I’ve been kayak fishing the Windward side for kau kau fish (goats, lai, nabeta, small uku etc) but wasn’t finding opelu, bigger uku, or pelagics. When the wind and surf dropped on the South side I went back to check my old spots. Those spots were overrun with small fish who pulled my frozen opelu off without getting hooked.
After going through more than 20 pieces (I ended up cutting the opelu in half), I gave up and put a live moana out. 10 mins later the fish got hit and a scrappy 2lb omilu came up, in 70ft of water. I’ve never caught an uku on a live moana despite its reputation as “uku candy”. I let the omilu go (you’re welcome Matt), and went 1 mile downwind to a spot I’ve hooked ulua on jigs, but lost them. Here’s the report when an ulua busted me off.
Squiggly horizontal lines started showing up about 20ft off the bottom so I dropped the pink 60gm tungsten jig down. I didn’t expect a huge fish since the jig is only 2.5″ but it got slammed by a fish at full speed, and the fish pulled tight drag off my reel smoothly. Right as I was reaching to turn the GoPro on, the line when slack. What came up was the curly cue “pig tail” of my 40lb flouro leader where it was attached to the Tactical Angler Power Clip. I had tied a Uni knot to that clip 2 trips ago on the water and maybe I didn’t cinch it down tight enough?
The SW wind picked up and I was now more than a 2 miles downwind from my launch/landing. There were still 4 out of 6 battery levels left on the Bixpy jet motor and I ran it at less than half speed and paddled along. 2 battery levels remained when I touched sand. Whew.
I have one more of those pink tungsten jigs in that prototype shape. This was the last time that particular jig was photographed, landing a lai on an earlier trip. I was working with an established international tungsten company to design affordable compact jigs to sell in the Store. They sent me a small set to try out and the jigs have gotten bit on every trip, from moana, lai, to ulua and kahala, but the company suddenly went MIA. I’m bummed because these were the best jigs I’ve ever fished. I’m now working with a second company to get their jigs in, and hoping they don’t disappear on me.
Thad, our resident JDM expert and whipping technician, suggests I use 8 wraps with the uni knot instead of the 5 I’ve been tying. I’ll definitely give that a shot!
Nice job. I was thinking the conditions were pretty good for you kayak guys recently. I agree with Thad, a few more wraps might’ve saved your mystery fish! Also, cinching it down tighter might have helped. I started using food-grade silicone on all my splices a couple years ago (a tip picked up from a friend), and you’d be surprised at how much smaller the knots get compared to using saliva lol.
That’s a great tip Jason, thank you. Do you ever have to retie your fly line on the water, and if so, how hard is that?
It’s not hard, probably easier than in a rocking kayak 😉 My leaders are all pre-tied at home, but if my tippet (last section of the leader) gets banged up, i might replace that. If the entire thing gets banged up, i just pull another leader out of my bag.
I use nail knots for all my splices, but if i’m lazy i might use a surgeon’s for replacing the tippet while on the water.
Have your knots ever popped on big fish? A 9lb oio puts a lot of strain on the gear!
What is this Tungsten jig that you are using and where can I get some.
Hi Anthony,
Unfortunately these were just prototypes, not sellable jigs. I will be testing the second tungsten company’s jigs next week and if they work I’ll place an order to sell them. Please stay tuned for the reviews of those jigs!
mahalo,
scott
Thanks for the info will wait for your reviews.