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The yak fishing conditions finally came together, or did they?

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deep trolling oama

The trades finally died down, blocked by the remnants of Tropical Storm Fernanda.  The moon was small the night before, and Frank and I launched at the bottom of a big tidal swing.  It was overcast, with thunderstorms threatening nearby. I was concerned the water might be too flat, but there was enough chop to make the predators feel comfortable.  A very reliable source had found the school of white papio hitting bait that morning, and gave us the location.

All that raised our expectations even though we tried hard not to count our screamers before they hatched.

We paddled straight for the area where the whites had bitten that morning, and the fish finder didn’t mark much bait or larger fish along the way.  After about 30 mins of circling the spot, something pulled drag but by the time I cleared the line it jumped off.  I saw the splash in the corner of my eye, and so did Frank, maybe a poorly hooked, small awa awa?  That was the last good strike we registered.

For the next 3.5 hrs we checked all the likely and unlikely spots and got some weak strikes that pulled at our baits but didn’t stick.  On the way in, the area that was reported to have the white papio school had a lot of bait fish near the surface.  That bait wasn’t there when we first came through.

So what caused this bolo on a day that seemed to have everything lined up for epic fishing?  The whites may have attacked the bait fish early in the morning and dispersed them, or chased them inside where we didn’t check. That I can understand.  But what happened to the omilu, awa awa and aha that are normally around the reef channels during the daytime hours? Did the big King tide cause too much tidal current so they hunkered down in a calmer area?  We’re beginning to realize the big tidal swings don’t bode well for our deep channel fishing.  Or did the fish feel the low pressure of the thunderstorms nearby?

Reader’s Tip: Keep your oamas alive and healthy until you can use them

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Mark on Kauai sent this tip with photos to show how he keeps his oama alive and healthy until he has time to use them for live bait.  He puts the oama in a bucket of sea water lined with a black trash bag that has sand on the bottom.  He says the black liner keeps the water cool, and the sand calms the oama down.  Mark uses a simple air pump to oxygenate the bucket and a water pump and bell siphon to recirculate water between another bucket of seawater, but you could just do intermittent water changes when the water gets too warm or soiled with fish waste.  Ammo Lock or Prime, purchased from a pet store, will neutralize the toxic ammonia the fish produce.

Here’s a nice Hanalei white papio caught on one of his frisky live oama.

Thanks for the tip Mark, and I hope you get more papio before the season is over!

 

 

Is the first wave of the Summer papio season over?

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these picky oama took 2 of us hours to catch!

It’s now mid-July and from what I’ve been hearing from you guys, and what I’ve been seeing on the water, the “first wave” of the season is over.  Friends and I have this theory that the oama came in early, in June, and some spots are now barren because the oama have gotten big and left for the reef.  The oama remaining in other spots are akamai to the normal baits we’ve been using, and have gotten lock jaw.  The big papio that came in a few weeks after the oama did have either been caught or are eating oama out in the deeper water.  So is it time to hang up the fishing gear and wait ’til next year?

Well, if you want to catch oama now you have to find “new, dumb ones” or figure out when they’re the most hungry.  Be creative with the baits, they “old” oama have seen everything by now.

If you have oama to use, you’ll have to take them further out since the papio aren’t coming close to shore anymore.

And if you like to throw lures like I do, be prepared to get bolo’d.  The papio and other preds are hunting further out, as mentioned, and are keyed on the abundance of natural baits still around.

There’s still fish to be caught during this next stage, but it will take akamai fishers to catch them.

If you have any fish stories or reports to share, please comment on my posts or contact me through the Contact page.  I’m always stoked to hear that this blog has gotten you fired up to fish more often.

Always get chance when you have live oama…

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peaceful paddle out

Screamah addiction lured Frank and me back to a deep water channel that came up empty the last two times we fished it.  Erik had been consistently hooking big papio and ulua with poppers off his small boat, and I stubbornly felt we could get something big to bite our live oama offering.

We launched in absolutely beautiful, glassy conditions and glided to the general area.  Hope began to fade as I scanned the fish finder’s blank screen. No bait fish near the surface and no white papio below.  Our live oama went on a tour of the likely looking reef drop offs and channels for the next 4 hrs.  Maybe the water was too calm and clear?  The wind began to pick up, and the tide surged, yet the only things grabbing my oama were reef outcrops and a fat puffer fish.  I got stuck 4 times, trolling over shallow water out of desperation, and the puffer was hooked so solidly in its lower lip that I cut off the hook. I was out of trolling rigs, and even bummed one off Frank, so I had to use my 20 lb fluoro main line to make a 2-hook trolling leader.

water has begun to bump up a bit

Frank got stuck a couple times also, but had devised an anchor system for his SUP and could retie his rigs while staying in place on the papa.  Brilliant!  I drifted a lot while retying rigs because I didn’t want to create an anchor trolley system for my kayak.  Frank continues to improve his fishing processes and had built a “rack-a-yak” washing station for me to clean my yak off when we land.  Maybe he can help me build the anchor trolley!

We were sun burnt, tired and really disappointed. Besides an omilu that Frank lost right at the net, we didn’t have anything to show for our efforts.  We positioned ourselves to let the current push us in, and as we entered shallow, murky water, I took  the fish finder’s transducer out of the water that was marking bait near the surface and Frank pulled up his live oama.  Even though I had never caught anything this close to shore, in such silty water, I left my oama in the water out of complete desperation.  Then the ratchet went off. The sound was faster than I would hear from a snag so it was actually a fish!  I got the rod out of the holder, felt a few surges and the fish came off. Ugh… Frank was too far away to hear the ratchet but did hear me yell “HOOKUP!!”.  He paddled over as I put the transducer back in the water.  5 feet deep and so silty we couldn’t see more than 2 feet down.  He quickly deployed his live oama and I put a new one on and retraced my route.

