Live vs. Recent Frozen vs. Year Old oama

November 12, 2015 By Scott 2 Comments

The fishing conditions weren’t ideal today. 20 mph plus winds prohibited board fishing and the 0.4 ft low tide was in the middle of the day. I fished the spot that gave up the legal omilus two weeks ago, but the bite was very slow on the recently frozen oamas. Humuhumus chewed off the back end of some of the baits and a large cornetfish was the only thing hooked in the first hour.

I could see a guy fishing the same stretch after I passed through, and it appeared like he was landing keepers with live oama on a floater. With the sun high in the sky the papio were getting a good look at the baits and shunning mine. To make matters worse I ran out of the 2015 frozen oamas and had to resort to a batch of freezer burnt, previously thawed oama from last year. They were gray and mushy and barely resembled the pastel colored juvenile weke. I was expecting even the humuhumus would shun the stinky bait but something hit and pulled hard. The drag was almost locked down to pull snags free, and the reel released line jerkily. It still didn’t feel like much until I saw the hooked omilu followed by its mate.

That papio must’ve felt foolish falling for a stinky, mushy oama. It taped out at 12 1/4 inch (fork length) and was the second and last fish I caught today. I had really wanted to catch a papio to give to a friend tomorrow and was stoked. On a day when the papio were picky, and last year’s oama was barely fit for fertilizer, the ocean yielded dinner.

Was this slow day yet another indication that the papio season is trying to draw to a close?

Season and habitat change

November 10, 2015 By Scott 4 Comments

Continuing my survey of spots in the area, I fished a spot I hadn’t visited since June. The tide was higher than ideal so I could only walk halfway out to the break. It felt like I was walking on piles of rocks and I could feel the sharp points through my tabis. Only when I returned to shore did I realize the sand had eroded drastically.

The shoreline was covered with the kind of limu that grows in areas of fresh water influx, and what was once a murky area was crystal clear. The bait fish schools were absent and so were the larger predators. I saw a kaku follow my bait, and a few 3 inch omilus were bravely trying to pull off the oama, but nothing was hooked.

Looks like winter has arrived at that spot, and the lack of the silty sand removed the environment predators hid in.

Papio still around in mid-November

November 9, 2015 By Scott 4 Comments

I wanted to determine the spots that still held inshore papio this late in the season so I checked another spot I hadn’t fished all year. The spot was an area I had trolled oama in the past but was never really good near shore.

I wasn’t expecting much so I was really surprised when I hooked a 12″ (fork length) omilu on the second cast, just a few yards from shore. The omilu looked like it had been eating well over the course of the summer.

After this surprise fish I didn’t hook anything else as I worked my way down the shoreline. I worked my way back and caught a slightly longer omilu about 5 yds from where the first was caught. This one was considerably fatter too so there must be a reliable food source nearby.

I decided to save my remaining frozen oama for a survey of another spot and called it a day. It was great to know papio were still catchable so late in the season, so close to shore.

What type of fishing line should I use?

November 7, 2015 By Scott 8 Comments

Back in the day, things were much simpler. There was only one type of fishing line commonly used in Hawaii: monofilament, referred to as “suji” or “mono”. Now we have braided synthetic line (ex. PowerPro), and fluorocarbon leader and fluorocarbon main line.

What’s the difference and what are the pros and cons?

Monofilament is relatively inexpensive. It stretches, which acts as a shock absorber when a fish jerks erratically, but also delays the hookset when a lot of line is out. Mono is translucent but not transparent so fish with good eyesight can see it.
Braided line is much thinner than the same strength mono line. 30lb braid is the same diameter as 8lb mono and is treated with slick coating to cast even better than mono of the same diameter. Braid hardly stretches which is great for feeling the nibble but not so good if your rod is really stiff and your drag is set too tight. Braid is resistant to sun light and heat but is not as abrasion resistant as mono and fluorocarbon when used on our jagged reefs. It’s costlier than mono but will last a long time. Braided line consists of individual strands of man-made material “braided” into one line and dyed. Because it’s dyed and not translucent, fish see it very easily.
Fluorocarbon line has the same refractive index as water. So it’s virtually invisible underwater although you can easily see it out of the water. It’s also more abrasion resistant than mono and braid, however, it retains the shape it was wound in more than the other two line types. Fluorocarbon comes in leader material and main line, and is the costliest of the 3 lines. Fluorocarbon leader is stiffer and harder than Fluorocarbon main line because the main line is treated to be cast easily.

