Scott, Author at Hawaii Nearshore Fishing

Semi-nearshore boat popping for papio

May 26, 2016 By Scott 5 Comments

The wind was forecast to be under 10mph and Erik invited me to dial in the shallow water micro jigging. The last time we did this, Erik found the spot by triangulating the landmarks without aid of GPS and fish finder, but I had a discontinued fish finder lying around that I had been dying to use. I jury rigged the Huminbird PiranhaMax 230 to be more water proof, by removing the base and putting the AA batteries in a waterproof tackle box. I was as excited to see if the fish finder would help us as I was to actually catch a fish.

The winds ended up blowing more than 15 mph and there was a trade wind chop on the water. We had to scrap the bottom fishing plans and throw lures on the inside. Erik started with a Yozuri Hydro Popper on his Shimano Sahara 4000 reel, packed with 15lb braid and a 30lb fluoro leader. I kept my micro jig on and tried bottom fishing the marks that began to show near reef edges. At the first drift an omilu shot out and followed Erik’s popper, then a 6 ft Galapagos shark got interested. Erik kept his lure out of the shark’s mouth and action slowed. I jigged in the shallow water for nada.

The fish doesn’t look as big as it really was because I had taken it at an angle

Erik moved us to another spot and hooked up on his first cast. A strong fighting 3 to 4lb white gave him a good tussle before surrendering. Erik let it go, planning to keep his 4th papio and 6th papio if he was able to catch that many. His plan wasn’t boastful, he just wanted to keep a fish if there were enough of them were around. My micro jig wasn’t getting any love so I changed to a Live Deception jig I could cast.

Erik moved us to another spot, gurgle-popped his popper and hooked up on the first cast again! A slightly smaller white fought its way back to the boat. I cast the Live Deception around, tried different retrieves for … nada.

Third drift, Erik hooks up on the first cast with the Hydro Popper again. Man, that guy can find and catch fish. I tried a Waxwing Boy where he hooked his white papio but got no follows even though it swam so enticingly. I dug around and found an old resin Kaku popper from the 80’s. It didn’t float and thus, didn’t line up that well to make a big splash on the sweep. Erik’s next fish could be kept so we made another drift.

He got a hit as soon as the popper touched the water, even before he moved it! But it came off during the fight. I had yet to even get a strike. He felt badly that I was getting skunked so he offered me the lure that had been working so well for him. I was afraid I’d lose it in the rocks or something but he assured me it floats. He put on a larger Yozuri 3D popper.

Next drift, Erik landed his 4th white but it was smaller than the previous ones so he released it. I was struggling to get used to popping with a bait caster and wasn’t getting the right gurgle and slurp action going. Erik stopped fishing and tried to put me right in front of some easy to catch fish. Drifts went by and finally a fish lunged and splashed but alas, no hookup. Another white missed the hooks and then we saw a silvery streak hit the lure from the side but missed the hooks. Arrggh… we’re right on top of the reef at this point but I tried again since that was the closest I had come to hooking a fish.

Hookup, the fish took to the air to pull somersaults. Awa awa! I guess my retrieve couldn’t get the more aggressive white papio going but it fooled a not-so-smart awa awa. At this point I wasn’t picky. Erik had already landed 4 whites out of 6 hookups. The awa awa wasn’t very big but it jumped and shook it’s head right next to the boat. The hook stayed in and we were able to release it.

We tried some other spots but the bite had slowed way down. With a few minutes left, Erik took us out to where he had the most action and a papio hit and shook off his 3D Popper. I threw into a deep channel, saw a splash, and felt a solid hookup. A second later the line went limp. What the heck?!! The 15lb fluro main was cut clean, above where it was spliced to a 2.5ft 40 lb fluoro leader. Either a long fish cut the line with his tail or a pack of fish swarmed the lure and one hit the line above the lure. I felt awful to lose Erik’s magic Yozuri Hydro Popper. Hope the replacement popper I get has the same mojo.

Erik ended up not taking any papio home for grandma but didn’t seem to mind. I was happy I was able to hook something on my inaugural popping trip and was satisfied with the way the fish finder worked. Erik didn’t use it to find out where the fish were, but it did mark fish where we got our strikes and even marked followers when we retrieved our lures back to the boat. I’m hoping it proves its worth on a bottom fishing trip.

Surfboard trolling scouting report

May 25, 2016 By Scott 7 Comments

Guys have been reporting sightings and catches of 1lb – 3lb papio on the South Shore so I dusted off the longboard and hit a favorite spot. I brought 4 live oama I had been raising and a couple of frozen ones. Being off the board for 5 months took its toll; my triceps and upper back seized before reaching the surf. After a lot of rest breaks, I headed into the 15 mph trade winds so I would be blown back to the launch site when pau.

Nothing bothered the frozen oama I had towed until I got to a wide channel next to a surf break. I paused to catch my breath and saw my floater go under. An oama head came back on the front hook. That gave me some hope. I put on a live oama and started paddling again. Something pulled the floater down but this time, when I checked the bait, a foot long reddish-brown ika was hanging on to it! I pulled the oama away and it had a one inch piece missing. The ika stayed around my board even after I prodded it with my rod tip. I finally fed it the oama in hopes it would be full.

I paddled over to the eastern reef edge to get away from the pesky ika and the floater dipped again with no line taken. This time the middle of the frozen oama was eaten and the hooks remained in the head and tail. 3 baits down and no drag pulled yet. I decided to use the live oama before they died in the bait bucket, and loosened the drag so the weak strikers could take the oama deeper.