“HOOKUP!!”  Couldn’t believe I hooked something else and was overly excited.  I’m so used to saying “hookup” instead of “hanapa’a” after fishing so many years in SoCal, I guess.

Expected a white papio hunting in the very silty water yet it was a fat 1.5 lb omilu that took the back hook down in it’s gullet.  The fish bled during the hook extraction process so I kept it.  After Frank took this photo, he trolled the inside and when I tracked him down he was landing a similar sized omilu.  The fish finder said 3 feet!

We trolled the shallows some more but the bait fish were gone and so were the omilu. I guess God wanted us to each catch a fish and spare us the bolo head.

everything is strapped to Frank or his board for easy transport to and from the launch point

Erik fished shallow water on his bigger boat, and Kelly fished inside the break on his SUP. Both said the bite was very slow.  We’re thinking it was because the moon was still so big and the clear night skies let the fish feed at night.

And Frank and I learned that as long as you have live oama in the water, you always have a chance.

Live oama vs big moon and gusty trades

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The winds were forecast to be blowing 15 – 20 mph and the moon was just shy of full.  Not the most promising of fishing conditions but I had some early season oama that were beginning to get skinny in captivity.  Kelly invited me to his partially wind shielded SUP fishing spot.  The winds were still gusty at times but we managed to slow troll the oama.  Kelly let his oama swim unencumbered while I kept mine off the rocks with a floater.

Kelly inched close to the waves and was rewarded with the first fish, a scrappy omilu between a pound and 2 pounds.  I was leery of being dumped in my Scupper Pro and played it safe for  a while, finally finding a stretch of reef that yielded a bunch of 1.25 lb omilu without pummeling me with waves. I hadn’t brought my tags so all were released.

 

 

 

 

Fishing closer to harms way, Kelly had a much more diverse hit list: omilu, kaku, trumpet fish and an aha that screamed his drag. The bite was much slower than normal for Kelly, but the live oama overcame the adverse conditions. He even got bit on frozen oama when the livies ran out.

 

This was my first outing with live oama this season.  I was hoping for a screamah but settled for a pretty consistent bite in the protected waters.  Still dreaming of the screamahs…

The “season” has started!!!

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In “normal” years, the oama begin to trickle in around June and the papio start hitting them with abandon a month later.  2015 and 2016 were warm El Nino years and the oama stayed around into the early winter of those years, and the “real” oama season started in late summer.  Seems like 2017 is reverting back to a cooler, normal, earlier season.

The reef fish recruits that normally come in before the oama have been in, and oama reinforcements have been showing up on the south side of Oahu.  In normal years with normal current, oama start on the south shore and move north west, lastly filling in on the east side.

Good numbers of pesky small papio are mixed in with the oama, and bigger papio are hitting those schools.  Halaluu have been in for weeks.  Hopefully the season continues to build and isn’t halted by tropical storms like the last two years.

I’m already experiencing slower fishing on lures as the preds are keyed on specific bait fish (iao, oama, halalu, sardines).  Time for me to resume raising oama at home, I guess.

 

Converting “finding” to “catching”

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Frank and I checked a protected, deeper water spot I hadn’t fished all season.  In previous years, the white papio and awa awa would be hitting non-oama bait schools before oama arrive on shore.  The plan was for me to locate the bait and predators with the portable fish finder mounted on my yak, and for Frank to bring ’em up for viewing with frozen oama.  Once Frank identified the predators I’d try hooking them with a sinking lure.

A few minutes into our launch a large fish symbol appeared on the fish finder, 5 ft off the bottom.  Anything suspended above the bottom is a potential predator and sure enough Frank hooked up on his 1 yr old frozen oama he slow trolled in mid-water.  The fish battled hard, up and down, and Frank was able to land the first white of the day.  I cast out a heavy sinking swimmer that worked well the first time I tried it, but hadn’t worked since.  Nothing.  Frank baited up with another frozen oama, retraced his route and was on again.  This one shook off before he could see it.

The bite stopped so we ventured out into the 12 – 15 mph head wind for a mile and a half or so but there were no bait balls and no bites.  I put on a 2 yr old frozen oama and we let the wind blow us back towards our launch point.  As we got neared our destination my line felt like it snagged the reef edge.  I yanked and pulled and a scuffed up 11 inch omilu came up!  It might’ve been pulling a little line off my whipping reel (no ratchet) and I might’ve been dragging it for a while.  It was tired but managed to swim back down.

We neared the channel where Frank had his earlier strikes. I checked the opposite edge that had held awa awa in the past after seeing small bait marks on the fish finder but nothing took my oama.  When I paddled over to Frank, he smiled and exclaimed “I had a screammmmmmaahhhhhh”.  Something hit his oama and made 2 or 3 very strong runs straight down, against his tight drag.  Unfortunately the hooks pulled and I wasn’t able to witness the biggest fish he’s battled so far.  He asked if he should have run a looser drag but that’s risky too since a big fish could find the reef edge, or take a lot of line in a few seconds.  I think I’ve read that 1/3 of the breaking capacity of the line is a good amount of drag to run.  ‘Course we go by feel, and don’t pull line off with a scale, but it’s good to remember not to run too tight a drag unless the grounds are really snaggy.

