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Holoholo: Huge Omilu speared off Oahu’s North Shore

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Pono and I started chatting when he purchased a used Trident Ultra kayak similar but longer than mine. I was immediately impressed with how respectful he was, and how knowledgeable he was in things I knew almost nothing about. Hopefully this is just the first of many guest posts he shares with us.

Aloha, my name is Pono Estores and I’m an avid spearfisherman from Waialua, Oʻahu. Besides diving, I love to surf, cook, garden, and dance hula. Iʻm super stoked to have the opportunity to share my first story on this blog after reading it for so many years… Mahalo Scott! This story is of a rough morning dive where I shot a nice-size ʻOmilu. Just a couple of disclaimers first.

1. Although I may do it sometimes, please never dive alone!

2. I apologize in advance for any misinformation shared – I am no professional and may not always be right about things, but I will always share what I currently believe to be true.

With the summertime Oʻahu tradewinds back in full effect, the North Shore of Oʻahu has been experiencing a limited selection of shore-diveable locations. These would be the easily accessible and typically calmer beaches around Haleiwa where my usual target species of uku, mu, and goatfish are less common and/or act more skittishly due to the greater number of divers hitting those areas. In recent dives, I’ve just been three-pronging. I love steamed fish, but fried fish is good too. Most of what I’ve been catching has been going towards a friend’s upcoming baby lūʻau, the rest has been getting fried up for friends and family at home.

This morning, I took a gamble and decided to dive a spot that is borderline un-diveable anytime there are trades blowing. Oʻahu’s heavily pressured, so in order to find the best fish diving, I like to dive where others won’t. My plan was to wake up at 4:30am, leave my house around 5, hike about a mile up-current, jump in, then drift back to where I parked. When I have to dive solo, I like to leave home before my parents get up so they can’t ask where I’m going. They hate when I dive by myself (for good reasons – never dive solo!), and I’d rather them not know when I do, for their sake. I ended up sleeping in and leaving after they went to work, so much for that plan!

By the time I started my trek along the beach, it was about 8:15 am. The sky was partly cloudy, the water was visibly green and full of white caps, and it looked like a moderate NE swell was breaking along several different shallow reefs. Aware of the strong currents in the area, I thought it was best to leave my dive float in the car– instead opting for an easier drift with my kui (fish stringer) attached to my dive belt.

At around 8:40, I threw my old Gopro on my head, picked a few naupaka leaves, and started my usual pre-dive ritual of murmuring Nā ʻAumākua and Pule Hoʻomaikaʻi while scrubbing the inside of my dive lenses with saliva and broken naupaka to keep the glass from fogging. With that, I walked into waist-deep water, slipped on my fins, and was on my way.

Immediately, I could tell that the water clarity was less than ideal. The water was very green and full of particles kicked up by the swell and strong winds. I swam out about 500 yards, and in just 15 feet of water my vision from the surface was restricted to only seeing what was directly below me – I could barely see the bottom and did not want to venture off any deeper

than that. Fortunately, I was right about the direction of the current, and the NE swell was quickly pushing me back toward my parked car.

The first reef structure that I came across was full of life. I took a blind drop and was met by a nice fish pile with a small school of curious Joe Lewis goats (Munu), a large blue whiptail uhu, and many pualu, kala, and toau. I laid on the reef next to a low shelf to see what other curious fish might come in – my right hand grasping my speargun, and my left hand anchoring my body to the reef while the ocean swells above caused strong, undulating surges that I waited out on the seafloor. With the back of my throat, I made a couple of grunting noises, which brought a nice-sized barred papio out from the murk. I ended up taking a nice cheek-meat shot on a munu.

After dispatching my first fish and stringing it on my belt kui, I dropped back to the bottom to see what else was around. Looking over my right shoulder, I noticed a 6-foot monk seal coming in to check me out and it was only my second drop of the day. I do not like seeing monk seals while diving, especially in extremely murky water. I have had aggressive monk seals follow me all the way to shore, ripping at the fish hanging from my dive float. I immediately swam back to the surface and started to leave the area, watching the monk seal swim beneath me; zig-zagging effortlessly through the reef shelves below. I took the munu off my belt and swam away, leaving the fish behind, knowing that I was a visitor in the monk seal’s home.

The NE swell continued to push me back toward my car, and the poor visibility made it extremely difficult to dive. I took several blind drops with no success, drifting along the barren section of reef common across Oʻahu that I like to call “the flats”. Eventually, I came across another structure-y zone, with a small 20-ft deep underwater valley housing a large school of maiko.

On my way down, I noticed the silhouette of an ulua’s tail swimming beneath the valley wall to my left. I dropped with the surge and peeked through a small hollow opening in the reef to see if I could get another look at what I thought I saw. Solitary ulua typically swim away as soon as they notice you, so as soon as I saw that I did not have a clear sight on the fish through the opening, I adjusted my positioning so that I could peek over the reef wall that separated us. While shifting, I banged my gun on the rocks a couple of times because of the surge, I was worried that the sounds might have spooked the fish. However, I got another quick look at the ulua’s tail as it swam back under the ledge; it was doing circles.

I pointed my speargun in the ulua’s direction, readying myself to take a shot in case I decided to harvest the fish. The beautiful part about spearfishing is that you can choose what you take and have the power to decide which fish you want to bring home; if it were a white ulua, I wasn’t going to shoot simply because I didn’t feel like shooting a white ulua. I saw the fish begin to make its way out of the cave, saw that it was an ʻomilu, and quickly aimed my 100cm Seac and pulled the trigger. I wasn’t sure how good my shot was, so I loosened the drag on my reel while swimming back to the surface.

I saw that my shaft did not exit the other side of the fish, so I quickly swam down with my knife in hand to secure the fish. After just a minute of fighting, the ʻomilu was already tired by the time I swam to retrieve it, and it did not fight when I grabbed it by the tail and brought it to the surface. I quickly dispatched the fish, cut its gills to bleed, and made my way to the beach. Luckily, no one was around to see my catch. I hurried back to my car, threw the fish in my trunk, and took it home. The spot will stay under wraps! Hope you enjoyed it, thanks for reading. Dive safe.

18.25lb, 30.5in fork length
ʻOmilu and the gun that shot it.  SEAC Fire 100cm with a single band, single wrap set up.

Glossary:

Shore dive: Diving by swimming out from shore without the use of watercraft

Blind drop: Doing a dive where you do not see the bottom or do not see the target species–just going

Nā ʻAumākua

Na ‘Aumakua mai ka la hiki a ka la kau!
Mai ka ho’oku’i a ka halawai
Na ‘Aumakua ia Kahinakua, ia Kahina’alo
Ia ka’a ‘akau i ka lani
‘O kiha i ka lani
‘Owe i ka lani
Nunulu i ka lani
Kaholo i ka lani
Eia na pulapula a ‘oukou ‘o ka [ʻohana family name]
E malama ‘oukou ia makou
E ulu i ka lani
E ulu i ka honua
E ulu i ka pae’aina o Hawai’i
E ho mai i ka ‘ike
E ho mai i ka ikaika
E ho mai i ke akamai
E ho mai i ka maopopo pono
E ho mai i ka ‘ike papalua
E ho mai i ka mana.‘
Amama ua noa		Ancestors from the rising to the setting sun
From the zenith to the horizon
Ancestors who stand at our back and front
You who stand at our right hand
A breathing in the heavens
An utterance in the heavens
A clear, ringing voice in the heavens
A voice reverberating in the heavens
Here are your descendants of the family[name]
Safeguard us
That we may flourish in the heavens
That we may flourish on earth
That we may flourish in the Hawaiian islands
Grant us knowledge
Grant us strength
Grant us intelligence
Grant us understanding
Grant us insight
Grant us power
The prayer is lifted, it is free.

Holoholo: 2 Uku, 1 Shibi without the help of sonar

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Grant Taura previously shared how he catches akule in the pre-dawn morning off his kayak. Check that out here if you missed it. He’s back to share his best offshore catch to date. Takeaway: Good luck doesn’t just happen on the kayak. You gotta get out early, put in the time and cover a lot of ground!

Grant:

We decided on a 4am launch. Our normal routine is to catch Akule as a backup bait just in case we aren’t able to pick up Opelu at sunrise. Shortly after launching, while powering up my navigation lights and fish finder, I soon realized that my fishing chart was working but my depth chart (sonar) had no signal. It didn’t take long for me to find that the cable connection at the fish finder had failed and could not be repaired at the moment. Being that the depth chart is a vital tool and critical in locating and catching bait, I was tempted to turn around and call it a day. Then I remembered the last time I had issues with my fish finder, I brought in a Shibi and a Kawakawa, the first time I landed two Pelagics in a day. Fishing, like any sport, is all about mindset, perseverance overcoming obstacles in order to be as successful as possible with the situation and circumstances in hand. So, I decided to utilize what I have learned up until this point and go for it. I asked my partner, Roger Tabugadir, to call out the “marks.” That’s what we call when we see potential Akule or Opelu on the fish finder. Good partners can also be huge in your success and this day proved that. Roger called out marks perfectly. I mark my line in my reel in 50ft increments with different color line, so when he called a depth, I dropped my line to that depth according to the color of my line. He was consistently on point with both the Akule and the Opelu. We were both able to pick up enough Akule for friends and family and also enough Opelu to last the day. It actually ended up being way more than what we needed.

We then headed to deeper water. My target was the Uku and any Pelagic that would take the bait. Roger on the other hand, targeted his favorite Nabeta and Pelagics. By using my fishing chart, I was able to kind of determine my depth. Although it wasn’t accurate and I wasn’t able to locate any marks because of my depth chart not working, I was able to still fish the general area and depth by following the fishing chart. Another good tool that I had as a backup was the Navionics app on my phone. I had forgotten about it. Paul Miguel Braga (You Tube Channel: Shallow Water Shibi), who had a later start than our 4 am launch, had suggested I use the app which also shows you your location and fishing charts. Soon after, I hooked up on my poor man’s downrigger. As I was fighting the fish I was trying to determine and identify what I had hooked up to. I could tell it was some kind of Jack or my targeted species Uku, by the head shakes. After reaching my leader and about 20 feet of remaining leader I was able to see that it was my first Uku of the day at 13lbs. Landing an Uku never gets old. I let out “Cheee” bled, took a pic, bagged and iced. I’ve been blessed to have met some awesome fishermen like Devan Inouye ( YouTube Channel: Where’s D-AHI? )  who shared some tips for targeting Uku. I learned that the best way is to gather information from different fishermen who are willing to share tips and find ones that work for you. There are a lot of different ways that will work.

After setting up and dropping the next bait, I cleaned off the deck using my manual bilge pump and had a protein bar.

