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2018 Oama Season Prediction

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It’s the second week of July and no sizeable schools of oama have been reported on Oahu.  Oama have been abundant the last few years at many of the usual spots and there were even nice piles at places that are normally hit or miss.  Seemed like a late start so I looked back at past fishing logs for comparison and consulted Kelly, our resident Oama Expert.

  • 2014 – Normal start and stayed a little longer than expected. Arrived in late June and was mostly gone by October.  El Nino began late this year and water began to warm up.
  • 2015 – Season started late and ended late. Oama came in late July and stayed at some places past December. El Nino in full effect.
  • 2016 – Season started late and ended late. Oama came in late July and stayed through November. El Nino ended this year and water began to cool.
  • 2017 – Normal start and slightly late ending. Oama came in late June and began to leave in October, at most places. La Nina brought a lot of rain.
  • 2018 – The Summer season seems late.  The La Nina effect is ending and the water temps and current direction are returning to normal. Small aholehole, normally a spring time arrival, are showing up now.  The halalu have been slowly showing; normally they build up after the oama schools have been in for a while.  Small oama aren’t in at most places, but there have been trustworthy reports of a few actually being caught this week.  The pesky baby papio haven’t been around either, nor have the 8 to 10 inch omilu that arrive to feed off bait schools.

Will it be a late Start, late End kind of season like 2015 and 2016? Or will it be an “off” year where there won’t be much oama and the predators will be much harder to find? What do you guys think?

Our hopeful prediction is:  More oama come into the regular spots in the next few weeks, and are catchable by the end of July.  Papio, mainly omilu, should start raiding the oama piles by the middle/late August.

We’ll see how we do as Oama Prognosticators.

Holoholo: Yellow dot papio mini catch & cook

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Kelly has guest posted a few of his unusually large SUP catches in the past. He kicks off our new Holoholo Anykine section with a short yellow dot papio catch report and great recipe.

If you’re interested in posting your catch, please let us know through the Contact page.  Can be much shorter than this. Picture, brief description of catch, general location and method used.

Kelly:

Aloha fellow fishers! Two Saturdays ago was a day after the full moon and my only free day, so I decided to do some standup fishing on the East side of Oahu, although my expectations were low due to the apparently poor moon phase. The tide was 1.0 and rising 2.0’ in the afternoon so I took my time and arrived at the secret fishing spot at 3:00pm. I figured I would just paddle around and get some exercise but no tan, since the day was pretty overcast.

Only 15 minutes after launching, as I was nearing an area in about 6-8 feet of water where I thought there may be a few papio lurking, I got a subtle nibble and set the hook. To my surprise the fish took off and headed towards deeper water. Fought the fish for what seemed long but was probably 2-4 minutes and landed this nice 3.4 pound yellow spot papio! YAY! My fave to eat sashimi style!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My parents and I had a nice papio dinner with steamed fish and sashimi. If anyone wants the recipe for a tasty steamed fish with easy cleanup, here it is:

• Whole fish 2-3 lbs best size, freshness is paramount
• Sliced ginger
• Ti leaf and foil
• Salt/pepper
• Green onions (optional)
• Peanut oil (optional)

The sauce is what makes the dish. ½ cup shoyu, ½ cup water, sliced ginger & sugar to taste. Optional: chili pepper flakes (I use the Pizza hut dry kine, about 1/3 of the packet ‘cause easy), garlic (sliced), 2 tsp mirin, honey. Bring to a boil, then thicken with about 1 tsp cornstarch.
Clean fish, slice as shown and put ginger slivers in cuts, as shown. Place ti leaf on foil and put fish on top. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper. Wrap well, so no liquid/steam can escape. Place in 450 degree oven on cookie sheet for 30-45 minutes. Use a fork to poke and see if done. Fork should go to the bone easily, with less resistance than poking a boiled egg, almost as easily as a hot knife through butter. If unsure, open foil and poke in thickest spot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When done, take out and slide ti leaf onto large platter. Pour on sauce and top with smoking hot peanut oil. Sprinkle on green onions and GRIND!

Poll: What type of fishing are you most interested in reading?

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We’re constantly trying to improve Hawaii Nearshore Fishing. If there’s a type of fishing we’re not writing about, maybe you could provide those Guest Posts!  Contact us if you’re interested.

Will leave this up for a few weeks.  Thanks for participating!

Guest Post: Throw in the blind, make any kine – results in 100lb plus ulua towing the small boat

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Erik knows how big ulua pull and what they look like. The one he lost was much bigger than this.

This post is from my fishing buddy Erik who has taken me out on both his 14 ft aluminum skiff and 16 ft Livingston, and taught me how to jig three years ago and is currently teaching me how to call up the papio with poppers.  He is a very talented videographer with a huge following on Instagram (@fishoahu).

The one that Got Away.

If you’ve been fishing long enough then you have at least one story about the “one that got away.” It’s usually that “one” fish that makes us buy more/better equipment, wake up earlier, study more tides/times and keep us up at night pondering “what-if situations.” Here’s the story of my most memorable “one that got away.”

This fishing outing started early at 5:30am from my grandma’s beach house on my trusty tinboat with my friend Kekoa (who helped me land my shibi in another post). The plan was to scout the early summer papio (smaller Giant Trevally) bite. I had onboard my medium-light 8’ ugly stik rod paired to a 4000 shimano twinpower XD loaded with PE 1.5 braid FG-knotted to 25lb leader line and finished with a studio ocean mark, ocean snap swivel that I planned to throw a new bass lure that was shaped like a mouse. I got it at Bass Pro Shop while on vacation in Orlando so named it Mickey Mouse Lure since we went to Disney World for 5 days while up there. It’s actually the Live Target Field Mouse. Kekoa was using his Penn plugging rod and 6K Shimano Saragosa that he planned to throw on his yo-zuri hydro popper.

We started off fishing at a spot that was really good for us last year and lures hit the water around 6am. Kekoa was gurgling the hydro popper and I was figuring out my mouse lure while we drove into the lighter winds and drifted while casting and retrieving. After the first ½ hour without seeing a single thing in the area we ventured just outside of it and kept doing that at different depths until we covered a good majority of the general place to determine there was nothing but a couple tiny papio’s that would follow the lures to the boat. I called the spot off and headed to another spot that had been productive for me in the past. I was noticing the wind was picking up and now it was past 7:30 and we had nothing to show for our fishing trip. Our spirits weren’t dampened as we were talking fishing and enjoying being out there but our expectations were lowering as the sun was well above the horizon. Before we got to the next spot I noticed the wind had definitely picked up and was causing us to drift so fast that we could only get a few casts in before we had to motor back up to take another drift.

On a normal day I would never have started the drift where I did but I told Kekoa:
“the wind blowing us too fast so I going start here”
to which he responded:
“I don’t care, that’s how we caught the shibi by throwing in the blind.”
I laughed and said:
“you know us, make any-kine.”

Well . . . Call it fate, intuition or luck but once Kekoa started the retrieve on his first cast . . . BOOM! Shoom. Splish. whack! I watched as many as 5 papios were breaching the surface of the water in hot pursuit of his lure. I quickly aimed my mouse-lure toward the side and beyond where Kekoa was now hooked-up and I burned the lure over the top of the water as fast as I could watching its short body and long tail skim across the surface. In no time the school was on my lure chasing it down. The papio were in such rare form because they don’t usually breach until they hit the lure and this morning they were breaching while chasing the lure in a way that reminded me of dolphins breaching while swimming in a school, only faster and angrier.