Frank baited up with another frozen oama and circled the area that had been so productive for him.  I paddled through a channel closer to shore and my light whipping rod bent over like I had snagged the reef. Line peeled out smoothly so I realized I was actually on a fish.  This fish fought up and down like Frank’s and felt bigger than it actually was because of my lighter action rod and small reel.  It later measured 14 inches (FL) and was headed for my family’s dinner.  I baited up again, paddled over to Frank and we trolled the stretch side by side.

the top fish is only 1/2 inch shorter than the bottom fish but looks a lot smaller due to camera angle

Fish showed up in the same area on the fish finder just as they did when we started the day, suspended off the bottom.  Frank had to tell me I hooked up again because my rod was bending from the tip but I couldn’t tell without the sound of a ratchet.  The fish felt pretty big but ended up 13.5 inches (FL).  While it was fun to battle the whites on small gear it was a big disadvantage not to have a reel with a ratchet to tell me when something was tasting the oama.  I liked to imagine I was on Wicked Tuna when a strong fish would scream the small trolling reel.

All in all, it was a successful day.  Frank paddled his custom Fishing SUP further than he had in the past, against a stiff head wind.  My cheap fish finder found the suspended whites and the frozen oama brought them up for identification.  I was a little disappointed that the sinking lure didn’t get bit.  Next time I’ll try to drop a jig on the whites’ head and call them up with a popper on the surface.

Big Island Bottomfishing Trip 2017

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Continuing the tradition started last year, the Pacific Islands Fisheries Group (PIFG) guys, Neil and Erik, traveled to the Big Island to boat fish the day before the Tokunaga Challenge weigh-in.  We stayed with Neil’s childhood friend Jeremy, who chauffeured us around like celebrities. The moon was a lot bigger than last year’s half moon conditions, and there was a 5.3 earthquake the day before.  We were eager to see how that would affect our jigging prospects.

Capt Wes was fishing a tournament in Kona that day so Capt Braiden, last year’s first mate, took us out on the 19 ft Glasspar he recently purchased.  The wide beamed boat easily handled the five us and provided a stable platform to bottomfish.  We started at the jigging spots that were productive last year, and came up empty.  Capt Braiden, who doesn’t normally shallow bottom fish, worked the sounder and GPS to find other likely spots.  Jeremy fished cut shrimp, Neil and I jigged, and Erik switched between jigs and damashi with flies.  Jeremy hooked something solid and carefully brought a big, thick yellow spot papio to the net.  That gave us hope, but the lure bite didn’t materialize.

Slowly the guys switched over to shrimp on damashi and went through the initiation of hage and lizardfish.  Erik hooked something big on the bottom hook of his light damashi setup and gingerly worked it up but it eventually bent the hook and swam free.  Capt Braiden tirelessly worked the various reefs and drop offs. The tide was halfway through its rise and Neil got a small nibble that felt different from a hage, and heavier than a lizardfish. Nabeta!  It was on the small size but very welcome since nabeta were the best eating of the first we had caught last year.  Soon the guys were bringing up singles and doubles of  larger nabeta as Capt Braiden carefully plotted his drifts.

Neil continued his nabeta pioneering by landing a black fish that we later realized was a nabeta, followed up with a second black nabeta.  Turns out black colored nabeta are of the same species we were catching, but a very uncommon catch.  The two black nabeta were smaller than their lighter colored siblings, but pulled harder.

Live Deception green mackerel, left most. Flat Fall 80 gm, 4th from left.

I stubbornly kept jigging, using slow falling, fast falling, larger bodied and very small bodied jigs, eventually trying 9 different lures.  Earlier something small was on, shook its head pretty actively and came off. Then a larger fish took drag repeatedly but slipped off the debarbed hooks when I paused to try to find the “on” button of Erik’s Go Pro camera strapped to my chest.

My jigging muscles were tired after hours of non-productive lifting and cranking.  I felt bad that I wasn’t contributing to the nabeta pile so I bummed a homemade 2-hook dropper rig from Neil and baited up with shrimp.  Once I hit bottom I felt a strong tug and cranked what I thought was a whopper of a nabeta to the surface. Turned out to be hage and so was the next fish I brought up.  The guys said I had to go through the hage initiation and thankfully the third fish I brought up was a nabeta.  At this point we had run out of shrimp and were chunking lizardfish for bait, and I added a couple more nabeta. The others were much more effectively adding to the community catch.

Out of cut bait and an hr left to fish, we worked our way back towards our launch spot. Capt Braiden stopped in the general area where we caught the ulua last year.  He must’ve dialed it in perfectly because the first drop of the 2 oz  Ahi USA Live Deception in Green Mackeral (last year’s magic lure) got walloped a few lifts off the bottom.  It felt awesome to have something bend the rod and pull drag.  I babied it a bit since it would be my first jig fish of the day if landed, and it took me around the stern.  It came up very shiny and Neil expertly netted it. Kagami papio/ulua, the first jig fish I caught last year too!  This one was smaller than last year’s and the guys decided it was too beautiful to kill.  We tagged the 20.5 inch (FL) kagami and set it free.  Erik blended my chest cam’s footage and his stick cam to create this beautiful video.

The guys were pumped and Jeremy dropped down a frozen oama Braiden’s wife had caught the year before.  It got inhaled and he calmly battled a stronger fish than the kagami I had just released.  After a series of powerful runs a larger, slightly less shiny fish surfaced.  21.5 inch (FL) white papio/ulua.  That one was headed to Capt Wes’ smoker.