Suddenly the clicker screamed and I had trouble getting the rod out of the holder. But when I tightened the drag and pumped the fish back, it felt like something streamlined shaking its head. I expected to see a small trumpetfish but instead landed a 13.75 inch fork length omilu. I guess it spent all its energy on the initial run. It was bagged for my parents since I hadn’t brought fish home for quite a few weeks.

I decided to drift back in but the current and winds tried to blow me out to sea. I wasn’t making much headway and considered belly boarding a wave in, which is fairly risky with the milk crate mounted on the front of the board, but eventually made it around the waves. When I pulled the bait in, I saw a reddish brown ika pull off the oama. Either there was a pack of them or that one ika was a pig. I set the remaining live oama free away from any hungry ika.

The bite wasn’t red hot but there was at least one decent papio prowling around. Maybe the papio season is slowly starting.

Jigging and popping for pelagics and ulua

May 17, 2016 By Scott 11 Comments

(top) Shimano Trevala with Daiwa Lexa HD400XS
(bottom) Shimano Terez with Shimano Tranx 500

Erik and his dad, Ed, invited me out on their 16 ft center console catamaran to troll to the nearest buoy, hit some deep and shallow jigging spots and finish up with some evening ulua plugging. I brought the Shimano Trevala jigging rod and Daiwa Lexa HD400XS reel to jig and the Shimano Terez Waxwing rod and Shimano Tranx reel to plug. Both setups were untested because I hadn’t been able to target large enough fish in the past. We definitely exceeded the nearshore range on this trip but hopefully you guys will find this report interesting from the tackle and technique perspective.

80g blue sardine flat fall

The wind was light and seas fairly calm so it was relatively smooth sailing to the buoy. Unfortunately nothing wanted our trolled lures or dropped jigs so we headed back in to their 200 ft plus jigging spot. They had caught big kahala and pelagics at this spot before so we rigged up with the heavier jigs. Ed went big with a 280 gram Shimano Butterfly Flat Side jig, Erik went with the 130 gram Shimano Butterfly Flat Fall jig, and I went with the smallest Flat Fall in the 80 gram size. 80 grams are equivalent to 2.8 ounces, so my jig wasn’t exactly small either. The Trevala medium heavy action jig rod has a soft tip with a lot of backbone and the Daiwa Lexa HD400XS brings in 43 inches of line per crank with a max of 25lb of drag. I slipped on a belt gimble and an extra pair of assist hooks to the front of the flat fall, and was hoping for something larger than a hage to test my gear.

The guys let me fish the starboard (right) side of the bow, which had a lot of open space and allowed me to cast right handed. On the second drop, about 20 ft off the bottom, I got hit. The fish pulled a bit of line and then I could feel frenetic tail beats. The soft tip of the Trevala rod made it a fun fight and soon we saw a tuna-shaped fish swimming in circles. Kawakawa for Erik’s grandma! The guys were stoked that I was able to get my first flat fall fish and we resumed jigging and cranking with anticipation.

After a couple of drops we weren’t seeing anything on the fish finder so we were about to move. I burned the flat fall back in and got hammered about a third of the way up. This fish took drag and kept the rod bent. I wasn’t sure-footed enough to stand and fight the fish so I sat side-saddle on the bow’s platform (I don’t know the proper boating terms) and tried to short pump it up. It felt like a decent sized jack and made some powerful runs straight down, but the Lexa’s smooth drag eventually tired it out. Erik got some great underwater shots of the fish and then deftly lifted it over the side of the boat. My first kahala ever.

The strange thing was my flat fall jig was missing and the kahala was hooked on one of the assist hooks I had clipped on to the Tactical Anglers Power Clip. (zoom in to the top photo of the Flat Fall jig attached to the Trevala rod to see how the lure had been attached). The clip was slightly bent. It’s pretty hard to slip off a lure to remove it, so I was stumped as to how the jig was pulled off and the kahala was still hooked. One optimistic theory is that another kahala had hit the jig on its rear assist hooks and the kahala I landed tried to take the jig away and was caught on the top assist hooks. They pulled against each other and somehow the flat fall was pulled off the power clip.

We didn’t measure or weigh the kahala but Erik estimated it to be at least 10lbs. Because of its reputation as a worm-filled ciquatoxic fish, it was released to battle the next angler. I replaced the clip but made a critical mistake that you’ll read about a little later.

Ed scaled down to the 130 gm blue sardine flat fall and resumed his speed jigging with big rod sweeps. Something heavy stopped his jig about 1/3 from the bottom and repeatedly yanked the rod down but didn’t run too far before the hook slipped. The guys think it was a fairly big kahala that successfully shook the hook off.

The action slowed so we moved to a shallow water spot (50 ft deep) that produced ulua on the poppers for the guys before. Ed went up on the stern’s deck (I really need to learn the proper boating terms) and started throwing a 150gm Pelagic Warrior Gladiator blue/green Lumo popper with his Okuma Makaira heavy jigging rod and Shimano Saragosa 10000 spinning reel, spooled with 100lb braid and a 150lb fluoro leader. They’ve learned from past battles that a strong, abrasion resistant leader and main line that can handle a very tight drag are requirements against the scutes and tail of ulua and coral reef caves. Ed heaved the heavy popper and noisily gurgled it back to the boat, and Erik and I jigged with micro jigs but there were no takers at this spot.