Kekoa landed one around 4lbs and I landed one about 2-3lbs, we snapped pictures/videos, released one, kept one and headed back up for another drift. Same thing again, Kekoa got on first and I hooked up next. Kekoa got his in the boat and then felt what I thought was the dreaded first run of a shark that got my fish. Ugh! Kekoa asked if he should stop fishing to help and I told him “no, keep going.” I held on in anticipation of getting my line cut and Kekoa was able to land another papio. As I was holding on I was noticing the run wasn’t really feeling like a shark. I could also feel that the hook was secure in whatever was on. The unknown fish was taking line in quick-runs and was now towing the dinghy 50 feet away from where we were. This ended Kekoa’s bite and also piqued his interest as to what I had on. The fish slowed and was taking us around a reef so I maneuvered the boat to keep my line straight and away from getting cut on the reef. I made the decision to chase this fish down and try to tire it out and Kekoa was happy to oblige. I looked down at my Nixon supertide watch and the fight-time started an estimated 15 minutes prior. At this point the fish didn’t seem to mind being hooked too much as it moved slowly around wherever it wanted. I kept steady pressure as I maneuvered the boat to keep line taut. 30 minutes into the fight and we notice the fish is heading out to open ocean. At this point I know that there is a BIG fish at the end of my little pole.

Without giving away too much about where I’m fishing just know that I’m inside of Kaneohe Bay. To get out of Kaneohe bay with a normal sized boat you’d have to go out 1 of 2 channels (sampan or chinamans hat) because in between those two channels is almost 2 miles of shallow reef and our famous sandbar. Luckily my tinboat has a shallow draft so 95% of the time I’m able to get over reefs/sandbar without a problem.

45 minutes into the fight and now Kekoa has to take over driving because once we go over the reef area/sandbar, the waves/swell are not held back by it. Kekoa takes the tiller and I move toward the middle of the boat carefully. During this point water is slightly murky from the churned up sand of the wind and waves but visibility to 15 feet is ok and good in about 5-10 feet. We’ve been staying on top of the fish this entire time with hopes that it is easier to turn its head on its way up. The beast stays away from the boat and is now on top of the reef. Kekoa motors to it slowly and just as we approach it ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!! Holy hell. The fish takes off and sends my spool in reverse peeling line at an extraordinary rate. Whatever it is I think did NOT like the look of the boat and was getting irritated at the lip pinch. I know now that the hook is very secure and max out my drag at 24lbs because the fish is taking us straight to where waves are breaking. Kekoa has gotten a good feel of how the boat moves, throttle sensitivity and shifting between drive and neutral. We chase the fish and when we’re almost to it, it takes off again at crazy speeds but now into the waves. I instruct Kekoa to let the wave pass and then thread the needle between waves to chase the fish again once it’s on the other side of the break. He completes the mission flawlessly and the fish is still playing with us. The fish goes back through the waves again! Ok, bet! Kekoa again performs well navigating us over the humps and dealing with a little white water. And now I can see Kekoa is getting close to the fish as my line nears the boat in 10-15 feet of water.

I stand up in anticipation of getting a glimpse of the monster when time stops. My eyes and mind were working in hyper-drive trying to understand what is was. No short-thick pectoral fins sticking out like shark, no dorsal fin like shark. Oh wow. Just WOW. It was a sight I’m not sure I can ever unsee. The seconds of time that replay in my mind that haunted me for a week after. The ulua was as long as my arms outstretched. It was almost half the size of the of the 14 foot dinghy I was standing in. The top of the fish was wide and looked about a foot thick. I watched in awe as it let me witness it’s trademark ulua sway (just like when we release them from the boat) right before it said bye-bye and took yet another disheartening run. Kekoa was unable to see the size of the fish but saw the silver color of it. We chased the fish and Kekoa’s quick learning kept us safe and on top of it for another hour as it took us through more waves and into 30-40 feet of water and on an approximately ¾ mile journey until I made the decision to lock the drag and break it off. After seeing the size of it and knowing it had that much energy to keep running at that rate, I felt helpless against it. Thoughts of getting to shore away from the waves, if my gear would hold up, how long would I have to wait to see if it even remotely tires were just a few thoughts going through my mind.

I felt a sense of ease when I broke my line off as I knew that it was still out there. Over 2 hours of fighting, over an hour of max drag, staying on top of the fish and still it was pulling us wherever it wanted. I was saddened but content. Kekoa and I talked about the battle and I told him:
“you must be a good luck charm because I also got my biggest shibi with you on this boat.”
Kekoa was the one to laugh now and said:
“Yeah, and we did the same thing. Just throw in the blind.”
I then smiled and quickly blurted out:
“That’s how we do! Throw in the blind. Make any-kine.”
That gave us a good laugh as we kept repeating it and saying that was now our motto. The drive back to the beach house to wash up was now one of amazement and joy and much less about heartbreak or disappointment.
I hope I get another chance to battle with that beast.

July Oama status report

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The last few years were epic oama seasons, possibly because the water got warm early and drew the baby weke in.  The schools kept coming and stayed into the early winter.  This year, being a colder La Nina year, seems to have reverted back to a “normal” or even “slow” oama season.  I’ve just seen a few scattered  oama on the south side that didn’t look catchable.

If the theory that oama first show up on the south side of Oahu then migrate northward is true, we may be getting our oama soon.  Craig, an oama scout on Maui, has reported that oama are coming into the south side of Maui now.  Since Maui is south (and east of us) maybe the other oama schools are working their way north toward us.  Hope so!

Product Review: Sufix 832, the best braid you can use?

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The guys and I have been using braid on our reels to get maximum line capacity, and maximum casting distance.  Braid lasts longer than mono but is more expensive.  We had tried different brands before trying Sufix 832 Advanced Superline.

Thad:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Returning from a 7 year fishing hiatus due to new daddy duties, I was surprised to learn that braid had become the prevalent line used by most fishers. Hearing about the benefits of braid made it a no–brainer to switch. This meant having to upgrade much of my old gear to “braid friendly” versions. Keep in mind I’m still a relative newbie to braided lines so this review is limited to first hand use of a few brands.

With so many braid choices on the market, I decided to start with one I had heard of and that a coworker swears by – PowerPro. It took a little getting used to the characteristics of braid and I had to learn some new knots to replace ones I used with mono, but I loved being able to cast my light lures with lines rated at such heavy breaking strengths. Further research of the pros and cons of PowerPro made me want to test other braids and see the differences for myself.

I wanted to start with the affordable brands available in the US market and not dive right into the ultra-expensive JDM ones. In addition to PowerPro, I purchased Spiderwire Stealth, Daiwa J-Braid, and Sufix 832. I spooled them on to different braid friendly whipping reels to test on the flats and off a marina dock. Both the PowerPro and Spiderwire are 4-strand braids while the Daiwa J-Braid and Sufix 832 are 8-strand.

I prefer the casting smoothness and suppleness of the 8-strand braids. I feel like my casts are longer and I hear less humming of the line going through the guides on both the cast and retrieve. I also haven’t experienced any wind knots – something I had occasional issues with when using the 4-strand PowerPro and Spiderwire.

