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Holoholo: Live Bait and Vertical Jigs = Mixed Bag

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Shea started kayak fishing 3 yrs ago, briefly on an Ocean Kayak Scupper Pro, soon after, moving up to an Ocean Kayak Prowler 15. He built his safety awareness in the confines of Hilo Bay, unintentionally flipping the Scupper Pro twice and found the Prowler 15 to be a much more stable fishing platform. He has only been fishing offshore for 3 months, mainly on a 2015 Hobie Revolution 13, but attributes his rapid success to the years of learning how to catch live opelu outside the bay as well as hours of watching kayak fishing videos on YouTube and receiving tips from the kayak fishing community. He fishes on the Big Island with Coach Haru when their schedules match up. I asked Shea if he wouldn’t mind sharing his most recent outing with us. Here’s his recap, with video of the day on the bottom of this post.

Shea: The surf on Hawaii Island’s east side was flat – 1 foot and winds were forecasted light and variable all through Memorial Day, so my friend and I decided to launch at 4:30 AM. We reached the fishing grounds just as the horizon was lighting up and started searching for opelu to use as live bait. It didn’t take long before we started marking large bait balls feeding 25-50 feet down, and I dropped my home made sabiki rig baited with HiPerformance Lures “fish sticks” and managed to pick up 6 baits before the sun was even up. On previous trips, I had only caught 1-2 opelu after hours of trying, so things were off to a much better start than usual! We moved out into deeper water and passed over huge bait balls that weren’t biting, so I decided to drop an 80g jig that Haru had given me on a previous trip. Within the first 10 cranks of the very first drop, I hooked into a fish that doubled my Tsunami Trophy jigging rod and peeled the 40lb braid from my Penn Slammer III 5500 in long, powerful runs. It didn’t take long for what I’m pretty sure was a good sized Ulua to find some structure to cut me off on.

I tied on a 120g Jigpara Slowfall and dropped again, immediately hooking into something that felt much smaller. It turned out to be a 2-3 lb Uku, and I decided to let it go to and put out my first live opelu on a wire stinger rig in the hopes that some predators might be hanging around the bait schools.

I let out ~100 feet of line and set the drag on my Penn Spinfisher VI 8500 as light as it could go to mimic the “liveliner” function on other reels. After 45 minutes or so of no action in spite of many promising marks on the fish finder and a couple drowned baits, I decided to switch to straight 40lb fluorocarbon leader and hooked another live one through the nostrils with a 5/0 Gamakatsu Live Bait hook. I was still free-spooling this bait out when line started flying off way faster than I knew an Opelu could take it. I gave it about 5 seconds before clicking the bail over and tightening the drag down to set the hook. After a few good runs and a heavy pull that made me think I had a shibi, the fish started giving in and spiraled up to the surface. I was surprised to see a chunky 19-lb Kawakawa float up on its side. I sent out another live bait, then dispatched and bled the fish for ~10 minutes.

Just after stowing the fish in my fishbag, I noticed some promising marks on the bottom ~170 feet down, so I dropped the jig and pulled up a 4-5 lb omilu. After taking a couple pictures, I tossed him back to hopefully become a reef donkey someday.

As I was dragging my bait back up to the ledge, I felt the telltale tugs of something grabbing my opelu and quickly flipped the bail open. After a few seconds of letting line fly off the spool, I closed the bail and tightened down again and the first run of this fish was much faster and longer than the kawakawa’s had been. After five minutes or so of tug-of-war, I got my first view of the fish ~50 feet down and briefly saw the sickled outline of a shibi before it took off on a run straight down. Another five minutes of pumping and cranking later, the shibi was exhausted and surfaced, giving me a chance to hit it with my home made kage gaff. Not wanting to take any chances, I sank my handheld hook gaff into the fish as well and pulled it aboard. This was definitely my largest shibi so far, weighing in later at 29-lbs. I brained and bled the fish out and stowed it in a Hobie fishbag behind my seat.

At this point I had what I thought were two live baits left in the tube, so I gave one to my friend who had just lost his last bait to what we believe was an ono. I tied on a wire rig hoping to use my last bait to try for an ono, but the last bait had a busted lip from my damashi and had drowned. I sent it to the bottom on a 4 oz bank sinker, hoping for a shot at a bigger uku instead. After drifting around for a while, my rod bent over slowly as if I was hung up on the bottom. As I pulled the rod out of the holder, line started ripping off the reel and after a seven minute battle, a small ulua came up to the surface. Not the uku I was hoping for, but it was a nice fight. With two fish already in the bag, I decided to release this fish after taking some pictures.

After previously fishing the windward side in 6-foot swell and pouring rain and being unable to catch more than one or two baits, this trip really stands apart and will probably stay with me for some time. It’s not often that the east side is calm as a lake, so I feel super lucky that we got this break in the weather. I gave away most of the fish to my friends and family and made sashimi, tataki, and poke with the remainder over the course of the following week. The kawakawa meat aged especially well and still tasted great even six days later. 

-Shea

Check out the video:

Holoholo: Papio action is heating up!

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Matthew is back with a very timely shore fishing update.

Matthew: It’s only been a few weeks since I wrote my last post, but a lot has happened since then. Like flipping a switch, the Papio bite has turned on all of a sudden and is excellent as of now. All of my friends have caught Papio on their last trip or two and most of the time have caught more than one per trip. 

I was pretty dead set on fly fishing a few weeks ago, and landed another nice Oio which was my second on the fly rod, but then the weather report for Sunday presented some not-so-ideal weather conditions. High winds, cloud cover, and a fast rising tide would have made it extremely difficult to sight fish. I decided to go check out an old Papio spot, and was treated to a nice Papio on my very first cast. Welcome back to Papio whipping. I hooked up to three more that day but lost them all, but was still satisfied with the one Papio.

A few days later, I went Papio fishing at the same spot and was treated to the best day I’ve had whipping. I landed seven Omilu ranging from 11-15 inches, had many more spit the hook, and saw countless chases and boils. This is probably an average day for someone fishing on another island, but for two hours on Oahu, it was a “once-a-year” kind of trip.

Fly fishing was now completely tossed to the curb and I was now hooked on Papio fishing once again, my old passion. I was invited to my friend’s beach house for dinner and I figured, why not bring my pole just in case? Sure enough, I had some time and I threw a few casts at an area that I was completely unfamiliar with. As dusk approached, I was able to land my biggest Papio in a few months, which put up a great fight. 

The next Sunday, I had a chance to go with two guys I’ve been fishing with for a while now, and hit up one of the old spots. We had yet another good day. I landed a Papio and a Lai, one guy landed three Papio, and one guy lost one and had a bunch of bites. 

So, enough of that… But what about predictions? So far, this season is looking like it is going to be an above average season, and it’s been looking like it for a few weeks now. The Halalu and sardines are in a select few spots that I know of and the Oama are starting to make their appearance at some of my spots too. I’ve been seeing some Iao on the flats, which almost always means that predators will be drawn towards shallower waters. Other fishermen have been sharing similar results to our catches and have been reporting the same uptick in bait sightings. Hopefully this year will make up for last summer’s subpar action. 

In summary, the season is just starting, but if you haven’t gotten out fishing yet, now’s the chance. I’d guess that the good fishing will last until mid-August, and then by October the bite will probably be dead or at least slow again. Stock up on summer gear, stay safe, have fun, catch some fish, and I’ll catch you on the next report??

Holoholo: How to catch less fish: Fly Fishing

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Holoholo writer Matthew broadens his shore fishing skills and tackles fly fishing.

Matthew: Fly fishing… It can either be peaceful and enjoyable or a complete mess of frustration and tangles. Sure, it looks easy to cast a fly setup. Wave the rod forward, wave the rod backward, and let go of the line and watch it sail. It seems so simple and easy, or so I thought. After picking up a fly setup for the first time, I headed to one of my go-to Oio spots and tried casting. It resulted in a disaster, a horrible wind knot, and a hook in my shoulder on the first cast. Luckily I took the advice of another fly fisherman and started off with barbless hooks, and the hook didn’t go in too far. What happened? It turns out that muscle has nothing to do with casting, and it has a lot to do with form and timing. Timing, timing, timing, timing. I still have not gotten anywhere mastering it yet. 

After taking a few more horrible casts that would’ve made anyone laugh had I been fishing with a buddy, I made my way out past the shoreline and tried blind casting downwind. My casts were still pitiful and the line slapping the water probably scared any fish away within a hundred yard radius. Long story short, it was a tough evening. I ended up with a Nohu (poisonous Hawaiian rockfish), which fought like a rock, and a bunch of actual rocks that I pulled up from the bottom. 

I headed out the next day at midday to attempt, with emphasis on the word attempt, to catch an Oio sightcasting. I got lucky and saw one within minutes, as I already knew how to spot Oio, which is the only component of fly fishing that I am decent at. Casting accurately, enticing a fish to bite, and fighting a fish on fly gear are things that I still suck at. As you might expect, the line on one of the false casts slapped the water with a loud SMACK! and the Oio hightailed it out of there. Aargh, this is harder than it looks. I saw several Oio after that, and all ended relatively the same way, the line hitting the water and the Oio spooking.  

The next day I went out and dedicated more than half the trip to just learning how to cast in the shallows, and I got a lot better at it. After getting the timing slightly better and incorporating the double haul technique, my casts were looking better. I headed out and after a while I was able to spot a lone fish around four pounds heading straight towards me. I waited to see if it would turn, which it did, and I made a cast without spooking it around 12 feet in front of it. I thought, “Damn, the reef is so gnarly here that if I hook this fish I’ll probably lose it”. To my surprise, it ate the fly and the fly line started going through my fingers, and not to my surprise, it reefed me almost instantly. Aargh. I retied my leader and ended up spooking even more fish before I decided to call it a day. 

The next week, I tried at a new spot, and saw a few fish, but the wind was so bad that it was nearly impossible to make a decent cast. I ended up blind casting, but to no avail. 