Erik moved us to another shallow reef and Ed woke an ulua from its slumber. The beast came out of the water to intercept Ed’s popper and tumbled tail first. The fight was on and Ed was able to stop the fish after its initial run, but then it made it to the reef below and ran through the rocky valleys until it could expose the braid to the sharp rocks. CRAAACK! The line popped like a gunshot and Erik caught his dad as he fell backward. While we were disappointed, we were pumped to witness such raw power.

The spot we were in didn’t leave much leeway to safely fight large ulua but appeared to hold fish. Erik decided to risk his favorite 125 gram Spartan blue Lumo GTFC popper on a Shimano Tallus Bluewater Series extra heavy rod and Saragosa 10000 spinning reel packed with 80lb braid and a 150 lb fluoro leader. He set his drag tight and launched the lure as far as he could. Sweeping the rod explosively, he created a bubble trail that called up another ulua. The ulua turned and headed back for his cave. Erik cupped the reel spool, crouched and leaned back hard against the rod and hoped against hope that his line would withstand the razor-sharp live coral below. CRAAACK! Just like that two favorite poppers donated to the depths below. The guys felt bad that they left lures in the fishes’ mouths and hoped the hooks would soon be worked free.

We moved to a deeper reef that provided a little more cushion and Erik resumed plugging while Ed and I micro jigged. I had a 30 gram blue and silver Jigging World jig clipped on to a 60lb flouro leader and 65 lb braid. After seeing Ed and Erik get rocked, I set my drag pretty tight, to where I could barely pull line off the reel. Something slammed my jig as I did a fast lift-crank-drop and burned line back to the bottom. I was shocked to feel such power and speed and called out to the guys. It surged a second time and then the line went slack. Rocked on the bottom? No… The leader’s end was in loose curls. Not quite like how it would look if the knot unraveled but why else would it be curly? I’m thinking that when I tied on the power clip after replacing the bent one, I didn’t use pliers to pull the 60lb fluoro leader tight. Rookie mistake made while rushing to get back in the action. The surge that popped the line was strongest I’ve felt in years.

What a versatile, action packed trip. I am so grateful for Erik and Ed’s hospitality and generosity. And I have to admit, after seeing the ferocity of the ulua strikes on the poppers, I wasn’t ready to throw a big Waxwing at ’em and risk getting pulled off the deck.

Semi-nearshore shallow water jigging

May 7, 2016 By Scott 8 Comments

I know the blog’s focus is Nearshore Fishing, so I’m gonna ask for a little leeway on this post.

A new fishing friend and new Lawai’a feature writer, Erik, very generously offered to take me out for a quick bottom fishing / shallow water jigging expedition yesterday. It had been 15 yrs since I’d been on a boat so we picked a very light wind day to launch. My fishing window was short so we had to run, drop, jig and gun. The cross-directional swell bounced the 14 ft aluminum boat enough for me to get a little green around the gills but the fishing action managed to keep my mind off the shifting horizon.

Live Deception, Waxwing Baby, Waxwing Boy, Flat Fall 80g, Flat Fall 80g

1 oz Mackeral Live Deception on left. 2.8oz Black Anchovy and Blue Sardine Flat Fall on right

Erik was fishing a pinkish, silvery 30 g (1.05 oz) Japanese micro jig he purchased from Charley’s Fishing Supply, and I started with an 80g (2.8 oz) blue sardine Shimano Flat Fall (furthest right in the photo). Erik expertly put us on the spots, fishing the reef’s edge from 70ft deep, drifting inward toward shallower water, without aid of a fish finder or GPS.

He started feeling hits on his micro jig and brought up the brownish hage, and moana. I hadn’t felt a thing on my flat fall. I kept trying to emulate the way Erik would pop his rod tip repeatedly when the lure reached the bottom, then lift and crank the lure back to the surface in an exaggerated pumping motion. When Erik saw that I was getting disillusioned, he pointed out that there were new scratches on my lure and that something had taken a swipe at the flat fall but missed the two assist hooks. That must’ve happened as the lure free fell, and it gave me hope.

Then Erik’s rod bent over in an upside down “U” and line peeled off the spool. Something larger than a hage had taken his jig midway up the water column and was surging for the bottom at an alarming rate. Erik’s spinning rig consisted of a short, fairly light action Star spinning rod and Shimano Sahara 4000 reel, packed with 15lb braid and a 30lb fluoro leader. He tightened his drag, cupped the spool and the fish surged again. A veteran of many light tackle battles with large fish, Erik kept the combatant out of the rocks and enjoyed the scrap, wondering what could be pulling downward so intently.

After a few shorter runs we saw color. Electric blue fins, silvery body? Big omilu? On closer examination Erik exclaimed “yellow dot papio!”, formally known as the Island Jack. His previous fish had been released but not this one.

notice how the boat’s stern isn’t lining up with the horizon? we’re swinging back and forth!

Yellow dot papio are one of the tastiest papios. The 6lb beauty was destined for a starring role as sashimi and ceviche.