We drifted out to deeper water and my 2 oz Live Deception took longer to hit bottom.  The “scope” of the line was greater than I preferred because my lifts couldn’t make the lure fall as intended but the jig got picked up and the fish made an initial run.  Thinking it was another papio, I was waiting for a strong dive as I tried to smoothly bring it to the surface, but the fish was whipped. It turned out to be a weke ula, maybe a couple of pounds.  Erik had been telling me to eat the weke ula raw instead of steaming it, since it’s a little firm and crunchy when cooked, so I kept it.

Nothing hit my Live Deception on the next drop and since we were in deeper water  I put on an 80 gram (2.8 oz) Shimano Flat Fall.  It got picked up and I felt tugs as I reeled it in. Hage on both assist hooks!  How’d it fit such large hooks in its small mouth?  That was a sign that it was time to head for the barn.

We suspect the slow jig bite was due to the full moon the night before.  The predators may have fed at night and were resting up for the next night bite. Big ups to Capt Braiden for putting us on the most productive nabeta harvest we’ve ever experienced and over some big papios.  Much Mahalo to Jeremy for the Big Island Hospitality.

Jeremy, Neil, Scott and Capt Braiden

Here’s the crew. We couldn’t all be in the same photo because someone had to take the picture!  Neil plans to donate one of the black nabeta to the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, and eat the other to compare to the normal colored nabeta.

 

Jeremy, Neil, Erik and Scott

 

 

SUP with oama = 3; Yak with lures = 0

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Kelly, Frank and I hit the deeper water grounds that have been productive recently.  Kelly would be trolling frozen oama, Frank would whip lures first, and then troll oama. I was loaded for bear, with 40lb fluoro leader and abrasion resistant fluoro main line so I could bring in a big fish before Sharkey took his cut. I would stick to the lures that had been working the last two times I fished here solo.  The wild card was the “King Tide” that would flood the shoreline later in the day.

We started while the tide was below zero.  The wind was calm at the launch and we easily paddled to the area that was working last week. Something wasn’t right. The water was a copper-yellow tinge, not the way it would look if it were caused by runoff. Visibility was reduced and we suspected that the turbulence from the big tide stirred up sediment.  I marked much less fish on the fish finder, and nothing hit Kelly’s oama he SUP’d around.  I even tried fishing the suspended marks that produced big strikes the last time but I couldn’t even get a bump.

We spread out and a couple hrs of no bites went by. Then Kelly found a productive reef and landed a 2lb omilu followed by a kaku that cut the leader, and a roi that took his meal down a hole.  He ended his outing with a larger omilu that shook off before it could be landed.  Kelly passed some frozen oama on to Frank before having to leave, and Frank began trolling the reef closer to shore while I explored a deeper water papa further out.

The wind was over 12mph with gusts to 15 mph and the papa’s protected side was still bumpy.  The drift was fast but I was able to mark larger fish near the bottom.  The big boys were there but didn’t take any sub-surface, sinking lures or jigs.  Big contrast to the earlier trip when they came up in packs to hit lures.  I let the wind blow me back to where Frank was SUP trolling.

Frank had some roi action, then pulled in an oama head that was left by a papio or kaku.  After putting out a new bait he instantly hanapa’ad a 12″ FL omilu.  Repeating his path again he landed a 12.5″ FL white that was thicker and stronger.  After I had covered so much ground for nary a bite I was very surprised that an omilu and a white would be caught in the same area.  I put on a Waxwing Boy and whipped the flats and papa edge nearby. Still no love for me.  Frank’s last oama bait was pulled down into the rocks so we whipped lures on the way back to the launch site.

I put the trusty sub-surface lure back on and sure enough a roi jumped on.  Luckily it didn’t rock me and I dispatched it with a knife.  I’ve been catching roi with full bellies lately. Are they pregnant or just stuffed with reef fish?  This particular colored lure has caught more roi than any other lure for me.  Good for roi roundups but bad when the roi make it into the holes.

We checked the usual spots on the way back in but they were all barren.  So was it the King Tide and off color water that scattered the fish and made them unresponsive to lures?  The bait schools I had seen earlier were gone. Perhaps the bait didn’t feel safe in water they couldn’t see their predators coming, and without bait, there was no reason for the predators to hang around?

It was awesome to fish with Kelly and Frank.  We tried to work together to find fish. Kelly was the “control” with trolled oama, proving that some areas were indeed barren, and some areas held fish that wanted a room service delivered oama. Frank hooked a roi on the same sub-surface lure I did, but no papio.  That told me that the heavier leader and thicker main line I was using wasn’t the reason I got blanked.  And, it’s always good to fish with great guys who happen to be skilled watermen.

 

 

Predators gone amuck!

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The whites I stumbled upon the other day kept calling my name.  I went a little earlier this time, and the tide was still falling in the morning.  It was a little windier, maybe 8 to 10 mph trade winds, but lighter than normal.  Headed straight for Erik’s spot where I struck out the other day.  My go-to sub-surface lure got bumped repeatedly on the papa edge but nothing stuck. That was odd cuz it normally produces. I put on a sub-surface lure that I modified to run two inline single hooks instead of 3 small trebles. I wanted to see if having 1 less hook would affect the hookup ratio.

Evidently not. On the first cast a fish chased it down, jumping out of the water twice to eat it. I thought I was fighting an awa awa but brought a white papio to color.  I guess that fish preferred the swimming action of this slightly longer lure that was missing its belly hook.  Disappointed it wasn’t an awa awa, I shook it off. My tag kit got soaked while tagging fish the other day and I decided to skip tagging today.

