What’s the best bait or lure to use for nearshore fishing in Hawaii?

April 2, 2014 By Scott 28 Comments

modified kastmasters

I was a lure fishing purist. I even dabbled with tying flies and customizing Kastmaster lures. It seemed more sporting to fool a fish to bite something man-made, and lures were a lot easier to acquire than bait. But I got skunked way too many times and reluctantly tried dead bait, and then live bait. Lure fishing in HI has its place but bait, particularly live bait, is KING.

Bait and lures can be broken down into the following categories:

Live bait – oama (juvenile goatfish), halalu (juvenile big eyed scad mackeral), nehu (Hawaiian anchovy), o’pae (shrimp), sand turtles (mole crabs), etc
Dead/cut bait – oama, tako (octopus), ika (squid), “California” shrimp, aku belly, etc
Scented lures – Berkley Gulp, Berkley Powerbait, etc
Unscented lures – plastic grubs/strips, flies, feather jigs, metal spoons, metal jigs, swimming plugs, etc

There’s too much detail to cover in one post so I’ll summarize the categories and cover them in future posts.

Live Bait

The best live bait for the larger nearshore fish, by far, is live oama. Oama school up in the shallow, sandy areas in the late summer because the predator fish are hunting them mercilessly. Halalu season overlaps with oama season, so the summer and early fall is the best period to nearshore fish. If you can catch nehu, `opae and sand turtles and fish them near where you caught them you’ll have much better odds than using dead bait or lures.

Click here to read about the basics of oama fishing.

Click here to read about keeping your oama alive as long as possible.

Click here to read about catching sand turtles.

Click here to read about catching regular `opae.

Click here to read about catching the larger `opae lolo.

Dead Bait

papio caught with frozen oama

Animals release chemicals when they die and thus, smell differently than alive. Freezing bait changes their chemical makeup further. So a defrosted bait definitely smells different to a fish than a live bait. If properly handled and frozen, oama and tako are effective defrosted bait but are much better used freshly dead. Aku belly is much better used fresh. Ika and shrimp should be cut up in their proper presentation size, salted and then frozen to prevent them from getting too mushy.

Scented Lures

There are a number of lures that are impregnated with scent to smell like the bait they are imitating. Berkley’s Gulp lures are the best known and come in many shapes. I’ve tried them with moderate results. Fish in HI that are attracted by smell, like humus, hinaleas, rock fish seem to like these lures. Others may have had better results but the best fish I’ve caught with them were moana. Because they are actually made from a fish food substance, the lure action isn’t as pliable as the better soft plastics.

Unscented Lures

Bait fish and crustaceans in Hawaii are very quick moving because the warm water keeps their metabolism up. Fast moving, jerky lures often do well imitating these creatures. The very popular plastic bubble pulling a plastic strip/grub or fly is very effective when popped erratically because the popping makes the predators think they’re missing out on a feeding frenzy. Metal spoons like Kastmasters and Krocadiles, cast well and can be jigged deep. The new metal jigs with assist hooks can be cast out and retrieved in deeper water, or fished vertically from a boat or kayak. Lipped and non-lipped swimming plugs imitate bait fish and are great whipping and trolling lures.

Click here to read about modifying Kastmasters.

Click here to read about my favorite unscented lures of 2016.

Click here to read how well the Japanese Domestic Model (JDM) sub-surface lure has worked, right out of the gate.

Click here if you were wondering if JDM whipping lures were worth the higher price.

Click here to check out the Store to purchase JDM whipping lures, jigs and flies (if they aren’t sold out).

When is the best time to fish?

March 31, 2014 By Scott 4 Comments

Please also see When is the best time to fish – 2018 Update for additional tips on how to optimize your next fishing trip.

Fisherpeople, especially those with limited recreation time, often want to know what conditions determine the optimum time to fish. While conditions vary based on the location and particular day, there are some basic, accepted rules:

Low Light

Predator fish can sneak up on prey better when the water isn’t clear. Overcast or choppy, murky conditions are ideal times to fish.

Time of Day

Diurnal (awake during the day) fish are hungry after fasting the night and look for breakfast in the morning.
Diurnal fish try to eat before retiring for the evening.

Moon Phase

For daytime fishing, in general, the smaller the previous night’s moon phase, the better the bite.
- Predators can feed better on brighter moon phases at night and will be less hungry during the day.
- Prey will be chased around on brighter moon phases at night and be resting during the day.
For nighttime fishing, in general, the larger the previous night’s moon phase, the more activity there will be.
- Predators will be hunting.
- Prey will be running away.
- Torching visibility will be brighter but there will be fewer creatures sleeping.