Comparative pricing

To give you a feel for relative costs, here’s the approximate pricing per yard of line

Maxima Ultragreen 15 lb mono – $0.06
PowerPro Green 15 lb braid – $0.09
Seaguar Blue Label 15 lb fluorocarbon leader – $0.40

How do fishers in Hawaii use these lines?

Since braid doesn’t take up much space on the spool, casts well and lasts a long time, people use it both as main line and as “backing” to be kept as a reserve in case a big fish hits. Fluorocarbon leaders can be attached to this braid backing so the fish don’t see the line the hook is connected to. You get the best of both worlds, nearly invisible line near the fish and strong, thin, castable line on the spool.

Fluorocarbon main line is used on bait casting reels and conventional reels but doesn’t lay tightly on spinning reels because of the line twist introduced.

If you’re on a budget you could still use braid as your backing, for months at a time, and splice on a “top shot” of mono so you’ll be casting the mono. Splicing a short piece of fluorocarbon leader, when stealth is needed, shouldn’t break the bank. Then, when your inexpensive mono top shot gets nicked up or coiled you can replace just the mono, keeping the braid backing as is.

Line Concerns

Mono – Sun, heat and chemical fumes age and weaken the line. Store in a cool, clean area.
Braid – Because the line is strong and thin, it slices through human skin very easily. Don’t wrap braid around your hand when tightening knots and breaking off snags. Prone to wind knots and backlashes if not packed tightly on reel.
Fluorocarbon – This line is weakened by friction so moisten well before tying knots. It also holds “memory” so avoid kinking or pinching line in tangles. Unlike mono or braid, “fluoro” main line sinks and may get caught up in the reef if you let your bait sit too long.

Recommended knots

Always moisten the line first when tying knots regardless of type of line. Out of simplicity I use the Uni knot with all types of line, and when I need to join two lines I use the Uni-to-Uni knot. There are other recommended knots with slightly higher breaking strengths that are just a little harder to tie.

Mono – Any high breaking strength knot such as Uni, Palomar, Trilene, Improved Clinch, will do.
Braid – The coating on this line makes it slippery. Recommended knots to cinch down the tag end are Uni, Palomar, Trilene, Improved Clinch and Surgeon’s. Make sure you cinch tight and leave a bit of tag end so the knot doesn’t undo itself. The Uni-to-Uni knot is a good one to use when joining braid to another line. The FG knot is a very popular knot to join braid to mono or fluorocarbon, but will require some practice to tie.
Fluorocarbon – This line is stiffer than mono and fairly slippery. When you tie your knots you need to make sure you don’t have loops overlapping and cutting into each other more than necessary. Take your time, moisten well, and slowly cinch. A sloppily tied knot will cut into itself and snap off under pressure. Recommended knots are Uni, Palomar, Trilene, Improved Clinch. The Uni-to-Uni or FG knot are great knots to join fluorocarbon with other lines.

Papio season continues… in other locations

October 30, 2015 By Scott 1 Comment

My regular wading and board fishing spots haven’t produced in the last 3 weeks despite the Hawaii Fishing News calendar forecast saying that omilu are supposed to be inshore through November. Out of desperation, I fished an area I haven’t fished in almost two years just to see if there might be some hold over papio.

The water was clear on the rising tide and I could see tangs and humuhumus flitting around at the dropoff, and small ahas and trumpetfish were following my dead oama back to shore. I was encouraged by all the life I was seeing, but had to unhook many a slimy trumpetfish before the better fish showed. Sub-legal omilus pulled off the oamas, and moana nipped at the baits but didn’t get hooked. Then I landed a few just legal omilus and let them go.

Finally, I hooked an omilu I knew was easily legal. It went 12.5″ from head to fork and I bagged it. From then on, 10.5″ omilu kept taking the baits so I kept a couple to pan fry. The “recruitment” class of omilu the last two years was so large that there are a lot of omilu 12 inches and smaller competing for a not-so-good recruitment class of juvenile reef fish. Harvesting some legal omilu will help reduce the predator burden on the bait supply.