I was starting to get really frustrated with fly fishing and was considering bringing back out the spinner rod and reel for my usual Sunday Dawn patrol. After thinking about it for some time, I decided to give the fly rod another chance, with a new strategy and new flies in hand. The only problem was that I didn’t check the weather and it ended up being very windy and with clouds overhead. Not the best conditions for sight fishing. I proceeded forward, sighting some fish, until the rain came. There I was, the only idiot on the flat, in horrible wind and rain. I took out my phone to video, so I could at least bring something home, right? I ended up scrolling on instagram for a little bit, in the middle of the water, until I looked around and spotted a blueish-green blob around 20 feet away from me. By some miracle, an Oio had presented itself right to me, probably not being able to see me because of the ripples on the water and choppy waves. But I could see it, and that’s the main thing. 

I put my phone away, silently stripped out the line needed for a 20 foot long cast, and decided to lead the fish by a LOT. Luckily it never changed course and it came within 5 feet of my fly sitting on the bottom. I started with a long strip to catch its attention, followed by some short and fast ones. To my amazement, the Oio lit up and swaggered over to my fly. I gave it two hard, fast strips, and on the second one, I felt the weight of the fish, and set the hook. The fish felt the pain and took off toward the horizon as I frantically tried to release the loose fly line. Once it got into the reel, I applied mild pressure on the reel with my other hand and kept the fly rod high. Once it stopped running, I could feel it rubbing against rocks and ran over to free it from three different coral heads (in hindsight, I was lucky). I started working the fish in but forgot I had to feed the line into the reel evenly (I’m used to spinners that have a level wind mechanism), so the line piled up on one side and the reel jammed. I quickly let some line out and filled the other side of the reel, getting the fish in closer until we locked in some circles around each other.

After what felt like an eternity, it froze on the surface and I netted it. I was ecstatic and let out a pretty loud yell. The fish was bigger than I originally thought, measuring at 22”, and since it was a “fatty”, I’d probably estimate it at five and a half pounds. I took some pictures and it was released back into the water. Wow, what a rush. I went home a little after that, stoked to the moon and back, happy that I had managed to land my first Oio on the fly rod. 

I’m still a beginner and learning as I go, and most likely got lucky with that fish. Thanks for reading this long story. As for the Oio, I’ll be back for more, that’s for sure. And as always, good luck to you all.

Holoholo: Golden at long last

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Jason has been chasing a particular species of inshore jack all his life. How fitting that he captured it on a fly rod at the spot he first gazed upon one as a child.

Jason: The story begins the day before, during our Saturday morning outing.   I had spent most of the day fooling around with streamers at the edge of the flat, trying for papio, lai, or whatever would bite.  Things were pretty slow, so when the tide went down, I decided to switch to targeting bones.  

Anyone who knows me knows I am an unabashed bomber, but the tide was low, and the light was good, so I decided I would sight fish.  My friends John and Brent were on the beach talking story with a fisherman they had just met, and I decided I would fish nearby, in a location I knew was frequented by pa’opa’o.  There were a lot of blacktips that day, and I saw a few bones but none were interested.  About 30 minutes in I spotted what, from a distance, appeared to be a pa’opa’o. Just as I raised my rod, it spooked, and took off for the channel. “Maybe next time…”

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, and since we had all struck out we decided we would give it another try Sunday.

Given what I’d seen the day before, I decided I would focus on the same area right out of the gate.  The morning light wasn’t great, and the tide was a bit higher than it was midday Saturday. This was all the excuse I needed to revert to my preferred MO of “targeted” bombing. I hit all the same spots where I’d seen fish the day before, eventually parking myself at the same location I’d seen the pa’opa’o. I got myself into a nice casting rhythm, covering a 90 degree swath of water with my 6 wt R.B. Meiser switch rod.

I had not been doing this for more than 5-10 minutes when I noticed a bait fisherman wading out nearby.  I kept one eye on him and the other on my casting, hoping he would not stop near me.  I was beginning to contemplate moving when I suddenly felt a heavy take, followed by a relatively slow, but powerful run.  Having hooked a number of barred and yellow spot trevallys in the past, I recognized it immediately.  Could this be it?  It definitely was not a bone!

Whatever it was, it knew what it was doing, and took me straight into the channel, tangling my fly line on the edge of the reef in the process.  I made my way all the way to the edge (which was a little sketchy) and managed to untangle it.  At that point I realized it hadn’t gone into the middle of the channel, but instead towards the nearby pier. 

I tightened up the drag, and was able to steer it away from the pier, but a nearby piling sticking out of the water was still a threat.   After applying more pressure, I was relieved to see the flash of the fish’s side a few feet in front of the piling, indicating I had turned its head before it could wrap me.  The problem now was my 6 wt switch rod lacked the lifting power to control the fish. A few minutes went by, and I managed to finally muscle it to the surface and within view…it was a pa’opa’o. The pressure was really on now!

With a relatively light (and long) switch rod, I realized it would be tricky to land by myself, so I yelled for John to come over.  He booked it 100 yards plus across the flat with his net, while I continued to keep it away from the pier and near the edge of the flat.  It was the longest minute or two of my life, but he finally arrived and and made his way to the edge and into a little sandy channel where the fish and I had been at a stalemate.  After a few tense moments and last second escapes, the fish was finally secured in the net.  I couldn’t believe it!

Along with awa’aua (ladyfish), the pa’opa’o (golden trevally) is a fish I’ve dreamt of catching since small kid time.  I finally got my awa’aua on the fly in 2016  – but the pa’opa’o had continued to elude me…until now.

P.S. As a kid, my father would often take us to the area near that same pier to fish for halalu.  I’d often explore the pier itself, and would stick my head over the edge to take a peek at what was below.  I would usually see a school of weke or small kupipi, but on one occasion, there was a big beautiful pa’opa’o swimming beneath it.  That memory, like this one, is forever burned into my mind.  Thanks for letting me share this story!

Jason

Holoholo: C-Tug kayak cart has numerous usability issues

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Despite so many positive reviews online, Guy ran into the following problems trying to get his Hobie Compass to the water and back, through sand.

Black plastic bucket cut open and shaped to conform the hull of Guy’s Compass

Guy: I read so many good reviews about the C-Tug kayak cart with beach wheels and really wanted to like it. Unfortunately it hasn’t performed as expected. The cart’s flat pads don’t cradle rounded hulls well. The cart’s straps slip off the kayak if the wheels hit any obstacle and the cart has to be repositioned. I had to add a cradle made out of a plastic bucket, to hold the C-Tug in place.

Sand in tire tread after being sprayed with water

I attached and detached the wheels under water and sand got into the plastic parts. Sand remained on the inside of the wheels despite traveling over a hard surface.

It was difficult to clean off without water. Sand gets stuck in the tire tread and probably cuts into it.

Wheel’s hub is scoured from sand stuck on axle

Sand got inside the axle and scratched up both the inside of the wheel and the axle itself.

Plastic axle scoured by sand

Sorry that my first Holoholo post isn’t more upbeat but I just wanted the kayak community to know that my experience hasn’t been as good as was expected.

Holoholo: Whipping weighted flies for oio

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There was so much interest in the art of bouncing small lures for oio that Matthew decided to share how he transitioned from papio whipping to retrieving lures excruciatingly slow.

Matthew:

It was probably somewhere around December when I was a little annoyed about how dead and slow the Papio action was. I was doing everything right but getting no results at all. It isn’t like me to give up Papio fishing, but desperate times require desperate measures. I weighed my options at trying different styles of fishing, those that an average fisherman like me could do, some of which included shore jigging, plugging, ultralight fishing, and oio fishing. I tried shore jigging with a friend of mine who had the idea of shore jigging down pretty well, and that didn’t go so well. After a few trips I decided I didn’t like that kind of fishing, and I quickly decided that plugging was going to be even slower than regular papio fishing. My ultralight rod was broken, so I decided not to try fishing with a half-broken ultralight rod. I decided to try my luck at Oio fishing. I’m kind of a fisherman who doesn’t use bait, not because I don’t like the smell or the hassle of getting it, but because I just like the challenge of catching a fish on a lure, where it’s more of a challenge. I’d seen pictures of many Oio that a few guys were catching on lures, and I thought, “well, it can’t really be that hard, can it?”. I headed out to a spot that I knew pretty well with a bunch of misplaced confidence. Turns out, it was really that hard and the guys were just making it look easy. Catching Oio on lures was not easy.  I must have gone almost ten times before I decided that it wasn’t for me and I shelved the idea for later. I returned to fishing for Papio. 

It also turns out that going back to fishing for Papio was just like banging my head against the wall over and over again, and in the three months that passed trying for papio, I only landed a measly 12 incher. I decided to stop banging my head against the wall and considered trying for Oio with lures again. With a few tips from Jeremy (see his recommendations) whom I’d been messaging on Instagram for a while, I headed back out to the spot again, with newborn confidence, which once again… was misplaced. I went on a few more trips being completely whitewashed. I decided not to give up this time and instead take a more strategic approach this time. I looked on google maps and tried to find the areas that looked best within the spot, areas that just looked “fishy”. I marked them on the map and looked for landmarks that could help me find the spot once I was out there. The next trip, I tried the spots, running through a few, until I tried a sandy channel that I had marked on the map. I casted and thought I was hung up on more seaweed for a second, as it was coming in with little resistance. Then, I felt the kick of a tail and my reel started screaming. I’d finally hooked the fish that I had been chasing for months. It put up a spirited fight and I landed a… small three pounder. Damn! These things fight harder than they actually weigh. I tried marking more spots on the map and went more times, failing for a few trips before finally hooking a nice seven pound Oio on the lure. It put up a really good fight and eventually surrendered. I was stoked, and it was my new personal best at the time. 

I was wondering if I could get any more distance on my casts, as I felt that I wasn’t getting enough distance with my papio whipping rod (you have to use light lures for Oio to not spook them). I bought a lighter whipping rod from a friend and went out to another spot I hadn’t tried in two years. I waded out to a sandy channel that looked good on google maps and bam! First cast I had a nice Oio on. It put up a real good fight on the lighter whipping rod and my lure was casting further, so I was like, “yeah, this was the right decision”. I kept marking places on the map that looked fishy and put a mark wherever I caught a fish.

