Brad Goes Spearfishing

[waves crashing]

[upbeat music]

Hey guys, today on Goin' Places

we're right here off the coast of Kona

on the big island of Hawaii

and we're gonna be teaming up with Kimi Werner

getting in the ocean doing some spear fishing,

and then going back on land

and celebrate those fish with a little feast.

So, couldn't be more excited to learn about this sport.

I'd say get in the water, but it looks we're already here.

[upbeat music]

[waves crashing]

[soft music]

Sorry there's a whale right there, it's pretty cool.

Yeah, I'm excited, I'm not gonna lie,

I'm a little nervous.

Woke up like 25 times last night.

Right. But, that's the fun part,

Yeah. It's kind of cool.

Since this is your first time,

we want somewhere that's shallow.

We don't want to take you too deep.

We want somewhere that is just a winnable goal

for you to reach.

We're just gonna be looking for any type of structure,

any type of habitat that reef fish can live in,

little rocks or caves or sand pockets.

Yeah. One thing

that's really cool about Hawaii

is that we have a big variety

of different types of reef fish.

[Brad] Now is there any fish

that I should definitely not be throwing a spear at?

The humuhumu nukunuku apua'a.

Oh, that one, all right, cool.

Don't shoot that one.

It's a very colorful, beautiful cool patterned triggerfish.

It's protected 'cause it's our state fish

and it is the humuhumu nukunuku apua'a.

I'm not even going to try.

Oh, come on. Say it one more time.

Humuhumu. Humuhumu.

Nukunuku. Nukunuku.

Apua'a. Apua'a.

That was perfect.

So what was the beginning?

Basically, I mean our strategy

is gonna be to just get as relaxed as we can get

because that's gonna save up our oxygen

and take a really nice deep breath

and you're gonna slowly try and get to the bottom.

Once you're on the bottom,

just try and make your movements really slow.

To just conserve that oxygen in your blood.

Yeah, don't rush a kick, don't rush a thought,

don't rush a movement.

It conserves your oxygen and any rushed or awkward movement

is gonna just push fish away from you.

When you see a fish swim by every part of your body

is gonna start reacting.

Sure, adrenaline kicks in.

You're gonna get excited,

you're gonna want to get there faster,

you're gonna realize that you have to breathe

and all these things are gonna be your worst enemy.

Okay.

So just kind of acknowledge that rush,

that fear, that panic, whatever it is,

that adrenaline and tell it to beat it.

Tell it to go away and find that zen,

find that relaxed state of mind.

Perfect, I will certainly do my best.

[upbeat music]

[waves crashing]

All right I guess I'm as ready as I'm ever gonna be.

I think so.

Oh my God.

[water splashing]

[Kimi] What you're really gonna do

when you're on the surface

is you're just gonna lay with your face down,

make sure that every single part of your body feels relaxed

and when you feel like you're just so full of oxygen

and ready to go,

you're just gonna one last deep breath

and you're gonna do a nice smooth and slow drop down.

[water splashing]

That's pretty good.

Okay that was awesome, that was really good.

How do you feel?

Okay, I felt like it was eight seconds.

Yeah, that's okay though.

So, I think we're good to load our guns and get going.

Okay.

[cheerful music]

[Brad] So yeah, once we have our snorkel,

we'll hang out, get a good breath.

I mean, what kind of fish are game here?

[Kimi] A good place to start would be with surgeon fish.

Surgeon fish? Yeah.

[Brad] I heard the name lives up to it, huh?

It does, yeah, they're called surgeon fish

because they do have knives.

We also have a unicornfish we call it, which is a green Kala

and that will have knives on the back as well.

Everything's got knives. So, just be careful.

I'm bringing one, too. Yeah, exactly.

[soft music]

[Brad] Right off the boat, as a beginner

and I'm sure my body will tell me,

but like, how long do you predict I'll be able to?

[deep inhaling]

[Kimi] Even if your goal is 30 seconds, that's okay.

When it's your first time,

you're just gonna be doing so many new things at once

and you're gonna be thinking a lot

and so all of that is gonna just take away

from your breath hold.

[Brad] What's your PR?

[Kimi] My personal best was four minutes and 45 seconds.

[yelling]

You got gills?

[Kimi] I really try and not push it.

Once I hit about two minutes

or even start getting close to that,

I usually tend to back away and come back up.

If I can't get a fish in that amount of time,

I just feel like I'm better off rethinking my strategy.

I'd rather work on my technique,

then just work on my breath hold.

[Brad] Cool.

[soft music]

So this is called a he'e Okay.

[Kimi] Octopus in Hawaiian

and basically this is a very nice size one.