I’ve been hearing report of papio being landed around the island despite what I had thought was the end of the papio season. Looks like it just ended in the area I was frequenting.

Papio Season is really over…

October 23, 2015 By Scott 2 Comments

…at least at my spots. I didn’t want to accept the possibility that the bigger predators aren’t hunting inside the reef anymore so I took my board out during the high tide to fish a previously productive spot. I had even less action than yesterday’s low tide evening session. A few pulled baits and some kaku bites. One 7 inch omilu.

What an odd El Nino papio season it turned out to be. The oama came in later than normal and were skittish during the stormy, humid period. The papio caught inside the reef were weak and skinny like they were treading water in a sauna too long. Then the storms passed, the strong trade winds returned, and the inshore water cooled. New oama swam in, and bigger than normal papio began hunting them. The inshore fishing was fabulous for a few weeks and then it came to a dead stop. Although there have been reports of straggler oama piles around, the papio aren’t bothering to make the swim in. I wonder what triggers them to hunt inshore and then suddenly stop.

Guess we can return to our normally scheduled Fall lives.

Papio season may have ended…

October 22, 2015 By Scott 1 Comment

The water cleared after last week’s murky conditions so I waded out to the same area that had been slow. I was really hoping the papio bite would continue full bore, but alas, I started with mystery fish pulling my dead oamas off the hooks. Then some oama came back with their back half sliced clean off. Next, hooks were bitten off. I’m guessing small reef fish and small papio were the bait pullers and kaku were slicing the baits and biting off the hooks.

After an hour of bait mangling and no fish to show for it, I cast from the reef edge of a deep sand channel leading to the open ocean. The sun was getting lower and large and medium kaku were competing for my dead oama in the light blue water. Miraculously I had some on without getting cut off, but they spit the hook. Then I hooked a medium sized kaku at the tip of his upper jaw such that he couldn’t bite the line. It was pretty tricky to grab the hook with long pliers and shake him off without getting nipped in the process. Tired of the kaku frenzy I positioned myself to cast to the right side of the channel.

I put on a beautifully preserved, large oama that still looked alive. It cast well because of its weight, and was hit solidly. The back half of the oama was raggedly torn off by something that didn’t have precision cutting teeth. Left with first 3 inches of the oama, and the sun setting, I threw the severed bait out again wondering what would want a fish head. Something slammed it, pulled against the stiff drag and jumped in the distance. I figured it was a kaku angry it didn’t get away cleanly with the tailless oama.

But the fish continued to pull drag and after it turned and swam up the reef shelf into waist deep water, it jumped again. Awa awa! I had never hooked one in this location and had no idea they came in here. It shot away after seeing me, but instead of going out into the deep channel it ran parallel to the beach and took at least 100 yds of line, taking me well into my braid backing. I felt confident it would tire out eventually but then I felt the rubbing of the line against a reef papa and sure enough the line got stuck. When I pulled, the line came back with no fish. At least 20 yds were shredded and stretched. Shucks, my dad would’ve really enjoyed the awa awa fish cake.

I had gone through 12 fresh dead oama and only landed a kaku. Sheesh. I put on a frozen oama and it got pulled off. By then the sun had set behind the mountains and I headed back in while there was still ambient light.

I guess this means the papio season is officially over. The reef fish, small papio and kaku will still be around to pester the baits but it sure looks like the big omilus won’t be hunting inside until next season. I would settle for a hard fighting awa awa until the papio return, though.

Product Review: Arctic Ice reusable ice

October 19, 2015 By Scott 2 Comments

I pack my Fishpond Blizzard soft cooler with reusable ice when I fish, leaving it in the hot car for a few hours. My drinks have always remained pretty cold but when I started taking fish home in a separate fish kill bag I started looking for reusable ice that was compact, kept fish cold for long periods of time, and could handle some abuse. This past El Nino summer was so hot and humid that some of my fish were a little soft and mushy the next day.

I had been hearing about Arctic Ice on fishing shows and in fishing magazines and read through the positive reviews. Unlike standard “blue ice” that transfers its cold temperature to the items around it, Arctic Ice is designed to draw heat from the surrounding items thereby keeping them cold longer.

