Columbia PFG--Andy Maser, Director

For this story, Columbia PFG wanted to connect two fishing traditions across the Pacific, with Hawaii specifically called out as the location. Columbia ambassador Wesley Locke came attached to the project—she’s a seventh-generation Florida saltwater fly angler and fishing advocate. I helped PFG identify the right Hawaiian counterpart to pair her with--Armelio Cabatingan, a fourth-generation Hawaii saltwater angler was our man— and shaped the cross-cultural premise: Wesley would travel to Maui to try catching mahi mahi on a fly, in her own family's tradition, on Armelio's home water. Armelio would also teach her some of his family’s other traditional fishing techniques with the help of his mother and his daughter.

We shot offshore on Armelio’s fishing boat, the Rainbow Runner, with a small crew. The waves, spray, and sun made it physically demanding (think: AC puking over the gunnel). But Armelio and Wesley were in their element and so the setting was perfect.

Wesley hooked a mahi on a fly and fought it for a long time but it got away before she could land it. Armelio really got into it--watching someone chase his fish, in his waters, using a technique from her family's generations of experience honed thousands of miles away got him properly giddy. Thus, they were both devastated when it broke lose. That moment of shared loss between two people from completely different fishing worlds conveyed more shared humanity than any successful catch possibly could have.

They eventually did land a mahi that day, on Armelio's gear and in his traditional way. He hooked it and handed the rod to Wesley to fight it in. That felt like the perfect way for the day to end.