They are one of the most sustainable things

that you can catch here in Hawaii.

Their lifespan is only about two years.

There's a lot of them, the hard part is just finding them,

not because there's not a lot of them

but just because they're so camouflaged

and then grabbing them is another challenge.

[Brad] Yeah, I saw.

But, we definitely want to put this thing

out of it's misery right now

and so, how we do that is I'm going to bite

right in between it's eyeballs.

Okay.

And it might seem weird or gross or savage

but it's just the most humane way

to kill an octopus.

Did you see how fast that was?

That's it? It's dead.

Wow.

A lot of people will try and spear it or use a knife

and you're kind of like poking around and--

It's just not necessary.

Prolonging it whereas if you use your teeth,

you can actually feel the brain

and in one second, one crunch, you see how he just

Yeah, he went went limp?

That's it.

But I noticed there is a bunch of fish pecking at him.

Totally, and that's what gave him away.

Okay.

Was all those fish were trying to eat him.

Wow.

Sometimes you have to use certain animals

to find the one you're looking for.

Totally.

Or find a nice, beautiful surprise.

So, we'll keep going but,

we got dinner in the bag. Yeah, excellent job,

love octopus. Yeah, they're delicious.

Yeah, well we'll eat something tonight, huh?

Yeah.

[upbeat music]

[Brad] Now, I know you got one handle,

is it just a one hand kind of point and shoot?

It is, I always use kind of one hand to secure myself

and then the other hand is my tracking hand.

Okay. Yeah.

[lighthearted music]

[cheerful music]

[spear slicing]

[Brad] Nice shot dude, we're doing all right.

We're gonna have quite the little feast

between the two of us.

Yeah, I'm excited.

All right, what do you say we get out of the water,

head back and celebrate these fish.

A well earned lunch. Yeah.

Beautiful.

That's pretty. Real pretty.

We'll go bring these fish down to the water

and we'll clean them up?

Yeah, we can clean them just right in the water,

putting all the nutrients back in there

Yeah absolutely.

Start salting and tenderizing the he'e.

Yeah, for sure.

And then the bigger one, you can scale

and the yellow one you can scale.

But your Omamale, don't scale his gut.

That's this one?

Yep. Okay.

'Cause we're going to use that skin to cook it in.

Did you need a knife for anything?

No, for the octopus, you just can use your hands,

you can turn it's head inside out

Okay.

And then all the guts are right here.

For octopus we just use Hawaiian salt

because it's a good way to clean it,

where you just like start massaging it to tenderize it.

Nice and coarse?

Yes exactly, it really helps get all the sliminess off.

[waves crashing]

Who taught you how to do that, Kimi?

You just kind of learn it from everybody.

Everyone has their own way.

Some people really bash it against the rocks.

Some people have a separate washing machine

that they only use for tumbling their he'e.

There's a place in New York, in Brooklyn,

that does, they have a row of washing machines,

and it's just for octopus.

[Kimi] Exactly.

[Brad] Over at six o'clock, a sea turtle.

Oh yeah, right there, oh they love octopus and stuff.

Hey bud! Hi!

So cool, I can't think of a better place

or way to clean fish

Right?

Then in the salty water that it lived and thrived in.

[Kimi] Totally, nothing goes to waste in the ocean, right?

[Brad] Not at all.

You take a life and you feed a life.

[Brad] Is it bad to touch 'em?

[Kimi] Yeah, totally illegal.

Oh, God.

Some beauties.

I think Kimi, you agree a little less is more here,

I mean it doesn't get any fresher than that.

Let's just let that speak and come through.

Yeah, I think when your ingredients

were literally just swimming around

an hour ago, and they're that fresh.

Right.

You just don't want to get in the way.

Right. Keep it simple.

Covering it up, it's almost like a crime in my opinion.

Me too, yeah.

To throw in like some store bought teriyaki sauce on it,

it just don't need it. Right.

Now, I am such a fan of some of the smaller fish,

what the industry considers a bi-catch or like a nuisance,

but we can't all just eat tuna and salmon.

No, no, I think the key to sustainability

is diversifying our choices

and especially when you go low on the food chain,

that's like the most responsible way you can be eating

and like you said if globally

we're all collectively targeting the same four fish?

Obviously that's not a good idea.

[Brad] We're not gonna have any more.

Well that's looking nice already.

Well I have to say I am completely,

completely impressed with how you did today.

Why thank you!

Coming from you, Kimi, you don't know how much that means.

I've been nervous for awhile.

I was a little nervous, too.

The way that somehow you intuitively knew

to work with the ocean. Right.