I purchased the Medium and Large Alaskan Series blocks since the Chillin’ Brew and Tundra series were meant to keep things close to freezing, or frozen, respectively. As a test I put my drinks in the soft cooler with one block of blue ice and the Medium Alaskan series block. When I accessed my drink in the hot car a few hours later, it was colder than it was in the fridge and the “blue ice” was still frozen solid. The Medium Alaskan Series Arctic Ice had melted halfway but their site says that the block will continue to keep things cold even after the block is completely liquid inside.

I’ve used the Arctic Ice blocks in my soft cooler and in a larger hard cooler for 3 weeks now and can verify that they keep items much colder, longer than standard “blue ice”. They may cost twice what “blue ice” costs, but are made to last for years and years and are a much better product. I highly recommend them.

I currently am not receiving any compensation for this review.

Product Review: Fishpond Blizzard Soft Cooler

October 19, 2015 By Scott 1 Comment

Fishpond Blizzard

At the start of this year, I needed a smallish cooler with a sturdy construction that could easily fit in the front passenger seat’s foot area and be accessed from the driver’s seat. Odd, requirements I know, but I was driving to the beaches surveying the fishing activity and needed to use the passenger seat area as a desk to write and store equipment.

The desired cooler needed to keep snacks and drinks cold, and transport and clean up easily. The Fishpond Blizzard retails for about $70 so I debated buying such a pricey cooler for a while, but there were so many rave reviews I pulled the trigger. I figured I’d be getting a lot of use out of it on survey trips, fishing trips and trips to the market.

waterproof and dust resistant bottom

The cooler was very ergonomically designed, was easy to carry by the sturdy side grab handles or the shoulder strap, and had pockets and pen slots for all my needs. The contents were kept cold, the cooler’s plastic/foam molded bottom proved to be waterproof and dirt resistant, and the best feature of all was the velcro hatch that you could pull open to access a drink without unzipping the top.

this is the best feature!

It’s the best cooler I’ve ever encountered and I highly recommend it. 7 months in and it’s hardly showing any wear. The dimensions are 9 x 10 x 11.5 inches, easily large enough for a six pack and a sandwich. Most of my fish fit in it but happily some were too large.

It’s sold online from a number of websites including Amazon, and there are many positive reviews available also.

I currently am not receiving any compensation for this review.

Did the papio season come to a dead stop, or just hit another pause?

October 17, 2015 By Scott 5 Comments

In talking with other lure whippers and oama dunkers, and from my own experience, the papio season has been red hot in the last few weeks. Larger than normal papio were being caught inside the reef, some even reaching small ulua status.

With high hopes, I fished two previously productive oama whipping spots this week with Jason, who normally whips plastic grubs, Waxwings and other hard plugs. The first spot’s calm inshore area was a strange tea color. Just last week it was loaded with hungry whites. The bite on the dead oamas was very slow and only kaku were hitting far inside of the break. Jason ended up with a couple 15 – 20 inch kaku and I just had gouged and cut off baits to show. Convinced the papio had to be around somewhere I inched closer and closer to the waves and got splashed up to my cap multiple times. My waterproof bag proved to be not so waterproof when I had it opened to get more bait, and I ended up soaking my main reel and backup reel.

The following day, after taking apart both reels and lubing them with anti-corrosion lube, we hit a spot that had been red hot last week. The inshore protected areas were tinged brown like yesterday’s spot. An 8 inch omilu hit my first dead oama so things were looking up. But for the next hour or so, small papio nipped and pulled off the oama baits, a larger papio took drag and unbuttoned and we were inching closer and closer to the impact zone. I was tripped up twice in surgy water, falling head first in waist deep water with my rod in my hand. The first time I fell so suddenly my neck felt like I had whiplash and I had to massage out the tight muscles. I had never fallen wading to the break before; what the heck has been going on these last two days? Guess I’ll be finding out how good the anti-corrosion lube is.

Where did all the larger oama-eating papio go? Jason switched to plastic grubs and caught a few small omilu but even they were fairly scarce. Did the season come to a sudden end or did something else cause the predators to stop chewing?

White papio caught whipping dead oama

October 8, 2015 By Scott 6 Comments

The wind was much lighter than yesterday so I tried the spot I waded out and whipped last week. The waves were small enough where I could sit just inside of the white wash, or in a small channel and cast into the surf. It took a bit of paddling around to find the biters, but once I found them, there were others nearby.