Eventually, after a few more trips, I landed two more nice Oio before hooking into a really nice Oio on the light rod, which put up an awesome fight. It was probably one of the longest fights I’ve ever had, lasting around fifteen minutes. After taking a monster first run and bringing me down to my mono filler line, I was able to gain some line back before it just took all of it out again. I had to chase the fish halfway across the flat before I finally got it in my sights. It didn’t seem to like seeing me and took off on another run. I got it close again and we proceeded to draw circles around each other for what seemed like forever. I finally got impatient and made an attempt at it when it was on the surface, but I ended up flopping and embarrassing myself. I had to wait even longer before it finally surrendered on the surface and I netted it, with the tail sticking out of the net. I was stoked to land the nice Oio, which was 24 inches and around eight pounds. At this point I had started to make my own lures to catch the Oios, so it was even more gratifying. I kept marking more spots and trying new things, which leads up to now. Between that I landed a smaller Oio on my lure and missed a couple more. 

It was a rough journey to learn how to catch Oio on lures, and I really have to thank Jeremy who provided crucial information in the beginning. Without his help, I might still be struggling right now. I’m glad I have something to do when the Papio bite is dead now, but I am still learning every trip and I am nowhere near the level as some of the real hammahs that nail a few Oio per trip without problem. I’m considering trying fly fishing next, but that’s a whole new challenge and I think I’ll hold off on that for now. Anyways, good luck to you all, and tight lines??..

Holoholo: Papio not biting? Go chase oio!

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Jeremy and Matthew have been whipping with small lures for oio this Winter and Spring while waiting for the papio action to heat back up, and all-season fly fisher Jason shares some helpful tips that cross over to spin fishing for oio.

Jeremy:

When the papio bite is slow, I switch it up and target o’io.  Fishing for o’io with lures is challenging, but it’s all worth it when you finally hook up.  Nothing beats that first screaming run.  I primarily like to use light spinning gear, but if the winds cooperate, I do also attempt to use the fly rod, which is a completely different challenge, LOL.  For the spinning setup, I like to use 9’-10’ rods rated up to 1oz.  For the reel, I’m currently using a Shimano Stradic 5K filled with around 300 yards of 15# braid and attached to that is 15# fluoro leader. 

Big o’ios can rip out a ton of line, so using a reel that has a high capacity will greatly reduce your chances of getting spooled.  There’s nothing worse than getting spooled and having all that line stuck all over the reef (Do NOT let yourself get spooled if you can help it).  And as always, I highly suggest catch and release.  O’io are great sportfish that put up excellent fights that all fishermen dream about.  Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could experience that every single time instead of only once in a while?  Just something to think about…

Matthew:

Lately the Papio action has been pretty dead, except for a few exceptions. Even the Lai and Kaku haven’t been playing recently, and it is probably the worst Papio fishing I’ve seen in a while. The only time I was able to catch was on the north shore at the break of dawn, which was a nice trip, with a 16” papio and a 12” papio.

But since the south shore has been completely dead for Papio, I’ve taken the opportunity to learn how to catch Oio whipping with lures, or more specifically, grubs. I’ve learned a significant amount in the past two months or so, but I’m still nowhere near the level of some real hammahs out there, who catch a few Oio per trip without problem. Whipping for Oio is a lot harder than fishing for them with bait, you have to trick the Oio into biting a fake imitation of a shrimp or crab.

Oio, in my opinion, are the spookiest fish in Hawaii. Do something wrong and you can see them take off towards the deep as fast as a bullet. Cast too close to one, it spooks off. Stumble on the reef and cause a small commotion, any Oio within 40 feet is gone. I think that the spookiness of the Oio in shallow water was the most frustrating thing that I had to deal with at first. I’m used to using noisy and big lures to catch Papio. The Papio is a very angry and aggressive fish, and the more noise and commotion you make, the better chance you have of hooking one. The Papio will rush towards any splashes on the surface. The Oio is the complete opposite. Make any sudden movements or cast wrong and you miss your shot. Papio will also take multiple shots at a lure sometimes. With Oio, you only have one shot. The most frustrating thing is when you see a tailing Oio and start making your way toward it, but then it spooks away even though you did absolutely nothing wrong. I still don’t have the patience to actively target tailing Oio, so I’ve resorted to blind casting in slightly deeper water (2.5 – 4 feet deep). I understand though, that it gets even harder, in fly fishing for Oio. Fly fishing for Oio is a serious art and I have great respect for fly fishermen who target Oio. It’s something that I might consider trying to learn, but much later. 

I was able to land four Oio in the past month, by sheer dumb luck. The biggest one being 23.5” and pushing seven pounds, and three smaller ones all being around four pounds. Whipping for Oio is especially addictive because you can actually feel their first run, whereas when you’re dunking, the heavy rod and sand/rock spike takes most of the first run away from the fish. 

Anyways, it’s slow right now, so don’t worry if you’re not catching. You’re not the only one. Try something different, go for light game, smaller papio. Try topwater lures for Kaku. Try using bait in deeper water. If what you’re doing right now is not working, consider trying something different until summer. Good luck out there??.

Jason:

O’io (bonefish) are one of the fly fishing world’s most revered sportfish, renowned both for their fighting prowess and skittish disposition.  But one of their more overlooked qualities, in my humble opinion, is that they are available year-round.  Unlike those targeting papio, I usually continue to see action, even through the cold, wet winter months.  That doesn’t mean things don’t get more difficult.  When the water gets colder, the fish often aren’t as plentiful in the shallows, and cloudy conditions can make sight fishing tough to near-impossible.  For those new to chasing bones on the fly here are few simple tips to increase your odds during the winter months.

1) Be willing to blind cast.  
I know for many, “bombing” (as it’s referred to by Hawaii fly fishermen) can be a tough sell.  I know of a few sight casting purists who will refuse to blind cast, out of principle.  There are others who simply think it isn’t worth the effort.  “Why waste time and energy casting if you don’t see any fish around?”    If you’re like me and enjoy the casting almost as much as the catching, this is a no-brainer!  When the clouds show up, and high tide blows out the flat, you can just stand there staring at glare on the surface, or pack it in… or you can throw out a few blind casts, and you just might get lucky!  If nothing else, you’ll get in some good casting practice, and for me, it’s simply relaxing!  

2)  When in doubt, wade out.  
When you aren’t seeing many fish in shallow, there is a decent chance they’re all hanging out near the outer edges of the reef, where the water is deeper, there is more wave action, and they feel safer.  I find this to especially be the case in spots where there is a lot of nearshore activity from swimmers, divers or other fishermen.  Bonefish hate people!   You do need pretty good eyes to spot them out here, but in my experience at least, you’re far more likely to get an eat way out here.   And if you can’t see them, see tip  #1! 

3) Successful blind casting isn’t entirely blind.
While I never pass up the opportunity to take a shot at a fish that I see, as mentioned above, I tend to prefer bombing with a switch rod because I find it more relaxing.   Some folks I know don’t understand how it’s possible to consistently catch fish this way, but I believe the key (in addition to possessing stupid levels of persistance) is “targeted” blind casting.   I’ve found over the years that I catch more fish when I am targeting areas I have previously seen fish in, either on a lower tide, or when the light conditions were better.   As you spend more time sight fishing, and seeing fish, you will start to recognize the type of terrain that just looks fishy.  I will often target areas with a bit of wave action, where the bottom is a mix of rock and seaweed (not just in the sand pockets), or areas along the edges of channels or near on-ramps to the flat.  I will also never bomb in waters shallow enough to sight fish in, as this is a recipe to spook everything within casting radius!  As you wade out, you should also hit some of deeper sand pockets along the way as these can hold fish even on a lower tide.

4) Move!
Whether sight-casting or blind casting, there are countless times where I’ve hooked a fish just minutes after moving to a new spot.  Whether this is simply dumb luck or not, is tough to tell, but I tend to believe that if you aren’t seeing fish, or aren’t getting bites, it can often pay to move.  The more water you cover, the greater your odds of finding fish.
Well, that’s all folks!  Bonefishing during the winter is really not much more complicated than that, at least for how I like to catch them!  Good luck, and remember, he who has the most fun wins!

Holoholo: Winter 2021 Shore Fishing Report

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Here’s Matthew’s much awaited shore fishing Winter round up. He’s surveyed other fishers to provide a wider coverage.

Matthew: January and the beginning of February were very consistent. It was consistently terrible. The bite was pretty much dead and the many cold days plus the cold front didn’t help the bite at all. All around the island the bite, even for bait users was slow. Like usual, the people fishing deep water got a pass this time, and were actually getting some decent fish. However, for shallow water lure users, it seemed like our attempts were being made in vain. So far in 2021 I landed only a 12” papio and a small lai for all of this year. Not exactly the start I envisioned, but hey, it’s something and I’m glad to be able to catch something. Some of the people I fish with have been getting lucky, with some occasional Papio and some smaller fish caught jigging, but nothing big. There does appear to be some good sized Papio inshore right now, and it seems like there may be very few smaller Papio inshore. The big boys may be in, and a few have come up and some more have been sighted. 

The inshore bait report is equally as bleak, with the only two Halalu/akule spots on the island being “almost year-round” spots and being very crowded. There’s no sign of Oama or that they’ll come inshore anytime soon. There is a small sardine pile at a spot that I fish but nothing too significant. Nehu don’t appear to be lining the shorelines along the flats and I haven’t spotted any bait on the flats, period. Many times the people I fish with and I have gone trips without getting bites these past few months. 

There is hope though, and this past weekend shone some light on the darkness. There was a very good-sized Omilu that came up and there was decent action at a dropoff that me and some friends fished. Strangely there were a lot of bigger Kaku present as well. Around the island there were some nice catches this weekend, but as much as I would like to see it as some new hope, I’m not going to assume anything. 

The bite appears to be very dead right now, and it’s a great time to try to change things up and throw the fish a curveball. Go fish a dropoff, or try for Oio. Try freshwater fishing, ultralight fishing, scale down your lure size, or do whatever you feel will attract more bites. Do anything but give up. Remember, even when the bite is bad, you have a greater chance of catching a fish when you’re fishing than sulking about the crappy bite at home. 

If you’re one of those people who use bait, it may be a good idea to try to catch small reef fish and tow them slowly behind a bubble float. Perhaps a small Hinalea dragged around at a dropoff would produce some good fish. If you know a halalu spot, maybe go try catch some and fry them up. If you can throw them out alive (don’t tangle others up of course), then do it. Another good idea may be to use light tackle and drag shrimp or grubs at a sandy area, targeting weke, oio, smaller papio, and anything that bites.