I was stoked to witness the fight but began to suspect my flat fall was too large for the area we were fishing. On my next drop, it felt like my jig was being sucked down, and then it felt stuck. Erik swung the boat up current and the “stuck” kept being pulled along, then suddenly popped free. What the heck? It happened again on the following drop and the jig didn’t have any new scratches. Erik said it could be a tako grabbing on and eventually pulling free. As much as I like tako poke, I wanted to catch something on the flat fall with teeth, fins and scales! On the next drop I temporarily got stuck in a solid rock, and when Erik moved the boat to free my jig, I reeled up and hunted around for a smaller lure.

I was given Ahi Live Deception jigs as a promotion to try in our local waters, and happened to have a 1 oz Green Mackeral pattern in my tackle box. (See top photo). It was the only small jig I had. The lure feels like a slender, flexible slab of lead and is laser printed with an actual fish photo. It looks very lifelike but lacks the fancy bevels and curves that the flat fall sports. I hadn’t read anything about its swimming action, nor seen any underwater videos about it. How good could it be? But on the second drop I got a hit. Yay, an actual fish caught on the small treble hook! A smallish, but legal moana. I was feeling more and more queasy, so I tossed it back without a picture.

kawakawa

On the next drop something yanked, then let itself be retrieved a bit… then took a little line. The skunk was definitely off my back, and this fish felt bigger. I was using the Shimano recommended shallow water jigging setup: Shimano Trevala F medium action rod and Curado 300EJ bait casting reel and while I could feel the twists and turns of the fish, I easily coaxed it to the surface. Turned out to be a small kawakawa, my first ever. Erik held it for me and I snapped a quick pic with my phone’s camera. I could barely see through the glare, and focusing on Erik and the fish while the horizon gyrated back and forth was pushing me closer to urk-dom.

Two fish back-to-back on the unheralded Live Deception. Erik brought up another brownish hage on his micro jig and I caught an orangey weke I had never seen before, followed by a small taape. The taape was kept to rid the reef of invasives and was destined to become Erik’s crab bait. I was really impressed with the Live Deception’s effectiveness and hook up ratio. The treble was working too well actually, as it was hard to unhook the fish. I bent down each barb and threw the jig over the side. Halfway down I felt a tug and then … nothing. Something had taken the lure down its gullet and cut the line. My new magic lure… gone.

While I put the flat fall back on my leader, Erik hooked what was probably the offending lure-swallower. A kawelea, or Heller’s Baracuda. Not as fearsome looking as the kaku or Great Barracuda and supposedly better eating. Erik tossed it back since his yellow dot papio would keep his family fed for awhile. I threw my flat fall over the side and finally, felt something hit it. A kawelea was hooked on the rear assist hook and was released also. I looked at my watch and it was time to ride the swells in.

6lb yellow dot papio and taape

Not bad for only 2 hrs of bottom fishing without GPS or a fish finder. Erik’s micro jig and my Live Deception lure were probably closer to the size of bait the fish were feeding on, explaining why the larger flat fall wasn’t getting much attention except for those mystery dead-weight snags. If not for Erik’s expert small skiff skills, I would’ve started another 15 yr boat-ban, but instead look forward to mining the bottom for more critters.

Slow action following good day

April 23, 2016 By Scott 6 Comments

Pete and I went back to the spot that was unexpectedly good one day after the full moon. We found out that two days after the full moon wasn’t so good.

Pete caught a couple 6 inch omilus on his blue sardine Waxwing Baby, and I got a few kaku hits and misses on the same lure. This time I used a 25lb fluorocarbon leader that got nicked by one of the kaku but not cut. That saved me $15. Once again, Pete didn’t get any kaku hits and I didn’t get any omilu hits that I know of. The fish didn’t hit with much vigor, which is what normally happens when the moon is big and the predators can feed at night or be chased around by even larger predators.

We did see a school of baby mullet porpoising out of the water for at least 50 yds. So some predators made a passing appearance.

Unexpected Waxwing action 1 day after Full Moon

April 22, 2016 By Scott 8 Comments

Pete, from NorCal, was back in town. The nearshore fishing conditions weren’t looking good, with a big moon and lots of trade wind. A tune up wading trip with cut bait yielded a few undersized omilus so we were off to the Windward side armed with Waxwing Babys, the 2.68″ 1/2 oz size.

We didn’t expect much since the full moon was last night, and the first Windward spot we tried was lacking in visible bait fish and predators. I was using the black/chrome Waxwing, which imitates baby mullet well. Pete was armed with a blue sardine Waxwing, which is my go-to color when I fish the inshore reef. I missed a small kaku, then we both went 15 mins without a follow. We were working our way back to the car when my lure felt like it ran into a floating log. I felt one twitch and the line was cut. That must’ve been a decent kaku, and in its mouth went $15. I put on a rainbow trout pattern Waxwing that, to me, mimicked an oama.

A smaller kaku hit and missed the hook, and a lizardfish followed that up. Time to hit the next spot.

The next spot had a few schools of bait fish on the flats but nothing crashing on them. Pete lined up to fish a dredged boat channel and I moved off to fish deeper water. A minute later I heard his new Stradic CI4+ 2500 drag sing for the first time. His parabolic 9ft light weight rod was bending under pressure as Pete brought the fish in.

I didn’t measure it, but it looked like a 12″ fork length omilu – very unexpected given the challenging conditions. We admired the fish for a few seconds and let it swim free.