The first papio was a skinny, just legal omilu which I released. The next was a white papio of about the same length but thicker and more muscular. Unlike the omilu, it kept fighting even when I had it board side. The next papio was about 10.5″, head to fork and I considered keeping it but as I readied my fish bag it came off the hook. Oh well, I was just thinking of taking it since the fish seemed to all be the same size.

I cast out a rock hard, frozen oama and the fourth papio took it head first. It was just legal but hooked deep and I didn’t risk killing it by yanking out the hook with pliers so I cut the line off in front of the hook. Hopefully the hook rusts out or falls out soon.

With so many barely legal fish, I paddled around looking for a deeper spot to safely fish. I dug around for a larger oama that still had its colors, and tossed it out. Bam, a much stronger fish hit. The white papio kept fighting even when I had it next to the board. Omilu seem to pull faster and whites pull more doggedly. I happily bagged it.

With a nice white in the bag I went exploring and fished some unproductive water. Then I discovered an area next to the impact zone where the swell rolled through without breaking. I situated myself near the edge of the impact zone and cast another frozen oamasickle. Hookup, and the fish pulled me towards the waves. Yikes! I put the rod in the rod holder and paddled towards calm water hoping the fish wouldn’t rock me. When I reached calm water, I sat up and started cranking. The white, which was initially taking drag, wasn’t nearly as large as I thought. Man these whites can pull hard.

Pretty good action for a spot I’ve never board fished before. I headed in to keep the papios in good condition. Didn’t lose any rigs this time unlike the snaggapalooza yesterday.

Interesting that, although the larger fish below is just an inch longer than the smaller one, its body is deeper and more angular to make room for its sex organs. It fought considerably harder also.

Challenging weather conditions, fish still bit

October 7, 2015 By Scott 9 Comments

Dean and I board fished this morning since the wind was supposed to be less than 15 mph. Contrary to that forecast there were gusts over 20 mph which made it hard for Dean to stand up and paddle. The wind had less effect on me since I paddle lying down on my longboard, but I was still affected by the chaotic swell.

Dean trolled a dead oama behind a floater the way I used to, and I sat on my board as close to the waves as possible and cast into the surf. I got more strikes than he did but also got stuck a lot more since my prototype oama whipping rig sinks. I suspected fish were hitting the oama and pulling it into the rocks since I would pull some snags out and everything came back except for the oama. When I pulled an eel out of the rocks my suspicions were confirmed.

Dean caught the first fish, a non-legal omilu, and then we both started getting hits, misses and cut lines. Seemed like other reef fish were pulling off the oamas, and kaku were cutting us off. I finally stuck a good fish and it ran in a funny way which made me think it was a big stickfish or cornetfish. I was relieved to see the color of a beautiful 2lb omilu. I finally made use of my gaff by lifting the omilu out of the water by putting the gaff hook through its mouth and out its gill.

The wind picked up and it was hard to effectively fish the surge zone. My next papio ran through the rocks and popped my line. Dean was getting occasional hits but having a harder time paddling upwind from his knees. It was time to head in.

I had quickly gone through 4 whipping rigs and 15 dead oama.

It was more fun to feel the strikes of the fish while whipping the oama but I definitely lost more tackle than I do when I troll with a floater. I’ll have to work on the prototype whipping rig some more.

Waxwing Baby works right out of the box

September 30, 2015 By Scott Leave a Comment

Charles contacted me to let me know that he purchased a black and chrome Waxwing Baby from Charley’s Fishing Supply when he found out they were in, drove straight to his Westside sandy beach spot, and threw the lure in the wind and waves for half an hour. Bam, he felt a solid strike and the fish went air borne trying to throw the lure. After a very exciting fight he subdued the awa awa.

Here’s his son verifying the length of 27″ before Charles’ wife made oishii Japanese fishcake dumplings with it. I’d say Charles got his money’s worth with that Waxwing.

Whipping dead oama got even better!

September 30, 2015 By Scott 7 Comments

Well, I guess I didn’t discover a whole new way to present an oama to hungry predators. It appears that others have been whipping oama, live and dead, for ages. What’s cool though is that I’m now able to cast a dead one much further than I would try with a live one, and can reach the spots the predators are prowling. On days like today where the wind is gusting higher than 20 mph, it’s a nice option to be able to heave an oama with the wind and not worry about getting blown around on a surfboard.