Time went by, my guess would be another hour and a half, before I took a strike on my Penn 8500 Live Liner reel. After counting thousand one, thousand two….to thousand five, I flipped the live liner to set the hook. I was on, and I could tell it was a tuna by the tail beats and just as I was starting to fight the fish my line had tangled around the bail and at that moment my line had slacked and I could no longer feel the fish and I yelled Ah! as I thought I had lost it. I now focused on untangling my line off of my bail, taking my time to not make it worse. After untangling, I was reeling and taking up slack and my line felt a little heavy like something was still on. I took up the slack and I guess the fish finally realized that it was hooked and took off. It was about a 10min fight until I heard that I had reached my leader, that sound you hear when you go from braid to fluoro.

When it hit about the 20 ft mark, I could see it was tuna but wasn’t able to identify ‘til it got closer. It was a 21 lb Shibi. I removed my drive to prevent the line wrapping around it. Took out my Kage and missed on the first attempt and got um on the second. Did the “cheee”, bled out, bagged and iced. In the meantime, Roger had drifted North and out of my radio range. I didn’t hear all the action that he was having on his side. Paul was in between and was in radio range and heard the action. Unfortunately, Roger’s previous Nabeta spots didn’t produce any Nabeta this day. But he managed to land a nice size Aku. It was time to head in. In one last attempt, we let out one bait and slowly made our way in. I was about to bring my line in because we were in the 50ft depth when I took a strike. With the same feeling I had on my first Uku, I could feel the head shakes. This one took a little under 5 minutes to land. It was an Uku around 8-10 lbs. After putting on ice we headed in and called it the day.

Holoholo: Intro to Plugging from shore and boat

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Merik Chun is now a Sophomore at Kaiser High School. His Boat Jigging tips were so well received that I asked him if he’d explain the sport of “Plugging” to us. Thanks Merik!

Merik: I am a young, avid fisherman and waterman. One of my favorite types of fishing styles, which I will explain to you now, is plugging. I enjoy this type of fishing because it’s fun working the lures in different ways and when you do get a strike it’s one of the most thrilling, exciting experiences in fishing. Especially when you’re targeting larger species, you may not get hit often but when you do, it’s a ton of fun! Here I will introduce you to plugging concepts I have learned over the years and what has worked for me. This is the way I like to do it, others may have a different approach. Take what you want from this if anything, and hopefully it helps you get your first fish plugging! 

What is Plugging?

Plugging is the act of throwing a hard body lure out, and reeling it back in, impersonating a wounded baitfish. The main target is usually a predatory fish looking for an easy, struggling meal. The lures people use for plugging may vary in shape, looks, and action. The two main lures people use for plugging are poppers and stickbaits. 

Plugging Gear:

Usually, depending on how heavy the plugging setup is, you would want a setup that matches the lures you’re casting. 

Reels: 

Optimally, a sturdy and rigid reel with a smooth drag system and high gear ratio to pick up slack. This is because in some cases, you will be running heavy drag to prevent fish from running into the reef or over a ledge. A smoother drag helps to control the fish, while rigidity in the reel helps keep balance under load. A higher gear ratios (ex. 5.7:1/6.2:1) are the most common for throwing lures, especially stickbaits, where you need to sweep the lure. This can also help rip a lure over shallow reef structure, or keep tension on a fish running toward you. 

Rods:  Rods for plugging can vary depending on the setup. A medium heavy action is usually the softest I’d go for most scenarios. Rod length may vary depending on where someone is fishing from and their comfort level.

Usually, a long rod is better if you’re fishing from shore, off the rocks, on the flats, or in the surf (10’-12’) This can help keep the scope of the line higher up over the rocks, as since  you’re usually level with the fish. A longer rod may also help get more distance on casts. When plugging from the boat, a shorter rod could be easier with maneuverability and casting as you usually don’t have to cast as far (7’6-9’). There are also plugging rods made specifically for certain lures, with stiffer tips being popper oriented, and softer tips being Stickbait oriented. In between, are all-around rods with stiffness for poppers, while still being soft enough for sweeping sticks. 

Main line:

When plugging, braided line is usually the best option since can fit more line on your reel, at a heavier poundage. This helps with casting, and maintaining direct contact to the lure as well as sensitivity, strength and longevity. Typically, good quality Japanese braided line is rated by PE numbers signifying the diameter and breaking strain. For example, for casting 40-80g lures, PE2-3 (30-50#) would work well. While throwing 100-150g lures, PE5-8 could be used (70-90#), and anything up may be heavier. Japanese braided line usually has a smaller diameter with a heavier breaking strain. In some cases, some braids may be limper making them better for casting. I have not noticed a significant difference between the two. 

Leader line:

When it comes to leader line, I like to run a shock leader, around 2-3 arm spans (10’-15’) long for throwing lures. In most cases this would leave my FG knot in between my reel and first guide, or first and second guide, which is where I have found there’s the least amount of wind knots. The leader should cater to the size of the setup. For my PE2.5 setup, I run 40#-60# while for my PE5 setup, I run 120#-180#. Just find what works for you, but usually a heavier leader is better if you’re targeting bigger fish in heavy structure. Whatever you can comfortably cast and get distance. 

Terminal: When it comes to terminal, I typically like to invest a bit more initially on better quality products, as gear failure such as a bent hook or opened split ring is the last way I’d want to lose a fish. For plugging, I run a swivel, to a split ring, connected to the lure. The hooks are connected via split ring. A good split ring pliers makes life a lot easier if you’re working with split rings a lot. 

Lures

Poppers:

Poppers are usually a plug shaped lure with a cupped face at the front. The action of these lures is created by short jerks or long hard jerks with the tip low allowing the lure to displace water and pop, through the cup face. Poppers are made to create a lot of noise and ruckus in the water in hopes of attracting a predatory fish. It impersonates an injured fish or the sound of fish attack a school of fish on the surface. With poppers, I get the most action on short quick jerks, with fish usually hitting on the pause! Faster jerks or Walk The Dog style jerks have also produced. I like to run trebles on both belly and back. 

Stickbaits:

Stickbaits are a lot different from poppers. They are almost like a lipless jerkbait that can swim through the water like an escaping or wounded baitfish. Stickbaits come in both floating and sinking variations, with sinking being a lot easier to work. Generally, with any Stickbait, a sweeping motion or straight retrieve has produced the best action. Floating stickbaits can create a splash or bubble trail as they dive down into the water. Generally, you want to leave slack in the sweep so as the nose hits the surface you start on your next sweep. Stickbaits can also be worked on a straight retrieve, fast or slow, jerking motion, Walk The Dog, or ripped across the surface. I usually run belly treble and inline single on the back. 

My setups:

The setups I have now are definitely on the pricier side. Many of the ones I have, I have gotten lucky and gotten good deals on them. But remember you don’t need fancy gear to start fishing. I started with an old Penn 550 with an Ugly stick, then switched to a small Daiwa Legalis, to a Penn Pursuit and Daiwa Emcast before making my way up to what I am using now. If you really love this type of fishing, nice gear is mainly for the user’s enjoyment, and you don’t need fancy things to catch fish!

Heavy: 

  • Daiwa Certate 14000 SW
  • UAM Surf Rod 9’6
  • Varivas PE5 Avani Casting (78#), 180# Varivas Shock Leader

Medium/Light:

  • Shimano Twinpower 5000 SW
  • Zenaq Defi Muthos 100MH
  • YGK Jigman PE2.5 (45#), 40# Varivas Shock Leader 

Disclaimer: This is just my personal take on what I have learned throughout the years plugging and what has worked for me. Others may have different opinions and methods that work for them, but this is what works for me and what I have learned. Hope you can take something away from this! 

If you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them to the best of my ability, or even if you have any tips or suggestions, I am always happy to learn! 

Holoholo: Winter Bones

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Our shore-whipper Matthew is back with a quick update on the o’io whipping action this Winter.

Matthew: Happy New Year! It’s been a while since I last wrote, but I’ve been strictly whipping for O’io recently. The action was surprisingly great for January, which had been my worst month last year. I hooked a couple of very large fish, including one that I could not stop even with very tight drag. The weather has been finicky, with the winds seemingly shifting every few days. One day you might be dealing with a dead wind, glassy conditions, while the next you might be facing nasty 30 mph gusts. There also have been a few days where the wind was blowing from the southwest, which is uncommon and very frustrating for O’io fishermen because it’s a headwind on the flats. There haven’t been many days where sight fishing was suitable, so I’ve been mainly blind casting into areas I know the fish frequent. 

I’ve seen several large Oama schools and one Halalu pile, neither of which I have an explanation for. If you know where they are, go capitalize on this odd opportunity. I’m assuming it has some correlation with the abnormal weather but I’ve never seen large Oama schools this early. 

On another note, there has been an exponential increase in the number of fishermen targeting O’io with lures. The O’io fishery on the flats seems fragile, so I’m not sure how this will affect the numbers of O’io. If you’re new to flats fishing, please be respectful of the reef, the fish, and other fishermen. O’io are very delicate fish and cannot spend much time outside of the water. Please wet your hands, avoid grabbing by the gills, and try not to remove any of their slimy coating and scales. Lastly, if you’re shooting videos, keep the angle low and try to refrain from exposing spots. The long term effects of “burning” a spot are considerable. Have fun, but not at the expense of others or the reef. Stay safe out there everyone?.

Holoholo: Akule fishing from the Yak

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Grant Taura has has enjoyed fishing throughout his entire life. He’s tried free diving, shoreline whipping, plugging and bait casting and has never really been passionate about any type of fishing until he found his passion in kayak fishing. It’s the hunting and not waiting;  it’s also the consistency and versatility of fishing on a kayak that he has found fulfilling. And finally being able to provide fresh fish for his family and friends completes kayak fishing for him.

Grant: What started as Akule fishing in the early morning on the kayak for bait just in case I couldn’t catch Opelu at sunrise for Pelagics, has turned into targeting Akule intentionally.  Growing up, we would go Waimea Bay and whip for halalu in the huge schools, and use telescopic poles to catch Akule in Haleiwa Boat Harbor. Halalu fishing back in the early 80’s, as I remember was an intense, fun and adrenaline-rush all in one experience. Memories: Had my line cut by an older, experienced halalu fisherman because I had not casted straight and had not timed my cast properly. Hooking up to a halalu using Aqua strips that came in a block. Watching the the strikes on bait casting rods using halalu -Kawakawa and big Omilus were landed.

Fast forward to 2018. I learned that Akule was not only a summer time fish but available all year round. My good friend, Davis Nakashima, from the Big Island, would take me fishing for Akule for bait off the cliff in Kona. This is when I also realized that they were all not just in one school in the harbor.  Over the past year, I’ve learned that Akule is a good choice of live bait for Pelagics as a back up to opelu. Although I haven’t taken any major strikes or landed anything with the Akule it has become one of my favorite target fish to eat simply for the consumption. Akule has been for many years, my all time favorite fried fish to eat. Fortunately with some help, I’ve learned to catch Opelu as my primary live bait and have been blessed with an abundance of Akule to eat and to share with family and friends who also love fried Akule. 

