for limited commercial boats only; not an angler spot as of this writing. And on the Kīpahulu coast past Hāna, a subsistence fishing area bans uhu and all surgeonfish outright — read the area rules, not the island chart, before you fish there.
The shore year
The rules themselves mark the calendar: DAR closes moi June through August and ʻamaʻama December through March, tracking the spawning. Summer and fall bring the bait schools inshore — DAR's akule rules single out July–October for young akule (halalū) — with pāpio working the edges, and the ʻōama run, juvenile weke crowding the shallows, is a late-summer-to-fall event in local practice; it arrives when it arrives, not on a printed date. Pāpio and ulua are year-round, but the classic slide-bait season on the leeward points is summer, when the south and west shores stay calm enough to fish heavy gear off the rocks. Winter flips the map: the north and east shores — Pāʻia, Hoʻokipa, Keʻanae, the Hāna coast — take the big northern swells (roughly October through April) and sit out for days at a time, while the leeward shores stay fishable. (The closures and the akule window are DAR's; the run timing and slide-bait pattern are local practice, stated as such.) For any given weekend, the surf forecast — not the calendar — is the call: check NOAA Weather Service Honolulu surf and marine forecasts before choosing a side of the island.
Safety, every spot, every time: check the NOAA surf and marine forecast before you go, fish with a partner on the rocks, and never turn your back on the ocean — Maui's shorebreak and point sets have killed experienced fishermen on calm-looking days.
Sources: Hawaiʻi Fishing Regulations (Hawaiʻi DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources, May 2025 edition) and DAR's marine fishes pages; DAR managed-area rules for the Honolua-Mokulēʻia Bay and Molokini Shoal MLCDs, the Kahekili Herbivore Fisheries Management Area, the Kahului Harbor FMA, and the ʻĀhihi-Kīnaʻu Natural Area Reserve; Maui County beach-park facility pages and the County Ocean Safety Guide; Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation, Harbors Division; DLNR Division of State Parks (Waiʻānapanapa, Mākena). Access and rules checked October 2026 — DAR's current regulations are the word that counts.
The year, in general terms
Pelagic fish are present in Maui County waters in every month — what changes is which ones are running hardest, and any resident who tells you a season is a guarantee has a bridge to sell you. The broad shape of the year:
Ono's season
Local fishing reporting puts the peak ono run from late spring through early fall, with summer the heart of it — fast fish, close to shore, and the reason light tackle gets dusted off in May. When the run is on, the harbors know first, and the weekly layer will say so from their word, not ours.
The shoreline calendar
Shore fishing runs on its own seasons: schools of akule and halalū move inshore and the word travels the beach in a day, and the ʻoama run — young goatfish coming in close — turns ordinary shoreline into family gatherings. These runs arrive when they arrive; the letter reports them as they're confirmed, never on a predicted date.
Winter is whale season
In winter the county's sheltered channels fill with humpback whales — the heart of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, run by NOAA with the State of Hawaiʻi. For boaters it means extra eyes up and a wide berth around pods; federal law keeps vessels at a distance from whales, calves included.
The rules, plainly
Fishing rules here come from the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) — and they change. This is the shape of them; DAR's current regulations are the word that counts, every time.
- Residents fish the ocean without a license. Hawaiʻi does not require a marine recreational fishing license for residents. That surprises people who move here from the mainland — it's real, and it's DAR's own FAQ.
- Your visiting guests need one. Since 2024, nonresidents age 15 and older need a Nonresident Recreational Marine Fishing License to fish recreationally in the ocean, with exemptions for younger children and active-duty military and their families. When mainland family visits and wants to fish, the license is their errand — DAR sells it online.
- Freshwater is a different book. Taking freshwater game fish requires a state freshwater game fishing license. Different water, different rules.
- Selling your catch is commercial fishing. The moment fish are sold, a commercial marine license is required. License-free resident fishing fills your own cooler — not a market stall.
- Sizes, bag limits, and closed seasons exist — and Maui adds its own. Many species carry minimum sizes, bag limits, or closed seasons statewide, and Maui has island-specific rules on top, including its own size and bag limits for uhu (parrotfish) and goatfish. Rules are amended; check the current DAR regulations before you keep anything, because "the newsletter said" is not a defense.
- Some water is no-take, full stop. Honolua-Mokulēʻia Bay and Mānele-Hulopoʻe on Lānaʻi are Marine Life Conservation Districts: look, swim, snorkel — taking marine life there is prohibited. Molokini Shoal is an MLCD too; the only fishing anywhere in it is trolling for finfish from a boat in its outer subzone — nothing there concerns a shore angler. Other managed areas around the county carry their own rules, posted at the access point.
- Open unless posted — and private land is private. Most shoreline is open to fishing unless a restriction is posted, but harbors, refuges, and managed areas have their own rules, and crossing private land to reach the water still requires the landowner's permission.
Fish pono — the etiquette half
Pono is the word DAR itself uses: fish in a way that's proper, right, and built to last. The unwritten half of the rules, as residents practice it:
- Take what you'll eat. A full cooler thrown out on Sunday helps nobody. Keep the fish you'll use; let the rest swim.
- Undersized means released — gently and fast. Wet hands, minimal air, back in the water. The fish you release this year is the run you fish in three years.
- Pack out your line. Discarded fishing line keeps killing — turtles, birds, seals — long after you've gone home. It leaves with you, every time.
- Share the shoreline. Swimmers, divers, paddlers, and other fishers all have the same water. Don't cast over people, don't crowd a spot someone's already working, and leave every place cleaner than you found it.
What this page carries every week
Once the first edition runs, this page gains its weekly layer — built the same way as the events calendar, from primary sources only:
Conditions, sourced
Wind, swell, and water notes drawn from NOAA marine forecasts and surf reporting — linked to the people who measure it. We don't write the weather; we point at the instruments.
Tournaments & events
Fishing tournaments, harbor events, and community fish days, listed when the organizer publishes them — dates and entry details exactly as the source gives them.
Charters & guides
Local charter boats, fishing guides, and tackle shops, listed through the free-listing partner program. Listings are free; featured placement is labeled advertising and never changes what this page says editorially.
Reader catches — spot stays secret
Send a photo of the catch and the story. It runs with the fish and the fisherman — never the location. A guide that burns its readers' spots won't have readers, or fish, for long.
Run a charter, guide service, or tackle shop?
Your listing in the weekly layer is free — the same deal as every Maui business in the Guide. Start on the For Businesses page: free listings, the counter-card program, and how featured placement works once the letter's numbers are proven.