[Kimi] You didn't fight the currant,

you didn't fight the surge.

You ain't gonna beat it.

You learned how to deal with it,

and how to use it to your advantage

and that I think was why you got fish.

[Brad] Yeah well I had a good teacher.

And that's a hard lesson to learn.

Sure

[Kimi] I can tell you all of the technical stuff but.

[Brad] You'd go in there and panic

Exactly, exactly.

Gorgeous flesh on that. You like that?

Right? Yeah.

[Brad] Wow.

[Kimi] Isn't it a beautiful white meat?

[Brad] I don't know, Kimi,

not such a bad place to cook, huh?

No, can't complain. Wow the octopus

is looking great It is.

I love the color it gets.

Well we thank you octopus, and we love you and respect you.

We do, we do, thank you for nourishing us.

[Brad] Oh yeah.

[Kimi] That's looking cool, huh?

[Brad] Yeah it's looking real good.

[Kimi] Look at that, I am so happy, yeah.

How are you? How we looking chef?

[Kimi] Looking great.

Oh, beautiful. Oh, mama!

Yeah that almost looks like tumeric, like those oils.

It does.

This is the most fun I've had in a while.

And I'll never forget when I shot the second fish Kimi,

I heard you go wohoo under the water.

Did you hear me screaming through my snorkel?

Yeah That's a good thing.

30 feet under water and I woo and it's burned in my brain.

Oh, we got a dog!

Every episode, we get a dog in.

It's important to me.

[grill sizzling]

Oh, how good does that look, huh?

I love how that skin just becomes like a protective shield.

Totally, yeah, this is not burnt fish.

This is perfectly cooked fish,

right underneath it's armor and that meat underneath,

it's just gonna be perfectly...

Oh wow, look how moist it is.

All the oils...

Oh, you ain't kidding.

Right?

Oh my God, that's so good.

Oh wow.

I don't want it to be anything different.

Oh my gosh, no, me neither.

I just have to stop talking for a moment.

I know.

That's fricken delicious.

[Brad] It's awesome, what's the name of this fish?

The real name in Hawaiian is Pualu.

Pualu, that's one of the tastiest fish I've ever had.

It's great, huh?

Unbelievable. Yeah.

And do they serve this is restaurants?

I have never ever ever seen

a Palani or a Pualu in a restaurant, ever.

I can't understand that.

Right?

We open up our restaurant right here in natures kitchen.

Yeah and look at the yield,

I mean I have to keep saying that.

One octopus gave us this whole tray

that we can now share with everybody.

If we were to only were to focus on only filets,

we'd only get a piece of fish this big, that's it.

They're made to be eaten whole.

And then those bones they add moisture and flavor, too.

You lose so much flavor when you get rid

of all that stuff, yeah. 100%, yeah.

Well Kimi, I gotta thank you, honestly.

I mean this is such a special day for me

and I definitely couldn't have done it without you.

Thank you for your patience,

taking the time out of your busy schedule

to teach me and it felt great

and I can't wait to bring this new skill and lifestyle home

and maybe one day I'll get my kids into it

and just kind of keep that education

and involvement in food alive

because it's super important to me.

Yeah, I know, I honestly thank you

just for wanting to come to this special place

and literally look beneath the surface of it.

Totally And get to know it

on a deeper level and thank you ocean!

Yeah, thank you ocean and the fish we ate!

[Kimi] Yeah.

[Brad] This culture and the people in Hawaii,

there's so much more to it.

Right Yeah

I couldn't agree more.

Cool, well cheers, yeah?

Cheers. Yeah, good day,

and thank you Kimi. Such a great day, good job.

Well to me that was about as perfect

as a day as it can get.

Couldn't be more grateful for the people that I did it with

and just that humbling feeling of being in that huge ocean,

and just trying to harvest some fish

and celebrate it with some new friends.

I don't know, it leaves me a little speechless.

Huge thanks to Kimi and everyone else that made this happen.

I hope you guys enjoyed this, because I certainly did

and, yeah, bon appétit.

[waves crashing]

[joyful music]

[Brad] Oh, that's not good.

Well boys, just gonna strap a little lead to myself

and jump in the ocean.

What could possibly go wrong?

And yeah, like any tips for...

I forget I saw some movie one time

or some guy on Instagram or something.

Humuhumu nukunuku apua'a.

You got it.

Oh, Kimi, we just met but man this is probably

what I am least best at.

I have a hard time with English.

You did a good job, you did a good job, yeah.

What?

[Camera Man] You can't even say water right.

I mean, I hardly speak English

and it's the only language I have.

[upbeat music]