Over the years, listening to people and friends who fish on boats, shoreline and now kayaks, I realize the best time to go out and catch Akule is anytime the wind, swell, waves etc allow you to. Any given night or early morning when the conditions are safe is a good time to Akule fish. As long as you can find them, the possibility of you bringing up an Akule for bait or consumption is pretty high. I’ve heard so many stories of the best times to go. When there is a new moon, 3-4 days before or after the new moon, when the moon sets, etc. Although some of it or all of it is true, I found the best time for me to go is when I’m available and the weather conditions are right. As much as I love the hunt, fight and landing of Pelagics, I also find equal and a lot of times more gratification catching Akule. Not only for the sport but for the nostalgia of it. Let’s not forget how good it tastes.  Over the past year, I have found myself once again in the hunt for Akule.

Fishing off a kayak is another way I have come to enjoy targeting Akule. This time around it’s even more gratifying because the result of whether you catch or not is dependent on the preparation that goes into fishing off a kayak. Prior to even getting out on the water, the preparation of your equipment is key. Prior to launching, the rigs that I set up consists of two different types of Damashi, namely flies and grubs. I currently take 3 set ups.. Two set ups I bring consists of two different Kakele (fly) that some really good hammah fisherman were gracious enough to share, and one set up is the basic gold hook, red bead and grub. I have five hooks per rig. I keep them in ziplock bags, ready to be changed out quickly. I like to make things simple, because I don’t like to waste time on the water and the main reason why is I’m 51 and everything is blurry so it’s almost impossible to tie things while the kayak is rocking and bobbing. What makes it even harder is being in the dark with only your headlamp for lighting. The use of electronics is essential for safety, navigation and finding your target species. It’s important to have some sort of navigation light on your kayak so boaters can see you, VHF radio, PFD and whistle would be the minimum safety equipment to have on your kayak. With that being said, it’s a good idea to charge batteries and double checking your equipment function. After a few mishaps I almost always test all my electronics at home and prior to launching.

Once on the water the hunt begins. Starting in the shallower depths around 50ft my eyes are focused on looking for colors on my fish finder screen. I tend to stay away from dropping my Damashi to the very bottom as Akule tend to be in the mid to upper column of water. I have caught on the bottom and I’m always excited to catching one off the bottom because it’s not expected. Sometimes I’ll test the very bottom if I can’t find them, the bite is extremely slow or I think it’s Menpachi, which is another favorite. Never disappointed to land reds as we like to call them. Being aware of any changing conditions surrounding you is also really important. Things we look out for is if the wind is picking up, swell sizes, if the current changes direction , the current strengthens  etc., When fishing in the dark you barely can see 5-10 feet in front of you especially if you’re fishing a new moon or if the moon sets.

Recently we encountered whale sightings, well I shouldn’t say sightings because we couldn’t see them. Based on past experience you can kind of tell if they are far or near. I base this upon seeing them during the day and hearing them spout and listening to how loud it is when they do this behavior. On one of those outings we were in about 100ft of water and we heard the whale spout. We had three of us out that night. I was more inland and one of my partners was about 50 yards away. As I looked out to where he was, it was pitch black because it was a new moon. I could only see his head lamp. We heard the spout again and determined that the whale was really close based on my partner and my location. He heard the spout come from inland and I heard it come outside of where I was at. At that point we decided to move. We had to move quite a ways before the spout came more distant. I failed to mention that we could also hear clearly the whale slapping its fin or tail. That was way too close for comfort. The bite had come to a halt at that point. We are not sure, but concluded that the whale had something to do with it. We went more inshore, caught Akule here and there but nothing compared to the bite before the whale or whales showed up. I always remind myself that we are the visitors to the ocean and to always, always respect their home as we would want them to respect ours, to give back, take only what we consume and be grateful for the opportunity to share. 

Here is a short video of what akulu fishing at night on a kayak looks like.

Holoholo: Offshore Kayak Fishing on Oahu – A Summary of 2022

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Oahu kayak fisherman Devan Inouye has been posting some helpful and entertaining videos on You Tube and Facebook so I asked if he wouldn’t mind summarizing his 2022 outings. It’s very interesting to see how Oahu’s kayak fishing seasons differ from the seasons Shea Uehana experienced on the Big Island. You can check out Shea’s summary of 2022 here.

Devan:

I’ve been around the water most of my life from my youth, whether it was fishing, diving, surfing, paddling, etc.  I really had a fondness for diving, but I’ve gravitated towards kayak fishing for safety and longevity reasons.  Getting old is inescapable!  It’s always nice to learn new things and have new challenges. Started kayaking a little more than 2 years ago. 

1st Kayak: Perception Pecador 12, found the propeller style a little cumbersome as I was not good at paying attention to line direction and keeping my lines clear of the prop when I first started. 

Current: Hobie Pro Angler 14 on Oahu and Hobie Outback on Big Island. I love the deck space and stability of the Pro Angler, but it does lack in maneuverability. The Outback rides like a gem, but the stock rudder leaves something to be desired as far as steering in more turbulent conditions. 

I’ve had many influences in kayak fishing and have been truly fortunate with close friends teaching me their secrets ofcatching bait, particularly opelu.  I’ve learned that there really is an art to doing it, and people on YouTube definitely made it look easier than it was when I first started. Some of the main friends I learned from were Elliott Garma and Dustin Jed (Seagull Fishing), but I’ve definitely shared strategies and gear choices with many other truly great fishermen since then. I tend to fish all over Oahu, but mainly we fish the north and west shores.  Recently I picked up a kayak on the Big Island and I’ve had a very auspicious start due to the company I keep and their willingness to help me explore those grounds, thanks Shea and Louie!

You may have seen an article of an Ahi I caught in Hawaii Fishing News or caught glimpses of me on YouTube as “Where’s D-AHI?”. My fishing experiences this year were not nearly as consistent as I would have liked due to many family trips both happy and sullen, as well as coaching obligations for my son Dace’s baseball team. So, sadly this cannot be relied upon as a time table journal of fishing, but I hope it at least can identify for any reader some of the things that can be looked forward to on your own fishing adventures! 

January

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Unfortunately my year started off quite slowly fishing-wise due to many family trips to Vegas, Hilo, and Kauai.  The times I did get out were loaded with bait, both akule/halalu (goggle eye scad) and opelu (mackerel scad).  The pelagic fishing seemed a little slow with just a few kawakawas (wavyback skipjack tuna) and some kamanus (rainbow runners) coming up for me this month.

February

This month immediately started off with a bang with some yellow fin footballs (shibis – yellowfin tunas under 100lbs) coming up, start to end this month, with the largest one being about 35lbs.  The bait was slightly scarcer, but still around.

March & April

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A few more family trips were scheduled these months, and this was the start of my fishing experiences on the Big Island.  Getting on bait in new fishing grounds proved to be slightly difficult, so I fiddled with a few different down-rigging strategies during this time frame.  A bunch of good sized ukus (7) and yellow spot papios (5) were coming up as a result of this, and the opelu that I was lucky enough to get on to seemed to be getting very large at this point in the year.

May

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Ahas and baby kawakawas flooded the fish finders at time during this month.  I witnessed huge swarms of them and could not keep them off my live baits and my damashis.  This was also accompanied by similar screens of bait in the darkness of morning and sunrise.  Tons of bait but very few pelagics this month aside from a few rat Mahis.  It feels like the bait schools were piling up at this point and the summer bite was hopefully about to start heating up.

June

This month truly marked the start of the summer for me.  It was electric and bountiful with every trip out being productive.  The fish tally this month resulted in 2 onos, a few kamanus (rainbow runners), a 25lb shibi, multiple large kawakawas, a few more ukus, and a 55lb ulua. 

July

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This month was hot again, but it felt like kawakawa purgatory with some days out resulting in 3-5 kawakawas coming up in single outings.  Bait felt plentiful but skittish, and basically any opelu I had out couldn’t stay alive in the water. Just as I thought I could only catch those silver and blue footballs, the FISH THAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF came up!  This is the month I caught an AHI (a yellowfin over 100lbs gilled and gutted) that weighed in gng and tailless at 105.2 lbs (estimated total weight of approx. 125-130lbs).

August

The rest of July was cut short on account of a long family trip to Disneyland with my wife and son.  I could not wait hit the water when I finally got back in August and found that the bait was still plentiful and the bite was still on fire.  Again, every trip seemed fruitful; I only fished 4 times this month, but here’s how it went. Week 1: 3 kawakawas (with another sharked in half). Week 2: 60 lb shibi, kawa, mahi, kahala (cnr – catch and release which I do with just about all Kahalas and uluas unless someone specifically asks for them). Week 3: 52lb shibi and mahi.  Week 4: Mahi, uku, and kahala.  Week 5: (There were 5 fishable weeks this month!) 54lb shibi.  What a banger of a month! One side note, the sharks seemed much more prevalent and even more aggressive this month and I lost quite a number of fish to them.

September

This month I got out each weekend again and it went a little something like this. Week 1: Kawa and small 19lb shibi. Week 2: Came across some aku (which I tend to find unusual on a kayak) and an uku.  Week 3: Loaded bag with a hefty kawa, mahi, and loads and LOADS of opelu.  Week 4: Was a special treat getting to fish out at Punaluu on the Big Island with Shea (Affordable Wahoo) and Louie Tres Fishing (be sure to check them both out on YouTube!). Many pelagics were visible on the fish finder and Shea brought up a nice ono, but I only managed a 15lb shibi that day.

October

Only got out 3 times this month and they were mostly short trips as we were in the throes of the baseball season.  This is the month the I got to first try the Sufix Invisix fluorocarbon leader that you can find on this site!  Week 1: 42lb ono, mahi, and a stud uku that lost his tail to a shark (this is that ono that I caught on a circle hook and straight fluorocarbon with no wire, truly a lucky hookup!). Week 2: Dud checking out new grounds for me at Hawaii Kai, only landing a giant kahala. Week 3: Oahu Pelagic Pirates (OPP fishing club, be sure to check them out on Facebook Groups pages!) team event where my buddy Elliott and I took first place with a couple akus and got to witness a few of those elusive and odd red opelus be brought up.

November

Sadly, I only got to get out twice in November.  I started experimenting with the GoFish underwater cam this month and I’m sure it had some negative effect on the bite, but perhaps the summer rush was also slowing down here as well. The underwater cam showed me that some aku schools and shibi schools were still lurking around, but most of my production came down lower in the water column with 3 ukus, 2 kahala, and a few ulua.  One of the ukus was a PB weighing in at 18.6lbs. We also found a bunch of little baby shibis on the damashi, so perhaps that indicates there was some spawning going on which is exciting! 