Since the water was higher on the papa I drifted on it and cast to productive looking areas.  A smaller white hit about 10 ft from the papa edge but shook off before I could shake him off myself.  Hmm,  didn’t know white papio feed on top of the papas like omilu do.  Trying another drift over the papa I hooked something that took my lure into a long rocky tunnel. When the line finally broke, I was missing the lure and 3 ft leader.  I hope that roi chokes on my lure and dies, though I bet it was able to shed the single hook quickly.

Not wanted to lose any more sub-surface lures, I put on a heavy lipped swimmer.  It cast well but didn’t get bumped at all.  I had thrown it before and didn’t get a bite then either. Maybe that’s why it was half off on eBay.

Continuing with my lure tests, I paddled away from the papa and marked what looked like medium-sized fish suspended a little above squiggly lines that I assumed were bait fish.  I put on a smaller-bodied heavy lipped swimmer that was supposedly the hottest thing in Asia.  Cast out, let it settle to the bottom and retrieved steadily. It got bumped and I hooked fish but the hook kept pulling.  The fish felt like smaller white papio or maybe taape or some other reef fish?  I threw it closer to the pointed edge of the papa and an awa awa grey-hounded out of the water. Finally, the target fish!  The line went slack for about a second, and then took off again.  I fought the stubborn fish to the yak, and when I brought it to color it was a 13.5 inch (FL) white!  The awa awa had dropped the lure and the white picked it up thinking it was his lucky day.  Wrong, I bagged him for getting my hopes up.

So far that heavy lipped lure got bumped or hit on just about every cast.  I paddled back out to the concentration of fish settled near the bottom and dragged the lure over them.  I could feel the bumps again and imagined the fish were annoyed that this lure was interrupting their nap. Then I got a solid hookup and the fish felt like a 3lb white papio, just 3 times stronger. It fought up and down, and didn’t take a lot of line but I couldn’t bring it to the surface.  Fish started showing up on the fish finder all over the water column so I imagined the white papio school was trying to find out why their big bruddah was swimming so erratically.  I tried to get him to the yak as soon as I could before another fish ran into the line with its scutes and maybe 5 mins in the line cut.  I was disappointed that I didn’t see what I had hooked but kind of expected this ending.

The 17 lb mono main line was frayed; not the clean kind of cut like papio scutes normally cut line. I sent the picture to Erik and he said I got sharked.  The next day he went out and sharks were chasing down his fish and spinning in the air!  And to think, I had my legs in the water, straddling the Scupper Pro to stabilize it.

I put on another sinking swimmer and it got bumped but didn’t hook up on the first couple of casts. It was time to go anyway, and I was pleased again with the equipment mods. My cheap, portable fish finder put me on fish resting in the channel.  The 4X treble and single inline hook combination seemed to still allow the lures to swim and yet have the holding power to bring fish in.  I am gonna have to replace the 17lb mono with the castable fluorocarbon I used to use, to get more abrasion protection.  And keep my limbs in the boat, and a tourniquet nearby.

“Fish finder fish” landed on the stronger hooks

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Erik had been nudging me to get out on the water with his detailed catch reports. He actually drew maps of where he caught fish, and met me on the water to tell me where they were sitting earlier for his epic tag and release session. I braced for a hit as I threw out the sub-surface lure with stronger hooks.  Something jumped on that pulled a little and had a lot of resistance in the water but came off on the papa. Big roi or foul hooked papio? I metered fish near the papa drop off, a few feet off the bottom but couldn’t get them to come up to identify themselves.  My guide, Erik, had to leave for work so I was left to find my own fish.

The kayak with reduced transducer drag glided easily in the sheet glass conditions so I ventured further out than I had ever fished in that area.  My lure got hung up deep in a hole at the papa edge and the main line broke off. Dang roi hit the lure on the surface and pulled it down deep.  That was an expensive loss.  I put on another modified lure and trolled a little off the papa edges but nothing hit so I daringly trolled on the top of the papa in a few feet of water.  Finally, I landed a 10.5 inch (FL) omilu that was hooked in the mouth and lightly foul hooked with the front belly hook.  The fight felt a lot like the first fish, so I suspect that was a foul hooked papio also that got off.  The omilu was tagged and released back to his two waiting buddies.

The current pushed me to the edge of the papa and the fish finder marked 3 larger fish suspended a few feet off the bottom that looked like a bunch of whites resting in the deep shade.  Sure enough one came up and took the sub-surface lure deep in its throat.  A larger white came up with it, eyeing me warily.  I had to use my long nose pliers to remove the rear single inline hook. Note that the front treble hook didn’t foul the fish like the stock trebles had been doing. I’m sure it would have survived after being released since the  rear single hook did much less damage than a treble would have, but I kept the fish since I had already tagged a fish. It went 14.25 inches (FL).

The wind had blown me far off the spot I had caught the whitey so I had to try and recognize where I had gotten the strike.  I used the fish finder to locate larger fish hunkered down in groups near the bottom and sure enough, on my next cast, a 15 inch (FL) white got caught on the front treble hook.  The free swinging rear single hook didn’t snag the fish at all.  Maybe that white was the fish that was eyeing me earlier.  The fish was tagged and set free.

Today’s whites were fat and strong for their size. They seemed to be eating well and the stronger replacement hooks didn’t stretch at all.  The reduced drag of the transducer mount let me expand my range and locate fish with the fish finder.  It was great to verify that the equipment modifications were actual improvements.