I and many others agree that this is the worst winter that they have seen in a long time, if not ever, and there may be some contributing factors to it. 

Some Theories:

  1. Increased number of “catch-to-eat” anglers during COVID
  2. Unfavorable weather patterns last year
  3. Cold water temperatures
  4. “Spot Burning”, often caused when someone with a large following posts a video or picture obviously depicting a known spot
  5. Lack of education about rules and regulations amongst new anglers, leading to many undersized fish being kept, bag limits being exceeded, and aquatic life being taken out of season

Whatever the reason may be for such a bad winter, it is bad and that is a known fact. There is a light at the end of the tunnel though, and we should be seeing a rise in action pretty soon. And like stated earlier, you have a better chance of catching fish at the ocean than at home. Good luck to all, and see you on the next report??.

Holoholo: Our First Big Yellowfin Tunas

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Capt Erik and his dad Edwin continue to up their game. Just a few years ago they were new boat owners, now they’re on their new-to-them Boston Montauk chasing pelagics and dropping down on Deep 7.

Capt Erik: As usual, me and dad talked about what kind of fishing we wanted to do, the week leading up to the day I was free to fish on Sunday January 10th. Since we recently purchased two electric reels for bottom-fishing, I wanted to try and increase the odds of catching a nice bottom-fish by heading out to Penguin Banks and trying our luck there.  Continuing to watch the winds online while the week progressed, and realizing that my free time on my fishing day was getting shorter as we were packing the boat up the night before, I switched the plan and decided to stay at our local pier and just try trolling on our side.  Dad was pretty relieved to hear this because he just went bottom fishing on Thursday and Friday. 

We left the house at 5 AM, stopped at 7-Eleven to grab gas, food & ice and was in the water before six. There were a lot of boats at the pier staging to get ready and launch, but luckily with our small boat and simple set up we were able to avoid the mad rush and get out quick.

I had a plan in mind of the route I wanted to take and started my line from the head buoy. The sun started breaking the surface while we were about 4 miles offshore, the wind was low, the water surface had light texture and there were some long swells that were easy to handle.  The birds were just starting to wake up and move around and so we continued on our way dropping our Lures out right after the green flash. We had a Tsutomu 9″ bullet on the long center line (that I received while attending an Ahi course by Tsutomu), a 6″ Mark White smoker lure on the side and a 6″ chrome head lure rigged with flashabou by Derin Goya at First String Fishing (@firststringfishing) on the other.   

We didn’t see any birds that were working on our way to one of the fish aggregation devices, but did see someone jigging at the FAD. We decided to pull the lines up and try jigging since we saw that boat pull in a small shibi (5-10lbs?).  Dad dropped his jig on his electric reel down deep and I stayed up high since we couldn’t see any fish on the fish finder and wanted to work all columns.  After three drops and coming up with nothing and watching the other boat make three drops and coming up with zero as well, I looked around and saw there were birds now working the surface of the water approximately 500 yards from us.

We brought the lines up quickly and sped to the bird pile.  As soon as we got to the birds, I dropped my jig down and held my rod as I drove.  Dad put out a 5″ pink squid lure on his electric reel.  I slow down to about 5 to 7 knots and was able to hook an aku, about 7lbs.  We brought the aku in and bled it while trying to stay with the birds.  We continued to work the birds but about six more boats joined in and it became hectic to maneuver.  We couldn’t get another bite for ~10 minutes and watched as the other boats were successful in picking up smaller tunas about 10 pounds. We decided to leave that area and continue on the path I had routed and planned in my head.  


The path I made up was based on our previous trips in December where we saw lots of birds. Shortly after leaving the birds where the other boats were, I saw bigger sized skipjack tunas jumping in front of us and birds that were sitting down on the water and would fly over when they seen the fish jumping. I was able to observe some flying fish scatter at the top of the water very close and made a small turn towards it.  Right after I turned the Mark White lure line started peeling out.  The fish gave a little fight and then started surfboarding on the surface. The fish hooked itself in a way where it pulled the gills, bled out, then came up dead.  It was a good sized Aku about 15 pounds.  While bleeding the fish we made a big rookie mistake 🙁 We left the lines in the water and our leader line with the chrome head got caught around the prop and stopped it. It took us about 15 minutes to cut the leader line free from the propeller and then I circled back to where we caught the fish. I didn’t see any other fish jumping and while circling around again to make another pass in the area I could see a huge pile of birds very far off in the distance. When I troll with dad I’m usually always driving while dad sets lines watches the Lures and controls the lines according to which Direction we need to move in.  We work well together this way because my eyes are better at seeing the birds and dad doesn’t get seasick while not looking into the horizon (looking down at lures, tying down poles etc).

The bird pile I’m seeing way off in the distance is free of any boats and the birds are very actively working the surface, diving as well as flying high to move and dive. I instruct dad to pull up the centerline and watch the lines as I speed to get to the pile. Before we get to the pile, dad puts out the third line. I look at the GPS and realize that the spot we are in is the exact spot that I wanted to go to. It was a destination we had marked the month before when we took a double strike but couldn’t land either fish. About 3 to 4 minutes into working the pile I see the first fish jump out of the water!! It was a yellow fin tuna that I guessed about 60 pounds. I told dad “we are not leaving this pile. I don’t care if we don’t catch anything today I want to work this pile because I can see what kind of fish there are. “

We continue following the birds and I continue to see the fish jumping out of the water and now my heart is racing. We circle once within 1/4 mile of where we started and then get back down to the bottom where we started our circle when we finally hear it. . . Our 14/O Penn senator real starts peeling line end drag is screaming.  It took the Tsutomu 9″. Trying to remain calm we pull up the other lines and prepare ourselves. I had a good idea of what was on the line because I’ve seen the fish jumping around but decide to keep the boat moving instead of stopping and fighting it up and down like you normally would a tuna.  Once the deck was clear, dad takes the wheel and I take the rod and reel at the back.  I work line slowly back into the reel but we have a lot of line out at this point (100 yards?). I realize that if at some point we do get the fish boat side that someone will have to leader the fish up.  I asked dad to hand me my gloves get the gaff’s ready and the bat for dispatching.  Dad takes the rod and reel for a second while I put the gloves on in anticipation of leadering and tells me “we forgot the bat.”  I jump back on the reel and now the fish is close. I get the first glance and my adrenaline goes even higher. Neither of us have ever seen a fish like this before while on a boat.  I told my dad when i saw it “Big Fu$*!n Yellow!”


I grab the leader line and start working the fish toward us as it circles its way boatside trying to make sure I guiding it to Dad standing to my left. Once it’s in reach of dad ‘s gaff he sinks it in. The fish still had a little life left and frenetically kicked at the surface, dousing us with water and splashing dad’s hat to the side, blocking his sight. Dad holds the gaff with one hand, quickly tossed his hat off with the other and I reach over and grab a meat hook. As quick as I can I put it in the fish’s mouth and yank. We hoist the fish up over the rail and hear a thud of the fish hit the floor of the boat.  A huge relief overcomes the both of us as we realize one of our long-time fishing goals was just achieved. 

As we sit there physically tired and emotionally relieved, I tell my dad what my wife, Jessica told me the night before. I always ask my wife what kind of fish she wants to eat to try and see if I we can fill her request (in hopes that if we do then happy wife happy life:).  She has called two out of the last two fish that we caught when she has asked (she asked for shibi the first time and mahi the second time and got both).  The night before she asked for an Ahi for spicy poke.  I responded and said I think I can get you poke, probably got small shibi.  She said back to me “no I want ahi.”  I explain to her that that may be a tall order based on the season but we’d try.  I guess I’m not the only one who gives her what she wants. haha.  Mahalo ke Akua!  Thanks be to God!

I spike the fish’s brain, gilled and gutted the fish to honor it, and keep the meat as best as we can and we realize there was no way it was fitting in our cooler.  We grab the fish bag and transfer the ice from the cooler into the fish bag and maneuver the fish into it. After cleaning up the deck a little bit we decided to try for another one since the fish were still around jumping and we were still the only ones at the pile. At this point the weather had turned from a calm light wind day to now the front of the rain, so the air was chilly and the rain was toward land and blocking all view of land and blocking view of the pile from other boaters? The first long line went out with the Tsutomu again and shortly after the Mark White lure went out, we heard that beautiful sound once again but this time on the 12/O.  We knew to fight it up and down now.

It was dad ‘s turn to fight the fish and I was glad that I could film him. I took charge of the GoPro cameras while dad took charge of the rod and reel. I was amazed to watch him fight this fish because typically he’s so anxious when there’s a good fish that dad ends up horsing the fishing and sometimes pops the fish off. He took his time and methodically got the fish up crank by crank. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that we already had one in the cooler? I saw it was getting close to leader as my GoPro was underwater filming the fish come up.  I put the GoPro down and grab the leader line. This fish was swimming in a clockwise direction while circling up, opposite of the first.  Upon its fourth circle I could see it was going toward the propeller and feel it was stronger than the first fish. Our motor was still on and propeller was still in the water and the fish must’ve gotten spooked by the movement or sound because it took off on its second run. I let go of the leader line and let it do its thing.  Dad kind of laughed at the situation and took his spot at the reel again after putting the gaff down. Once again, he got it up to the surface and by this time once I grab the leader I could kind of tell that it was tired.  In fact, it looked as if it was defeated because on its last circle because it went straight for dad’s gaff and he was able to sink it in perfectly. It gave no fight and I reached for the second gaff and we lifted it slowly in. This time the feeling was more of a validation . . . A feeling of “ok, maybe we might know a little about what we’re doing.”  Opportunity met preparation this day.  

We knew it was our time and very lucky and blessed to have the two fish already in the boat so after quickly joking about going for more we took our time to properly gill and gut the second fish, ice it down, clean the deck and head in. 



When we got to the pier, we realize there’s no way we’re taking the fish bag out without pulling the fish out individually to properly wash boat and also knew that we really needed more ice for the fish. Instead of washing down at the pier (which was already full of boats anyway) we got ice and headed straight home. 