December

Again, this month was consumed with travel, however the trips off Oahu were productive and luckily I got to fish on the last trip! A Hawaii Kai outing produced 2 ukus (13 & 16lbs) and a kawakawa (11lbs). Two more outings right before Christmas brought in one aku each and some nabeta.  The last outing was at Punaluu on the Big Island which was a bit of a dud for me being that I plowed through about a dozen baits and only landed a small 12 lb shibi and a big kahala. Ironically as I was fighting that kahala, Shea asked if there were still marks by me, I told him yes and he hooked into a 50lb shibi during that fight haha.  

That’s a wrap of my year.  I hope you found the read interesting and could glean some useful information out of this and I look forward to seeing you out on the water! 

Holoholo: Offshore Kayak Fishing on Hawaii Island – A Summary of 2022

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Big Island kayak fisher Shea Uehana (YouTube: Affordable Wahoo) summarizes his second year of offshore fishing. You can compare this to his previous year here, and to Devan Inouye’s Oahu Offshore Kayak Fishing Summary here.

Shea:

January 2022

Opelu and akule were both scarce through most of the month, but the few that I could catch were quickly eaten by hungry shibi ahi in the 25-35 lb range. I actually got a single shibi each trip out in January. 

February 2022

Opelu were easier to find as we ranged out to spots on the southern end of the Big Island. The shibi bite was hot on the east side, while Sailfish readily took live opelu every trip out to the west. I also consistently came across a large school of Great Hammerhead sharks just milling around on the surface in South Kona. 

March 2022

Bad weather on the windward side forced us to head west. The shibis were smaller at west spots, but Mahimahi and Kamanu (Rainbow Runner) started showing up. One of the Kamanu I caught this month is still my PB to date, a chunky 21 lbs. Smaller ono started showing up near the end of the month, and on one trip I lost six in a row to sharks! 

April 2022

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Opelu were suddenly abundant pretty much island-wide. I was finally able to break the ono curse and landed the first of the year early in the month. Large Mahimahi started showing up on the NW side of the island, and a buddy and I doubled up. His bull must have been close to 40 lbs and the cow I landed weighed in at 26 lbs. At the end of the month, I lucked out and landed my biggest ono yet… on a circle hook with flurocarbon leader!

May 2022

The opelu suddenly made themselves scarce, and even the akule were almost impossible to find in the pre-dawn darkness. The only pelagic I got all month was a Kawakawa (Mackerel Tuna). The skunking got bad enough that I made the leap and finally tried my hand at deep dropping for bottom fish in 600-900 feet depths. In a stroke of luck, I actually got my first Hapuupuu (Hawaiian Seabass) the first time trying this new fishing method. 

June 2022

I pushed further than I ever had before in search of good deep-dropping grounds. I even purchased a Penn Squall 40 paired with a Shimano Trevala X-heavy to have better line capacity and so I wouldn’t burn out my spinners cranking heavy rigs up from the deep. The deep dropping yielded delicious deep sea species such as Gindai, Opakapaka, and Ehu. On one trip out, I even caught a couple opelu (the first I’d gotten in over a month) and lucked out when two 30-40 lb shibis grabbed them on the way in. 

July 

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Fishing at our usual east side spots was shut down all month due to high winds and choppy seas, so we hit the old stomping grounds on the NW side of the island. Catching live opelu was really hit or miss. Some days we filled the bait tube in minutes and others we struggled to even catch a single one. The pelagic action was also pretty slow, but the few fish that I did catch were some of the best I’ve gotten to date, particularly a chunky ono and a slammer mahimahi. I also made the decision to upgrade my conventional reel to something with better cranking power and chose an Avet MXL 2-speed lever drag (thanks Scott!). The low gear on this reel is just great and made cranking heavy bottom rigs up from 700+ feet so much easier. I was able to get 3 absolutely delicious gindai in one day.

August 

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Catching bait was a breeze in the first half of the month, and it seemed like smaller (10-15 lb) mahimahi were starting to show up in numbers. However, in the later half of the month, the opelu once again played hard to get and I ended up falling back on deep dropping or vertical jigging to put fish on the yak. Reef fish like Black Trevally and Omilu saved the day some trips. This was really a stark contrast to August 2021, when we seemed to be inundated in opelu schools much of the time.

September

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The opelu at my home grounds continued to ghost us, but luckily there were some great breaks in the trade winds and we capitalized by heading to some fertile grounds. The bait were much easier to catch there, and aku, decent shibis, sailfish, and my PB to date ono all came up this month. From what I heard from friends who kept trying the usual grounds, the opelu bite was not great and fishing was tough. 

October 

I only went a couple times in October, but the mahimahi were pretty active both trips. Inspired by watching Rokkitkit on Youtube, myself and a couple other guys started using Gofish trolling cameras to capture underwater strike footage. I lucked out the first time using it and a decent bull mahi ate my dead opelu on camera and even tried to eat the camera itself! 

November 

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The opelu finally decided to come out in force, and it seemed like we caught way more than we needed every trip out. Nice sized shibis in the 30-50 lb range bit consistently, and we even lost a few that were probably way larger to sharks and pulled hooks. The last fishing session of the month was right after a huge cold front had passed and the shibis and mahimahi were voracious.  This month finally felt like the Fall bite we’d been waiting for was turning on…

December

Ended the year strong with shibis ranging from 40 – 55 lbs, Ono 35 – 45 lbs, and some Ehu for New Years dinner! Opelu cooperated on every trip and nice conditions made for a great month. 

Holoholo: Dry Aging Nearshore Fish in Hawaii

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BJ Hosaka, who has previously shared about night whipping for Menpachi and Āholehole, recently started “dry aging” the fish he catches. Please read what an amazing difference it makes.

Dry aged moi sashimi

Maximizing fish quality is a goal many fishermen have when preparing their catch. As most know, this begins by properly bleeding and icing down a fish when caught. Yet, another important factor that is often overlooked for improving fish quality is aging. Fresh fish is touted as being superior but can be tough and lack the flavor profile of a properly aged fish. Dry aged fish enhances fish quality by drawing out moisture from the flesh, allowing flavors to intensify. Proper aging gives ample opportunity for muscles, sinew, and tough flesh to become soft and delicate; a reason why most premiere sushi chefs and food connoisseurs choose to age their fish before serving it to customers.

Dry aging fish can seem complex and overwhelming. However, it is not as complex as it seems. I would like to share a simple method that I have used successfully. The first step is to thoroughly clean the fish.

  1. Scale and gut fish
  2. Remove all blood from belly cavity (Tip: Use your thumb, toothbrush, and strong water
    hose to spray out blood from belly cavity)
  3. Pat completely dry with paper towel

Once the fish is thoroughly cleaned, there are two methods that I have used to dry age my fish.
The methods are listed below.

  1. Materials needed: (Paper towel and Plastic food wrap). Stuff the belly cavity with a paper
    towel and tightly wrap the paper towel around the fish. After doing this, tightly wrap both
    the fish and paper towel with plastic food wrap and place in the refrigerator. Unwrap and
    change paper towels every 1-2 days. .
  2. Materials needed: (Cooling Rack and Baking Pan). Simply put the cleaned fish on the cooling rack with a pan underneath to catch the drippings into the refrigerator. Let the fish dry on the cooling rack for desired aging length.

I personally keep my fish whole with the head and tail on to ensure that outside moisture and bacteria cannot penetrate into the flesh of the fish. This helps to ensure that the fish will not spoil.

Nearshore fish that I have aged: Papio (All Types), Barracuda, Lai, Oio, Moi, Toau, Aholehole, Awa Awa, Mullet, Menpachi, and Aweoweo.

For most of the fish listed above, 5-9 days is best when starting out. Although, I have aged fish for up to 2-3 weeks with very good results. Typically, the bigger and more muscular a fish is, the longer it can benefit from dry aging as it gives ample time for the fish to break down its connective tissue. As a general rule, fish that are oily tend to benefit from shorter aging periods while leaner, tougher fish benefit from longer aging periods. I created a list below of what I believe the ideal amount of time for each fish is for nearshore fish in Hawaii.

White Papio, Oio, Awa Awa, Barracuda, Lai: 7-9 Days
Yellow Spot Papio, Omilu, Menpachi Papio, and Barred Papio: 5-7 Days
Menpachi, Toau, Aholehole, and Aweoweo: 5-7 Days
Moi, Mullet: 5-7 days

Before aging
After aging

When preparing your dry aged fish, simply prepare the fish as you normally would for both raw and cooked dishes. Because dry aging fish reduces moisture and creates a drier exterior, cooking dry aged fish allows for better crusts when searing and a crispier skin when frying. One is able to generate more flavors through the Maillard reaction and decreases the likelihood of a fish steaming. It embodies the same cooking concept of patting something dry but takes it to an exponential degree. With raw dishes, the complexity of flavors and umami become
present, allowing one to taste the unique flavor of each fish.

As noted earlier, it’s important to experiment and find out what works best for you. Dry aging can be an option for those looking to increase the quality of the fish they eat. However, it is not mandatory nor is it essential for enjoying your catch!

Holoholo: Hui Waʻa Kaukahi Kayak Fishing Papio Tournament 2022

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Written by Terry Shimabukuro, long time Hui Wa’a Kauakahi member and avid Oahu based kayak fisherman.

Thirty kayak fishermen and women paddled or peddled in the waters around Kualoa Regional Park competing over the weekend of September 24-25, 2022 in the 18th Hui Waʻa Kaukahi Kayak Fishing Papio Tournament. Many of the participants camped at the park for the weekend so that they could be on the water for the dawn patrol. In this unique tournament, fish must be caught from a human or wind-powered watercraft with the grand prize awarded for the biggest papio. Catch a jack over 10 pounds, well, that’s an ulua and your fish goes into the consolation biggest other fish category.

Hui Waʻa Kaukahi is Hawaii’s oldest recreational kayaking club. They started this tournament at the turn of the century as a social event with the Kaneohe Yacht Club. Over the years it grew along with the popularity of kayak fishing into a weekend competition open to the general public. While centered around a competition, the event promotes fellowship within the kayak fishing community and provides a wonderful beach camping experience with family and friends.

Steady trade winds in the 10 mph range generated some chop and white caps in deeper water on both days. That kept most of the kayakers nearshore, but a few of the hardy pelagic hunters ventured out early to find opelu and troll in deep water. This summer’s oama run supplied many with the best known bait for papio. Fishing began pre-dawn and contestants had to be back on the beach by 2:00 pm for a 3:00 pm weigh-in each day.

After a hard day of fishing, the anglers took full advantage of one of the best features of this event, the opportunity to talk story with anglers outside of their usual fishing group. There was plenty of time to look over other kayak setups, talk techniques and tackle, show off photos of past catches and, of course, tell the tales of the big ones that got away.