Tides

Fish bite best when the tidal currents are stirring up food sources. The greater the difference between the low and high tide, the stronger the tidal current.
Days close to the full and new moon have the greatest difference between the high and low tide.
Fish bite best after the bottom of the low tide as the new water floods the reef. Second best tidal period to fish is after the peak high tide, as water rushes out of the reef. Fishing is generally slower as the low tide bottoms out and the high tide tops out.
Daylight fishing the strong tides near a new moon are better than fishing the strong tides of a full moon because the fish didn’t feed by moonlight the night before.
Fish have less places to feed on a low, rising tide than on a high tide, so it’s easier to guess where they are.

tides for April 1, 2014

Tides4fishing.com does a really nice job explaining the best times of each day and best days of the month to fish. In the above graph, the fish symbol denote the optimum periods based on tidal movement, to fish on April 1st, 2014. Here’s the link to the actual web page this graph was snipped from. Select the day and month on the right hand side of that page.

Stormy Weather

Fish can feel storms coming because the barometric pressure change can be felt underwater. Since they plan to lay low in deeper water during storms, they may eat before the storm comes and eat after the storm passes. Usually fishing around periods of stormy weather isn’t good, for the catching and for your comfort.

So what’s the takeaway from all of this? If you’re able to pick your opportunities to fish, pick periods of large tidal movement during low light conditions, coinciding with early morning or late afternoon, and not during stormy periods.

Diamond Head to Waikiki Fisheries Management Area fish report #4

March 31, 2014 By Scott Leave a Comment

surfboard fishing rig

I completed the last leg of the survey of the Diamond Head to Waikiki Fisheries Management Area (FMA) by fishing the area ending with San Souci Beach, also known as Kaimana Beach. Instead of wading into chest deep water to walk around rock piles and jetties, I floated the area within casting distance of the beach, from my MacGyvered-up surfboard rig. Yup, that’s a portable fish finder. The rubber clasps attached to the board and the tackle bag are from Boardfisher.com.

Fishing the mid-morning rising tide, I was hoping to hook one of the monster Waikiki oios I’ve been hearing about, but instead got the usual suspects.

Christmas wrasse, cigarfish wrasse, common hinalea (saddle wrasse), po’opa’a (stocky hawkfish) and one legal moana (manybar goatfish). Perhaps the oio were further out in the deeper, sandy areas.

Can’t say I’m impressed with the fish stock of the FMA just a little less than 4 months into the open season. We seem to catch more fish at other South Shore spots.

fresh moana

steamed moana

The moana made a nice presentation, steamed up Asian-style by my friend’s mom.

Diamond Head to Waikiki Fisheries Management Area fish report #3

March 20, 2014 By Scott Leave a Comment

not some remote atoll

Went back to the Diamond Head – Waikiki FMA area for round 3. The tide was dropping below zero feet and the wind initially was manageable when this picture was taken. The contrast of the reef and sand bottom was breathtaking. But the fish didn’t want to bite and the wind made it hard to cast long leaders attached to floats without snagging something on the way out.

It was a “bolo-head” (white wash, nada, zilch, goose eggs) day but I got a chance to chat with Kawika whom I met last week at this spot, and later with Brandon (I think) back at the car. Both generously shared fishing tips even though I warned them that I blog about my fishing experiences! So while I didn’t return home with dinner, I gained something much more valuable.

I’ll give their information a try and report back with the results. Here’s a preview: Kawika tied his own flies to whip explosively behind a large cast-a-bubble. Brandon liked using live bait (‘opae, “sand turtles” (mole crabs) and oama) and turned me on to some “guarantee oio spots” I could board fish in Waikiki.

The Aloha Spirit is still alive with the Oahu fishermen. Just gotta respect their spots and practice Aloha in return.

Diamond Head to Waikiki Fisheries Management Area fish report #2

March 17, 2014 By Scott 1 Comment

fishing edge of reef on zero tide

Continuing my survey of the Fisheries Management Area (FMA), I fished from the east most beach park on Diamond Head Road to Tongg’s, which is near the east end of Kapiolani Park. That general area has a very flat reef without too many deep holes, so it’s best to try to walk the reef on a zero foot tide and fish the dropoff or channels that cut through the reef. If you expand the picture you’ll see Kawika doing just that. He said he’s caught some nice fish at the dropoff at times and had caught a legal moana earlier this day. I just got the usual suspects: humus, hinalea and po’opa’a. I finally caught a 6 inch omilu by Tongg’s which was undersized and let go.