Dean and I waded out on the 0.3 ft low tide today but because it wasn’t lower we had to stop 50 yds from the surf line. Our initial casts of fresh dead and frozen oama were hit by small omilus but as I ventured further out and braved the occasional dunking, the hits got bigger. I dropped a fresh dead oama into a deep sand pocket and something hit heavily then chewed through the line. Arrgh, had to re-tie line as the waves smacked into me. The next cast yielded an omilu half and inch short of legal. Loading up with a frozen oama, I walked further out into the wind and wave maelstrom and lobbed into the tail end of the white wash. As I picked up the retrieve, something tugged then ran between the coral heads against the almost locked down drag. My 7′ 11″ medium action G Loomis swimbait rod arched nicely, keeping the tension on the fish with power to spare. The fish pulled drag and ran back and forth through the canyons of the boulders but never got more than 50 yds away. I was more afraid of getting cut off than by getting spooled. After a few mins I could see that beautiful iridescent flash of blue and brought the lit up omilu close. It was too pooped to resist me grabbing its tail as I walked it back to Dean.

I was stoked holding the biggest omilu I have caught in years, maybe ever, but Dean wasn’t too impressed since he catches larger ones dunking. I fumbled around trying to hold my rod under my arm, open my sling bag to take out my catch bag, and not lose the fish that I let swim around at my feet. I never really expect to catch fish when I’m not on my board, so I’m always ill prepared to bag them. The fins and scutes sliced my hands up pretty good but I guess I’m willing to put up with a little pain to land such a beautiful fish.

Dean and I walked back out to the deeper spot that now had bigger waves coming through. As I was hunting around for another frozen oama, Dean hooked a screamer on his 6.5 ft light action spinning rod. His rod keeled over and bounced up and down as he cupped the reel to slow the fish down. The fish was diagonally heading out to sea, unlike mine that did figure 8s around the boulders. The fish was still running but Dean could feel the line rubbing on the rocks and eventually the line stuck. Dean slacked off the line and tried to coax the fish into swimming back in but it didn’t fall for his tactics. 2/3 of his line was gone and when he tried to wade out to loosen the snag, it became apparent that the snag was in water too deep to reach. Sadly Dean popped the line and retied.

We started casting our frozen oama again but nothing bit. It was as if Dean’s fish was the bull of the reef and scared the lesser fish into fleeing. We headed in with our last baits on. Mine got hit by a large aha that I had snagged in the side and it grey hounded at a much higher speed than papio run but eventually tired out.

Based on the fight of his fish, Dean estimated it was about 5 lbs. When he saw mine on land, he estimated 3.8 lbs. Turns out it weighed between 3.8 – 4.2 lb on my inaccurate scales at home. The man knows his fish sizes. I’ll go with 4lbs!

I’m still perfecting my oama whipping rig but like what I’m seeing so far. I can cast a dead oama as far as any lure and the hookup ratio is really good. I was snagging the reef early on today but made some changes to minimize that. Hopefully I’ll have a few more test runs before the season ends.

love the small but powerful Calcutta 200TE

Note: Per request here’s the omilu next to a tape measure.

Thanks for the comments and contact messages!

September 29, 2015 By Scott Leave a Comment

Fishers of all experience levels have been commenting on posts and contacting me through the Contact page. It’s been great to hear that some of you have had similar slow and hot fishing bites, and awesome to hear of your Waxwing successes. Email convos have inspired me to try new spots and techniques, which lead to the recent board trolling and oama whipping successes.

I appreciate the feedback, and rest assured, I won’t post your secrets on the blog unless you want me to.

thanks for reading and building the fishing network of fishing buddies,

scott

Whipping dead oama works, who knew?!

September 29, 2015 By Scott 4 Comments

I had a few fresh, dead oama that I wanted to use instead of freezing them for later. My last board fishing outing was outstanding but it was much too windy for that today. Hmm… since trolling fresh, dead oama worked, what if I could somehow cast them out and retrieve them? Stands to reason that the papio would whack ’em right?