A variety of papio turned up at the weigh-ins. A paʻopaʻo (golden trevally), yellow spot (Island jack) and kagami (threadfin jack) were caught along with many omilu (bluefin trevally) and white papio (giant trevally). The nearshore anglers also caught several large ʻoʻio (bonefish) and a large ʻawaʻawa (ladyfish). The deep water hunters hauled in kahala (greater amberjack), kawakawa (little tuna), aku (skipjack tuna), shibi (yellowfin tuna), mahimahi (dolphinfish) and ulua aukea (giant trevally).

This year’s bragging rights for the biggest papio go to Alan Matsuo who reeled in an 8.5 pound omilu on Saturday. Clifton Twiggs made Alan squirm a bit at Sunday’s weigh-in with a nice size white that tipped the scale at just over 10 pounds. So close!

The tournament winners were (sorry, don’t have photos of all the winners):

First place – Alan Matsuo, 8 lb 8 oz omilu

Second place – Maynard Lazo, 7 lb 7 oz white

Third place – Grant Taura, 6 lb 1 oz white

Fourth place – Dustin Dasigo, 5 lb 2 oz omilu

Biggest other – Shane Kaniaupio, 35 lb, ulua aukea

The event was organized by Hui Waʻa Kaukahi member and Windward Boats Kayak Manager Stan McCrea with support from fellow club members Wilbert and Arlina Wong. Prizes were donated by Windward Boats, Campania Lures, West Marine Honolulu, Nanko Fishing Supply, Gyotaku by Naoki and Windward Paintball.

This tournament is held annually in September or October (pandemic years excepted). Look for the announcements next year and come join the fun!

Holoholo: How to correctly release your fish

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With more fish being caught now, and a lot being released, our On-The-Water fly fishing reporter Jason has some essential tips.

Jason: With catch and release fishing increasing in popularity, it’s important for newer anglers to be aware of the importance of proper fish handling.   I’ve put together a list of tips to ensure the fish you release survives to be caught again:

1) Try to avoid sticking your fingers under the fish’s gill plate.  This can damage the delicate gills, causing the fish to bleed.  A bleeding fish will often end up a dead fish.

2) Try not to hold the fish out of water for more than 15 seconds at a time.  One study showed that a fish held out of water for more than 15 seconds is up to 600% more likely to not survive.

3) Keep ’em wet!  Handle the fish with wet hands, if possible, and try not remove too much of its protective slime.  

4) Revive the fish by facing it into the current or pushing it in a circle.  Pushing the fish back and forth, contrary to what you may see on TV, is actually not good for the fish as its gills only work in one direction.

5) If possible, fish barbless!   A barbless hook does less damage to the mouth of a fish, and is safer for you, too!   I personally pinch or file down all my barbs before I even begin tying a fly.  When people ask why I fish barbless, I joke that it’s as much for me as it is for the fish!  I’ve been fishing barbless flies exclusively since 2017, and I can count on one hand how many bones have spit a barbless fly running at me.  

6) Try to release the fish in an area free of predators.  This is obviously not always possible, but we try our best.  For instance, if I land a fish in an area where I earlier saw a shark, I will to wade to an area further down the flat to release it.   Ensuring the fish is fully revived before the release will also help, as a tired, slow-moving fish is easy pickings for a shark or large barracuda.

7) This last one is going to be controversial since it’s pretty widely practiced by both fly fisherman and conventional fishers alike, and in many cases is done to obtain a weight of the fish.  Try to avoid “lipping” the fish and suspending it vertically.  If you do, try not to hold it in this position for too long as it can damage the fish’s jaws and put strain on its spine and organs.  Anyway, if rule 2 above is followed you should be ok.

Some of the above may seem excessive, or even downright silly.  As a beginning fly angler and catch and release practitioner, I committed many of these myself.  But remember, if it’s worth releasing a fish, it’s worth doing so in a way which maximizes its chances of survival.  Otherwise, you are better off harvesting it (if it’s legal, of course) and making some delicious lomi oio or fried papio! Thanks for reading, and happy fishing (and releasing)!

Holoholo: Mid Season Whipping Report

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Our JDM equipment expert and whipping enthusiast, Thad, provides a snapshot of how Oahu shoreline whipping has been going this year.

Thad: The whipping and plugging off-season had been painfully slow for me since the start of the new year.  Plugging was completely ineffective and whipping with the bubble/fly setup was only slightly better.  My fishing partner Dino and I began targeting other species on lures such as oio with some success.  But whipping light to medium plugs and bubble/fly is our true passion so we kept at it with the hopes of getting lucky one weekend.  Around the beginning of June, we began catching a few small papio in the 1 to 3lb range which indicated to us that the papio season may be just around the corner.

At this writing, it’s now mid-August and safe to say we are in the middle of the summer papio/ulua season – at least for the spots we go to.  A little over a month ago, I took my first good dawn patrol strike of the year on a 45g Shimano Rockpop Slim popper from Japan.  It ran for a good 10 seconds before spitting the hook but it was so exciting to know the big fish were coming around.  Around late July, we decided to try a new spot that we’ve always been talking about.  I committed myself to plugs that morning and resisted the urge to switch out to the more consistent bubble/fly setup.  We started our normal dawn patrol session by reaching the spot before any light peeked over the horizon.  I started with the cheap, but surprisingly effective Rockpop Slim.  Just to give a background on why I use this lure – when plugging in the dark in an area with a rocky shoreline, I often can’t see where my lure is until it’s very close and this often causes me to snag and lose my lure in the rough surf zones. Rather than losing expensive lures to rocks I can’t see, I use the Rockpop Slim which is only a fraction of what my other lures cost.  I change the stock hooks out to heavier and stronger Shout curve point trebles which also helps to keep the lure from skipping out of the water on the rod sweep.  

We were casting our lures in the dark for a good 15 minutes when I felt it snag something.  Knowing it couldn’t be the rocks since the lure was still a good way out, I immediately yanked back hard to set the hook.  As the fish started its run, I set it several more times to make sure I had a solid hookset.  The fish took a good amount of line on the first run but didn’t run much after that, which led me to prematurely declare to Dino that it felt like a 6-7lb fish. 

As I fought the fish and leaned back on the rod, I realized it wasn’t coming in as easily as I thought. The fish gave me a couple of scares when it found some rocks to rub the line against but was soon in front of me and at the surface.  A shine of the headlamp confirmed what we were hoping for – ulua!  What a great way to kick off the season.  Dino secured the fish for me just before a wave  got there and we hurried back to an area with a calm tidepool to keep the fish in. 

We quickly took a few pics, got a fork length measurement, applied a Pacific Island Fisheries Group tag into its back, and carefully released it back in the ocean. 

Normally we’re used to one and done trips but this wasn’t one of them.  The morning progressed and there was now enough light to see our lures in the water.  Dino decided to switch to the bubble fly and whip in a whitewater area as I continued plugging the same spot, but this time with a 1.5oz Mark White.  About half way into a retrieve, I see an ulua’s head break the surface, trying to hit the lure.  It kept trying, back and forth, water flying everywhere until it finally managed to grab it about 30 yards from the rocks.  I felt its power immediately as it peeled line from my reel at a much faster rate than the ulua I had caught earlier.  And then it popped off.  Nothing was wrong with the hook so I just have to assume the hook wasn’t able to set properly in the ulua’s bony jaw.  I finished out the exciting morning with two more big explosions on topwater lures.  We’ve been trying the past few weekends and have been getting a few big strikes and bent hooks but nothing like that first morning.  A similar tide and moon phase is coming up so we’re hoping to be able to land another one soon.  

Holoholo: A Fly Fisherman’s Perspective on 2022 So Far

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I’ve asked Jason, our in-the-water fly fishing reporter, to fill us in on how the Spring has been, and what the near-term outlook may be. You can check him out on IG at commonmango82.

Jason Tsurumaki: For reference, I mostly fish the east Oahu flats and employ a mix of bombing (blind casting) and sight casting, which I personally feel is the most productive approach to these deeper, reefier fisheries.  Because I do not strictly sight fish (like the majority of fly fisher’s targeting o’io), I tend to pick up all sorts of interesting bycatches which can act as a barometer for the overall nearshore fishing picture.  

Looking back at my catch log, east Oahu was pretty hot from the start of the year up until about mid April.   We are unsure what caused the slow down, but speculate it’s a combination of increased fishing pressure (from both fly and regular fisherman) and more activity in the water overall due in part to reopening.  Those familiar with these spots know they are easy to access and frequented by every waterperson under the sun including fishermen, divers, surfers, SUP boarders, windsurfers, kite boarders, and in recent years, foilboarders.  We believe the fish are still around but have become more wary and less likely to come onto the flat and feed aggressively.  

Outside of the fly fishing world, I am not sure how many folks are familiar with the concept of “educated fish.”  In short, the belief is that as more fish are caught (and subsequently released), the population gradually learns to either not go after strange pieces of fur or plastic, or to simply avoid an area altogether.  The degree to which this actually occurs is debatable, however.  There are certainly other factors, many of which cannot be easily accounted for.

We’ve recently pivoted to another south shore spot and have seen modest success, but time will tell if this holds.  In the meantime, we will intermittently check out the east side spots, to see if things perk up again.  Sometimes locating the fish can feel like a game of whack-a-mole.  

One last thing worth mentioning is we haven’t “bycaught” too many papio yet this year, I would say far fewer than most years.  So not sure if this is a bad sign or not for all the papio whippers out there.  Although readers do need to keep in mind that we normally fish on the flat, well inside of the breakers.   As always, your mileage may vary. 

If pressed for a near-term outlook, I’d say the current La Nina cycle will keep fishing on the slower side.

Good luck folks, and have fun! 

Holoholo: Whipping at Night for Menpachi and Āholehole

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Aloha! My name is BJ Hosaka, and I have been an avid reader of the Hawaii Nearshore Fishing blog since I was a freshman in high school. The types of fishing I enjoy doing are: whipping at night for red fish, dunking for oio on the flats, dunking at night for small game, and live baiting oama for papio. I enjoy writing and wanted to share some of what I have learned during my fishing journey. Growing up when I was learning how to fish, I did not have anyone in my life to teach me. One of the ways that I learned how to fish was through this blog (Scott and the other fisherman who have shared their stories and tips). I hope is to do the same and bless others through the sport of fishing.

Over the past couple of years, I have been blessed with the opportunity to fish at night for ʻāholehole and menpachi with a friend of mine, whom I met through my girlfriend’s family. He has been whipping at night since he was a young kid. He has refined and perfected his technique, learning over the years how to consistently catch fish.  In this guest post, I’d like to share with you some of the information, tips, and techniques that I have learned from him.

