Anything holds tripletail

Capt. Kenny Shiyou said he has two things he tells fishermen on every tripletail trip.

“First, I tell them if I won the Powerball jackpot or was a rich man, this was all I would do the rest of my life — chase tripletails,” Shiyou said. “Second, I tell them when they get a tripletail that they just caught the best-tasting fish that can be caught on my boat.”

And when asked the No. 1 tip for tripletail time?

“Never, ever pass anything on the surface without looking for a tripletail,” Shiyou said. “Over the years, I have spotted them on just about everything you can imagine — well, there is one thing I haven\’t found them on, and I have checked at least 250 of them in the last two years, and that is a mylar balloon. You know: Those silver, shiny things — well, they don\’t like them. It\’s either because they are two shiny or because they are so light that they drift too fast.

“Anything else, check. Grass in a current line is good. Crab pots obviously work. Channel buoys, floating debris — I mean anything and everything. I can\’t tell you how many I\’ve seen under discarded salt bags that have gotten away from a shrimp boat. Just the other day I caught one off a full but floating big, black garbage bag.”