One noticeable disadvantage of braid compared to monofilament is its abrasion resistance. For this reason, monofilament is still my line of choice when dunking certain rocky spots. But for whipping lures, I won’t (can’t) go back to mono. Between the two 8-strand lines I tested, I’ve noticed much less fraying on the Sufix 832. Repeated casting of the braids cause the lines to show signs of fuzziness or minor fraying where I hold the line with my finger when casting. I cut that section off and re-tie my leader when I notice this. Anytime I feel line rubbing the reef or underwater structure, I always inspect it carefully to find the damaged area for removal. Honestly, there have been a few times where I could not find a frayed section on the Sufix 832 even after feeling a line rub.

Line diameter on the Sufix 832 is also noticeably thinner versus the J-Braid. A friend who was using Daiwa J-Braid asked me what line I was using so I recommended Sufix 832. He later told me he bought some Sufix 832 but didn’t buy a big enough spool to fill his reel because he didn’t know it was so much thinner than Daiwa J-Braid. The thinner Sufix 832 meant he could fit more line on his reel.

From what I’ve seen, some JDM braids are at a whole nother level of strength and performance – if you’re willing to pay the big premium in pricing. Are those braids so much superior to my current favorite Sufix 832? I guess that would depend on your fishing style and how big your wallet is. For my style of fishing and budget, Sufix 832 is more than enough. The advantages I gained over monofilament in terms of casting distance, breaking strength, line diameter, and longevity of the line, far outweigh its higher cost and decreased abrasion resistance.

Scott:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Sufix® 832® Advanced Superline® is the strongest, most durable small diameter braid on the market”, or so says the marketing claim.  “832” is called such because it incorporates 8 fibers woven 32 times per inch.  8 fibers make a “rounder” braided line than the 4 fibers that a lot of the competition use.  All of that sounded great when I made the switch from PowerPro a few years ago, but I mainly wanted a braided line that wouldn’t cause backlashes when casting my bait casters.

I had some really bad backlashes prior to switching to Sufix 832 that required scissors to cut out the tangle.  Often I ended up with so little line left that my casting distance was greatly diminished.  Sufix 832 was a smoother, slicker line, and I had far less backlashes. The few backlashes I did get could be easily pulled out, and the subsequent cast was backlash-free.  This was enough to get me stoked on Sufix 832 and loaded it on all my reels.  I’ve never had Sufix break on me, even when fighting sharks that weighed more than twice the lb test rating.  I now realize that more yards of Sufix 832 went on my reels than PowerPro because the diameter of Sufix is smaller.  Smaller diameter braid translates to longer casts and less resistance when dropping a jig or weighted bait down, even more reason to switch to Sufix 832.

In this video, I had freshly spooled Sufix 832 Coastal Camo on a 13 Fishing Concept Z reel and not only was it packed loosely, I cast it dry which increased the chance of backlashes.  The backlash happened immediately and my lure flew off, but the tangle was really easy to pick apart.  I packed the line tight and had no problems after.  Charley’s Fishing Supply just started carrying Sufix 832 in bulk spools. It’s the best braid I’ve used so far.

Wet Sufix 832 pinched with my left thumb and forefinger to provide tension still eventually cuts into my thumb but the waxy coating delays slicing a lot more than less coated lines did.

Guest Post: Young angler hooks omilu off the sardine pile!

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Matthew is one of the Next Generation anglers who has been learning the ways of the Lawai’a (Hawaiian fisherman) by respectfully watching and learning from the uncles. He’s a very active fish tagger and has a large following on Instagram (@Shorefishing_Oahu_Style).  I had communicated with Matthew over social media for almost 2 yrs and thought it was time we should fish together!

Matthew:
It was a good day with light winds, and a favorable tide, so I invited Scott, the owner/editor of this blog, to come out and fish with me at my sardine and halalu spot.  The spot that we went to is usually junk unless the bait comes in.

I got to the spot before Scott did and quickly spotted the dark blob in the sandy area that meant there was a school close to the beach.  I got my flow-troll and rope and tied it to me as I waded in the clear water.  The school was only around 20 yards from shore which was good, but what wasn’t good was that I was barefoot and my feet were getting bust up from the scattered sharp rocks.

 

 

 

There’s a sardine in Matthew’s left hand if you look closely.

I used the smallest size damashi (which is basically a dunking rig with 6 hooked flies on it).  Size 4 will work, but size 3 is the best – any larger and they wont bite it.  You could also snag them, but they get smart after a while.  I was averaging one sardine per 3 casts which isn’t that bad.  When Scott arrived, he was whipping with a sardine-colored Shimano Waxwing Boy.  The few predators that were busting up on the pile were smart enough to not eat his lures, unfortunately.

 

 

 

After I got enough for bait, I rigged up a live sardine rig, hooked a rather large sardine in the mouth, and cast it right past the pile exactly when an Omilu blew up on the school.  Not even 3 seconds after the Sardine hit the water, my rod bent and a good sized 14 inch Omilu was on!  It was a rather short but hard fight.  I tagged and released the Omilu for it to hopefully get recaptured someday. If any of you are interested in tagging fish, you can visit fishtoday.org/tagit.  After multiple attempts to catch more big fish, but to no avail, I switched back to sardine fishing.  At around 5:00 P.M., they really started biting.  I was getting one or two almost every cast.  Then something really big came in and went bananas on the pile.  Every minute, the whole pile jumped and there was a huge splash as the either big papio or small ulua busted the pile.

In the end, I caught 54 sardines, 2 halalu, and that Omilu.  I ended up catching a decent Oio the day after and then another good sized Omilu.

The sardines are in, the Oama are starting to trickle in, and the Halalu are in if you know where to find them.  The predators are often too smart to eat lures.  Live bait is always best. It’s summer!  Go gettem guys!

Matthew Ikeda
Instagram – @Shorefishing_Oahu_Style

 

Editor’s note: I’m amazed at Matthew’s ability to become such a successful fisher guy after only fishing for 3 yrs and just being in middle school.  His writing is top notch and he even snuck in a bait status report. He might be “angling” for my job. But… he did make one mistake. He caught 53 sardines, not 54, because he insisted I try to catch one with his damashi rig. After I tangled the rig a couple of times because I reeled it through the top guide, I finally caught a dumb sardine that swallowed the hook and Matthew had to yank out the hook.

Hunting the white papio school via kayak and SUP

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After Capt Erik took me around the bay and showed me the possible places the schooling whites could be holding, Frank and I tried to find them via our paddle-powered watercraft.  Unlike the recent boat trips, we launched in the afternoon on a big incoming tide to allow for enough time to get into position before the witching hour started.  The wind decreased from 10 mph down to almost no wind so we were able to cover more ground than usual.

My Garmin 44 CV fish finder/chart plotter marked bigger blobs halfway down the water column in the wide sandy channels, and there were bait balls around but the fish didn’t want to eat for the first 2.5 hrs.  Finally, at 5pm, Frank got got a hit on his frozen oama trolled near the papa’s edge and brought up a legal omilu (he didn’t measure his fish).  He followed that up with a bigger and stronger omilu and it looked like the early eaters were beginning to bite.

I surveyed our favorite papa and marked a lot of bait and what looked like suspended larger fish.  Frank got another hit on his trolled oama but the aha managed to skitter off.  At about 6pm I had something ambush the Waxwing Jr I was retrieving on the reef edge but miss the double hook.  Witching hour was beginning to start.