Here are some key factors and tips to keep in mind when whipping for menpachi/ ʻāholehole at night:

Find Structure: Menpachi, ʻāholehole, and ‘āweoweo are cave fish. They hide in boulders, ledges, and under rocks during the day and come out at night to feed.  Fish where there is a lot of structure: healthy reefs, boulders, break walls, rocks with sand pockets. Even if you don’t necessarily see them during the day, they might be there at night.

Track the tide and moon phase: The moon and tides play a significant role in how and when night fish feed. Generally, we will fish on a rising tide near the new and full moon. However, some spots may only be productive on a full moon, some are productive only on a dark moon, and others may be productive during both. The tide is similar; some spots may be good at low tide while others may be productive at high tide (or anything in between). It is important to track your catches and see when the fish bite best.

Finding the strike zone: ʻāholehole and menpachi tend to feed in the mid- to upper-water column when fishing from shore. To be in the most productive zone, figure out how to get your bait in their strike zone. If the water is shallow, you may want to use a bubble float or light hammer bomb to fish where they are actively feeding and to prevent getting your line stuck. If the water is deeper, you can use a heavier hammer bomb, golf ball, or lead in order to fish the mid-water column.

Choosing the right lure: With the plethora of lures and bait out there (e.g., flies, grubs, worms, and strips), it can be hard to choose the right lures to use. Although night fish will bite anything when hungry, if you want to consistently catch fish, it can be helpful to present a lure that matches what they are actively feeding on. Here’s a tip: ʻāholehole and menpachi feed on small shrimp, plankton, worms, and small crustaceans. Do your best to find a lure that looks similar to these. While red fish and ʻāholehole will bite non-glow lures, we have found our best luck with small lures that glow.

Using Bait: We often bring bait as back up when lures aren’t effective. We have caught menpachi on aku belly, shrimp, sand turtles, ika, cut ʻōpelu, and cut akule; but will rarely hook ʻāholehole with bait.

Hook size/ Leader line/ Leader length: We generally will use MZ hooks sizes 10-14. We tend to get more bites on smaller hooks, especially from ʻāholehole. For the leader line, we’ll use anything between a 4 and 10 lb test fluorocarbon. Similar to smaller hooks, lighter line will generally produce the most bites, especially in heavily fished areas. We run a long leader (9-11’), but you can use whatever you are most comfortable with to cast.

Surf (Tip for ʻāholehole): ʻāholehole like the surge. They are generally found in the areas where waves tend to break and areas with some surge/whitewater.

Slow Retrieval: For ʻāholehole and red fish, we use a very slow retrieval (reeling as slowly as we can). I’ve been taught that the lure or bait should slowly glide through the water, giving ample opportunity for the fish to strike as night fish will generally feed on slow moving prey. 

Time of year: Because the presence of bait is steady year-round, menpachi and ʻāholehole can consistently be caught throughout the year.

Night Fishing Safely: Fish with a partner at night and be aware of your surroundings. Bring a headlight with extra batteries, tabis if fishing in reefy/rocky areas, and always check the weather before you head out.

-BJ

Holoholo: February – March Shoreline Report

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Dedicated shore fisher Matthew shares his observations of the way Winter has transitioned into Spring, updating the general report posted last month.

Matthew:

Matthew grabbed this tako in the shallows after landing an oio!

It’s been getting slower and slower recently for the vast majority of people. Personally, this winter was among the best that I’ve ever enjoyed, and the bite was consistently great. However, spring has come and the fish appear to have left for “greener pastures”. A lot of people whom I know have switched to fishing on completely different sides of the island, which has rewarded them handsomely. However, being limited to fishing only Oahu’s south shore has really shown me how vulnerable my chances are. It’s been getting increasingly difficult to find any fish on the flats and on the reefs.

Often, when I do catch an Oio, it’s only a small one (three or four pounds), not the larger ones that many Oio fishermen pursue (five pounds or larger). The Papio bite wasn’t ever really good to begin with, but it was passable. Come spring, it has completely died. Even during the first hour of sunrise and the last hour of sunset, there appears to be no sign of the Papio that would regularly navigate our waters. Normally, this would be attributed to cooling water temperatures and the lack of bait fish near shore, but this year appears to be significantly worse than those of the past. 

The people I know that have been shore jigging have been striking out equally as much. The bubble and fly method has also not been successful for the people that I know. However, people on boats have been having great luck recently (maybe that’s where the fish went?) with many fish such as Uku, Ulua, and Pelagics. 

So, unless you can shell out the money for a boat, stay put on shore and grind out the next few weeks or months. I suspect that as the water temperatures rise, the baitfish come in, and summer arrives, the fish will also come around. Please also erase Kona winds forever (nobody likes them).

For now, people that have been dabbling in UL (ultralight) fishing have been relatively successful, as well as the freshwater game. If you want to grind out the flats game (I probably will), you’re more than welcome to, but don’t expect much. The same goes for whipping for Papio and other inshore predators. Until the water heats up and the baitfish arrive, I’d expect things to remain much the same. If you’re a ulua fisherman (sliding or baitcasting), now’s that time of the year where all the big ones come up. Quite a few large Ulua have been landed in the past month, and perhaps there’s a 100+ pounder waiting out there somewhere. 

Good luck, stay safe, and just have fun!

Holoholo: The Heartbreak of Buying the Wrong JDM Reel

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Kawika Chee is an ultralight JDM obsessive who loves when random people message him about anything related to light tackle. He takes a light hearted yet educational stab at clarifying some of the mystique of JDM reel specs.

Kawika:

When it comes to labeling reels and lines, Japan and the United States are still at war.  Thousands of stateside anglers have been burned by the disparate language and rating system used on the Japanese market  – but instead of counting up these various and sundry disasters, I will focus on the case of angler we will call “N. C.” and his 700 dollar JDM reel/line buy gone wrong.  After all, a single bad purchase is a tragedy – a thousand; a mere statistic.

N.C. is a highly experienced offshore fisherman and gear fanatic with two 100+ ulua on his resume – and with respect to this purchase, this turned out to be a bad thing.  The over-confidence from a lifetime of handling prize fish, fast rods and faster women blinded him to the mistakes he would eventually make.  But he was not up against an easy task – when I look over our conversations, I count 39 texts discussing prospective JDM buys – and this was also in consultation with a local JDM-only gear dealer and the most knowledgeable Japanese-speaking angler I know.  The fact that this tragic buy could happen after so much discussion speaks to the difficulty of parsing the constellation of options the Japanese market presents.  This does not even consider the difficulty of getting a Japanese reel serviced, as Shimano America will not touch them.

N.C. wanted a high-end 3000 size Shimano reel that almost no one else on-island would have.  Though this article takes a joking – perhaps even abusive – stance toward the man, he does get style points for choosing the JDM Shimano Excense.  Placed between the Stella and the Twin Power in price point, this all-black beauty has garnered an excellent reputation in its short time on the market – especially among Japanese sea bass fishermen for which the reel was purpose-built.  NC ordered the 3000 MHG model, intending to use it with 10lb test Daiwa J-braid (PE 1.5).  He assumed that the spool would have the same capacity as American 3k spools. Unfortunately, “M” stands for Medium depth spool – by which they mean “stupid shallow” – less than 140 yards of line.

The Jet-black JDM Shimano Excense c3000 MHG pairs beautifully with the utilitarian look of this shocking white PE 1.5 (comparable to J-braid #10) Unfortunately, it’s medium-depth spool (the “M” in “ MHG” will hold less than 140 yards of it

We are at risk of making bad JDM reel buys for two main reasons: A JDM reel of a particular size will often come in a large variety of different sub-models which differ from each other in spool depth and speed of retrieve (gear ratio).  Now this is critically important: the names of the reels come in this form: (model name)(model generation) (body size)(size) (spool depth)(gear ratio).  So, a Shimano Soare 3000 of the XR generation (generations are named arbitrarily to distinguish older and newer models) with a compact body, high gear ratio, super shallow spool would be the “Soare XR c3000 SSHG”.  The complexity of this naming system is a peek into the Japanese mind and a reminder that there is a very fine line between genius and madness.

On spool depth, Shimano Japan reels come in Super Super Shallow (SSS), Super Shallow (SS), Shallow (S), Medium (M – and still very shallow for our purposes) and Deep (indicated by the absence of any spool notation).  The Japanese seem to prefer shallower spools for most light applications for several reasons – one is that you don’t need as much expensive Japanese braid to fill it.  Another is that casting distance is improved by larger spool sizes due to reduced friction as line comes off the spool.  The last is that as line comes off the spool during a fight the drag tension increases due to the reduced diameter of the coil of line on the spool – large diameter shallow reels do not have as much of a problem with that.  

These spool depth disparities are HUGE.  For example, a 1000 deep spool will accommodate more line than a 2500 shallow. In an extreme case, the 500s spool will accommodate only 90 yards of 2lb fluorocarbon – and an American 500 may hold 190 yards.  To my knowledge, all Shimano light reel spools in the US are equivalent to the Japanese deep spool – but in Japan, deep spools are not even available in reel sizes under 3000.  This all necessitates that you get a sense of PE line diameter so that you can be sure you will have enough capacity for your purposes – we will discuss this later in this article.

All new light Shimano reels above 1000 size in the US come in two relatively high gear ratios – HG (high gear) or XG (extremely high gear).  However, to these options Shimano Japan adds Power Gear (PG – very low/slow) and a regular gear ratio (no notation – but between HG and XG). It is worth noting that very large American Shimano offshore reels do have PG options for cranking in the toughest pelagics.

In what I regard as an almost criminal move, some Shimano reels even come in a high-end and lower-end version – different reels entirely; the lower-end model often distinguished by the letters “bb”. 

This spool capacity confusion also happened in part because NC was not conversant in the most consistent and useful measure of braided line – “PE rating, which is the standard in Japan and the best stat to read to determine the true diameter, and, by extension, strength of Japanese braid.  PE stands for “Polyethylene” which refers to braid.  To get a sense of numbers using a familiar braid which is actually rated in PE, Daiwa J-braid 6,8, and 10 are labeled as PE 0.6, 1.0, and 1.5 respectively.  Most American market braids, including Shimano’s own Power Pro, are not labeled in PE, and seem to be rated in strength arbitrarily.  If NC had known about PE and had read the capacity of the MHG in PE rating, this could have been avoided entirely.

To complicate this further, when JDM braids list their strength in pounds, they generally use a different metric than pound test – max breaking strength – which is often used internationally including in Europe.  This rating is often double what we may expect from the line if rated in pound test – a JDM braid labeled as 8lb breaking strength may only be as strong as what we would expect from an American braid labeled at 4 pound test.