 

 

Equipment mods = longer kayak range and more fish landed?

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After fishing with Frank the last couple of months and seeing how his custom equipment mods really enhanced his fishing experience, I finally put grab handles on the Scupper Pro to make lifting much easier, and attemped reduced the water drag the fish finder transducer creates.

I had been mounting the portable fish finder’s transducer with a suction cup that was intended to be out of the water but the deck of the Scupper Pro was too rough to hold the suction cup.  By sticking the suction cup under the water line I was creating an incredible amount of resistance that felt like I was pulling a small bucket on that side of the kayak.

 

 

 

Ended up using a small Ram Mount and recycled the blank of a fishing rod to make a very streamlined, above water mount.  By barely keeping the transducer below water level I hoped to reduce drag  by 75%.

 

Next significant modification was to replace the stock treble hooks off my various lures with 4X Owner hooks and Owner inline single hooks.  It sounds like the serious guys that go after larger fish upgrade their hooks.  The photo at above left shows how the stock Owner 2X hooks opened up on a large fish. Here’s what had happened.  The photo at above right shows the Owner 4X belly hook, 1 size smaller than the original treble, and an Owner inline single.

I had tested various combinations of replacement 4X trebles and inline singles and the singles seemed to let the lures swim more freely but often were too loose in turbulent water and the lures came in leaning on the side. The 4X treble in the belly seemed to stabilize the lure.  I tested the modified lures from shore and the kayak and had only hooked 1 roi, which was hooked on the belly hook.  I didn’t know if I was just unlucky or if the modified lures no longer swam as well.  Not sure if the roi was pregnant or had just swallowed a fish but it sure was plump for its length. I dispatched it on the beach and threw it back to feed the ecosystem.

Next up: Take the kayak out to test paddling range and strength of hooks against big fish!

SUP and Kayak whipping action

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Frank had been customizing his surf SUP for fishing and came up with design where he could sit kayak-style with legs supported by foot rests, and paddle as if it were a surf ski.  It was much easier to transport than my kayak, and he could climb back on easily if he huli’d (flipped). If I huli on my old Scupper Pro, it’s a struggle to climb back in with all the accessories attached, and the hatch would have let in water.

We went out on a light wind, low surf day to see how Frank’s Fishing SUP fished.  I had misjudged the waterline of my kayak when I made an adjustment to the fish finder’s transducer mount so the transducer was high and dry and unusable. I rely heavily on the fish finder when scouting new grounds so it felt severely handicapping but turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  Without the drag of the transducer mount, the Scupper Pro felt lively and glided like it had never before.

Frank ventured into the white wash, and I stayed just out of range, trying to gauge the tippy-ness of the kayak.  Straddling the kayak as if it were a longboard helped greatly with stability.  Frank found a small break in the surf and hooked something on his JDM sub-surface lure. It tugged pretty hard for about 10 seconds and then unbuttoned.  That gave us hope.  An hr later I had yet to feel a tug.  I followed Frank into a protected break in the surf and watched as he fished up in the white wash.

In the serenity of the calm 5 ft water I hooked something! It pulled drag a bit and was hard to bring in. Turned out to be an omilu that was hooked on both treble hooks. I was stoked to catch something decent in the safety of the protected water and eventually worked my way further into the waves as they got smaller with the rising tide.  The grounds looked great but we didn’t get another strike for the next 2 hours.

At 6pm, when we were considering paddling in, we made one more attempt. It was the witching hour, after all.  We looked for the largest boulders and turbulence and bam! Something ran against my tight drag, making two strong, brief runs, then the hook pulled. UGH!  The two treble hooks were bent open! The fish probably was hooked like the first fish was, and was able to pry itself loose by straightening out the hooks. Since I had pinched down the barbs, it easily slid off after that. That had never happened to me before, mainly because I had never hooked a big fish with treble hooks.  I’m still amazed that the Owner 2X #3 treble hooks opened so easily but friends have since explained why single hooks are a much more secure connection to the fish.  I’ll be replacing the hooks on these very productive lures soon, hopefully keeping their swimming action intact.

Frank’s Fishing SUP performed very well. He was able to paddle comfortably and access rougher water than I could risk. Frank is very skilled at fabricating customized solutions and has created a fishing / surfing SUP transformer. He gets compliments on his gear wherever we fish. We both have some equipment and technique tweaks to make to fish safely in the wash, and we’ll be back, ready for the next SCREAMAH!

Lotta wading, not much catching

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Erik, Thad and I waded out to the break on a morning minus tide.  Thad and I were throwing JDM sub-surface lures and Erik started with a small popper. We couldn’t quite make it out to the very edge of the drop off because of the water level and surf but we were still able to fish the deeper channels.  I caught the first fish of the day, a chunky poopa’a that came up for the sub-surface lure as it crossed over the reef edge.

Thad had a 1lb omilu follow his sub-surface lure but it didn’t take it. Things were looking up at this point.  He kept changing lures to see how they’d swim in the wind and chop. Erik changed to a casting jig after losing his popper to a bad FG knot, and started to kick up sand in the deep channel to attract sand dwelling predators. Unfortunately, he found the one pile of rocks on the sand bottom.   After losing the jig he switched to a soft plastic encased nehu patterned lure.

We continued to cover ground but as the tide rose higher we were limited to fishing between the shore and reef break, in waist to chest high water.  Basically the no man’s land where fish just pass through, going from the deep to the shore to feed and return back to the deep.  Thad managed to catch a 3 ft plus trumpetfish in no man’s land that sucked down his tight wiggling, small sub-surface lure. Sorry, I didn’t take a pic because my phone was tucked away in my sling bag.