I tried to emulate Capt Erik’s popping style with a JDM popper that throws a lot of water with just a small tug, but was introducing slack on the spool and backlashing my Shimano Curado 300 EJ. To tighten the line I cast the floating popper and paddled 40 yds away, then carefully pinched the line and popped it back. I could get a good deep gurgle with a side sweep of the rod and didn’t have to worry about backlashing my cast.  On my 3rd attempt at this I got boiled on and hooked a fish!  It was a legitimate 14 inch white papio that I decided to take home so my parents could compare it the menpachi papio they just had.  I wasn’t able to get a good shot on the water shot so this will have to do.

Frank’s fish with his foot in the background. Looks like he needs a larger fish bag so he doesn’t have to bend the fish to get them in!

Just as I was bagging the white, Frank radio’d that he caught a white on his JDM sub-surface lure! That was his first papio whipping with his Shimano Stradic 4000 XHFK and he was stoked!  It was 6:30 at this point and the sun was getting closer to hiding behind the mountains.  We kept at it, and I got another boil on the popper that skittered off the hook like an aha.  I turned my kayak to drift in and was in 6ft of water when I had my last boil. Looked like a small white that couldn’t quite get the hooks in its mouth.  The witching hour was on but we needed to be on land cleaning and racking our watercraft so we bid the biting fish adieu.

Sundown was about 7:15pm on this day and the whites didn’t really start getting active until after 6:30.  So the witching hour probably starts 45 mins before sundown and continues until dark.

After eating the white papio, my dad said he prefers that to the menpachi papio, “although some people may like the darker meat menpachi papio”.  I hadn’t kept a papio in months so maybe he was just appreciating both?

 

 

Product Review: 13 Fishing Omen Travel Rod and Concept Z reel

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I had seen the 13 Fishing brand of rods and reels in tackle catalogs and mainland kayak fishing forums but never really considered using them in Hawaii because they were primarily geared for the fresh water market.  JD, our Hawaii Rapala/Sufix/VMC sales rep was working the 13 Fishing booth at the Fred Hall Show in March and surprised me with a 3 piece Omen travel rod to use with their innovative Concept Z salt water rated bait casting reel.  The “Z” stands for “Zero” ball bearings in the reel; instead it uses “space age polymer bushings” that don’t rust since there are no metal components involved. The non-ball bearing bushings purportedly increased casting distance., which seemed counter intuitive. The physical size of the reel was smaller than the bait casting reels I had been using inshore yet boasted a max drag of 22 lbs. Definitely had to give this reel a try.

Inshore, I mainly use 1/2 oz lures, which are challenging to throw on a bait caster in 15 mph winds.  I was really surprised that the Z reel could cast further on a shorter rod than what I experience with my  slightly longer, softer 1-piece rod. And I was hardly backlashing, even when casting into the wind.  Once I realized I could cast without backlashes, I swapped the 17 lb mono out for 20 lb Sufix 832.  That further increased casting distance. The stiffer tip on the travel rod “walked the dog” easier, and the 3-piece rod felt like a solid 1-piece.

When I did need to adjust the casting brakes, I really liked the way the “Beetle Wing” side plate popped away from the reel frame and swung open but stayed attached to the reel to eliminate dropping it in the water.  The brake settings were on a dial unlike the more common pin setup where you have to pull out or push in the pins.  Definitely easier and safer to adjust when fishing.

The form factor was really light and comfortable to hold and retrieve, and the cranking power felt pretty good for such a small reel.  I was in a Spring season slump when I started testing the gear, and made a lot of great casts but wasn’t hooking fish.  Finally I hooked a 19 inch kaku that was so over powered by the reel it came in green.  Here’s how that day went.

Then I dunked the reel while releasing a fish and took it apart at home. There was a lot of blue reel grease on the moving parts and quite a bit of drag grease on the carbon fiber drag washers, which I assumed was spread when the reel was submerged, then sprayed externally with Corrosion Block.  I cleaned most of the grease off and reapplied a light coating.  When I fished the reel again, the drag was a little sticky and the gears didn’t feel as smooth as they did before my cleanup.  So I opened the reel up again, applied more gear and drag grease and the reel performed great again.

After fishing the 13 Fishing combo for 3 months I found it to be a joy to fish inshore, launching light lures at kaku and small papio.  I was able to land this 3lb white papio before it could get sharked, but the reel’s smaller gearing and short handle crank made it a little more exciting than I preferred.  The reel is definitely not a winch but is a blast on smaller game.

Instead of breaking the 3-piece rod down I just leave it assembled but when I get a chance to travel and fish I’ll definitely be taking it.  I think the Z reel casts so well because it needs less inertia at startup, so it doesn’t make the spool spin excessively fast, thus experiences much fewer backlashes.  Been just 3/4 effort casting to get the same distance I would get with my larger inshore bait casting reels.

No corrosion but I did need to clean off the drag washer residue on the main gear. Didn’t look like materials prone to corrosion were used.

The reel is really easy to open up and maintain.  I don’t think corrosion will be an issue in the long run, but it does appear to need to be liberally greased to perform optimally.

At $200 MSRP, the Concept Z reel is a great first bait caster to start with since it’s so forgiving to cast and maintain but is also a joy for the seasoned fisher to use due to the small form factor and ergonomics.  Paired with a light rod you can cast all day and not get tired.

Brian’s Fishing Supply has started to carry the Concept Z reel, please call ahead to see if he still has some in stock.   If that’s not convenient you can always purchase it online at Tacklewarehouse.com.  And no, I don’t get any commission if you purchase the reel. 🙂

 

 

Early morning top water papio frenzy!

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Capt Erik (referred to as “Erik” when I’m not on his boat!) had been experiencing some great outings in the bay, getting the schooling white papio (GTs) and awa awa to frenzy on his poppers.  In fact, he hooked a 100 lb plus ulua on a Micky Mouse popper he bought from Bass Pro Shops near Disney World!  That true story of the epic 2 hr battle will be reported here if you guys ask him nicely.  🙂

He knew I was struggling to get a decent fish to test the 13 Fishing Concept Z reel so he invited me out on his 14’ aluminum Lowe boat with Yamaha 9.9hp tiller motor, and picked a not-so-early morning start time because he was well aware of my aversion to early mornings.  We reached the first spot at 8:30am and he hooked a big white papio on his 4th cast.  The fish was too strong to be horsed in and got sharked, and Capt Erik ended up feeling the long runs of the shark. After a couple mins the lure popped free and as he cranked it back in, and it got hit!  A smaller white was quickly brought in and released unscathed.  The bite ended and we went looking all over the place. We even trolled but couldn’t find the school until Capt Erik called up another white from the depths a few hrs later with his popper.  At the end I got a couple sub-7 inch whites in the shallows as consolation bites.

Capt Erik felt sorry for my lack of production so he invited me out again a few days later, for a true dawn patrol trip.  This would be testing the theory that the school bites better in the early morning independent of tidal movement since the tide was flat.  I woke at 3:30am, which is closer to when I normally go to sleep than when I wake up, and we were fishing at 5:45.  He got bit on the 4th cast of his small 7/8 oz Yozuri Hydro Popper again, and tagged a 14.5″ white papio with PIFG tag #A5646.