Pete fan cast the area and I worked the shallows for kaku. He soon hooked another omilu, this time about 10″, and all I got was a stop and a miss. The rainbow trout wasn’t doing the job and I didn’t have a blue sardine so I grudgingly put on the battle-scarred black/chrome Baby that was featured in the Lawai’a Waxwing article. I had been sparing it since it had survived so many fish strikes but I really had nothing else to use. Besides, I’ve never lost 2 Waxwings to bite offs in one day.

I managed just one weak strike and was heading back to Pete when I saw this brownish/blackish head appear 5 feet away from me. It wolfed the Waxwing and poof, there went the lure that should’ve been preserved in a fishing museum. RIP little black/chrome Waxwing Baby.

Pete had another fish pull line and come unbuttoned, then it was time to go. Interestingly, he didn’t hook any kaku and I didn’t hook any omilu. I’d gladly trade the lure stealing kaku for an omilu. Think I’ll try the blue sardine pattern the next time!

Subscribe to Lawai’a Magazine and win a trip for 2 to Alaska!

April 13, 2016 By Scott Leave a Comment

Lawai’a Magazine is running an incredible subscription drive. Subscribe for two yrs and be entered to win a trip for two, airfare included, to the Alaska Reel Adventures fishing lodge. There will also be quarterly drawings for Aloha Chill’R pupu trays.

Subscribe on the Lawai’a website: http://www.fishtoday.org/lawaia-magazine/

Winter nearshore doldrums continue

April 4, 2016 By Scott 4 Comments

In the last couple of weeks I have paddled further in the harbors and bays only to experience slower fishing. It finally sunk in that predators aren’t looking for oama right now. To reverse field I took the longboard into a South Shore reel channel today and threw the Waxwing Boy on the new Shimano Terez rod and Tranx bait casting reel. The equipment performed well but nothing bit to test the Tranx’s drag system. Doesn’t the Spring seem slower than it usually is? Or was last Spring especially good because of the El Nino effect?

I have heard of oio coming up in the last month, and a few ulua being caught at night in the deep spots. Other than that, there doesn’t seem to be a lot going on in the shallows.

This 30lb plus ulua was caught by my good friend, Lauren, last week. Despite this being his second ulua ever, he released it after the photo was taken. What a great example for the younger generation.

Waxwing therapy

March 24, 2016 By Scott 1 Comment

The Windward side was rained out so I decided to check one of my South Shore spot’s Spring recruitment of baby fish. I brought some palu and my Waxwing rig. It felt good to go minimalistic and not have to shlep all the kayak gear.

I hadn’t thrown the Waxwing in 9 months and it took a while to tune the Curado 300EJ baitcaster properly, and crank with the right tempo. The optimal swimming speed occurs when you crank fast enough to feel the resistance of each kick. Too fast and the lure’s zig zag tightens up. Throwing in a hard crank every 3rd or 4th turn makes the lure swing out.

As I was trying to figure this all out, a small kaku hit the black/chrome Waxwing Baby in a foot of water but shook off before I could get my camera out. It felt rewarding to hook something on a piece of plastic after trolling live oama for miles and miles with few takers. A very confident lizardfish was more than happy to pose for a photo soon after.

The iao and nehu weren’t in but I did see large oama / small weke in a deep channel. They snubbed the palu so I’m thinking they were the nocturnal weke ula (red weke) variety that sleeps in suspended schools during the day and disperses to feed at night. Enlarge this photo and try to make out the slender, slightly curved fish shapes.

Bait surveillance over, I put on the bone Waxwing I marked up as an oama and walked the shoreline back to the car. Small kaku struck and missed the hook until I finally landed one for the camera. I had added a light green top and a yellow lateral line but the kakus managed to scrape most of the markings off.

Here’s what it looked like at the end of the day.

Well, it looks like predator-drawing-baitfish aren’t in yet but it was sure fun to make those Waxwing swim.

One strike in 3 hrs of paddling

March 16, 2016 By Scott 1 Comment

Monday was the only day with relatively light wind/good tide/time to fish this week. The windward side was drizzling off and on but it looked like it was clearing so I headed out on the kayak. The synthetic fiber clothing I wear shed water fairly well but it did get cold when I stopped paddling.

And paddle I did. I headed out to where I last hooked an awa awa, about a mile from the launch point. I passed over some small fish on the bottom but nothing wanted to eat my oama. Got to the area that had action before and it was holding bait and suspended fish. It still took about 10 mins before I got a strike. The fish hit, then jumped but this time it couldn’t shake the hook. Had I not seen that I would’ve hoped it was a papio by the way it took line. Instead it was a 3lb awa awa youngster that didn’t know how to pace itself. After pulling hard against a stiff drag it came up tired.

I decided to let it grow up a bit, and after taking this photo it popped off as it rubbed against the kayak. Slack line really does allow the hook to wiggle loose even when it appears the fish is hooked well.

The rain fell harder closer to land and the wind was choppy at times. Nothing else hit the oama or flat fall jig.

Monsta Kagami ulua on Waxwing in latest Lawai’a magazine

March 12, 2016 By Scott Leave a Comment

Check issue #20 on newstands this week. Todd Allen was whipping a bone colored Waxwing Senior (2.1 oz) and hooked an unexpected brute on light gear. He was knocked down by a wave as he attempted to land it, got up, and eventually secured this giant Kagami ulua. You’ll be surprised to hear what he did with it after this picture was taken.