We don’t have a big fish scale so we weighed the two fish by standing on a normal scale, then with the fish and subtracting.  The weight of both gilled and gutted fishes came out to 72 and 74lbs. We took some pictures with the family and my friend Kelly came to help cut one of the fish in the early evening. 

We shared the fish with friends and family and kept replaying the events in our head.  You never forget your first and now we truly know what the feeling of “Ahi Fever” is like.  

Holoholo: Winter shore fishing report

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If you weren’t sure how the shore fishing has been this winter, Matthew breaks it down for you.

Matthew:

Winter is usually the worst time of the year for shorefishing; this year was no exception. Throughout the months of November, December, and now early January, the only thing that was consistent was the scarcity of Papio. I must have gone something like 0 for 20 in terms of Papio in fishing trips. I did manage to catch two nice sized Awa’awa as a nice bycatch, but the Papio were no where to be found. While the Papio have not been in, the Awa’awa have been making an appearance and my friends as well as I have been hooking a few recently. 

Many different spots at different times were tried, but all proved to be equally as bad. Some of my friends and I would sometimes even go many trips without a single bite. In December I went seven trips in a row (3-4hr whipping sessions) without a single tug or boil. Many of the Papio I have seen caught on social media have been caught with some sort of bait, most caught dunking. However, for most of the time I use strictly lures so that is not an option for me. If you have the chance to, I would probably say go for dunking with Tako, Ika, or leftover baitfish.

I tried a few different types of fishing to try to catch any fish at all, and it worked to a certain degree. I tried shore jigging in deep water, bass fishing in streams, Oio fishing, and ultralight whipping. The bass fishing worked the best and I ended up with a nice 14” smallmouth that turned out to be my new PB. For mainland fishermen, a 14 inch bass is considered big here since our streams are shallow and narrow. While fishing with topwater lures for bass may not be the most effective way to catch them, it surely is the most exciting. Seeing a bass inhale your topwater lure while jumping in the air is pretty exciting to most sport fishermen. 

Shore jigging has been popular in the winter because of the low numbers of fish in the shallows. Even though the shallows have been dead, Uku, Goatfish (Moana, Moana Kali, Weke nono, etc…), Kawakawa, and Shibi have been showing up at some shore jigging spots recently. Jigging is a very effective way to fish during the winter but it is also very taxing. A shore jigger should expect to lose many jigs in a month, sometimes even losing up to eight per trip. When you consider the average price of a jig, which is around nine or ten dollars, the losses start adding up very quickly. A lot of the times, when you break your line after getting stuck, you lose some of your braid mainline as well. This means you have to respool your reel more frequently, and braid is not cheap. While it is taxing financially, the reward can be very high, especially when you catch prized fish such as Uku or Moana Kali (although I haven’t yet).

The temperature has also been noticeably colder in the past month, both in the air and in the water. Sometimes when I’m out there early for dawn patrol, I start to question if it’s really a good idea, especially if it’s raining and a little gusty. The water temperature has also been more cold, which may possibly be the reason the Papio are nowhere to be found. 

In summary, the low numbers of success in catching Papio may suggest that it is a good time to fish for other species and other types of water. Perhaps you should take up Jigging, Bass fishing, Ultralight fishing, or Oio fishing, unless you’re as stubborn as I am, and want to continue pressing to catch a Papio. Good luck to you all, and stay safe???

Holoholo: First mahi ever!

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Middle schooler Hunter has gone from shore fisher to diver and now boater in just a couple of years. He shares his first mahi mahi experience.

Hunter:

It was a calm light wind day and I had high hopes of what the ocean would provide on this beautiful morning. Me and my dad headed out to the east side to do some diving and fishing. The boat ramp was packed but luckily we found a stall quickly. Heading out we admired the glassy water and we watched it turn from a harbor green to a deep dark blue.

We dropped down our jigs in 300ft of water and waited for it to hit the bottom. As soon as I closed my bail and stated reeling I immediately get weight on my line. I watched in amazement as I brought up a baby opakapaka. It was a bit small but since we were so deep the fish had pressurized on the way up so we would either keep it or throw it back to let it die. We decided to keep it to experience a small opakapaka’s taste.

We kept jigging and sending down ika and catching larger and smaller opakapaka. Luckily we were able to release most of the smaller ones as they had not “thrown up their stomachs”, and swam away totally fine. An hour went by and I was reeling up an opakapaka. It reached the surface but suddenly fell off the hook. It had died on the way up so we started trying to grab it and swing our boat around when suddenly we heard a splash and saw our opakapaka was no longer there. Assuming it had come back to life we moved on but as I looked away I saw the vibrant blue flash of a school of mahimahi.

With my heart and mind racing I quickly threw out a Yozuri Crystal Minnow. First cast, only 3 followers which didn’t dare to bite the lure. Second cast the whole school was trailing my lure. Finally on the third cast a big splash covered my lure and my reel started screaming like I’ve never heard it scream before. I was on.

It was an effortless fight to say the least. It may have run fast but it had tired out faster than any other fish I’ve seen. We had no gaff so we three pronged it in the head.

After securing the fish we headed in calling it a day not having enough ice to keep the fish fresh. We took it home and filleted it. I am looking forward to enjoying this fish!

Holoholo: A look back at 2020

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Krystal shared her shibi from the shore catch a couple months ago. This is her recap of the past year, only her 2nd “real” year of fishing ever.

Krystal:

Well, 2020 sure wasn’t what anyone thought it would be. As my 2nd real year of fishing, I had made goals for Summer 2020 back in December 2019. I told myself I was gonna go fishing everyday that the halalu were around because I missed so many days during Summer 2019. Well, the Hilo halalu run was pretty pathetic this year. I got a couple good days early in the season but the halalu were so small I felt bad bringing them up. The one nice thing was that because of COVID, not much people were at beaches. There were times I had the whole place to myself all afternoon! But the schools were smaller this year with smaller fish. One day the school would be there but not really bite, so we would hope for a better bite the next day only to find that the school was gone. There’s been lots of talk of people throwing illegal nets over the schools at night which would of course take much of the fish, but also spook the ones they didn’t catch. The fish were skittish and hard to come by. The halalu were biting real good at other areas of the island, though. I made a special trip out to the west side one day and caught a decent amount. They were good size, too. Wanted to try out the halalu down on the southeast side but never made it. Made it a new goal to skip halalu altogether and catch akule down South Point but never reached that goal as well. The only akule I’ve caught this year were about four in January and one in August by mistake.

As sad as my halalu/akule year was, 2020 for fishing in general was amazing. I made so many new friends through fishing. Got lots of new fish I could check off of my list of first time ever caught including pualu, lai, kawakawa, and shibi! All from shore!

So many places I got to go fishing for the first time ever. Fishing with such awesome new friends was more than I could wish for. You don’t even need to catch fish. Just being out there with good company is all that matters. I truly feel I’ve made lifetime friends this year. I’ve even made great friends this year on Instagram! Many of them are guest writers right here on Hawaii Nearshore Fishing. Though I haven’t met them in person, I feel I can call them true friends I can trust. I’ve learned so much this year thanks to kind fishermen who are willing to share their hard-earned knowledge. I don’t know where I’d be without their kindness and taking me under their wing. I only hope I can pay back what I’ve learned or at least pay it forward to the next generation of fishermen.

The goal I set for my 2nd real year of fishing was not met, but this year turned out to be even better than I ever thought. Full of excitement and good times with new friends. I’m really looking forward to fishing in 2021! What are you looking forward to next year?

Holoholo: Birthday Ulua Outing

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High school writer Matthew no longer needs an introduction as he is our most prolific guest poster. Check out the onshore and nearshore action he experienced in just the span of a few hours.

Matthew:

My birthday was coming up so I booked a trip with Captain Chris Wright (IG – @alohafishinghawaii) to hopefully get on some Uluas plugging and some Oio on the flats. When the day arrived, we got on the boat at 630 and headed out to his Papio spot to warm up for the plugging. I started off with a modified bubble that had a popper lip epoxied on it, made by Frank. It had really good action and I had no doubt it would attract fish. As we got out to the spot, we started casting and I started to get chases from Papio. Unfortunately, the modified bubble did its job too well and the Papio wouldn’t even look at the fly, all they wanted was the bubble. We could see splashes attacking the bubble but not going for the fly. As we got out further, I got a big explosion from a big Papio, but like the others, it wanted the bubble and not the fly. I reeled it in and saw some teeth marks that had punctured the bubble. 

I switched to a popper that Captain Chris had rigged up and started casting that. Within a few casts, I hooked up to a nice 3-4 lb white Papio and fought it to the boat. It was nice to finally feel some weight on the pole. We released it and with the next drift, I hooked up to another similar sized Papio. Same process, fight, catch, and release. 

After, we started drifting out to the deep to try and catch an ulua. I switched to his heavy plugging setup and started casting a big surface skipping iron that he had. We casted that for around an hour and a half without any strikes, so we headed inshore to target some smaller Papio with the light tackle (kastmasters, grubs, small flies). We were fishing along the edge of a reef that looked pretty fishy, and pretty quickly we were getting bites. 

We landed a few 10-13” range Omilu before we were reaching the end of the reef. All of a sudden, the baby turtle that was cruising next to our boat crash dove and swam away. The reef fish on the reef scattered and hid. We were wondering what happened, but then a few seconds later we saw three black shapes passing under the boat. They passed less than five feet away from the boat in crystal clear six foot deep water. They were big Omilu Uluas that we estimated to be upwards of 20 pounds. Of course, we made a cast toward them, but they weren’t interested in something as small as my 1/8th ounce kastmaster I had on. 

We headed even more inshore to the flats to hunt for bait, which in this case, small crabs were the bait of choice. We scoop netted around 15 small “blue pincher” crabs and headed out to catch some Oio. Captain Chris hooked us up with a smaller setup that was meant to be used to sightcast tailing Oio. He instructed us to cast ten feet in front of any Oio we saw. 