 

 

We both were silently thinking that the bite would stop after that, but the school stayed and I managed to call a 17 inch white up with a JDM popper that I can pop just by line retrieval, not rod sweeps.  I tagged that with #A5652.

 

 

We moved to the area that had been most productive for Capt Erik in the past, and once again he got them to frenzy on his Hydro Popper.  He kept his white papio in the water to keep the school close, and I cast a heavy 1.5 oz JDM sinking swimmer I had never used before.  It was the larger version of this 1 oz sinking swimmer that a big omilu hit.

It got boiled on, and the fish took line on a hard drag on the Tranx 400.  No head shakes, it felt like a really good fish and I was imagining it to be a non-jumping big awa awa, or even a shibi! But soon enough it got sharked too and my brand new JDM lure was gone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capt Erik hooked up again and got the papio in the boat before it could get sharked. It looked like a white papio but the eyes were larger and the body was narrower. Menpachi papio! I had never seen one before.  The fish were frenzying and my line on my big pole was cut. I looked at the Z reel and told it this was its chance to prove itself.  The JDM popper got boiled on 3 times and I was on!  I couldn’t horse the fish in with the small reel, and was pretty sure it was gonna get sharked but with the Captain’s encouragement I got it boatside and he netted it. 17 inch whitey. The little Z reel with 22lb max drag did the job. Stay tuned for the in-depth review.  We had 3 papio flopping around in the boat, released the 2 whites and I asked Capt Erik if I could take the menpachi papio home for my parents.

The bite stopped so we trolled around and ended up further out, over a deep reef.  Capt Erik was able to get a big boil on his GT Ice Cream plug but it didn’t stick.  Our 4 hrs of early morning fishing were up and it was time to race in.  I begrudgingly have to say that the schooling predators bite better at sun up than mid morning, and they seem to shut off just a couple of hours into the day.

The 14.5 inch menpachi papio had a semi-digested fish in its stomach and was riddled with worms the size of “orzo” pasta throughout its stomach cavity.  I’ll spare you guys that view.  The flesh was reddish, unlike omilu and papio, and I presented it to my dad worm-free. He fried and broiled it and said it tasted a little better than the more common papio.  Maybe it was oilier?  Thanks Capt Erik for ensuring I’d be able to test the Z reel against hard pulling fish by calling the school right to me, and sharing the rare menpachi papio with my family.

 

Product Review: Maui Jim prescription sunglasses

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My initial pair of prescription polarized sunglasses were Oakleys.  The Asian fit frame with nose pads was comfortable and impact resistant but the polarized coating easily scratched and the dark grey lens was too dark to use in low light.  The optical shop where I had purchased the Oakleys recommended Maui Jim (MJ) polarized prescription sunglasses for my next pair. I was surprised to find that the MJ frames were even more comfortable than my Oakleys due to the light weight frame and adjustable nose pads.  It was important to me that the frames didn’t sit on my cheeks and fog up.

My original Twin Falls pair. Still in great condition by my eyesight changed!

I purchased a MJ wrap around style called Twin Falls in 2015 and loved the way they looked and fit.  Got them with a bronze lens that would be good for most lighting situations. The bronze lenses seemed to cut glare yet made colors brighter and my eyes felt so “relaxed” in the outdoors and so uncomfortable without them.

Three years later, my prescription changed a bit and I started developing a slight cataract in my left eye.  No wonder the guys could see boats in the distance and fleeing bait that I couldn’t!  It was time to get a new pair of polarized prescription sunglasses and I considered the options.  I narrowed it down to Maui Jim and Costa Del Mar.  Erik had been field testing two Costa pairs on his boat the last couple of years and said the polarized non-prescription glass lenses were the clearest he has ever used but the frames themselves weren’t comfortable enough to wear for everyday use.  Since my fishing time is much smaller than my drive-in-the-car and outdoor use, it was an easy decision to go with Maui Jim again.

Maui Jim has so many frame styles that it took a while to narrow down my choices.  Since I wanted maximum glare blockage, I needed to stick with the wrap style, and decided on another Twin Falls since I loved the first pair so much!  My 3 yr old frame was still in great shape so I considered just having new lenses made but Maui Jim’s Fishing and Marine Specialist, Mike Battistoni, replied to my request for a product test and offered me his VIP pricing on frame and prescription lenses if I’d do a fair review.  Turns out Mike is an avid fisherman and fishing industry veteran who grew up in Southern California but has been working out of the Florida Maui Jim office in the last few years. As large a client base as he supports, Mike was extremely responsive to my emailed questions.

Mike explained that MJ prescription lenses don’t come in glass but do come in “MauiBrilliant” which are the lightest and optically clearest plastic lenses in the world.  They use 3 rare earth elements to view the 3 main colors (red, blue and green) and add a white base polarizing film that allows the wearer to see a purer white when looking at a white background.  No other competitor offers these features to provide true color viewing.  MJ also uses a bi-gradient, mirror coating on the top and bottom of their lenses to reflect the brightest light away from your eyes, in effect squinting for you.

I really am at the 2018 Div II High School Softball Semi-Finals. I just happen to be wearing my fishing clothes ‘cuz they match St Francis’ colors!

All I know is I can see really well again.  I can’t get over how well I can read street signs and license plates.  The frame’s arms don’t pinch my temples yet fit snug because I have adjusted the nose pads for a custom fit.  I wanted a pair that I could wear for driving, fishing, and in low light. It’s been a hassle to switch to non-sunglass eyeglasses to see when I parked the car underground. I sometimes wear the MJs in stores or restaurants to see far but take them off when talking to people so I’m not viewed as a weird guy with Unabomber tendencies.

 

The horizon, mountains and water look brilliant yet natural, and the polarizing effect built into the entire lens really cuts the glare.  I can see fish following my lures and spot the subtle movement of bait fish again.  Absolutely love the new Maui Jim Twin Falls and wholeheartedly recommend Maui Jim sunglasses !

Find a Maui Jim retailer near you to try a pair on.

 

What’s the difference between white papio and omilu?

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When I started fishing as a kid, the rare papio I caught were very small; less than today’s 10 inch fork length minimum.  Most were omilu but some were small white papio incidentally caught oama fishing.  I didn’t realize the two species were so different, and a lot of newbies may not either.

Look at the pictures above.  The omilu (bluefin trevally) on the right have their eyes set further back than the white papio (giant trevally) on the left.  That’s because they hunt looking ahead, targeting fast moving creatures on the reef in relatively clear water during the day. They have a narrower profile and dart into reef crevasses to ambush their prey, which consists mainly of small fish, but does include some crabs and shrimp.

The white papio’s eyes are larger than the omilu’s because they hunt in low light and off color water, especially at night.  Their eyes are set forward because they often root around for shrimp and crabs on the bottom when they are juveniles, and tako and eels when they are larger and slower moving.  The white’s mouth opens larger than an omilu in order to swallow such a big piece of food.

Many believe that white papio tastes milder than omilu because their diet includes crustaceans and other non-fish critters whereas the adult omilu mainly eats fish.

Whites are proportionally thicker than omilu, and grow much larger.  The state record for white ulua (GT) is almost 200 lbs whereas the omilu record is 28 lbs.

The fish feel different on the line too.  Omilu generally run faster than whites because they are slimmer and quicker, and dart into the reef holes if given a chance.  Whites pull steadier and often last longer because they use their thickly muscled bodies to resist being pulled.

How should you target each species?

