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Can fish see colors? If so, what lure color should I use?

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Can fish really see colors? Can they see the ultra life-like finish some high end lures sport? Should I change my surface lure color when the light is low? When dropping jigs deep, what are the best colors to use?

These are some of the questions lure chuckers ask. Over the years we’ve been given conflicting information. Sport Fishing Magazine ran an article in their June 2019 issue that is also on their website. “How and What Fish See” written by Doug Olander. The article answers these questions and I’ll summarize the info in a manner you and I can hopefully remember. All the photos in this post were taken from the Sport Fishing Magazine website

Do fish see colors?

Yes. Shallow water fish can see all the colors. Deep water fish living in low light aren’t able to see as many colors because colors are darkened and muted down there.

Do surface fish see the ultra life-like finish on my high end lure?

It’s believed that fish with large eyes in clear water can detect those subtle design patterns but whether their fish brains can process all that info has been heavily debated.

What’s the best color to use near the surface in clear conditions?

44 fishing experts were asked this question. The experts overwhelmingly said white or a white pattern.

What’s the best color to use in murky conditions or low light?

White, or white pattern, again was the color of choice, followed by chartreuse.

What do my surface lures look like when viewed from below?

Against a bright sky, all lures will look dark! No wonder top water experts say color isn’t as important and swimming action.

What do my lures look like in murky water?

Whites, yellows and greens are retained. Blues and darker colors turn to black the soonest.

The lures on the right are in 70ft of water. Reds are the first to darken.

What colors are retained in the deep?

Red tones are the first to go, in low light, deep water. Blue tones will be retained the deepest, green tones the next deepest, the others will fade to black sooner.

What do fish see in the deep when I retrieve my jig?

Deep water fish feeding in low light aren’t able to distinguish colors much but are geared to see slight movements against the background light. While they can see and feel jigs moving quickly, they can also see jigs slowly retrieved in a repetitive, predictable fashion. That could by why “slow pitching” off the bottom, then speed jigging higher in the water column is an effective strategy.

What’s the takeaway from all of this?

Lure action is more important that lure color pattern but whites and white patterns show up the best in clear and low visibility conditions. When deep jigging, choose whites, blues and greens and present an action that makes your lure the most noticeable since the fish may be straining to see it.

JDM vs Non-JDM Round 1

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So, we kicked off our informal comparison of Japanese Domestic Model (JDM) lures vs Non-JDM lures. The plan was to use Erik’s aluminum skiff to take us to promising reefs for wade whipping.

As Erik and I were launching we saw papio blowing up bait fish. We scrambled to put a lure on, and Erik threw a JDM micro jig; I threw a Shimano Waxwing Baby. On the second cast I hooked a papio and was surprised it was an omilu, not a white, in the muddy water. Waxwings are sold in the US and not in Japan, so Non-JDMs were up one! I got another hit that missed the upturned double hook, and the school swam out of reach.

We picked Robert up on the way to the wading spot, and he rigged Carolina-style with a non-JDM soft plastic knob-tailed shad. Erik threw a JDM popper, I threw a JDM hard plastic sub-surface lure, but there was no life on the flat. We got back in the skiff and trolled around for nada.

Then Erik put us on a drift into the shallows and Robert connected with an omilu on his Maria micro jig, followed by a lizardfish. Officially, the jig is not distributed in the US, but sold in some local tackle stores here, so we considered it a JDM jig. JDM 1 – Non-JDM 1.

The sun was sitting on this action-less day so we dropped Robert off and headed back to our launch site. Low light conditions are when the popper really shines and with 5 mins to go, Erik pulled off the last inning rally. His JDM popper got hit as soon as it landed in the water, and the fish pulled drag like a big papio. Turns out the biggest fish of the day was foul hooked, but was released relatively unharmed.

Final score JDM 2, Non-JDM 1. We really didn’t have enough shots at fish to stage a head-to-head lure comparison. We did confirm that the papio really aren’t in yet. More testing to follow!

Holoholo: Damashi & Jig Mayhem!

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I met Robert on the beach as he was cleaning up after a full day’s kayak fishing outing. He recently purchased a used, big brother version of my kayak and we bonded over that. He scored a big uku that day, here’s that post. Since that day, Robert has been very helpful in getting Frank and me better prepared for the pelagics in the deep.