I had never done this before and don’t know of anyone who regularly whips oama since dunking live oama is so effective. Somehow I had to be able to cast the oama far enough in the wind to reach the areas holding fish. I decided to use my trusty level wind Calcutta 200TE bait caster that had been sitting idle during the Waxing and trolling expeditions. I waded out on the low tide but had issues with the Jim Rizutto sliding double hook setup slipping and causing the oama to bend. I ended up having to hook both hooks in the oama’s head and hope that something would hit head first. The bait caster, doing what it was meant to do, cast bait, worked marvelously.

Using the wind, I was able to reach the surf zone, and hooked a 10″ white papio on the first cast! I let it go, and put on another fresh, dead oama. That one got hammered by a 11″ white. I missed some hits and ended up with mangled oama but the next 2 oama got hit also. Then I hooked a fish that pulled drag and brought in a 13.5″ (head to tail) white that went into my fish bag. I couldn’t believe the action I was getting on the dead oama so I moved spots slightly and the bite slowed dramatically. Eventually my remaining baits were hit by 8″ – 10″ whites and omilus. I put on a blue sardine Waxwing to see if I could fool the papio so attuned to oama and came up empty.

Who would’ve thunk that whipping dead oama would be more effective than trolling them inshore? It’s a really strange season due to the early, extra hot water and humidity shutting down the bite, followed by strong trades and cooler water causing the papio to make up for lost time. I don’t think whipping dead oama would’ve been as effective last year when the papio could get their fill of free swimming oama.

I’m still refining my dead oama whipping setup to increase casting distance and hookup ratio. Stay tuned for more oama whipping catch reports.

P.S. Look what was in the white papio’s stomach! A slightly digested tang and a completely intact baby mantis shrimp. The white was stuffed and still went after the dead oama.

Waxwing Baby lures now at Charley’s Fishing Supply

September 25, 2015 By Scott 2 Comments

Charley’s Fishing Supply in Kakaako now has the smallest size Waxwing, called the “Baby”.

They have the 2.68″, 1/2oz lures in the Black/Chrome, Blue Sardine and Ghost Blue Shad colors. I’ve had success with all three colors in the shallows around bait schools and the Blue Sardine worked well at the surf break. I hadn’t tried the other two colors at the surf break yet.

I like throwing the Black/Chrome Baby from shore partly because it works so well and partly because the silver paint shows the teeth marks of the fish I miss. I just had a couple mins to cast on the way back from looking for oama yesterday and had two stops (lure felt like it hit a snag but nothing was snagged) and then a big kaku boiled on the Black/Chrome Baby before coming unhooked. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to hook it well.

When you get your Waxwings from Charley’s tell them you heard about them from this blog! They brought that small size in per Lawai’a magazine and my request. Great guys there…

Red hot 2 hr fishing window

September 23, 2015 By Scott 17 Comments

new best day ever!

Today was supposed to be the light wind day of the week so I took 6 live oama and 4 fresh dead ones out for a surfboard troll. I planned to fish a different stretch of the beach by paddling into the wind and letting the wind bring me back to the launch point.

I started with a recently deceased, medium-sized captive oama so I wouldn’t waste a livey on the way out to the surfline. Nothing bit it after reaching the break and trolling parallel to it for 10 mins, so I was about to put on a livey on instead. All of a sudden my ratchet screamed and the rod bent over. I hadn’t heard my ratchet scream all year so I was initially spooked! It was actually hard to pull the rod out of the holder; man I missed those screamers. The fish pulled drag in a straight line, then let itself be worked in halfway, then took off again. While I was loving the fight, I strongly suspected it was an oio that decided it needed to add oama to its diet, and I really wanted a nice sized papio instead. The fish started shaking its head, which gave me hope, then pulled line straight out again. After a hard fight against a tight drag, the largest omilu I caught in 2 yrs flashed on its side. It was hooked on the front hook and somehow had broken off the hook that was in the oama’s tail. I was stoked and I had only been fishing 20 minutes. I contemplated heading back in but I didn’t want to waste the live oama.

I put a live one on and something pulled it off without sounding the ratchet. I wonder what could have done that? I put on another livey and this one got eaten by a 10 inch C&R omilu. The next livey hooked a 15 inch (head to tail) omilu that pulled drag nicely and was added to the catch bag. 2 good sized omilu make a decent catch so again I contemplated paddling in but I still had 3 live oama and 3 dead ones.