Unfortunately, we didn’t see any oio so he told us to cast over the dropoff and slow drag the crabs. On the first cast, I felt something subtly tapping on the crab that I assumed was an Oio (I had never hooked an Oio over 14” before since I don’t target them). I opened the bail and let it eat it. After a few seconds, I reeled up the slack and set the hook hard. What happened next was something I had only seen on videos before, but never experienced in person. The oio took off on a blistering run that had the reel spinning faster than I had seen before, even faster than a big Papio. The oio made a high speed run for around 30 seconds before it stopped. I started to gain some line but the Oio made a second run, this time toward a barnacle-crusted buoy. I ran at full speed to try and get to where it was, keeping the rod high at the same time. Fortunately it never made it there and we were able to fight it safely. After a few more smaller runs, we had landed it. We took some pictures and released it. 

We ate lunch on the flats and then decided to go for Uluas again. We headed out to his first spot and casted for a while with an orange popper. We didn’t get any bites after around an hour, so we headed to his other spot with only 45 minutes left before we had to head in. I started working his popper, and after 15 minutes of casting, the popper was tossed into the air over a flurry of whitewater. We could see an Ulua’s tail heading back down into the depths. I kept retrieving the popper and a few seconds later, it came back and demolished the popper again. I set the hook a few times and it started barreling towards the depths with so much power it knocked me off my feet. I stood back up and started trying to boost it but it was already over. It had cut the line in the reef. I was completely humbled by the immense strength of the fish. We were all bummed but it was a great learning experience, as I now knew how much strength I had to give to keep the Ulua from reaching the reef. Little did I know, I would need to boost an Ulua up sooner than expected.

Captain Chris rigged me up with an even bigger popper and on the very next cast, I could see a huge black shape following the popper in. It hit it once but missed, and it disappeared. I kept working the popper and a few seconds later, just 15 feet from the boat it came out of nowhere and completely obliterated the popper. I set the hook hard a few times before planting my feet against a cooler for leverage. Knowing what happened to the last Ulua, I started boosting it even before it stopped running. I’d never tried to stop a fish before it stopped its first run, but in that case it was necessary. As soon as it stopped running, I kept boosting it as Captain Chris started moving the boat towards deeper water. The Ulua took a second run that I stopped pretty quickly. After, the Ulua stubbornly resisted, but after a while, it came to the surface and Captain Chris was able to grab it by the tail. 

Captain Chris and my Dad were cheering for me but I was either too exhausted or shocked to say much. It was by far the biggest fish I had caught whipping. We took pictures of it but it wasn’t too thrilled about that and whacked me hard with its tail, leaving a wound I didn’t even notice until I got home. We released the fish and we headed back into the harbor. 

Many mahalos to Captain Chris for making my birthday a memorable one and for putting us onto the fish with expert tips. It was something that I will never forget. I would highly recommend Captain Chris @alohafishinghawaii to anyone that is looking to fish saltwater in Hawaii. 

On a side note, the shorefishing bite has significantly slowed in the past month, a few papios coming up in late october to early november, but only one Papio coming up in the last few weeks (at least for me). Out of the five trips I went on recently, I landed a 12” papio and a good sized Awaawa. It does seem like the Awaawa are moving inshore for the winter, as I have hooked quite a few in November as well as my friends. Good luck to all of you in this slow winter season!

Holoholo: Boat jigging tips from a young, committed angler

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With the water so cool now, the offshore pelagic bite has slowed. But bottom fishing and jigging is always productive if you can find the fish. We asked Merik to share his hard-earned boat jigging knowledge with us.

Merik I am an 8th grader in Honolulu HI and an avid fisherman inshore and offshore. In fact I love anything to do with the ocean. One of my favorite types of fishing is vertical jigging, from shore or on a boat. I mainly jig off a boat and it’s one of my favorite things to do.

Uku caught in 100ft of water on Majorcraft Live Bait 60g

Overview

There are a lot of factors that come into play while jigging. Depending on what species you’re targeting, the action and style of your jig will reflect that. There are two main types of jigging that can be done, slow pitch jigging and fast jigging. Certain species like biting a certain style of jig and the way it is worked. Slow pitch jigging represents a dying bait fish, while fast jigging represents a fleeing bait fish. When jigging, especially offshore, the way you work your jig based off the fish you’re targeting and the conditions can depict the amount of fish that hit your jig. Just know that there are no rules that are set in stone while jigging and the main thing is that you enjoy doing it so feel free to bend those rules.

Jig Choice

Jig choice is quite important when jigging. The depth, current, structure, and setup can lead to what jig would be best for that situation. Slow fall jigs for example, you want to fish in places with less current, because the slow fall jig flutters on the way down and sways side to side, so when on the boat your jig will drift and will end up having a wider scope and will be more horizontal to the boat. Jigs more geared towards fast pitch jigging you can fish in high current scenarios, and where the drift is moving so that you can get your jig down to the bottom. I have noticed that the fish much more prefer the jig when it stands in a more vertical position rather than a horizontal position. The more vertical you are also increases the falling action on a jig which gives you a higher percent chance of a hit on the fall. Required weight can also depict what your jig of choice is, heavier jigs in deeper and high current scenarios are the likeliest of choice. But if you are willing to stay over your jig, then you can use smaller jigs. I have dropped 60g jigs down 300ft, but the main thing is that you stay over your jig. I typically use 40g jigs in anything 30-100ft, 60-130g jigs in anything 100-250ft, 150-250 in anything 250-600ft and anything more I would go 400g+. But those are not rules and you can drop a 40g jig down 250ft if you want to. I personally just don’t have the patience.

Types of Jigs

Kahala caught in 550ft of water on Majorcraft 180g

There are a few main types of jigs that you have to choose from. There are long jigs, short jigs, flat fall jigs, casting jigs, slow fall jigs, butterfly jigs, and the different in them lies in the shape. Long jigs are normally long as the name mention and they are usually weighted evenly sometimes with a bit more weight on one side. Straight fall is where the jig is completely even on all sides so that it flutters down side ways. You also have casting jigs and fast fall jigs which are much more weighted on one side which give them a straight down fall action or when shore jigging a father casting distance. Lastly are slow fall jigs and butterfly jigs which are designed to flutter on the way down. This is done by having them be unevenly weighted so that they flutter side to side on the fall. Some brands that I liked and used before are Major Craft, Shimano butterfly, Duo International, and Maria. Yet there are many other jigs out there and they all will do the job. I have noticed the way you work the jig makes the entire difference rather than color. 

Working the Jigs

Moana Kali caught in 140ft of water on Majorcraft Live Bait jig 60g
Nabeta caught on Ahi USA Assault 60g jig in 100ft of water

Working the jigs is the most important part in jigging and what I believe is the biggest factor to enticing a fish to bite. Like I mentioned, there are both slow fall and fast fall jigs. Slow pitch jigging with slow fall jigs are completely different from fast jigging. You are keeping your jig close to the bottom, and pitching it up and letting it flutter down. That is supposed to represent a dying bait fish. Fast jigging you want to work faster obviously, simultating a fleeing bait fish. For both I think it is very important to have a small time to pause so that it lets the jig fall. No matter how fast you’re jigging, give your jig time to stop and flutter down, even if it is for a split second because that is when you will most likely get hit. Certain species prefer certain actions. Ulua, omilu, kahala and most Trevally species prefer a fast moving jig as well as all species of tuna, kaku, and Awa Awa. Other species like yellow spots, uku and goats prefer a mid range type of action where your giving it time to fall, yet still pitching the jig at a moderately fast pace. Lastly, for slow pitch I noticed a lot of times you would get fish like nabeta, nunu peke, kagami and hagi. You can still catch all those species with all types of actions. It’s just that I have gotten the most bites from those fish on those types of action. 

Setup

The setup for jigging can vary, but honestly you don’t need those fancy jigging rods like Ocea, Fcl and Zenaq to catch fish. It may help get you more bites and it will be easier to work the jigs, but really they aren’t necessary. The main thing rod wise is that you want something that is easy for you to use and preferably light in weight. 

Ulua caught on Shimano Butterfly 140g jig in 125 ft of water

Reel wise, a nice solid reel should do the job and it should be able to fit a sufficient amount of line and the lighter it is, the easier it is on your arm. But it isn’t the most important factor when jigging. I think that capacity is more important than weight of the line when jigging. You want at least 200 yds on your reel because you may be thinking that a 60lb Ulua isn’t gonna bit a 40g jig, but it has happened to us micro jigging with a 2500 size reel and they are impossible to stop. And if you hook a pelagic jigging, which can happen, capacity will help you land the fish. I would say minimum for boat jigging is PE 1.5 and the maximum is PE 5. You can go higher but the thicker your line is, the harder time it will have cutting through the water. You want thin line so that your line can slice through the water and get to the bottom faster. I usually connect it to mono leader with an FG knot but that’s just because that reel doubles as my whipping and casting reel. But you can use PR knots, GT knot, Albright knot, or whatever knot you find reliable and low profile. I don’t use fluoro because it’s so abrasion resistant, most knots can’t cinch down enough. The weight of your mono is your choice. I do 25lb mono for a PE 1.5 setup, and 60lb mono for a PE 3 setup

Conclusion 

Jigging has quite a lot of factors that come into play, and it may seem like a lot to take in. But 5 years ago when I was first introduced to jigging, watching the guys hand-line jig at the buoys, I didn’t know anything. Me and my dad tried jigging for 5lb aku with a 9/0 penn and a spreader bar (we didn’t catch anything). The main thing is to have fun, and be committed. The more you jig the more you will get a good stroke down and you will then get more bites. The main thing that kept me going was that I was having fun doing it and it was addicting, especially when you got the strike. I didn’t know about any of this when I was jigging at that time, I was doing anykine, but I was catching. There are no rules to jigging, but the main thing is that you enjoy doing it. If I got one hit every trip I was successful. So main thing is that you stay committed and have fun doing it and eventually the bites will come.

Holoholo: My experience with Sufix 832 and 2 other braid brands

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Holoholo writer and fly tier Matthew would like to share his positive experience with Sufix 832. If you’re interested in trying this braid that’s hard to find locally, drop us a line and we’ll try to add more to the Store.

Matthew: Braided line (braid for short) is very popular among all fishermen, but it is especially popular among whippers using lures. Its very thin diameter allows you to pack much more line on than a Monofilament line of the same strength. For example, I am able to fit around 240 yards of 20 pound braid (Sufix 832) on my Stradic 4k, while I would have to use 8 pound mono to get the same yardage. Mono also shortens the cast significantly, while braid can cast further.