Please keep in mind, there are some spots on the shoreline only passable on a very low tide, and please be careful if you venture out to the edge of the reef. Besides sharp rocks, wana (sea urchin) and eels to nip your feet, the waves can surprise you.

If you’re a visitor to Oahu staying in Waikiki, the reef fish can be very accommodating. Use light tackle and a 2 inch grub or piece of bait and you’ll be able to sample the reef fish buffet.

It’s probably best to catch and release if you’re not sure of the legality and edibility of the fish. Here are the minimum size limits, measuring from the nose to the fork of the tail.

“Ho brah, how you keep your car so clean?”

March 16, 2014 By Scott Leave a Comment

That’s what you want to hear when your friends see you unpacking your fishing gear. Not “wow brah, your car so pilau”.

After you trudged around the steenkest waters on this island, with your functional yet uncool shoulder tackle bag and tabis, you’ll want to whip them off as quick as possible and leave the scene. How do you do that without ruining your car forever? Get a large plastic tub to throw your gear in, and carry a large water jug to rinse off in. Keeps the steenk self-contained and off your car.

Side note about the 5 gallon gasoline jug I use: It’s the largest container I could easily find but I have gotten jabs while rinsing myself off like “what brah, you need one light?”.

tub and water jug

“Tah-bees”, do I really need them?

March 16, 2014 By Scott 1 Comment

tabis

The Japanese tabis, pronounced “tah-bees”, are about the dorkiest footwear you could wear and most beginner fisherpeople try to avoid wearing them as long as they can. But if you have to walk on slippery wet rocks, or sharp reef, nothing is more protective and sure footed. Tabis have thick rubber protection around the toe area to prevent stubbing, and have a felt bottom to provide grip on slippery surfaces that rubber can’t provide. Yeah old sneakers, surf booties and even reef walkers look cooler, but eventually you’ll slip and fall, or get poked through to your less-than-luau feet.

tackle bag

And if you’re wading and fishing, do yourself a favor and get some kind of over-one-shoulder tackle bag to keep your gear out of the water. I know, the bag looks like a lady’s purse so it’s not gonna help your fashion cause, especially if you’re wearing tabis, but it will be handier to access than a backpack and will be worn higher than a fanny pack. Attach pliers and a line snipper on a retractable spring and you won’t have to worry about dropping your tools in the drink.

If you’re gonna spend a lot of time in the water and sun, you’d be wise to accessorize with a hat and polarized sun glasses. I’ll leave the style details up to you.

Crazy stuff you see fishing the reef dropoff

March 10, 2014 By Scott 1 Comment

flat, shallow reef

Took a friend whipping on the south shore who hadn’t fished in more than 10 years. The afternoon trades were blowing and the sky was overcast, which made our initial dip in the water feel a little shocking. Then it started to rain. As we walked further out, the tide was waist high at times and rising, which made it harder to avoid stepping on the sea cucumbers and wana (sea urchin). Not the most comfortable conditions for my friend to reintroduce himself to the ocean.

The fish weren’t biting on the shallow reef so we hop scotched our way to the outer edge where it dropped off into a 12 – 15 foot sandy channel. We were trying to make out the shapes flitting around in the blue water beneath us, when a 4 foot oval brown hump porpoised out of the water 10 feet from us. This only added to the spookiness of the evening. Turns out it was a massive green sea turtle and it turned towards us and almost backed us into a deep hole in the reef; all we had to fend him off with was our poles.

The turtle eventually got tired of scaring us and bobbed back and forth in the open channel about 20 yds away. We went back to peering into the blue abyss and I dropped a bait down. It immediately got hammered by what looked like black humuhumus, saddle wrasse, and dark and light colored kupipi. Then a 2 foot black fish appeared out of nowhere and just as quickly disappeared. The swirling fish were about 10 feet down in the rolling water so we weren’t sure if we imagined that mystery fish. But when I hooked a hinalea, the black fish lunged for it and missed, wisely staying far away from the surface. The hinalea was released and we caught and released a number of fish before the black fish attacked a kupipi larger than my outstretched hand and ripped it off the hook.

My friend, still shaken by the turtle that was bobbing up and down making noises like an old man snoring, was captivated yet a bit uneasy watching the cycle of life struggle below. More determined to see what this dark marauder was, I dropped the bait down again, felt the rat-ta-tat-tat of a hinalea and then a half second later the line was peeling off my reel. The powerful fish ran for about 3 seconds and then the pull of the line stopped. A scuffed up hinalea was pulled up and when I lowered the hinalea back down it quickly got stuck in the rocks.