Omilu: They hunt early in the morning in low light and throughout the day as the tide fills in, but take a siesta when the sun is very bright.   When the sun goes down, they settle back into their deep reef safe zones to sleep.   They have a weakness for oama but also hit quick moving lures.  Generally more discriminating than whites, they also appear to be smarter.  Besides dunking around the bait fish piles, whipping near clear, turbulent water can be very productive.  Omilu hit aggressively if they feel safe enough to do so.

White Papio:  The bigger ones (ulua) prefer to feed in the cover of night so live and dead baits slid down or dunked work well.  During the day, white papio hunt in slower moving, off color water like bays, stream mouths and harbor channels. Big ulua hunker down in deeper water caves during the day but can be agitated to bite by the gurgle of a large popper.  If big whites are together they can be very competitive feeders, fighting off each other to get to the lure first.

 

 

Big man o’ war, jumping kaku and $20 JDM lure lost

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Went back to the Windward side hoping to get a bigger fish on the 13 Fishing Concept Z reel.  Last week I got stung badly by a Portuguese Man o’ War so I wore wading socks that extended a few inches above my tabis but still left a 9 inch uncovered area between the socks and the bottom of my trunks.  At the first spot, I saw this huge Man of War getting blown towards me.  Freaked me out but this time I remembered to walk in front of the float, not behind it, since the stinging tentacles can extend pretty far.  I whipped the area cautiously for no bites but probably didn’t do it justice since I was constantly scanning the water for more Man o’ War.

Left the area and went to the spot I missed the kaku the last time.  Sure enough I got a hit on the JDM sub-surface lure right away. I felt the fish on and in a split second it went airborne with the lure in its mouth but shook it mid-flight. Here’s the short video of the little kaku acrobat.

I worked the area and moved down a ways, and when I returned I hooked that same fish or his brother.  I bumbled turning on the GoPro so I didn’t capture that action. And when I released the kaku that got tangled up in the leader, I ended up dunking the Concept Z reel for a couple of seconds. Ugh…

After draining the water, I made a cautious cast and backlashed because the wet casting brakes were slipping.  Adjusted from 3 brakes “on” to 5 brakes “on” (6 brakes are the max) and the reel casted great again.  Missed what felt like a papio bite and then my casts shortened as the brakes dried.  Readjusted the brakes back to their original setting but I must’ve had loose line on my spool ‘cuz I snapped off my lure at the FG knot on a cast. I had tied this sloppy FG knot on the water the last time and must not have cinched it down well.

My $20 limited edition JDM sub-surface lure couldn’t have gone far but I didn’t see it land and couldn’t find it even though it floats.  Took that as a sign to quit while I was unstung.  This is the second JDM lure I’ve left floating in jellyfish infested waters, although Portuguese Man Of War technically aren’t jellyfish.  If you find it, I hope it brings you luck.

I hadn’t opened up the Concept Z reel before so I was a little leery about losing flying parts.  The reel was actually a little simpler than bait casters I have serviced although there was a little spring loaded clicker pin under the star drag that fell off on disassembly.  The innards looked wet but free of grit, salt and corrosion.  The materials used looked impressively corrosion resistant and I verified that the stack of drag washers was made out of carbon fiber to produce an astounding 22 lb of drag.  Applied some Corrosion Block oil and Daiwa Blue Grease and reassembled it.  Reassuring to know that the Concept Z reel can be easily self-serviced.

 

 

The price to pay for fishing the Windward side

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Feeling good about ending my bolo, I ventured to the Windward side for some shallow water kaku action.  The tide hadn’t filled in at my dependable spot so I decided to wade around an area we’ve kayak fished in the past.  There were a lot of 7 inch mullet near shore, much more than I see on the South Shore, so I was hopeful that an ambushing kaku would be nearby.

In 2.5 feet of water I spotted the purple-blue float of a Portuguese Man of War.  The trade winds blow these stinging menaces into the Windward beach shallows, which is why there are so many sand turtles on the Windward side. The sand turtles love to eat the Man of War tentacles!

 

I walked about 12 ft downwind of the Man of War float and crossed its path.  ZAPPP!! It felt like my lower legs received an electrical shock.  I rubbed the areas in disbelief but couldn’t see much of a wound.  Wasn’t sure if the pain would get worse so I headed into shore to text the guys.  Thad, our resident wade fisher, turns out to be our resident jellyfish stingee also. He said the pain subsides very quickly so I drove to another spot but the kaku weren’t home.

By then, the tide had filled in a little at my dependable spot so I waded out into less than knee deep water.  My first cast resulted in a huge eruption of water. Now that’s the kind of greeting I like! I turned on the GoPro and recorded 3 more boils in the next 2 mins and 45 seconds. Sadly none stuck.  I did see another Man Of War float and kept one eye peeled for more.

On my slow walk of shame in I changed to a longer, heavier JDM sub-surface lure with 3 treble hooks, hoping to hook the sneaky kaku that hit the middle of the lure.  I hooked something that had a lot of resistance but couldn’t pull that hard.  It turned out to be a 6 inch omilu that attacked the 4.5 inch lure and was hooked in the mouth and the side.  The side wound was just below the skin and he swam off fine.  Omilu always seem to get foul hooked on the sharp trebles which is partly why I take those off if I’m not targeting kaku.

The next day my Man Of War sting got itchy and the following day was even worse.  Cortizone 10 Plus kept the itch bearable.

At Day 4 it wasn’t itchy anymore but looked really bad!  A friend said he welts up like that too and wears support stockings to prevent the sting from reaching his flesh!  That might look a little funny but less odd than walking around for a month with this scar.

I’ve ordered “calf compression sleeves” from Amazon Prime for less than $10 that don’t look like old lady stockings and am hoping they will prevent further leg stings. Will let you know how they perform.

Windward side has more bait and predators but more chance of getting stung too.  Is that price worth paying for a better shot at fish?

The Bolo is over!

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After 5 kayak and 6 shore fishing bolo trips, painfully documented in this post, I can finally say it’s over!  Thanks for the well wishes and suggestions on how to break the bad luck streak.

From shore I had been testing the 13 Fishing Concept Z bait casting reel I was given at the Fred Hall Show in March.  Was stubbornly sticking to top water and sub-surface lures although the thought of dragging bait did cross my mind. The reel cast and swam light lures really well and had some near misses so I was hoping it was just a matter of fishing the right conditions.

The last two spots I wade fished were so murky and muddy that the fish couldn’t see the lure well.  Changing things up, I  tried a spot where I could walk out to the break on a very low tide.  Hadn’t fished it in more than a year but the last time I did, the omilu were going nuts for the JDM sub-surface lure.  Here’s how the action went down that day.  This time, on the -0.1 ft tide,  I almost made it to the break.  Hedging my bets because of the clear water, I dropped down to 25lb fluoro leader instead of the 40lb I had been using to prevent kaku bite-offs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My second cast into a small sandy pocket hooked something solid. I set the hook a few times to make sure it wasn’t gonna shake off like the previous fish on this bolo run, before turning on the hat mounted GoPro.  The Concept Z reel is so light and small yet has a max drag of 22lbs.  I had the drag set enough to over power the kaku so it came in green and flopped around like a trout avoiding a landing net.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I was so far from shore I tried tagging the kaku in the Promar ProFloat net. Keeping it captive wasn’t a problem but measuring the sharp toothed fish while keeping my reel out of the water was a challenge. I ended up grabbing the kaku through the net and doing a rough estimate.  19 inches, tagged with #A5651.  And just like that, my bolo was over.