Pampered, captive oama

March 11, 2016 By Scott 2 Comments

In case you were wondering how I’ve been able to fish live oama in the Winter, there are a few oama around in some select places, and I’ve been keeping them alive in my tubs at home. They don’t have to worry about getting mauled by predators and I try to feed them 3 times a day. Their tub gets scrubbed once a week, and they’re treated for parasites upon entry so they don’t infect their tank mates.

They normally do well for the first month, then after that, maybe 1/4 begin to slowly lose weight. I try to use the skinny ones before they get too weak since the papio don’t seem to like them when they’re all head and no body.

Not too bad a life and my deal with them is that if I take them out fishing and end up not using them, I set them free.

Oama spill on the freeway and other oama mishaps

March 10, 2016 By Scott 6 Comments

Catching, raising and transporting live oama isn’t without risk. I was headed to my kayak fishing spot this week, with 9 captive oama in a 5 gallon bucket. The morning commute was just beginning to slow down when the guy in front of me suddenly changed lanes to avoid rear ending the car in front of him. I hit the brakes pretty hard and the oama bucket slid forward. I could hear the water sloshing on the rear cargo mat and oamas flopping around. Arrgh, I didn’t secure the bucket from sliding.

hard to tell but a lot of these oama were skinny from captivity

I got off the freeway and retrieved the scattered oama but the oama-scented water had made its way into the rear passenger cabin and down the cargo deck. There was no water left in the bucket so I had to listen to the oamas’ tail beating until it mercifully stopped. Even in death the oamas stayed in a tight schooling pattern, mostly pointing in the same direction.

I sprayed down the cargo area at home to dilute the salt water that pooled in the floor boards and sprayed the undercarriage. Hopefully this prevents future rust and oama steenk issues. The dead oamas were salted and frozen to be used when I run out of live ones. It really sucked to have to abort my kayak fishing plans that way.

The area where I raise my oamas in plastic tubs had become really smelly a few months ago. That area always smells like slightly stagnant fish water but this was getting progressively worse. It smelled like a rat died nearby and I sniffed around but couldn’t find the source. Weeks later, I pulled off some buckets I had stacked and found a rotten oama infested with maggots. Did I not notice the oama when I had emptied the fresh caught oama into my tubs? Or did the oama jump out of a tub like they very rarely do, and I unwittingly stacked buckets on top of it? The smell in the bucket was so infused that I couldn’t even remove it with clorox.

Incidents like these and the recurring cost of feeding oama with frozen Mysis shrimp makes me wonder if it’s worth raising those cuddly, whiskered fish.

Smaller moon, rising tide = more fish activity

March 1, 2016 By Scott 5 Comments

Last Wednesday, I kayak fished the deep Windward waters and didn’t even register a nibble. The nearshore fishing has been slow this Winter but that skunk really made me feel “kill fight”. Yesterday was forecast to have the lightest wind – best tide combination of the week so I made it a gear testing day, telling myself that the fishing was incidental. I took the old Scupper Pro out, which hadn’t touched water in more than 10 years, and used a heavier weight to keep the live oama down deep.

After the afternoon showers stopped, the wind completely died down. Not a fair comparison with the chop and slop conditions of the Aquaterra Swing’s last outing. I was worried the Scupper Pro would be tippy since it’s a lot narrower than the Swing, but because the seat sits lower to the water, it reminded me of sitting on a surfboard with my legs in the water. The Scupper Pro also paddled much easier due to its longer length and narrower, rounded hull. The Swing, in comparison, has a flat hull that feels like it’s pushing water, not knifing through it. The SP’s cockpit did feel cramped compared to the Swing’s, but I eventually got used to it.

There were a lot more tiny bait fish and suspended reef fish on the fish finder than last time. I braced myself for a strike on the trolled oama but none came. Hmmmppphhh. Well, since this was supposed to be a test of the Scupper Pro, I paddled further out than I had been fishing recently, enjoying the glide of the long, slender craft. The heavier fishing weight seemed to be keeping the oama down better, without getting hung up on the bottom. I slow trolled over numerous little bait collections but no predators felt like eating an oama with a hook in its nasal cartilage.

Finally something pulled the tip of the rod down a couple inches, then pulled drag. The fish seemed to be shaking its head but the vibrations were a little too frequent to be papio head shakes. I pictured an awa awa swimming in such a way that its large tail was slapping the line. Sure enough, after some powerful runs, I was able to short pump the fish to the surface. About a 4lb awa awa with its weird transparent forehead greeted me. I think awa awa pull harder, pound for pound, than omilu and whites, but once you get them boat side they’re pretty tuckered out.

It felt great to land a decent fish again. I dropped down another oama and a few minutes later something pulled some line off the reel. In my peripheral vision I could see a smaller fish leap out of the water. That was the first awa awa that jumped in the deep water, and it was able to shake the hook and gain its freedom.

Fish began to puddle on the surface and I expected more action but alas, the bite stopped. I took advantage of the glassy conditions by trolling through other promising spots, and dropped the flat fall jig down on bait pockets but nothing wanted to eat.

So why was there more bait and predator activity than last week? The moon was smaller, being 7 days after the full moon rather than just 2 days. And I was fishing the first third of the rising tide instead of the last third. The heavier weight was keeping the bait in the zone longer. And the glassy conditions made it much easier to fish. Why do you think it was better this time around?

Big moon, big swell, choppy conditions = no fish

February 25, 2016 By Scott 3 Comments

According to iWindsurf.com, the Windward side yesterday was supposed to have relatively calm wind conditions. I picked a spot protected from the booming North West swell and was expecting close to sheet glass conditions. Instead my launch spot looked like this from the afternoon onshore winds.