Robert: Well to start off, I am Robert Richards, a nearshore/offshore kayak fisherman. Hailing from Wyoming, I spent most of my childhood on Oahu and decided to become a resident back in 2007. Of course, I pursued shore fishing: whipping, dunking and even trying my luck at sliding dead baits. (no luck on the slide for me haha) Eventually I wound up wanting more. Not having resources for a boat, the next best thing was this kayak fishing craze that is seriously in right now. I picked up a kayak and the adventures began! Similar to Scott, I chose the Ocean Kayak Trident Ultra 4.7 after countless hours of deliberation as my current kayak.

Managed to get out this past week with a couple kayak friends, Reece, Jay and Ben. Normally we do an early launch to try and pick up any Menpachi (Brick Soldierfish), Aweoweo (Bulleye) or more importantly some Akule (Big Eye Scad) for the sunrise bite. However, this trip turned into a later launch at 5:30am. We tried to catch Opelu (Mackerel Scad) at the start of light, but none to be found. Hoping to catch the lowering tide, minor bite period at 6:30am to 7:30am and sunrise bite, we decided to rush to one of our spots.

We paddled towards our spot. On the way, Jay and Ben found an Opelu school, but they were too far away for me to try for that school. I tend to keep moving out on the water always searching for bait or good marks. I paddled up on one of my other spots and BOOM fish finder is loaded with the marks of Opelu. Got my damashi sent down just in time into the school. Picked up what felt like 2 Opelu. Started to work them up and then “ZZZZZZZZZZZ” my reel starts peeling line, over 100ft gone in the flash of 3 colors of braided line. I thought to myself: ‘as long as I can last this run, I have a chance at landing this fish’. Well, I did, this battle turned into a 400ft drift and nearly 40 minutes of tug of war before I finally landed a decent 10lb class KawaKawa (Mackerel Tuna) on my 10lb test damashi.

The top hook was hooked perfectly in the corner of the mouth. This isn’t as common in these cases, sometimes they get hooked in the mouth but usually they get snagged on the body somewhere. KawaKawa are strong fighters all the way until the end, no matter the size. The problem is that they rather enjoy stealing your Opelu in the depths and destroy your damashi. To counter this, I usually have a looser drag when I fight my Opelu, fighting the Opelu in a pumping fashion using my reeling hand to cup the spool for added drag pressure.

The day went on and the bait became scarce, though there were plenty of larger marks varying from the bottom to the mid water range. This calls for the jig! I dropped my jig in about 340ft and started to crank. About 12 cranks up, a huge hit and line peels off the reel. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stop this beast and it ran into a cave resulting in line cut in bankrupt fashion…  I quickly tied a damashi and jig then back towards the original spot. However, Reece has been on a jigging binge, catching an estimated 20lb Kahala (Greater Amberjack) and couldn’t help himself but to challenge me to a jig battle! OH, it’s on! We found some good marks, dropped our jigs then, BOOM, Reece is hooked up and I am left with no bite, cheering him on. A battle ensued and Reece landed his PB Ulua (Giant Trevally) estimated to be between 25-30lbs! Caught and released.

We dropped a few more times with no takers, so we headed back towards the first spot. I paddled over another school of bait, this time managing to land one. Threw it out on the live bait rig and trolled. Making to the original spot, I found another bait school and hooked into what felt like one more Opelu. Score! Until… ‘ZZZZZZZ’, another 100ft of line ripped from my spool and the fight on another pelagic on my damashi started! This time I was a bit more impatient due to my time limit rapidly approaching. I wound up tightening my drag a little too much and broke it off. The funny part is the pelagics loved stealing the bait off my damashi this day but none wanted the rigged up live nor dead baits.. Sometimes that is how it goes. The over all conditions, stayed calm with light winds, plenty of sunshine and minimal current. The bite stayed on from about 6:30 until about 9:30-10am. Total trip went for about 6hrs.

Composite product test and catch report

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Since returning from the Fred Hall Show in Long Beach, the weather was often windy and rainy. Erik was able to get out and jig the deep a few times when conditions allowed and caught some noteworthy fish on the test jigs.

He got this 15lb kawakawa on a Jigging Master striped glow jig he purchased at the Fred Hall Show and immediately bled and iced the fish.  Made some incredible sashimi.

 

 

 

 

 

And right before Easter, Erik deep dropped a Lumica Xtrada Jacker glow jig with rattle he was given by the guys at Lumica and pulled up a rare and delicious hapu’upu’u.  Erik described the sashimi as having a texture similar to ono but with a slightly lighter taste.  And 3 days later it firmed up a little more with great oil content. He also made a fish and shrimp chowder with it and said it was super ono.