Spreading out, we approached the shallows from the deep.  I was surprised at the lack of bait fish, which lowered our expectations for action in the knee deep water.  Limu began to snag our hooks but Erik was able to rip his sinking 4 inch 1.2 oz soft nehu on the surface above the limu and hooked something that kicked up a lot of water.  Kaku! Our target species for the shallows.

We weren’t planning on tagging fish because of the deep water we were wading in, but I had a tag kit with me so we tagged it on the beach.  17.75″ FL, good size kaku considering there wasn’t any noticeable bait in the shallows.

With that day saving catch, Erik left for home and Thad and I tried to scrounge up a kaku of our own.  Thad had repeated hits as he walked his surface lure in the 2 ft of water, and I got hits on the sub-surface lure I had fished all day, but nothing stuck. With all the ground we covered we just caught one fish each.

The tide was great, the moon was small but no bait was around.  Are we still between seasons, and the Spring bait influx hasn’t started because we’re in a La Nina cycle and nature is recovering from the strong El Nino cycle?

 

Smaller is better, sometimes

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Capt Darren called to let me know that he and his daughter Keely were taking the 17 ft  Boston Whaler for a quick reef trolling trip. Last minute impromptu trip but they had room for me if I wanted to throw lures while the boat trolled.

It had been raining the last two days, but I jumped (literally) at the chance to join them.  We trolled one of the 5 inch JDM sub-surface swimming lures and a small popper from the rod holders, and Keely jigged a small white soft plastic minnow back and forth.  I was at the bow of the boat casting ahead of us, but it was hard not to backlash the Tranx 400 bait caster throwing into the wind.  Eventually I tuned the reel correctly and could cast ahead and retrieve a 1 oz sinking swimmer just as we were about to pass the lure.

Hookup on the sinking swimmer, I think? I felt some head shakes and then it just felt like the lure was snagged on itself.  No wonder, an 7 inch omilu had bravely attacked the slender 4 inch lure.  This was the second time I’ve used this lure. The first time it had caught a nice 20″ omilu in the past, whipping from a boat, mainly because it could be cast into the wind.

Keely hooked up on the small white soft plastic and skillfully brought in the fish. A legal omilu, larger than the one I had caught on the sinking swimmer! We released it, and Capt Darren trolled the shallow reef some more.  Keely hooked up again! This time it was a smallish lai (leatherback fish).  I landed the lai, unhooked it carefully to avoid the venomous spines and shook it free from the net. All this action got me pumped up so I launched my sinking swimmer in a high arc only to snap it off when the reel hit a deep backlash. Arrgh! That was the only heavy swimmer I had brought.

Keely hooked and landed another lai, followed by another legal omilu.  She needed a rest from all her fish catching so Capt Darren jigged the soft plastic minnow as he drove the boat with his left hand.  Hook up on the 2.5 inch soft minnow again!  Keely brought in yet another omilu. The 5 inch sub-surface swimmer and the popper weren’t getting any attention from the papio and lai.  I trolled and jigged a 4 inch sub-surface swimmer and didn’t get any hits either.  Capt Darren gave me an old school white feather jig to try, and I jigged that on my light bait caster.

He hooked yet another omilu on the soft plastic minnow while driving the boat and Keely skillfully landed it.  Capt Darren could read my frustration and asked if I wanted to jig the soft plastic minnow instead. We switched and he hooked up with the white feather jig on my bait caster, one handed! Man, the guy is good.  But the soft plastic minnow’s tail wiggled enough while I was jigging and I did hook a pint sized omilu and later, an omilu big enough for Keely’s dinner.  Funny thing was I was going to put the rod in the rod holder and the fish hooked itself.  Sorry, I didn’t get a photo of that but it might’ve been 2lbs.  That was the only fish we kept.

The skies darkened and the rain pelted us.  It was time to head in.  I lost count of how many omilu and lai Keely landed on the white, soft plastic minnow lure.  I didn’t lose track of how many fish hit the larger hard plastic lures we trolled. Zero.  The sinking swimmer that caught the first omilu was a slender 4 inches.  The soft plastic minnow was 2.5 inches and the white feather was around that length also.  Maybe the storm system put the larger fish down, and the smaller fish didn’t want to chase something too big?  Capt Darren told me “9 out of 10 times, smaller fish will hit a smaller lure instead of going after a larger lure”.  That got me thinking, maybe on the days I have slow action, my lures may have been too large. Hmm…

Nearshore shallow water scouting expedition

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Captain Ron asked if I wanted to try the slow pitch jigging technique in relatively shallow water.  We had talked about trying over the past couple of years but something had always come up, usually the wind.   I jumped at the opportunity but warily watched the wind forecast.  2 days before our outing, the winds ended up being stronger than predicted, but the day before our trip was pretty calm.  Capt Ron said the main purpose was to shake out his 18 ft Boston Whaler that he hadn’t run in a while, and we’d try to find suitable jigging grounds not too far off the beach.

One of the two Honda outboards was having some ignition and throttle issues but didn’t make it unsafe to run, so off we went.  The winds were about 10 -12 mph with gusts to 15 mph, and was making us drift faster than I preferred.  We started off with jigs lighter than an ounce but they took too long to make it down before we had drifted away so we went up to the 1 oz Live Deception.  In 65 ft of water, I finally got a hit. Hage… but hopefully we found were the target fish were hiding.  The drift was still a little fast and my line extended a ways from the boat so I pumped the jig back in. Hanapa’a! The fish was shaking its head but bending the soft tip of the Shimano Game Type F light weight rod, but didn’t feel like a papio.