Since I had schlepped all my kayak gear I was committed to paddling out. Heading into the wind and chop was definitely slow going and at times, small waves were cresting into my kayak. Not ideal conditions at all. I trolled a live, captive oama looking for bait schools on my fish finder. Bait was hard to find and the few suspended fish above the schools didn’t want to eat the oama or flat fall jig.

I trolled the outer papa edges, the deep channels, the inner sand beaches and came up empty. Not a single critter touched the oama. This had never happened anywhere before.

Was it because the full moon was two days earlier and the fish were feeding at night? Or did the epic swell that caused the Eddie Aikau Contest to run today cause the fish to hunker down for safety? Or maybe the windy conditions caused me to miss running over the fish with my fish finder? I sure hope conditions improve next week.

Live oama comes through on a slow evening

February 19, 2016 By Scott 1 Comment

Took the kayak out with two rods, one to troll live captive oama and the other to fish the Shimano Flat Fall jig. The tide was falling to a minus tide at around dark, and sure enough the fish and bait activity was almost non-existent. Something hit the live oama but wasn’t strong enough to take drag. It unbuttoned before I could see it.

I slow trolled the reef dropoffs hoping for a strike on the oama, and for a bait ball to show up on the fish finder. No strikes. When I found suspended fish I dropped down the 2.8oz flat fall jig and quickly realized my 6.5ft fiberglass/graphite blend bass rod was too soft for the heavy weight of the jig, and potentially strong fish that might eat the jig. 40 feet of water might be too shallow to fish that sized jig. It fell pretty fast and didn’t stay in the strike zone long enough, on the retrieve. I think I need a heavier action rod, and need to fish it in deeper water.

The evening witching hour arrived when the fish normally feed before dark but I couldn’t find the bait school. The falling low tide must’ve changed the fish behavior. I worked my way in, and out of desperation, paddled across a large channel to the opposite side of where the bait normally congregates. I began to see fish suspended two deep off the bottom and finally got a hookup. The fish was vigorously shaking its head all the way through the fight so I suspected it was a trumpetfish or needlefish (aha). I was thrilled to see a thrashing white papio that was trying to shake off the hook barely attached to its lip. It later taped out at about 14″ head to fork.

The bait school was holding near the bottom, and larger fish were suspended above it. I dropped the flat fall jig again and didn’t get a hit. When I stowed the flat fall rod away, I couldn’t find the bait school again and it was getting dark so I headed in. Oh well, I learned a new spot the bait school may use.

Shallow water “heavy” jigs to tackle test off kayak

February 18, 2016 By Scott 5 Comments

Green Mackeral Live Deception 1oz, Black/Chrome Waxwing Baby, Blue Sardine Waxwing Boy, Black Anchovy Flat Fall 80g, Blue Sardine Flat Fall 80g

Since I’ve recently been spending time floating in my kayak waiting for something to eat my live oama, I figured I may as well try some shallow water “heavy” jigs. My weighted live oama makes it down to the bottom if I’m not moving. But if I paddle, to fight current or slow troll, the oama is pulled near the water’s surface. A jig would more effectively fish the 40 – 50 ft depths.

I’ve never fished heavy jigs in Hawaii, and only speed retrieved “yo yo iron” for yellowtail in California. Just a few weeks ago, I was given two types of heavy jigs to tackle test.

Ahi’s Live Deception jig is meant to be fished like a “knife” jig, I believe. It’s made out of flexible lead and is laser printed with actual photos of fish so it looks as realistic as possible. The one pictured on the left is a 1 oz Green Mackeral, and it’s about the same length as the smallest Waxwing Baby next to it. It looks cylindrical in the photo but it’s actually beveled, with a narrow keel on the bottom. I’m not sure what kind of action it presents in the water, but the sales guy said that it could be bent so it would death spiral when dropped down. Might work on the nehu and sardine schools yeah?

Shimano’s Butterfly Flat Fall jig has been out for a few years, and like the Shimano Waxwing, I’m getting on the bandwagon a little late. The flat fall jig is a new twist on Shimano’s butterfly jigs, that were meant to be speed retrieved and slashed back to the boat. Due to the flat fall’s wider, keeled surface area, it falls much slower than the butterfly jigs, in an exaggerated gliding zig zag pattern. Practitioners of “slow pitch” jigging recommend a controlled fall, feeling for strikes, and then retrieving it a half crank up at a time, with a smooth tempo. Slow pitch jigging is supposed to be the Tai Chi of jigging, where it is relaxing and non-taxing. Leave it to the Japanese to improve on deep jigging and make it a zen-like pursuit. I’ve placed the two flat fall jigs to the right of the Waxwing Boy for size comparison. Those 80g / 2.82oz jigs are the smallest, lightest flat falls.

The flat falls have already been very successful on the Mainland and here in Hawaii anglers have landed shibi, mahi, uku, ulua and kahala on them. I don’t know if the 40 – 50ft water I’ve been kayak fishing is deep enough but I’ll soon find out.

One mystery sea monster unmasked

February 5, 2016 By Scott 6 Comments

During the winter “off season”, I’ve been fishing the deep water Windward spots. Haven’t landed a decent fish in the last 3 outings. Each time I had a big strike that either broke off or slipped off. So I went back to the general area where I got the awa awa a few weeks ago, and fished the slight tidal rise in pure glass conditions. I headed away from the area that had been productive, and paddled around for nada. Nothing wanted to eat a slightly tired, tub-raised oama.