 

I haven’t done as well.  Caught a cold shortly after returning from the Fred Hall Show and whipped once and kayak fished once.  Took the 13 Fishing Omen 7’3″ travel rod and zero ball bearings Concept Z bait casting reel out to the test flats.  The tide was too low to allow predators to come in but I was able to see how the rig cast a 1/2 oz top water lure into the wind. I was very impressed.  The spool doesn’t initially spin as fast as my other bait casters so it doesn’t have to slow down as abruptly either.  I had 17 lb mono on, which is more forgiving than braid, and never backlashed, even with a head or side wind.  Could also cast further than I normally do despite a stiffer rod 7 inches shorter. The little reel was easy to cup and the 3-piece travel rod felt like a 1-piece.  I did get a small kaku to boil on my lure but that was it.  I’m pretty stoked to have a travel rod that I can carry on the plane that fishes like my 7’10” 1-piece whipping rod.  Excited to test the rig again under more fishy conditions.

Frank and I did paddle out on the one day calm enough to do so.  We fished the same 100 ft dropoff area we’ve been getting the big strikes and small uku, and the tide was rising in the morning.  Yet it was super slow. I hooked one shark which looked to be about 5 ft, and Frank had 3 of his trolled dead opelu attacked by something that clipped 3 inches off the tail.  It was a bright moon day, a few days before the full moon so maybe that’s why it was so slow. Even the whales had left the area.

The shark pulled steady and rested often. I tried to fight it off the bow, not off the side, so it couldn’t tip me over, and finally got it up to leader after about 20 mins.  Just as I was reaching to cut the leader with my new Gerber Neat Freak scissors I bought from the Fred Hall Show, it shredded the leader with its body or tail.  The VMC 6X Circle Hook was embedded in its jaw, keeping the line away from its chompers.  No pictures or video. Turns out, while fighting the shark, I turned the GoPro off instead of on.  Now I know how sharks feel on the line and the next time something pulls slow and steady, with rest periods, I’m gonna try my hardest to bust ’em off. My GLoomis Bucara rod, which is too stiff for the small uku I’ve been catching, had a lot of backbone to raise the shark off the bottom.  But all that backbone puts pressure on me so I gotta get in better shape to fight these heavy sea monsters.

No light wind days predicted in the near future so our product reviews are piling up.

We battled sharks/ulua on bigger gear and landed the target species – catch and cook

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Look at the discolored 20lb mono on the Sealine SL20. I even found salt clumps that I hadn’t washed away before storing it. Shame on me.

The last time Frank and I ventured out to the deep I ran into a strong fish that manhandled my light gear. This is what went down.  We were advised by my uku sensei to use 60 – 100lb leader and big rods/reels.  So I went into storage and rummaged through the gear I brought back from my party boat days out of San Diego that haven’t been looked at in more than a decade.  Cleaned and lubed a Daiwa Sealine SL20 conventional reel, put on fresh 50lb Sufix 832 and matched it to a Daiwa VIP boat rod.  This was my light setup to cast live anchovies on 20lb test mono back in the 90s before we used fluorocarbon leaders.  I figured it would be strong enough for Frank to land big uku and small ulua.

The red marking on the Trinidad’s side plate says “300yds 30lb Sufix” on clear tape. It isn’t a blemish.

I went into the “museum” to pull out the original gold Shimano Trinidad 14 and 7′ 7″ G Loomis Bucara bait rod I had purchased to catch yellowtail on the kayak in SoCal and never used.  That combo is at least 18 yrs old and the rod and reel are out of production now.  I really didn’t want to scratch the beautiful gold reel but the guys convinced me that the reel was meant to be fished, not to be tucked away in a box on a shelf.  Took off the discolored mono and put on 30lb Sufix to get more capacity. Both the Trinidad 14 and SL 20 are really 20 – 30lb test reels but I put 50lb on the SL20 just in case Frank needed to lock down on a big fish.