A very popular discussion is, “What brand of braid is the best and why?”. Many people have different opinions about which brand they like, but I, along with many other dedicated whippers use solely Sufix 832. Keep in mind that I have only tried three brands of braid, Powerpro, Daiwa J-braid, and Sufix 832 but with the experiences I’ve had with the other two, Sufix 832 came out on top. Powerpro is a very stiff line and has a significantly wider diameter than Sufix 832. Powerpro is not necessarily a bad braid, and some like it, however many have had problems with Powerpro snapping randomly on the cast. 

Daiwa J-braid is more similar to Sufix, in the fact that it is a more limp and smooth braid, being not anywhere near as stiff as Powerpro. However, I have had some problems with it, including wind knots and quick fraying. My first two batches of J-braid lasted around 3 months before it frayed to the point where it was unsafe to keep fishing it. A recent batch of Sufix 832 lasted me around 4 months before I deemed it unfit for fishing. Keep in mind I fish at least two times a week and whip for 3-4 hours each trip, so there is a significant amount of wear and tear on the gear.

Sufix is the thinnest in diameter of all the braids I’ve seen, even thinner than J-braid. Thinner diameter means you can fit more line in your reel. A thinner line will also always lengthen the cast, which is helpful if you need to cast as far as you can. For boat/kayak fishermen, a thinner line also means that it is easier to drop baits into the deep. Sufix claims to have better abrasion resistance than Powerpro and J-braid , which in my experience holds true. This may be an experience isolated to me but I had some issues with Powerpro slicing up my fingers with normal use, while J-braid and Sufix 832 have not caused any cuts on my fingers so far.

Price is a big factor. Sufix is a lot cheaper than some premium JDM braids that I have seen, but for a braid that is readily available in the US and performs extremely well, Sufix 832 is reasonably priced. And while I have heard great feedback about some expensive JDM braids, Sufix is more than good enough. Sufix is slightly more expensive than Powerpro and J-braid, but it is well worth it in many ways. If you are looking for a deal on Sufix, Scott brings some in and sells them for below retail prices in the Store. If you don’t see the color and pound test you want, let him know.

If you are a whipper who uses mono primarily, I highly recommend you make the switch to braid. Even though braid can be hard to use and has quite a few disadvantages, in my opinion it is well worth it.  However, if you are just beginning to learn how to fish, stick with mono until you feel you’re ready for braid.

Here is a list of Mono vs Braid pros and cons, regardless of brand:

Mono Advantages: Very affordable, good abrasion resistance, easy to use, simple tangles can usually be fixed without cutting line

Braid advantages: Can cast much further than mono, greatly increased line capacity

Braid disadvantages: Expensive, hard to untangle any knots (simple or not), wind knots occur in certain brands, decreased abrasion resistance, can cut through skin if not careful

Mono disadvantages: Can’t cast as far as braid, wide diameter restricts capacity

Overall, it is all preference which brand of braid you choose, and all brands will work, but some will work better than others. For a fisherman that prefers good casting distance, more line capacity, top tier abrasion resistance (in terms of braid, mono always has better abrasion resistance), Sufix 832 is my recommendation, with J-braid coming in second place, followed by Powerpro in third place. However, this is only my opinion and analysis. There are many others that swear by the other two braid brands, although a great number of braid users in Hawaii use Sufix.

Thanks for reading this review of the different brands of braid that I have tried, and good luck fishing??

Holoholo: After work and school grocery run

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Capt Erik shares how his plan came together, in this heart warming tale of 3 generations fishing together on their “new to them” 17ft Boston Whaler Montauk.

Capt Erik: Sometimes I feel like I’m crossing the line of exposing, experiencing, & sharing time with my oldest son into indoctrinating him into becoming someone who loves fishing. Which is why I choose to limit the amount of time we’re out trolling so that he doesn’t become bored or feel like I forced him. I balance his ocean loves (swimming, snorkeling & most: night torching) with some trolling & whipping. This fishing trip was AWEsome.

I decided that we would do an evening troll after work for a couple hours since I had a longer work week & needed to get out the oldest son out of the house to break away from the distance learning schedule. The bonus was that dad was able to go with us. The plan was to blast straight out to an area that I heard was biting & see if we could get something on the way in. 3 hours max to make it in before sunset, park boat at home and I’d wash it in the morning before I head to work. We headed out from the pier & my son took his favorite place at the bow and hemo’d his shirt before we took the boat off the trailer. I saw some rain squalls 10 minutes out & told him to put his rain jacket on just in case. He must’ve been tired from standing on the bow & bracing himself because he laid on the seat to nap. Since we were slowed for him to don his rain gear and we saw some birds diving & circling already I looked at the fish finder and noticed opelu schools.

“Dad we go put em out already?” I asked. “Yup!” Dad responded. As my son caught some ? not even 5 minutes into the lines hitting water the starboard line starts going ZzzzZzzzZzzZ. Dad takes the wheel, I try waking my son up but he’s in a deep sleep & start bringing in the center longline. Wind squall is starting & the cold air-drizzles begin. Fish is still on while I pull the center line lure in & decide to leave the port side lure out. Cranking in the fish I see an ono thrash on the port side line ? & after another quick jerk of its body it’s free. I get the ono to the boat & realize the one treble hook it’s hooked on the outside of its mouth & the fish still has some life left. No time to waste “Husssss” gaffed right in body.

I tried waking my son gently but let him rest as the rain was now consistent. 1 on the boat within 30 minutes of launching. Dad and I did a big circle to try and let the rain pass knowing we’d be following it if we turned around and went straight back in. My son woke a little while after and was surprised to see the fish. He was still groggy and the rain squall wasn’t moving so we decided to rush em in. We got pelted by rain and it was so thick at one point the gps couldn’t connect to the satellite. The heavy white-out rain only lasted a minute and through it all not one peep from my son. No complaining , not scared and just sitting there watching me and his Papa laugh at the situation. Of course the calm came after the rain and it was a beautiful and little chilly drive into the bay. Had plenty time to wash at pier and head home to let my youngest play with the fish and take pics.

And when we got home my oldest told everyone “WE caught a big fish.” I loved hearing that. He may not have seen the fight but he was onboard and still felt a part of the catch. He was the good luck charm!

da_satosWe have the exact same mentality and approach for our daughters.1 likeReply

fishoahuI tried waking my son gently but let him rest as the rain was now consistent. 1 on the boat within 30 minutes of launching. Dad and I did a big circle to try and let the rain pass knowing we’d be following it if we turned around and went straight back in. My son woke a little while after and was surprised to see the fish. He was still groggy and the rain squall wasn’t moving so we decided to rush em in. We got pelted by rain and it was so thick at one point the gps couldn’t connect to the satellite. The heavy white-out rain only lasted a minute and through it all not one peep from my son. No complaining , not scared and just sitting there watching me and his Papa laugh at the situation. Of course the calm came after the rain and it was a beautiful and little chilly drive into the bay. Had plenty time to wash at pier and head home to let my youngest play with the fish and take pics.

Holoholo: Shibi on the rocks caught on homemade damashi!

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First time Holoholo writer Krystal with a heart warming story of an incredible catch.

Krystal: Hi, I’m on the Big Island. As a kid, my dad would take me fishing and I loved it. After he suddenly passed when I was 12, I never went fishing again. Having a health scare of my own towards the end of 2016 with a diagnosis of leukemia, life had taken on a new meaning. In January 2019, I made up my mind to do what I love. My own three kiddos were older now and I was managing my health better. Going holoholo has been my therapy. I hope to share a few of my stories with you along the way.

It all started with the invite to The Rock.

I’ve heard the name Suicide Rock thrown around by fishermen over the years but never knew where it was exactly or why it was so “famous,” if that’s even the word to use. As a novice fisherwoman, I knew it was hard to get that spot and didn’t want to skip on this potential once in a lifetime opportunity.

I had just broken the largest eye of my dunk pole a couple days before the invite and asked my brother to borrow his. The day right before our trip my husband came home with a surprise. He had just come back from visiting our landlady who had been going through her late husband’s possessions. My husband opened our car trunk to reveal about a dozen rods and reels! They were all old school, mostly medium-heavy dunk poles, just what I needed! I selected an 11 ft Ugly Stik to take on the trip and gave my brother back his dunk pole.

I had found one of my late father’s old conventional reels in our storage. Nothing special, a very old Eagle Claw brand reel with a line winder. I had never used a conventional reel before but wanted something that could hold more line than my biggest reel (a Penn Passion 5000). The guys I fish with like to use drones to take their jigs 400+ yards out and I could never get that close even with my biggest spinner.

I took apart the conventional, cleaned it, greased it and spooled on as much 50lb braid as I could on there. I wasn’t gonna jig with it, just slow retrieve a damashi with bait. I figured that this reel paired with the Ugly Stik was gonna be just fine for what I wanted, little did I know how it would turn out.

Fast forward to our trip. Suicide Rock was everything I imagined it to be, a rock out from the rest of the land that you need to time with the waves to get to. Water surges between the main land and the rock and also comes over the entire rock itself at times. Not for the faint of heart. I planned to leave the rock for the guys and stick to the safer part of the spot we were fishing.

It was near sunset on our 2nd day and I decided to give my setup a try. My friend had just tied up a few damashi rigs and gave one to me but now, it was nowhere to be found! I decided to take it into my own hands and tie one myself. I grabbed the biggest line I had: 40lb mono. A spool of line I found under the house I’m renting. It belonged to my late landlord. I looked through my tackle and picked up the size 16 BKN hooks thinking they were a decent size.

I began to tie a hook on with a snell knot, or what I think is a snell knot but couldn’t remember which way the line was supposed to wrap around. I ended up doing it backwards. I should have started with the bottom hook not the top one of the damashi line. Oh well. I looked at the bottom hook of the chain of 3 I just tied and didn’t trust the snell would hold. I managed to finagle a sort of clinch knot on top of it to give myself extra assurance and kept the tag a little longer than I normally would just in case the knot slipped a bit (little did I know).