These two lines, labeled for sale on the Japan/international market and the US market, respectively, are actually the exact same product.  Note that the JDM box gives a weight of 19 pounds while the US version lists 8 pounds.  This demonstrates that “pound test” in American lines and “max breaking strength” in Japanese lines are not comparable.

So deep is this confusion that my favorite local store stopped selling JDM Major Craft Dangan Braid because frustrated customers were breaking the tiny lines they expected to be much stronger.  Spiderwire is one of the few American braids labeled in both pound test and max breaking strength, for example, four and fourteen.  This confusion led Nick to purchase 8lb max strength PE 0.4 – what we may estimate at about 4lb test for a 3000 size reel paired with a rod capable of throwing 1 1/4 ounces!

NC had finally found a line small enough to fit 240 yards onto the JDM “shallow” spool of the Twin Power c2000SHG. Unfortunately this PE 0.25 is also approximately 1/4 the strength of PowerPro 5lb test, and without the stretch and abrasion resistance of Mono, the future looks bleak for this already sad man.

Up to this point I have concealed NCs identity to avoid shaming him.  But my anger at him has built during the writing of this article and justice demands that I reveal that he is Nicolas Keoki Chang of 1322 Kinau St Unit 2,  Social Security *** ** 4772.  As much as teasing as there has been so far, this is written out of concern and care.  Given the price of JDM reels and the difficulty of servicing and returning them, it’s really more important than usual to take pay close attention when parsing this information before clicking.  Or, you could take best overall approach and the one I stick to myself – just don’t buy them at all.

Holoholo: 2021 Oahu Shore Fishing Recap

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Die-hard shore whipper Matthew reviews the past year is such rich detail, it’s hard to believe he’s *just” a 10th grader.

Matthew: 2021 was an interesting year. Whether you’re glad or sad that it’s over, Happy 2022, and may this year be better than those in the past. In terms of fishing, it was a very up and down year. Meaning, when it was good, it was great, but when it was bad, it was BAD. For some reason, there was no in-between in 2021. In the summer of 2021 (after many months of horrendous fishing), a rather unexpected surge of big fish took the fishing community by surprise. More big fish were being pulled up than ever before, and many benefited from this uncommon event. I landed my personal best papio, then again, then again, and then again. In other words, they just kept getting bigger. The oio bite was also flourishing, and many took those opportunities. The Halalu run may have been one of the best in the past couple of years. However, the Oama run arrived late, and when it did, it was rather underwhelming. 

But, the summer of 2021 was amazing. It warmed the hearts of many fishermen whose fruitless spring efforts had finally paid off. It was by far my best summer and according to some of my friends, their best summer as well. Too bad summer can’t last forever…

Once August closed out, so did the bite. Just like a switch was flicked, the Papio bite suddenly turned dry, all but one oio spot (for me) dried up completely, and the bad weather started to pour in. In fact, that bad weather still is plaguing many fishermen currently (written 1/2/22). The after effects of this current storm will probably leave the flats muddy and unfishable for at least a week or two. It may change the structure of some spots, shifting sand and mud to places they weren’t before. 

Anyways, that one last Oio spot that I continued to hit until probably around November dried up eventually, and so did my hopes of landing my personal best before the end of the year. I tried moving to different spots, but all I could really find were rats, with maybe one 5# oio mixed in every once in a while. The Papio bite continued to stymie anyone’s efforts who actually bothered to try. Many were hoping for a change of pace in December, and that’s what they got. It got even worse. December may have been the worst month of fishing that I have ever experienced. I was able to pull a few Oio out of it, but absolutely nothing in terms of Papio. Many of my friends shared the same struggles as I did. 

So, new year, new fish? Maybe? I still haven’t gone fishing yet this year due to the thunderstorms. ****I will go fishing in any amount of rain and wind, still stubbornly casting away, but the moment thunder is heard, I don’t want anything to do with it. Don’t mess with thunderstorms if you’re holding something that’s basically a lightning conductor in your hand.****

Hopefully we’ll see reason to believe that 2022 will be a better year for fishing. Whatever happens, the summer of 2021 will go down as one of the best summers for fishing ever, if not the best, and the winter will go down as one of the worst. Maybe 2022 is due for a little more consistency (it really does owe us some!). Have fun out there, stay safe, and tight lines. 

Holoholo: Offshore Kayak Fishing on Hawaii Island – A Summary of 2021

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Shea has provided us with some great posts this year and we requested he summarize his first year of offshore kayak fishing. The sheer poundage of fish he caught is astounding. He provides tackle tips, a monthly almanac of how the weather changed and what types of fish bit. Check out his YouTube channel, Affordable Wahoo, for action packed, superbly narrated videos.

Shea: After buying a secondhand kayak and watching YouTube videos of guys and gals kayak fishing offshore in Hawaii for pelagic predators like ahi, mahimahi, and ono, I was intrigued but not quite ready to take the leap straight into the blue. I spent all of 2020 fishing within the confines of the Hilo Breakwater for papio, lai, opelu, and akule. In January 2021, I was reunited with a childhood friend who also had a kayak and wanted to get it into action fishing. After a shakedown trip in Hilo Bay catching papio, he suggested we go for it and make the leap into offshore fishing. Eleven months later, I’m still learning something new every trip. However, over the past few months, the catches have been much more consistent. Here’s a monthly summary of the journey thus far:

February:

Got a secondhand Hobie Revolution 13 from a friend on Craigslist. Did a shakedown maiden voyage in Hilo Bay light jigging for papio, then a short offshore trip on the west side catching reef fish.

March:

First dedicated pelagic trip on the NW side. Landed first decent fish offshore, a 15 lb Uku (Green Jobfish), then lost the biggest shibi ahi I’ve hooked to date right at the side of the kayak. Upgraded my gear the next day to a Penn Spinfisher VI 8500 with 65 lb braid and 40lb fluorocarbon topshot. Very next trip out of South Kona, landed first pelagic, a 21 lb shibi ahi at Keahou Bay. Lost a ton of fish to cutoffs (probably ono), so I rigged up 40 lb braided wire stinger rigs for next time. Lucky thing too, because the next trip out of South Kona, I hooked was a 65 lb Sailfish that would certainly have cut fluorocarbon leader with its bill.

April:

The weather and surf finally started looking good on the east side of the island, so we started exploring the grounds. We discovered some reliable opelu grounds and managed to hook into some decent sized Kawakawa (Mackerel Tuna) and smaller shibi (Yellowfin Tuna). At this point, I was still having trouble getting solid hookups on fish once they ate the live opelu. I must have lost twice as many fish as I landed just because I was letting fish swim around with the bait way too long before tightening the drag during the strike.

May:

The big kawakawa continued to bite, along with some nice sized uku. Later in the month, I got my first decent sized shibi, a 30 pounder. I made the change from braided 40 lb wire to single strand stainless brown 44 lb and it seemed to increase strikes on wire, at the cost of having to change the rigs out when they got kinked. At this point, I getting a better idea of when to tighten down on the drag, though I still lost a few strikes from what I think were ono…

June:

Got a mixed bag of large kawakawa and decent sized shibis. Rainbow runners started showing up in large schools and stealing baits as well as sabiki rigs. Finding opelu was difficult at times, with schools being far and few between. Often when we did find them, they wouldn’t bite. We did, however, have some of the calmest waves and wind that I’ve ever seen.  

July:

The opelu became very scarce on the east side, so I resorted to vertical jigging for rainbow runner, kahala, and ulua most of the time. I must have lost over $100 worth of jigs to unstoppable reef donkeys. When we could find live bait, sharks and kaku (Great Barracuda) would often take them before a pelagic could. The kawakawa seemed to disappear as well. We did make it out to the leeward side once and I landed my best shibi to date, a 41 pounder.

August:

Shibis continued to bite on the west side, while the onos finally seemed to come out in force on the east. I landed my first ono, my PB uku, and a decent shibi all in a couple hours on one trip. At this point, I began running wire rigs pretty much all the time. With so many ono around, the fluorocarbon leader would get snipped almost immediately. The smaller shibis didn’t seem to care, but the larger ones seemed to shy away from the wire rigs.

One key change to my strategy was to set my drag to ~4 lbs when running a wire stinger. Up to this point, I was setting my drag as light as it could go to let the fish run and hopefully swallow the bait. I ended up losing every ono strike because they’d either swallow the entire wire rig and cut my line, or the hook wouldn’t set in the fish’s bony mouth. The tension on the strike with even just ~4 lbs drag seems to be enough to get a decent hookup. It also helps keep the ono from swallowing and chopping the entire wire rig above the swivel.

September:

Large schools of mahimahi in the 10-15 lb range showed up in force on the west side. Opelu were very plentiful and it wasn’t uncommon to have more than 10 baits within an hour of fishing at dawn. I landed my first mahimahi (three of them) on the same trip. When the weather permitted, we headed out on the east side and akule were easy to find in the dark. These made excellent bait for both ono and shibis. At the end of the month I managed to land my PB 41 lb ono and a few mahimahi on the same trip. The bite was truly on fire no matter where we went it seemed. Bird piles and surface boils were a frequent sight, usually around midday.  

October:

The mahimahi continued to bite really well, with large schools offering chances at hooking two or even three in a row at times. The mahis were also getting larger, ranging in size from 15 – 25 lbs. We often saw large schools of flying fish getting struck on the surface, as well as the occasional school of small aku jumping out of the water. Trolling live or dead baits near these schools often yielded mahimahi or ono.

I made the switch to Knot2Kinky titanium wire leader and didn’t regret it. It has the stealthier presentation of single-strand wire, with the benefit of being somewhat kink-resistant. This means you can potentially reuse the same rig after multiple strikes.  

November:

The mahimahi bite suddenly slowed down dramatically. Large schools of flying fish and small aku were no longer an everyday occurrence. Instead, large schools of rainbow runner seemed to infest the waters. While the mahi strikes were rare, when they did bite they would either be very small or very large. Shibi and ono continued to bite, though less frequently. Near the end of the month, high winds and rainstorms started becoming more prevalent, and unpredictable thunderstorms started rolling in. The opelu on the NW side also became much more difficult to find and catch at times, making for tough fishing some days.

December:

Heavy rains, big surf, high winds, thunderstorms shut down the windward side of the island most of the month. Even the leeward side had its share of bad weather. We fished in good weather windows on the SW side of the island and managed to have some of the best fishing of the year. I pulled off my first shibi + mahi + ono combo in one trip, and the 37 lb bull mahi was my new PB.  

Holoholo: Fishing the Calm Before the Storm

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Big Island kayak fisher Shea shares their best outing yet, right before a storm was supposed potentially flood the island.