My uku sensei recommended VMC tournament 12/0 hooks that looked huge to me but the gap between hook point and shaft wasn’t really that big.  The intention was to hook the bait on, drop down and raise it off the bottom, away from hage, and just leave the rod in the holder until something hooked itself.  The circle hook with the severe turned in hook point was designed to be initially taken deep into the fish’s mouth, and as the fish turned and ran, the hook would slide out to the mouth’s corner, roll into position and hook into the thick cartilage.  Layton, at Charley’s Fishing Supply, suggested we also carry a few 14/0 hooks in case our baits were so big the 12/0 hook point wasn’t fully exposed.  The 14/0 looks a lot larger but the gap really only is an index finger width versus the pinkie width of the 12/0.

Frank and I both started with the 12/0 hook.  He used 50lb mono and I used 60lb fluoro as leader.  I figured we had tipped the scales in our favor.  Boy was I wrong.

We picked a light trade wind day with a rolling swell due to a big east swell wrapping around the island.  Not as glassy as our previous time but still easily fishable.  The Garmin 44cv took me to where we started the last time and we put down 5 inch opelu halves Frank had skillfully brined,  wrapped in newspaper and froze to preserve the integrity of the soft bait.  Not much was biting at the 80ft reef except for an occasional hage that shortened our bait and plucked out the eyes.  We kept our baits off the bottom to lesson the hage attack and set up behind the reef where it suddenly drops down.  Fishing with a light drag and clicker to allow the fish to run with the bait before getting hooked, we had numerous hard pulls that didn’t set. Some took the entire bait.  Others left teeth scrapes halfway up the bait but not at the hook area.

Suddenly Frank got a hard pull and run that almost tipped his SUP over.  The fish ran down and hugged the bottom like my fish did the last time, but Frank stabilized himself and quickly learned how to use the conventional reel.  He constantly had to adjust his seating position since the fish was pulling him forward, and had to reposition the gear strapped to his board.  The drag down fight went on for more than 25 mins and then I saw a large light colored shape at deep color. Looked like a big ulua, but Frank had a better view and he realized he had been battling a 6 ft plus shark!  It was another 5 – 10 mins before he could get the shark close enough to cut the leader and salvage most of his line.

This is just a couple mins of Frank’s physically challenging battle with the shark. Can you imagine sitting on a surfboard with no foot rests to push off of, feet dangling in the water with the ocean bottom 130 ft below, as a shark does its best to unseat you?  Frank did an incredible job getting that shark to leader.  Unfortunately the video of his release, with the shark swimming directly under me, had too many landmarks to use.

That shark didn’t take him too far out from where he had hooked it, but we slowly paddled back inside of the 100ft line. Frank caught his breath, and I dropped my opelu bait down.  More strong pulls and baits stolen.  Maybe our 12/0 hook was too large for most of the fish below us?  Then Frank hooked up with something big again!  This fish took him from the 100 ft depth to the 190 ft depth, which is about 350 yds based on the Navionics chart.  This fish cut his leader about 2.5 ft up from the hook before Frank could see what it was.  At this point, Frank’s arms and lower body were torched from doing big fish isometrics in a seated position on an SUP.

We paddled in to 80 ft, and Frank dropped a bait down, put the rod in the holder and started jigging with a Live Deception jig on his Shimano Stradic 4000 FK XG, which was a whole lot smoother than his old Penn 440SS.  He cast, jigged the lure back at an angle and bam! Hanapa’a! Up came a scrappy 2.5 lb omilu!  With that kau kau fish in his cooler bag he didn’t feel so bad about losing the second fish.  Then his bait rod bent over and he almost went with it.  The fish was running so hard he couldn’t get the rod out of the holder, so he loosened the drag, pulled it out and went back to work.  This fish fought like the second fish and pulled him out before cutting him off at about the same halfway up the leader spot as the second fish.  We’re wondering if the scute of an ulua cut the line so far away from the hook but I guess we won’t know until we land one.  I was wondering why I wasn’t hooking them or anything for that matter.

Out of desperation I dropped my opelu half down, cranked up about 40 ft, and held the rod to feel for bait stealers.  Soon I felt some hard taps, then stronger tugs, then the clicker sang.  After so many missed fish I expected this one to drop the bait but it stayed on and I fought my first fish on the Bucara/Trinidad setup.  It felt awkward compared to my short jig rod and bait casting reel. The rod had a stiff tip and long butt, and I had to think about laying the line as I retrieved.  The fish felt strong, much stronger than a hage so I was hoping it was the target fish.  It was, and the circle hook was securely tucked in the 3lb uku’s mouth.  That was the only fish I caught that day, but I was stoked to get my personal best.