My friend sent my damashi out into the sky and woops! It dropped pretty close to shore. There was a knot in my reel that caused it to stop unexpectedly. Unable to get the knot out, I reluctantly reeled my damashi back in so it wouldn’t snag the bottom. On the 2nd attempted drop, the bait on my bottom hook came off (I was using dead halalu pieces). Another friend decided to add a whole piece of frozen shrimp on the bottom hook as well as a small piece to the middle hook. It looked ridiculous going out on the 3rd attempted drop. My friend said he’d drone out really slowly this time. We found the knot in my reel and managed to get it out! This time the damashi went really far.

We let it sink maybe 20 seconds or so and I slowly began to retrieve. Everyone began to go about their own when I suddenly got stuck. I reeled a bit harder and wait, was this a fish? Everyone began to notice the struggle I had and shouted “Krystal’s on!”

Whatever was on my line was really heavy and every few minutes it would run and undo all the line I just managed to reel in. My left forearm was on fire as I got the fish closer to land but the guys said it was going way to the right — right to Suicide Rock! They said I had to go out there to land it. I slowly walked my way over the lava rocks, with all the guys right by my side guiding me and coaching me the whole way. They had to clear my line of the ulua poles they had out on the rock. The fish went right, then left, then right again. Finally they could see that I wouldn’t be able to land it from where I wanted as it was rubbing the ledge and getting stuck. They took my pole from me and braved Suicide Rock to fight the fish so I could remain safe on the main land.

The waves were washing all over the rock as they tried to land the fish. They had to get it unstuck from the ledge a few times and one of my friends nearly ended up in the water. When he saw the fish come up in the whitewash he reached down to grab it with the gaff and it stuck! Chee hoo! It was an 8.9 lb shibi (ahi under 100lb).

I never thought that a shibi would be the fish I’d catch with a damashi. Let alone my very first damashi I had ever tied and on frozen shrimp! Everything came together in an almost surreal way. A trip of a lifetime equaled to a fish of a lifetime. 

Holoholo: Omilua speared on inaugural boat trip

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Holoholo writer Hunter, true to his name, has gone from shore fishing to hunting under water. He typed this on his phone one night, while fishing, and sent it over via IG DM! Congrats on your big omilu Hunter!

Hunter:

I woke up at 5:30am on a Saturday morning. My dad had just bought a new boat from his friend for a cheap price. We decided to test it out with one of his friends. As we drove closer to Heeia boat ramp my excitement grew. Arriving at the parking lot we saw my dad’s friend waiting for us in his car. We parked the boat in a stall and got all the stuff ready. As we launched the boat and tied it to the dock I grew nervous for no reason at all. It might’ve been excitement but it felt like butterflies. We all jumped in the boat and headed out to the spot.

The water was flat but choppy. We drove at a slow speed as we were only beginners. Arriving at the spot we could tell it was clean. I jumped in and was amazed to see clear waters and fish all around me. We swam around, shot a couple fish including a munu and an uhu. As we made out way back to the boat I dropped down on a small Munu. I saw a small papio as well. As my eye drifted from one side of the hole to the other I saw the outline of two big fish.

My heart started beating faster and faster as I approached what turned out to be 2 big electric blue Omilus. But just as I got into range they noticed me and started booking it. I rapidly ascended to the surface to report what I had just seen. With excitement I shouted “Ulua!” My dad and his friend came over. His friend told me what to do and to be careful as they were very big fish.

I slowly ascended being conscious that this might be my first omilu ulua. I tried to stay calm but my heart was racing. I landed on a small ledge across from the hole where the omilus were in. As they circled in and out the biggest one made a mistake and came too close to me. I took the shot and hit him right next to the head. He went crazy tangling my line and pulling my gun. 10 minutes of absolute chaos. Finally he got tired and as I went down to retrieve him I was basically having a heart attack at that point. I pulled the fish out and relief fell over. I brained the fish I couldn’t help but smile cheek to cheek.

When we got back in we decided to weigh it at Nankos. It came out as 14.41lbs. It was a day to remember in my books.

Holoholo: Patagonia Stormfront sling pack review

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Our on-the-water fly fishing reporter Jason would like to complement the sling pack review Dino submitted with a review of his current pack.

Jason:

Since Dino just did his review of the Simms Dry Creek Z pack, I though I’d give my impressions of the very similar Patagonia Stormfront, a bag I have now owned for almost 3 years.  

The Stormfront lives up to its name in Japan!

When I purchased the Stormfront nearly 3 years ago, I had already owned a couple of waterproof packs.  Like Dino, I recognized after a few “incidents” that a normal pack was was not going to cut it for serious wading.  My first two waterproof packs were both Fishpond Westwater Sling packs.  These were slightly smaller, but similar in style to the Dry Creek and Stormfront.  They were great bags, but I had my eye on the Patagonia since I started fly fishing.  At some point, I broke the zipper on the Fishpond, and that was all the excuse I needed to upgrade.   I am sure many of you can relate.  

Like the Westwater and Dry Creek, the Stormfront is marketed as a “waterproof” sling fishing pack, meant to be worn across the chest from the right shoulder down to the left hip (although not reversible).  All 3 packs have a large main zippered compartment with an internal zippered mesh pocket, a small zippered outer pocket, and use welded TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) construction, a magic technology that means the bag has zero stitched outer seams, leaving the zippers as the only potential ingress points.   To solve for this, Patagonia uses a fancy German-made TIZIP waterproof zipper, the same type used on the older generation Simms Dry Creek bags.   Like the Dry Creek, only the large main compartment uses the fancy zipper, although I’ve found the outer pocket to be relatively waterproof.  To be safe, I only use it to store trash like line clippings and food wrappers.   As Dino mentioned, the zipper must be maintained.  The Stormfront came with a small tube of TIZIP branded lube, which is just ordinary synthetic silicone grease.  When I ran out of it, I started using the same Super Lube Synthetic Grease I use on my fly reels, which seems to work just fine.  

Like the Dry Creek, the Stormfront is equipped with multiple lash points and D-ring, as well as two attachment points on the rear for the fly rod tube straps.  The two straps that attach to these can hold a standard fly rod tube up to about 4-5 inches in diameter, but can also be used hold a landing net, a shorter two-piece whipping rod, or even a sand spike or two.  The D-rings and lash points on the strap are useful for hanging a zinger, hemostats, clippers, or any other fishing-related paraphernalia you want to keep within easy reach while on the water.  If you need to get something from inside the bag, you just slide it around your torso like you would for any other sling bag.  This is especially handy on the water where a regular backpack can be a PITA to get stuff out of when you don’t have anything solid to put it down on.

The Dry Creek and Stormfront do have a few minor differences, spec-wise.  The Stormfront does lack the fly patch, but more importantly to me, it also does not have a net holster.  I usually just stuff my net between my pack and my back, which is not the most elegant of solutions, but it works, though I have to admit I do get a tinge of net holster-envy looking at that Dry Creek.    The Stormfront is also a bit larger, at 20L versus 15L, but I don’t think this will be an issue for most people.  My older Fishpond Westwater was even smaller, at about 13L and I never had trouble fitting several spools of leader, a spare fly line, Hydroflask, a few granola bars or spam musubis, and a couple of fly boxes in there (unlike Dino, I keep my birth control pills securely in the glovebox of my car).  During the rainy months, a small packable rain jacket can also be stuffed in there, no problem.

All in all, if you’re looking for a good dry bag for whipping, fly fishing or any other activity near the water for that matter, the Stormfront will fit the bill.  It’s waterproof, durable and more than large enough to store everything you would need for an entire day out on the water.  On top of that, you also get Patagonia’s legendary Ironclad Guarantee, a true lifetime, no-questions-asked warranty.  Will you have to pay for it?  Yes.  Like the Dry Creek, the Patagonia is not cheap.   It retails for around $229.99 currently, although I scored mine for $219.99 back in 2017.  Definitely steep, especially for a bag you may only use a few times a month.  But as Dino says, “buy once, cry once.”  In the modern age of disposable, planned obsolescence, there is something almost nostalgic about a product that can potentially outlive you.

Holoholo: Simms Dry Creek Z waterproof sling pack review

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Dino, a hard-core bait caster who recently has been obsessed with ultralight whipping, shares his thoughts on his first waterproof sling pack.

Dino: “Damn”, you say to yourself as you retrieve your lure back up to your tip. You turn around and stare at the shoreline some half mile away…“Lemme change lures…maybe that’ll work..” you swing your tactical sling bag you bought off of eBay for $12.99 around and bruuhhhh…everything is soaked inside. Your wallet, phone, birth control pills, all soaked. Now you’re real mad. The fish weren’t biting and now you have a waterlogged bag. You make your way back to shore as fast as you can, and whoops! You step into a hole and go under. Seal the deal brah, you’re completely soaked.

These kind of things happen. It’s happened to me. I went through a pretty good amount of bags during my time fishing. Some were good, some were not so good. After doing some research, I finally did it. I bought a waterproof bag. I prefer sling packs. I can swing it around and get to my gear without having to take the pack off. Especially when standing in the water which I do a lot.

Introducing the Simms Dry Creek Z waterproof sling pack. Completely submersible so your can protect your birth control pills or whatever…the pack has one big main compartment with a lot of room to store your tackle boxes and such. It also has interior zip pockets for smaller items. It can be a little tricky to access the interior pockets with it loaded out, but it’s a nice feature to have nonetheless. A smaller pocket sits on the front side of the bag, but it is not waterproof. It is water resistant so me mindful of what you store in this pocket. I keep my tagging kit in it.

Build quality is superb on this little guy with multiple attachment points for tethers and such with reinforced stitching. The shoulder strap is comfortable with an integrated handle cut right into the strap itself. It also features a landing net sleeve! One tricky thing about this pack is the TRUZip zipper. It is awesome and 100 percent waterproof, but takes some effort to close and open. Lubing it with some armor all or 303 aerospace lube will make it easier to open and close. There is also 2 hook and loop sections on this pack for all you fly fisherman out there, or if you just wanna stick a moral patch on it (that’s what I did. I can’t fly fish to save my life).

All in all this is a great waterproof pack. Lemme warn you now though…it is not cheap. It’s comparable to other high end waterproof sling packs on the market today. Running In the ballpark of $230. But I figure hopefully this will be the buy once, cry once pack for me.

Be safe, have fun, practice catch and release, and enjoy the outdoors. ALOHA!

~ Dino