When I returned to the previously productive area, my fish finder lit up with fish on the bottom and fish breezing near the top. I slowed to let my oama sink to the bottom and sure enough something pulled against the hard drag for a few seconds. The oama was gone but the two hooks were left intact. This happened 2 more times even though I made the drag really tight. I found out what this strong armed Houdini was on the next strike.

I got a hit near the papa (reef) edge and the fish ran faster than a papio normally would. It fought the tight drag for a while and stayed deep. I could see the oama’s white color but couldn’t see what was under it. When I finally began to see color, I saw fluorescent blue fins and a tail. A long omilu perhaps?

Arrghh, no, a big crocodile needlefish or aha, nicknamed “blue bone” because it has blue-green bones. These fish have been known to jump out of the water and unintentionally (we hope) spear people in the head and chest, causing a few very unfortunate deaths.

Not sure if you can tell how large the fish was, next to the kayak with the oama still on one of the hooks, but it was somewhere between 3 and 4 feet. The rear hook is in his jaw but he had bitten off the line connected it to the front hook.

If you look at his top jaw, I think those cuts were from each successful attempt to steal the bait. So this is the guy responsible for all the hard strikes and lost fish I’ve been getting. Kill fight yeah?

Well, I had a few more live oama so I lowered one down the side of the kayak and immediately hooked up. Ugh, another aha since I was right on the papa edge? But no, this fish pulled a little slower and more steadily; it could even turn the kayak.

I was pleased to see a lightly hooked, 2lb plus awa awa. I looked at my watch and it turned out that the flurry of action happened right at the peak high tide and ended 30 mins later. I guess aha and awa awa like the slack high tide so they don’t have to fight the current. Kaku are lazy like that too.

So now I know what’s been ripping drag and stealing baits. I did have a strong fish cut me off on the reef, and a really heavy creature pull me around for 20 minutes. Guess I need to go back and solve those mysteries.

Wondering why the papio action has been slow this winter?

January 30, 2016 By Scott 5 Comments

The action has definitely been a lot slower than in the summer – fall period of 2015. The most popular reason is that there isn’t much baitfish for the papio to hunt inshore. So where did all those papio go, and when are they coming back?

Quite a bit of “science” has been gathered by the Ulua and Papio Tagging Project conducted by the Dept of Aquatic Resources (DAR) a few years back.

Based on tag recapture data, the project team was able to determine catch rates across the months of the year, across tidal phases and the phases of the day. They were also able to track where some of the papio migrated to, and which direction they traveled. Recapture growth rates showed that the summer bait fish abundance is the time of year the papio bulk up.

Some of that info was consistent with what I had heard before. But there were some pearls of wisdom that surprised me. Smaller papio fed relatively unaffected by the moon phases but larger ulua definitely followed certain moon phase patterns. And more papio were caught on the last 1/3 of the rising tide than the middle 1/3. The first 1/3 of the rising tide was best, as we’ve been hearing.

The DAR Ulua – Papio Tagging Project has ended but there’s some rumblings that another group will be launching an Ulua – Papio Tagging Project in the next few months. As catch and recapture data accumulates with the new tagging project, even better science will be “discovered”. Hopefully we’ll be able to determine where all the 10″ – 16″ papio are basking in the winter.

More sea monster action

January 22, 2016 By Scott 4 Comments

Kelly joined me on the Windward sea monster hunt today. He was on his SUP, using his shorts as a rod holder, and I was on my heavily loaded kayak. Kelly landed a 12″ omilu right off the bat whipping a live tub-raised oama, then the action really slowed for us. There wasn’t much life at the drop off so we paddled out to the fringing reef but I bailed when I saw small surf coming in. I overshot our landing spot coming back in and had to paddle upwind for half an hr. 3 hrs elapsed during this round trip and we were beat.

We still had some live oama left so despite being tired and hungry, we decided to use ’em up near the drop off. At the inner reef channel edge, Kelly chummed pieces of frozen oama and soon enough a 2lb omilu picked through the chum line. Kelly fly lined a live oama on the bottom of the channel and something big picked it up and slowly swam off with it, settled to the bottom for awhile, then pulled hard in spurts. As Kelly tried to slow down the sea monster, the line parted above the long leader. Was it the same sea monster I hooked a few days ago? My sea monster was hooked about 40 yds away from the drop off and behaved differently.

Down to my last live oama, and with no bites to speak of all day, I decided to fly line it since that technique worked well for Kelly. I slow trolled, hugging the drop off edge, and just as I was rounding the corner to come in I got a hit that screamed the ratchet and pulled the rod down on the rod holder, into my shoulder. I instinctively picked up the rod and started cranking but the wind blew me onto the reef. I felt the sickening rub of the reef and threw the rod back in the rod holder and paddled into deep water. When I picked up the rod again, I could feel the line running through a rock pile at the bottom of the channel. Ugh… I tried to free the line but it popped seconds later. This fish wasn’t the sea monster. It felt like a big, 5 lb plus omilu that was smart enough to cut me off instantly. I should’ve paddled for the deep water when the fish hit instead of fighting it above the reef.

We’ll be back, properly loaded for bear. Or sea monsters.