On my next cast, a kaku of about the same size followed by a pound half omilu investigated my lure and turned away 10 ft from me.  That was it for the action in that little sand patch so I walked back to shore with a lot of weight lifted off my shoulders.  Sorry for all the photos of a slimy kaku but I needed proof I finally landed a fish with the Z reel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the zero foot tide I gathered some pipihi and mussels for my Toby puffer. Interesting that the pipihi were a 1/3 the size of the ones I gathered earlier at another spot with a large lava rock shelf.

I whipped a sandy, protective cove and missed 2 more kaku.  Fellow whippers I talked to when I was leaving said they saw a large omilu come in, swirl around and go out in the area I caught the bolo-breaking kaku.  Fishing is a matter of inches. If that kaku had hit the lure an inch back from the front hook I’d still be lamenting the bolo.

Seems like the omilu are coming in looking for bait but not finding much yet.  Still no reports of large oama schools inshore.

 

The sardines are in, and getting whacked!

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Sardines getting attacked. Photo by Kelly.

The sardines have been in at the usual spots for a while. Now that the summer season is starting up, the bigger predators have been hitting the piles with regularity.  Sardines make great bait, especially when fished live near the piles.

Sardine pros palu (chum) the school to keep it close and whip damashi flies or small glitter strips.  Sardines don’t stay alive in buckets too long so the pros keep catching them while they have a live sardine out just past the school.  Because the school runs out to deep water at night to feed on plankton, the sardine spots are usually close to fast drop offs.  Fast drop offs mean access for big papio, lai, awa awa and kaku.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Matthew, a 7th grader next fall, was whipping the shoreline when he saw a black ball of sardines enter the inshore sandy area.  He quickly changed to a damashi whipping rig.

Even though the school moved out a ways, he kept them within range with palu and ended up with these sardines to use as bait later.

Since the early oama schools haven’t settled in yet, sardines may be the best bait option right now. Go get ‘um!

The Bolo is real!

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At this point I’ve gone kayak or shore fishing 11 times and besides a shark and hage, haven’t landed a thing.  Out of 5 kayak attempts, 3 were so windy we had to cut the fishing short.  Out of the 6 solo shore fishing trips, all either had tides too low for the predators to come in, or choppy conditions due to wind and waves.  But I’m just making excuses for my bolo head streak, Thad was able to catch two large fish in the same conditions, at one of the spots I tried and failed.  Here’s how he did.

It seems that just as I’m getting close to catching fish, something new gets in the way.  When I kayaked the deep with Kelly, he caught a nabeta on damashi at 100 ft and I had some scarred baits that looked like they had been raked by nabeta. Even had a good drag puller come off.  Here’s the write up for that trip.  The next time I went out to that spot solo, the conditions were too rough to safely fish. I’ve given up with kayak fishing the south side until after the fall, when the wind and waves drop.

 

 

 

So I wade fished a spot on Thad’s recommendation and had a bunch of kaku strikes on my go-to sub-surface lure but none stuck because I had changed the rear hook to a strong Owner inline single hook.  I went back with that same type of lure sporting stock treble hooks and the wind and waves cloudied the water and made it hard for the kaku to find that lure.

Albino pipihi on the upper left

 

 

 

 

 

 

But I didn’t come home empty. I gathered some pipihi (those small, black salt water snails you see on black rocks when the tide recedes) for my Toby puffer since he’s been getting tired of frozen shrimp.  Toby couldn’t break into the tough shell so all the pipihi crawled out of his tub! I crushed one for him and he sniffed it and pushed it around for awhile, then figured out how to eat it. I put the remaining pipihi in another tub that didn’t have any fish and they crawled out of the water but didn’t flee like they did earlier.  Pipihi are a lot smarter than I thought.  Well one was hanging out on the outside of the tub, and since he was a flight risk, he became Toby’s next meal.

 

I figured I’d check the spot I last fished in April, hours before the historic flood that tragically dumped mud in East Oahu homes. I was horrified to find the water looking like this, 6 weeks later.   There was so much muddy silt on top of the sand that it was actually slippery to wade.  The normal bait was gone and the few bait fish I saw were darting all over the place because they couldn’t see predators coming. The tide was also too low to fish, so I just waded around, wondering how long it would take to flush out all this silt and debris.

I consulted the guys to see what I could do to end my bolo streak. Kelly said I needed to get a “bolo head” haircut to accept the bolo and move on.  This “side bolo” was the shortest I could handle.  Maybe my catch will improve to a side bolo of at least a consolation fish?

Do any of you have any other suggestions for me? By the way, I’m loving my new prescription Maui Jim Twin Fall wraps, but only wish I was seeing fish on my hook with them.

Guest Post: JDM Top water action on the shallow reef shelf

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This guest post is from Thad, our resident JDM fishing equipment purveyor and top water expert. He also wrote this very popular halalu fly tying article.  Because I haven’t caught a decent fish since February, Thad was kind enough to share how he did on his last outing.

Fishing has always been more than just a casual hobby for me.  I do it not just for the excitement of hooking and landing the big one, but to get out and enjoy being with Mother Nature.  It’s a relaxing Zen sort of thing which I’m sure many of you can relate to.  Even if I don’t catch anything, I fully enjoy the experience of just being out there near the ocean.  I’ve been fishing since I was in grade school so even though I could fish favorite spots that can produce fish consistently, I love exploring and testing new grounds that I’ve never fished before – regardless of what other have told me about them.

Recently, I’ve been exploring a spot that I had always wondered about and stared at on Google Maps satellite view.  The first two weekends at the new spot had been decent, producing some exciting kaku hits on JDM topwater and shallow swimming subsurface lures.  I was also able to try some flies someone had tied and given to me.  I whipped them with a clear bubble and landed a bunch of catch & release sized omilu, as well as a nice 14” yellow spot papio.

Despite two consecutive trips there, a few unexplored areas remained where I wanted to try using different lures and methods, so I went a third time. Unfortunately, the early morning conditions on that day were not as ideal as the previous two weekends.  The tide was a little higher, the wind was very gusty, and there was also a swell rolling in.  All this movement made the water murky and difficult to see where I was stepping.  I spent the first couple of hours wading near the break, not getting any action, and being bashed around by an occasional set, so I decided to try tagging a kaku in the shallows near the shoreline before I headed home.

The gusty winds were blowing off-shore in a diagonal direction so I could get decent distance throwing my 14gram JDM top water lure downwind.  I’ve had great success fishing this walk-the-dog lure for kaku and papio before.  Its slender shape allows for long, missile-like casts, often out distancing lures that weigh several grams more.  I decided to go with this lure since the water I would be fishing was very thin at about 1 to 1.5 feet deep. The very first cast got out a good distance but I quickly realized the choppy surface and pull of the wind on my line made it difficult to walk the lure like I normally do. A harder than normal twitch of the rod tip was required to get it to glide from side to side but this in turn gave it a bigger, more attractive splash on each turn.  I gave it more time to glide between twitches so the retrieve was very slow paced but looked very good from my vantage point.