The next 3 live oama were mangled and crushed but I couldn’t hook the culprit despite the two hook setup. I put a dead oama on and saw the floater go under. When I retrieved the line all I got back was the oama’s head. I put the second to the last dead oama on and let the wind blow me back to the launch site. The ratchet went off but the fight felt a little weird. There was a lot of resistance but the fish wasn’t pulling a lot of line. When it got close, I realized why. Somehow a 14″ omilu was hooked on the front hook and a 10″ omilu was hooked on the rear hook! And another omilu was swimming with them, trying to join the party. Crazy. I shook the 10″ omilu off and kept the 14″ (head to tail) omilu. That was more than enough fish for one day, so I dumped the last dead oama and went in.

Darin’s oio

Darin, whom I had met before, was dunking ika from the beach. He said a lot of undersized papio had been hitting his baits in the last hr, with one legal omilu in the mix. I wished him luck and ran into a guy who had been hooking legal white papio on his Crystal Minnow from shore. His C&R lure action was in the last 30 minutes. While we were taking he noticed that Darin was on a nice fish. What the heck was going on? Were all the planets in alignment or something? We went over to watch Darin’s fish make numerous strong runs before being subdued. The oio went 21″ and 4lbs and Darin packed up his gear to get the fish home in good shape for fish cake.

There wasn’t a particularly good solunar activity period today but something made the fish feed aggressively at the break and at the shoreline. I suspect the fish are trying to make up for all that lost time spent hunkering down during the stormy, humid weather. The trade winds have cooled the water nicely and it looks like the papio season isn’t over yet.

The larger omilu I caught went about 19″ (head to tail) and made 3 lbs on my not too accurate hand scale. Not that big as omilus go but bigger than any omilu I’ve caught last year and this year. With so many papio competing for not much bait this season, I suspect larger than normal papio are coming onto the reef to find food.

Trade winds returned bringing cooler water conditions

September 19, 2015 By Scott 4 Comments

What a difference a few days of trade winds make. The humidity dropped considerably and the inshore water cooled off. I took the longboard out in the morning and the water was almost cold. The first fresh dead oama didn’t get touched until I was almost to the surfline, and what touched it just pulled the bait off. My next live oama brought up an 8 inch C&R omilu so I alternated live and fresh dead oama for either more small omilus or yanked baits.

pliers in the background are 11 inches long

The trade winds had exceeded 20 mph and the SSW swell made for a bouncy, choppy outing. I put the largest, strongest oama out and it got hammered and killed but not taken off the tandem hooks. The poor oama looked pretty bad, with raked sides, tattered fins and a washed out coloring. Disappointed with the size of pesky predators, I left the battered bait on and paddled over a bouldery section so shallow my hand hit while paddling. When the ratchet went off I thought the bait was snagged on the rocks but the orange floater moved between the boulders. After a brief fight a 15 inch omilu was landed. This season’s omilus I’ve caught on my board have all been skinny and weak. The omilus of the same length last year were much thicker and fought much harder. Are the omilus not able to catch enough bait fish to fatten up this season? Maybe the unusually hot water makes them weary like we would be if we had to run a marathon in hot, humid weather.

When I cleaned the omilu, I found a parasitic worm that looked like a long udon noodle in its intestinal wall and absolutely nothing in the omilu’s stomach. Other than being thin, the fish looked healthy.

Rain and hot inshore water put a damper on the fishing

September 14, 2015 By Scott 7 Comments

Is it just me or has the El Nino inspired hot, rainy weather shut down your fishing also? With the ocean temps already a few degrees hotter than normal, and air temps hitting record highs, the inshore water has been jacuzzi hot by mid morning.

Well, I didn’t measure the temp so that may be an exaggeration. But I finally trolled some oama on my surfboard last week and felt exhausted by the hot air and water. Other surfers were hogging the shower just to cool off. The larger predators avoided the over heated inner reef, and the 8 inch omilus that did bite the oamas were too weak to pull drag.

The rain runoff has caused an explosion of fine, hairy limu to pile up near shore also, making it impossible to retrieve the Waxwing without fouling that stuff.

Not sure how this extra hot summer/fall has affected your fishing but so far it’s been kind of a dud for me.