I strongly suspect the mystery fish was a roi (peacock grouper) and that it nailed the hinalea and holed up tight in the reef. I couldn’t free the line and had to break it off. Too bad because the roi are invasive predators that are so effective at catching reef fish that they are wiping out a lot of the native fish.

There’s literally a bounty on the roi. There are skin diver tournaments to see how many roi can be killed, and fishermen are being encouraged to catch and kill as many as possible. It’s believed that since the roi were not indigenous to Hawaiian waters, the Hawaii fish here still haven’t figured out that the roi are just waiting to pounce on them. From what we saw peering down into the edge of the reef, this appears to be true.

This photo was copied from the University of Hawaii’s Malamlama website. Beautiful fish, really efficient predator.

Waikiki Aquarium and Marine Life Conservation District

March 7, 2014 By Scott 2 Comments

Waikiki Aquarium

If you like looking at fish, the Waikiki Aquarium is a nice, small to medium sized Aquarium with a good sampling of Hawaiian and near Pacific sea life. Adults pay $12 to enter, and there are various Military, Senior and Kama’aina discounts.

broodstock moi (Pacific threadfin)

As a Kama’aina (local with proof of residence) I paid $8 and it was well worth it. I was able to study the fish I’m trying to catch, learn how coral reefs are built by nature and assisted by man, and see some huge broodstock moi (Pacific threadfin).

malu (double bar goatfish)

My favorite type of Hawaiian fish are the chubby goatfish. The aquarium had 3, but in separate tanks.

moana (manybar goatfish)

goatfish from NW HI islands

There’s a tide pool exhibit on the outside of the indoor Aquarium packed with the near shore fish like humus, aholehole, mullet, butterfly fish, kala, enenue, etc. It was interesting to see that most of the carnivores frequented the shallow reef ledge where the wave action washed through. So that supported a fishing adage I had heard before: fish like to feed in the shallows, very close to shore, so no need cast too far.

Waikiki Marine Life Conservation District

After viewing the captive fish I left the Aquarium and walked to the beach behind it. That area is a permanent Marine Life Conservation District. Here’s a shot of the area looking west, behind the Aquarium. If you get a chance to walk out on the rock wall perpendicular to the coast line, look closely on the calm, west side and you may see aha (stickfish), papio (jack crevalle) and oio (bonefish). Pretty cool to see wild, free fish cruising around after seeing the Aquarium inhabitants. Don’t try to catch them though, they are permanently protected and the fine is pretty steep!

Diamond Head to Waikiki Fisheries Management Area fish report #1

March 6, 2014 By Scott 2 Comments

shoreline dunking

The State of HI closes the area from the Diamond Head lighthouse to the ewa (west) end of the Natatorium every odd-numbered year. The area opened the first of this year to the usual craziness so I was curious if the mayhem had subsided. When I checked the area just west of the lighthouse, there was 1 diver in the water and a few fishermen on shore but nothing like the beginning of the year madness.

All the naive fish have been removed from the gene pool after 2 full months of fishing, and the tidepools were missing the large schools of bait fish present during the “off” year, but there were still a few fish left on the reef.

bright red moana

The fish I caught were mainly under the legal size limit or not that desirable although they still were a lot of fun to catch and release. The motley crew included small omilu, large lizardfish, jumbo humuhumuapua’as, Christmas wrasse and this beautiful moana (manybar goatfish).

I don’t believe the 1 year closed period is enough to increase fish population in this area since all it seems to do is give the fish a false sense of security only to be easy prey the following year. An increase in the permanently closed area of Waikiki or a longer closed period would seem to be more effective.

Something kept biting the tails off my Gulp Lures! What do you think it was?

March 3, 2014 By Scott 2 Comments

What did this to my Gulp lures?

I kept getting instant bites on my Gulp lures but couldn’t hook up. It was like a pack of piranhas were working their way up the back of the lures. Finally I put a trailer treble hook on the tail of one of the lures and brought the offending fish in. I’ll reveal the culprit in a few weeks.

The purity of fishing

February 24, 2014 By Scott Leave a Comment

Good times

Took some new friends, Kelly and Colleen, to the dependable South Shore spot expecting to have a repeat of the hot omilu papio action we experienced a few days ago. The tide didn’t rise as quickly as I had hoped and the omilus were no where to be found. As their host I was disappointed but it turns out they really enjoyed the calm water and abundance of life in the tide pools.