With the confidence gained working the first cast, I let the second one sail out with the wind and then began my retrieve.  After a few slow but deliberate twitches, something hit the lure violently with a big splash and bend my rod over.  Fish on!  Unlike all the previous kaku I had hooked there, this fish felt considerably stronger and took line in nice long spurts.  I thought to myself, this must be one of those monster kaku my nephew Reef hooked here and had told me about.  I hoped my 25lb fluorocarbon leader was nowhere near its razor sharp teeth. The fish headed sideways towards the left which was different from the way other kaku have fought. There was no signature head shake of a papio and the water was very shallow so I began thinking maybe I hooked an oio instead.  Excited by this thought, I carefully fought the fish closer and within sight. Papio!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Now, I’ve caught papio in very shallow waters before and know they do come in close to hunt the reef flats but I was surprised since this was a decent sized one and I didn’t feel any of the telltale head shakes of a papio.  I immediately could see why as the fish was foul hooked with the tail treble hooked to the bottom of a gill plate and the front treble hooked in the belly. I fumbled around trying to grab my wading net but found it was tangled with my fish bag and rod holster I keep on my waist.  The hooks looked secure on the fish so I decided to walk it over a nearby sand beach.  The fish measured 20 inches to the fork of the tail and would later weigh 5 pounds 0.5 ounces on my kitchen scale.

 

 

 

 

 

With a nice fish in the bag, it was time to head home.  I had walked a long distance down the beach from where I was parked, so I whipped my lure as I worked my way back.  A few yards from where I hooked the papio, another topwater blowup led to a 22 inch kaku which I released with PIFG tag #A5343 securely attached to its back.  I noticed several small, broken schools of very early season oama. They were very skittish and wouldn’t allow me to get close but they were definitely oama.  Maybe they were drawing the predators on to the shallow flats?  Hmm.  Has the 2018 season begun?  I hope so.

Kayak fishing the deep in light wind, small moon conditions

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The rare light wind, small wave, small moon day presented itself.  My fishing partner, Frank, was out of town so Kelly graciously filled in.  Kelly planned to troll frozen oama on the way out to the deep and then switch to damashi tipped with ika when fish showed up on the EchoMap 44CV fish finder/map charter.  I planned to keep things simple and bottom fish with frozen opelu and maybe drop a jig with the other rod.

I hadn’t bottom fished with bait at this particular spot and wanted to see if that would be the difference maker.  Kelly hooked an undersized omilu within minutes of launching and released it. I steadily paddled out, telling him my depth via walkie talkie as he followed behind.  Before I reached the 100 ft mark, Kelly battled and landed a big aha which he also released since he hoped for better fish in the deep.

Fish gathered under me so I dropped a frozen 6 inch opelu down on a relatively small offset circle hook.   The first couple were getting pulled off the hook without me even detecting the theft.  Then some came back with 2 inches missing off the tail, or puncture marks through the body.  At first I was excited because our last two big moon bottom fishing trips yielded no bites, but as I quickly went through my bait supply,  concern mounted.  Kelly damashi fished and after a while got a bite. Up came a big nabeta! Whoohoo!  I was surprised they were in 100 ft since I thought we were over a rocky ledge, not the sand that nabeta hide in.

More of my opelu were mangled and the bite pattern sure looked like fang-toothed nabeta, though maybe I was wishful thinking.  I was down to a 3 inch piece of a big opelu head and three 8-inch whole opelu.  I changed to the 12/0 VMC circle hook I had been using in the past, since the offset hook I was using had too small a gap to slip around the bait.  With the opelu head securely hooked through the nostrils, I dropped down and waited. Tap, tap, tap. Kelly was watching nearby when the fish ran hard with the bait and took drag for a second. It managed to pull the bait off without getting hooked.  Sigh…

Kelly magically brought up a moana on his damashi and I hooked it through the nostrils and set it down.  I drifted that moana further out, over ledges for a good amount of time and nothing hit it.  It was a good test and in the future I’ll stick to opelu if I have some.

We started fishing our way in, and Kelly stretched his body by standing and fishing off the SUP.  Takes a lot of dexterity and calm water to do that.  At 60 ft he got a bite.  Here we are, hoping the fish isn’t “black”.

I ended the day with no fish landed, extending my bolo head streak to 7. Kelly felt bad and insisted I take home the nabeta since that’s the only fish my wife wants to cook and eat.  He said to gill and gut it right away and place it on paper towels in the fridge to keep it dry.

I rolled it in corn starch, deep fried it lightly, pulled it out to let it cool and fried it again, “Coach Haru style”. I slightly under fried the outside so it wasn’t as crispy as it should have been but my wife ate it to the bones.  Nabeta is the best! Thanks Kelly!

And while I got skunked once again, I do believe I got so many hits and steals because of the dark moon phase and moving tide.  Just gotta convert that knowledge to fish caught, next time.

Top water kaku fail

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I fished 5 times since last catching a decent fish in February.  Shoreline whipping and kayak bottom fishing.  Bolo’d every time.  Heard from Thad that the kaku were hitting top water lures at one of his spots and I really wanted to catch a fish on the 13 Fishing Omen travel rod and Z bait casting reel I’ve been trying to test.  Since the Z reel cast light lures so well I replaced the mono with 20lb Sufix 832 Coastal Camo braid to see if I could cast the light lures further without backlashing.

The morning I picked was a peak box jellyfish day and there were stranded jellyfish drying out on the exposed reef flat and floating in the calm water. That kept me on dry land.

I started with my go to 3/8 oz top water “walk the dog” lure Thad turned me onto a couple of years ago.  Made a 3/4 effort cast and it went flying off my line.  Arrgghh… I had put on the new Sufix 832 too loosely and hadn’t wet the line before casting. It backlashed and broke at the FG knot connecting the Sufix to my fluoro leader.  I thought of wading out to retrieve the floating lure but with so many jellyfish in the water I bid it farewell. Hope the finder will catch lots of fish on it.

The Sufix backlash was much easier to pick out than previous PowerPro backlashes. That was an unplanned test with a positive result.

 

 

 

 

 

When I spun my Patagonia sling bag around to tie on another leader I realized my Promar floating landing net was missing.  It was connected to the bag with a Rapala Magnetic Release Clip and the net must’ve snagged something as I walked and pulled off.  I retraced my steps back to where I remember holding the net in my hand and found it tucked away in the bushes. Some Good Samaritan must’ve found it, and left it partially hidden in the hopes that the owner would know to look for it.  The two magnets on the clip are strong yet easy to pull off and reattach. I gotta be more aware next time I wade.

I was beginning to wonder what else was gonna go wrong. Trip and fall head first into a pile of box jellyfish?  I strung up the Sufix through the rod’s guides, tied another FG knot to the fluoro leader and put on the same type of top water lure in another color. No backlashes even with a side wind, but the line piled up on one side of the spool.  What the heck?  Doh, when I pulled off the backlash and stopped to find the net, the braid had slipped out of the level wind guide and I strung up the rod with the braid running on top of the reel. What a dufus!  I undid the FG knot, ran the the Sufix through the level wind guide and rod guides and just tied a simple Uni to Uni knot to join the braid to fluoro leader.

Back in business, I made a series of casts with a tail wind and a side wind and the Z reel was able to cast for distance without overruns. Even with heavier, thicker braid I get more backlashes on my other bait casters. I’m really impressed with this ball bearing less reel.  But I didn’t get a single boil on the lure and am still waiting to see how the setup will handle a fish.