Shea:

The ocean on the windward side of the Big Island was crystal clear and flat as a lake and winds were dead calm through the work week, and the remnants of Hurricane Linda were supposed to pass by on Sunday, so my buddy and I decided to head out on Friday. Even with the full moon and a sub-par fishing forecast, we figured maybe the incoming low-pressure system would turn the fish on. We launched in the dark and immediately noticed that the water had some “morning sickness” as the surfers say. The winds also started blowing onshore 5-10 mph with higher gusts, so going out to the grounds was slower than usual. We got out to the bait zone just as the horizon was lighting up with hues of red and orange.

The only time I hooked Opelu that day. Hooked 4 but one fell off right at the kayak.

It wasn’t long before we started passing some massive schools of taape or some other bottom fish. Experience has taught me that sometimes the opelu will be close by. Sure enough, a cloud of bait spanning 25-75 feet deep soon came into view. I was able to hook four on the first drop, but only managed to get three onto the kayak. I decided to take my chances and head out deeper to catch the dawn patrol. I sent my first opelu out on a 44 lb wire stinger rig and slowly pedaled out over the drop-off. As I passed over into deeper water, the fish finder came to life with marks from the surface all the way down to ~150 feet. Some of the marks had the telltale cloud shape of opelu, so I dropped my sabiki rig down hoping to pick up a few more.

A school of Rainbow Runner destroyed my sabiki right after, but managed to land one just as something took off with my opelu!

Something much stronger than an opelu immediately started screaming drag in short runs from my bait rod, and as I was fighting what would turn out to be a rainbow runner on my 10 lb test sabiki, something grabbed my live bait and took off on a short run. I tightened the drag on my Penn Spinfisher VI 8500 in an attempt to set the hook, but whatever was on the other end had come off. Thinking either my bait was gone or my line cut, I focused on landing my little rainbow runner, and just as I was brining it onto the kayak, my live bait rod bent over and screamed in its rod holder, listing my kayak over to the right. I guess my bait wasn’t gone after all!

First time seeing one of these ninjas right next to my kayak.

Whatever was on the other end put up a decent fight, but it had obviously burned a lot of energy in its initial run. After a few minutes of tug-of-war, the fish was within 20 feet of my kayak, but I still couldn’t see it in the dark water.

It’s really hard to take a good photo of these long fish on a kayak.

Suddenly, the fish broke surface right next to me and I realized that for the first time in 7 months of kayak fishing, an ono (wahoo) was within reach of my gaff! I sank a rushed kage shot into the back of the fish’s head, then readjusted and got a decent stab clean through.

Zoom in to see the stinger hook caught right in the roof of the mouth.

The ono curse had been lifted, and the stoke was real! My Hobie fishbag was not nearly long enough, so I radioed my buddy and asked if we could stow the fish in his. Turns out he was also hooked into a scrappy shibi ahi (yellowfin tuna). Nice double strike!

Chunky uku that ate my next bait immediately and really high up in the water column.

The fish finder screen was still lit up, and my ono would have to wait until my friend was done with his fish, so I decided to quickly tie on another wire stinger rig and get my second bait out. Not even a minute after letting my second opelu swim out, something grabbed it and I was on again! The bait couldn’t have been more than 50 feet down when it got eaten, so I figured it might be a shibi or another ono. After a brief but intense fight, the biggest uku (green jobfish) I had ever hooked broke the surface! My kage actually bounced right off of its skull so it took a few tries, but I was able to get the point to stick and wrestle it aboard.

Unmistakable two-toned and sickled shibi outline!

I tied on yet another wire stinger rig and sent out my third and final opelu, then slowly made my way back to where I’d hooked the ono. I had passed over some promising looking bait schools while fighting the uku, so the plan was to try pick up more bait and perhaps give some to my friend. At the time, he was improvising using a live 2 lb rainbow runner and trolling out deep. Before I could even find the bait school, something devoured my last opelu and took off on a screaming run. After a couple decent runs, the fish started coming up easy and I saw the sillhoute of a shibi circling under the kayak.

How NOT to kage a shibi!

After a fair amount of struggling, I rushed my kage shot, lost my grip, and watched in disbelief as the fish took off with my spear sticking out of it!

Luckily, he came back up with the kage still inside!

Luckily, the shibi came back up quickly and even still had my gaff in it. Nice easy and free lesson to be patient and wait for a clean shot, especially if the fish is hooked well!

These guys are a plague while trying to catch bait, but great fun on the jig!

My friend had managed to catch another opelu while I was fighting my shibi, so we decided to give the area another drift. With no baits left in the tube and not much energy left to pedal around and look for more, I decided to drop a 120g Majorcraft Jigpara slow-fall vertical jig into some promising marks on the sounder. After what must have been 7 or 8 missed strikes, I finally got a decent hook set into something. It turned out to be a rainbow runner slightly larger than the one I landed on my sabiki. There must have really been a lot of these guys out there.

Nice job getting a last-minute ono!

After landing it, I looked over and saw that my buddy’s rod was bent and he was battling something. As I pedaled closer, I could see the long silver outline of an ono circling around under his kayak. Double shibis and double onos! Definitely one for the books and I don’t think either of us will be forgetting this day’s action anytime soon. 

Here’s the video action of the story you just read:

Holoholo: Summer big papio action was red hot – will it continue?

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If you haven’t been working the grounds this summer, Matthew tells you what you missed and what you can expect to happen in the next few months.

Matthew: Summer is now pretty much just a memory, and the action is unfortunately starting to slow down. I expect that we might only have a few weeks left of decent fishing before the action reverts back to levels commonly experienced during the winter months. The saving grace for the remainder of the season could be the arrival of the Oama, which still have not fully arrived inshore yet. Many are struggling to find schools of Oama and I personally only know of a few. Those few are not big schools and are not really biting too well. 

For bait fishermen, the numerous Halalu piles over the course of the last month or so have served as Papio magnets, and those fishermen have been quite successful. However, some of those piles have been netted or just left without warning. The few piles that remain are guaranteed to be crowded and not so fun to fish. Without the Halalu piles to draw in the fish, and with the Oama still being nowhere to be found, there won’t be much incentive for Papio to come inshore. Sure, there will always be a few Papio hunting for smaller reef fish and Lizardfish, but unless the Oama come in, there definitely won’t be as much action as we saw in July and the first week of August. 

In general, the fish have been dead set on biting at true dawn and true dusk, with not much action between those times. I’ve been getting the vast majority of my action from 530-630 A.M. and 630-730 P.M. Pretty much all of my trips have produced no action for the “junker” time, but then had one or two bites from a bigger fish towards the “better” time period. Unfortunately I got to experience the sting of a bunch of total whitewash trips over the last two weeks, something that didn’t happen to me during June and July, except for maybe a few times. 

I think that it is still a good idea to squeeze a few more Papio out of this season before the action goes completely dead. After all, it will take a few weeks to make the full transition to “winter fishing” again. But after the action dies down, it may be a good idea to reconsider other types of fishing. Freshwater fishing is a year-round option, as well as Oio fishing, Moi fishing (when in season), and other small game alternatives (reds, reef fish, nenue, kala). Of course, you can still fish for the straggler Papio as well.

This summer was definitely the best season that I’ve ever experienced, with several big Papio caught and many smaller ones. A few of my friends also had great success fishing for big Papio as well. Overall the year so far has provided much more action than the previous one, so perhaps this winter will hold more fish than in the past. Stay safe out there, have fun, and good luck fishing! 

Go gettum! -Matt

Holoholo: Papio Palooza at the Old Stomping Grounds

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Big Island kayak angler Shea (IG: @shea_ue, YouTube: Affordable Wahoo) shares an incredible early morning shore whipping bite. There’s even an action packed video capturing most of the retrieves and strikes! Sounds like the papio are in, and are hungry!

Shea: My friend and I got to the grounds just at 5:15 AM, just as it was getting light enough to see the heavy offshore rains on the horizon. I was armed with my light shore casting setup: Okuma Hawaiian Custom 9’0 medium paired with a Daiwa Fuego LT 3000 spooled with 12lb Fireline braid. We were both using plastic casting bubbles and some craft fur “deceiver” patterns that I tied back in 2019. This was the first time in over a year that either of us had been to the area so we weren’t sure what to expect. The plan was to just see what was biting practice catch and release.  

It was still pretty dark when I made my first cast out over the reef’s edge. I retrieved it with my favorite pop-pause action, using short downward sweeps of the rod to chug the bubble forwards a couple feet, then reeling to pick up the slack. Something exploded on the fly just as it was passing over the drop-off about 30 feet out. After a brief but intense battle, I scrambled down the rocks to the waters edge and landed a healthy 15 inch white papio (juvenile Giant Trevally). It had inhaled my fly, but after some finagling with my pliers, I sent the fish home with a good release. A couple casts later, another smaller white papio around 9 inches long grabbed the fly way out in the deep and came in without much of a struggle. My friend landed her first fish of the day, an 8 or 9 inch omilu (Bluefin Trevally) a few minutes later. This was also her first ever papio on a fly!

We kept moving along and working the edge of the reef and it wasn’t long before I took another strike just as I was bringing my fly into some structure. This fish felt a little bigger and pulled drag as it dove over the edge and I could immediately feel the grating of my leader against rocks. Luckily, the fish decided to change direction and unpinned itself from the bottom. A couple minutes later, I was able to slide an ~16-17 inch white papio onto the rocks, work the hook out from the corner of its jaw, and nose dive it back into the water. My 8-foot 25lb test Mason soft monofilament leader was pretty scraped up, so I decided to retie.

On the very next cast, a scrappy 11 inch omilu inhaled the fly and came in pretty easily after a short run. I couldn’t believe how fired up the fish were over this fly! I had tried using it at this exact spot a few times back in early 2020, but didn’t hook anything but a few aha (needlefish). Baitfish such as halalu, sardines, and nehu are much more abundant this time of year, so perhaps that helps explain it.

The wind picked up and we decided to change up the game a bit and re-rigged with 10lb J-line fluorocarbon leader, a size 3 “aji” hook, and soft plastic glitter strips. We used the tailwind to bomb casts way out there for a half hour or so, missing a few strikes and landing a couple small lai (Doublespotted Queenfish). My friend lost the glitter strip I gave her on a cast, then found a Campania grub on the ground and landed a 9 or 10 inch omilu on it. Way to improvise!

The big lai weren’t cooperating, so I changed back to the fly and a couple casts later, had the most explosive strike of the day as a white papio almost went airborne on the lure in 3 feet of water. It did the usual strategy of diving right over the dropoff, but this time I held the rod tip as high as I could and managed to keep the line off the rocks. I think this was the largest one of the morning, somewhere around 18-19 inches long and very healthy. This fish really surprised me, as it was already 7:30 AM and I’m used to the white papio bite stopping right after sunrise. Sometimes it pays off to wake up early and just go even when it’s cold and rainy, because you never know when you’ll be in the right place at the right time!

Here’s the video capturing all the action.

Tight lines and fish responsibly everybody!

-Shea