The challenge in catching ulua from shore starts with getting a baited hook in front of a fish. You use a 12½- to 13-foot graphite rod, custom-made for ulua, light but very stiff. The reel is loaded with about 250 to 300 yards of 80-pound monofilament line, which holds up better than braided line when rubbed against rocks and coral. The hooks are fat and the lead sinkers have wire prongs, to hold the bottom in strong currents.

Casting with bait is impossible at these heights and distances — the combination of sinker, leader and heavy baited hook would lead to a helicoptering tangle of lines. So you cast a line with the sinker alone, like a bullet. Then you take a separate leader with a hook on one end and a corkscrewlike sliding clip on the other. Hook on some fresh bait — often octopus or eel, whole or in chunks — clip the leader to the main line and zip it down to fish-level. Then place the rod in a holder, a cowbell on the rod tip, set the drag and wait.

Waiting is slow. It can take all night. It can take days. The fishermen we met were in no rush. “This past couple months we been holding this spot,” said one of them, Edwin Cabanting. “We got a lot of friends who want to fish over here, so we just alternate to hold the spot for the tournament.”

Ulua fishing is a working-class sport, and competitors are serious amateurs. Edwin is a retired sanitation worker. Desmond works for a cesspool company; he couldn’t get free till the weekend. Edwin poured coffee for Desmond and me, and I listened as they talked about fishing.

The rhythm: “Some days we sleep a lot. Some days we fish a lot.”

The competition: Sea turtles, which steal bait, and monk seals, which scare fish away. Sharks — Galápagos, white tips, brown reef sharks, tigers — which are no fun to catch; when you have one on the line, you cut the line.

The techniques: Some fishermen solve the casting problem with a more exotic trick peculiar to South Point — they tie a weighted line to a large inflated trash bag that carries it out far on the offshore wind. Trash-bag fishermen catch sailfish, tuna, mahi-mahi and other big-game creatures, but are not generally fishing for ulua. Their tactics are not sanctioned by the Tokunaga tournament.