They were able to see all kinds of reef fish I had previously ignored, and were able to pull in aholehole, hinalea and monster kupipi. In the end they taught me that the purity of fishing with others is the fellowship and tug of something alive at the end of the line.

What can you do when the fish don’t want to bite?

February 23, 2014 By Scott Leave a Comment

Some days the fish bite on every cast. Other days you seem to be casting into a vast wasteland. What can you do when the fish aren’t cooperating?

Change your bait/lure
Drop down to lighter line
Move around to more fishy locations; conditions may have moved the fish out of the spot you normally catch them
If possible, put on a mask and snorkel and see what’s going on underwater
Salvage the day by catching the less glamorous fish like triggerfish, palani, po’opaa (rockfish), hinalea, mamo, kupipi, etc

Catching ‘opae for bait

February 23, 2014 By Scott 2 Comments

Small and large ‘opae

The small, translucent Hawaiian shrimp called ‘opae is one of the best baits for near shore fish. Years ago the larger shrimp referred to as ‘opae lolo could be readily caught but now it’s hard just to find an inch long regular ‘opae. ‘Opae are found where fresh water meets salt water, often in some slow moving brackish water. Two well known, kinda yucky spots are the Ala Moana Beach Park lagoon and the Ala Wai canal. Click here to read about catching the coveted `opae lolo.

There are other more closely guarded spots on Oahu that have some ‘opae. Look for them against rock walls with brackish water algae growing. They seem to spread out during the day and cluster on rock walls and piers at night. Shine a light and look for a pair of eerie red eyes shining back.

Scoop up a bunch of them and keep them alive in a bucket with some aeration. When you’re ready to use them, carefully thread one on a hook and fish with a floater. Be ready to set the hook when your floater goes under, just about every carnivorous creature on the reef will want a taste of that offering.

There are even some salt water pet stores that sell `opae as live food for marine fish. Those `opae are fairly small but may be great for the smaller reef fish you want to hook. I recently saw a store selling them at 6 for $1.

South Shore Omilus

February 19, 2014 By Scott 1 Comment

Fished the secret South Shore spot with my friend Frank and as expected, the spot produced and Frank hammered the omilus. They were a better grade today with a few stretching past the 10″ minimum size. Although they were the perfect pan fry size, all were released.

The fish bit on the first 1/3 of the tidal rise from 0.0 feet and shut off as the tide was halfway to its peak.

Fishing Weather Resources

February 16, 2014 By Scott 1 Comment

(This was written in 2014. I need to update this!)

Isn’t it a bummer to clear the day to finally get out and fish only to get skunked, blown out by wind and surf, or stormed on?

These are the online resources I use to look ahead to determine weather and tide conditions.

Tides4Fishing.com – I recently discovered this very comprehensive website with indicators covering tidal movement, barometric pressure, wind speed, temperature, humidity and more. You can look ahead and see what days have the best tidal movements to fish, and see a very detailed breakdown of exactly when the best tidal movement occurs each day. I haven’t come across another site or app that captures all this info in one place. It’s like the Hawaiian Lunar Calendar on steroids.

iWindsurf.com – The normal 15 – 20 mph trade winds make it a little hard to fish the south and east shores of Oahu so I check the forecast days ahead of time to plan my next outing. iWindsurf constantly updates their forecast to be extremely accurate, down to one hour changes. Amaze your friends by predicting a significant drop in wind speed. Phone app also exists.

Surfline.com – Large surf can ruin your day whether you’re on the water or on the beach. A premium subscription allows you to see forecasts 5 days in advance. Phone app also exists.

Wunderground.com – The simple interface allows me to see hourly and daily forecasts. I love the radar map showing me the rain that’s gonna hit in the next hour or so.

What’s stronger, baby Omilu or Kansas pond Crappie?

February 12, 2014 By Scott 2 Comments

baby omilus feeding
(Neighbor Island location, photo by JC)

Took a friend from Kansas to a spot on the south shore that gets pounded by divers and fishermen every single day, yet continues to produce. Sure enough there was a guy feverishly whipping the shallows. As we fished about 50 yds from him, a diver made his way through our area. The rising afternoon tide combined with the diver’s activity seemed to stir the juvenile omilu (bluefin trevally) bite. We ended up with 2 or 3 each and I had one rip drag and unbutton before we could see it. My Kansas friend was impressed with how those 4 – 6 inch omilus pulled compared to pond crappie of similar size.

The omilus were far from the minimum 10″ head to fork-of-tail length and were released unharmed. Bait was a homemade secret.