At color we saw something orange. Weke nono, the deeper water weke ula.  This was one of our target species and the fish was a couple pounds so I kept it for my parents to steam. Unfortunately the Live Deception’s treble hook got stuck in the net even though I had crimped the barbs down. Guess I didn’t do a good enough job. By they time we freed the lure we had drifted off the spot and had to start our drift again.  A while later a lizard fish came up so we decided to go deeper.  Small pockets of fish showed up on the sounder but we couldn’t drop the heavier jigs down quick enough before drifting past them.  We ended the day fishing in 17 ft of water off the reef and saw predators attacking bait fish on the surface but couldn’t reach them with the 6 ft jig rods.

It was a slow day jigging but a good shake down for the boat. Capt Ron patiently put me on the likeliest of spots but the fish didn’t want to cooperate.  It was a good safe, comfortable first outing with him.  We’ll have to try some rockier areas on a very light wind day.

Ruined or improved my sub-surface lure?

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The superb casting sub-surface lure Masa recommended got punctured by a long tooth kaku a few weeks back.  When I fished it the next time, it slowly sank instead of floating.  I opened up the puncture, let the water drain out, sprayed some Salt Away to keep the sliding weight mechanism from rusting, and sealed the wound with epoxy glue.

To add to the wounded look I painted it with a white nail polish base and colored it in with a red marker.  It floated, just barely, in an empty oama tub.  The lure did look like a freshly scraped up bait fish so I started with it when Frank and I hit his whipping test grounds.

 

The lure cast further than the original lure. Within the first couple of casts a kaku hit it, missed and came back to finish it off.  Hmm, maybe the mods made the lure more attractive? I walked the kaku in to tag, and Frank asked me if I wanted 2 fish to tag. His sub-surface lure got hit right after mine did!  The fish that hit my wounded sardine taped out at 18.75 inches, the largest kaku I’ve tagged so far. Frank’s was just 1/4 inch shorter.  The bigger kaku must be coming in now to feed on bait fish we have yet to locate.

The released kaku took their friends with them so we walked out to the dropoff as the tide rose to its top third. Nothing wanted our lures except for the two roi that thought my lure was dying. I killed the first but the second slipped off the hook before I could net it.

We walked back to the kaku spot and Frank hooked another one casting toward the shore.

 

 

 

This one measured 17 inches, a little smaller than his first but still pretty big to be so close to shore this time of year.  In just a few whipping trips, Frank has gone from a neophyte whipper to one who can consistently catch the hard to hook kaku.  Time for us go after some harder fighting fish.

And it sure seems that the doctored up lure I was throwing has been improved. Masa is still not letting me puncture and weigh down his lures though.

 

Poll Results: How much would you pay for a great nearshore lure?

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This poll ran for 3 weeks. There were a total of 38 votes.

42% would pay up to $20 for a great, game changing nearshore lure.
21% would pay ANY amount for such an effective lure.
18% would pay up to $15 for that game changer.
8% would pay up to $30 for that lure.

Only 11% would stop at $10 for a lure that could possibly change the outcome of their fishing day.

So of the folks really nuts about whipping like I am, most would pony up some big money for a consistent, dependable fish catcher.  Thanks for helping me understand the demand for a lure that works really well in Hawaii’s nearshore waters.

-scott

Here’s the detailed poll results.

What is this?!!

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Thanh had sent me this picture of a mystery fish he had caught on the Big Island.  Many of you may recognize it as the fish we call “broomfish” because of its wide broom-like tail but did you know its formal name is “scrawled filefish”?  I guess the iridescent blue markings look like scrawls or random drawings.

Filefish are related to triggerfish, and this scrawled filefish is said to be very delicious. They call it “poor man’s mahimahi” because of the flaky white meat you’d see after you removed its tough skin.  I actually blogged about this fish back in March, 2014, which may have been the last time I caught one of these strange looking fish.

Thanks for sending it in Thanh!

Consolation predator

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Wanted to check a couple of spots I hadn’t fished since the “season” last year to see how they produce in the “pre-season”.  First up was a reefy spot exposed to swell.  Got out early enough to catch the light winds and rising tide.  A few dark reef fish followed the JDM sub-surface swimmer in, but nothing hit it for a while.  Then something hit on the shoreline reefy shelf that took drag but turned and swam in with the waves.  It didn’t feel like a papio, and the area was too rough for kaku.

Saw something cylindrical and light green colored with a mustardy orange spot.  Moana kali?  The fish hit in a few feet of water, not the normal moana kali grounds, but it did hit a swimming lure.  Upon closer examination I realized it was a big “mongoose fish” or cigar wrasse.

I’ve caught these before on cut bait but never eating size.  Heard from multiple sources that it’s good eating.  Considered keeping it but wasn’t sure if my folks would want to try a “hinalea” so I let it go.  Because of its shape and size it fought like a good-sized weke.  Another mongoose followed the lure but didn’t hit it. That was the only action I got at the first spot so I jumped in the car to check the second spot.

The water level was low at the second spot and still rising.  It was late morning and I didn’t see any bait fish and didn’t get a single follow on my lures.  I’ve caught fish in a man-made channel at this spot in the past but only in lower light conditions.

Dunno if a foul hooked mongoose fish counts as a non-bolo head. What do you guys think?