In this video you can see that I wasn’t smart enough to put the rod in the holder and hold the leader with my left hand while netting with my right. I kept trying to use the rod tip to pull the fish close enough but the 6ft leader was too long!

We tried to fish that area harder and I finally got a strong, steady pulling fish. Thankfully it cut the leader within 15 seconds and I didn’t have to do big fish isometrics like Frank did. We were nearly out of bait and drinking water, so we trolled our baits in.  I put on a whole frozen halalu and it got hit hard but the fish had only taken the back half in its mouth and missed the hook in its head.

When we got to the beach we both had trouble standing up. 6.5 hrs seated makes our old bodies stiff!

The uku had a small fish, a red opae and a crab in its stomach; the omilu’s stomach was empty.  Frank gave the omilu to our friend who made my custom transducer rod and mounting plate so streamlined I could pull the large transducer through the water with minimal drag.  That Garmin 44cv fish finder/gps has been critical in putting us on the deep water fish.

Frank put slices of ginger and diced chung choy (pickled turnip) into the cuts on the side of the uku and steamed it.  After it was cooked he took it out and drizzled shoyu, then poured hot peanut oil over the fish, then garnished with green onions, parsley and shiitake mushrooms. He said was “ono” and he’ll be targeting uku next time and getting his workout on land.

We have to fine tune the size of the hooks we’re using to increase our catch rate, and get better with the conventional reels. I did put a small scratch in the Trinidad, probably while transporting the rods after our long day, but I guess it doesn’t hurt too badly.

 

What does the Hawaiian Yellowtail aka Hiramasa taste like?

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This winter, an abundance of “Hawaiian Yellowtail” have been caught in deep water spots from both shore and boats.    Not to be confused with the common kahala (greater amberjack) or the kampachi (almaco amberjack), these true yellowtail look like a smaller version of the Japanese or California yellowtail, and have been known to show up occasionally but not in the numbers seen in the last few months.  Maybe the water has been a little cooler than our normal winters and they found it to their liking?  The local jiggers have been referring to them as “hiramasa” which is the name of one of the two Japanese yellowtails. The other Japanese yellowtail is called hamachi when it is small and farm raised, or buri, when it is larger, and is usually wild caught.  Confusing I know.  But anyway, we were very interested to hear how the Hawaiian Yellowtail tastes.  On social media, I’ve heard people say it made great sashimi but I hadn’t heard a definitive description of the taste.

So Erik, our boat popping and jigging enthusiast, went searching for them and his dad Edwin jigged one up.  Erik passed the fish on to Thad, our JDM product expert and sashimi connoisseur, to properly review.

Erik:
Me and Dad decided to fish during the Super Bowl since my team wasn’t in it (49ers) and Dad has no interest in football.  We did want to catch the end of the game so we decided that we’d stay closer to shore.

We departed from Kahalu’u on our 14’ aluminum Lowe boat with Yamaha 9.9hp tiller around kickoff and headed toward a different spot than our normal jigging area.

My favorite type of fishing is topwater so I decided to start with that since there was a lot of rubbish around.  On my first cast of a 60gram plug I was quickly hit by something that let go almost as fast as it hit.  No drag was pulled but my pole definitely bent and I got excited.  My dad was able to catch the bend at the corner of his eye and quickly dropped his 2 ounce jig to the bottom.  On my 4th or 5th cast I got a chase and saw the electric yellow line of the elusive hiramasa.  I could tell the fish was getting used to seeing the plug and switched to another topwater lure that I’ve hooked mahi on.  The masa seemed to like the faster retrieve so I reeled as fast as I could for 5 revolutions, paused for half a second and continued the pattern.  Bango!  Hit again . . . Pulled drag for less than a second before coming free again.

I noticed my dad was jigging like he would in our kahala area and he thought that it was a kahala so I recommended he speed jig all the way to the surface.  Well, he took my advice and got the masa.  Fight wasn’t too long but the fish certainly gave a strong fight.  From the way I watched him fight and the way he explained the feeling of the fish, Dad and I both agreed that the hiramasa was pound-for-pound a better scrap than kahala.

After we snapped some pics I knew I wanted to get Thad’s input on the taste of the fish so I went home to clean it to give to him the next day. As soon as we got back to land I cleaned it but didn’t find anything in the stomach.

Thad:
I had been seeing recent social media reports of the rare Hawaiian hiramasa coming up in unusual numbers this winter and the number one thought that always crossed my mind – other than how I can catch my own, was how they tasted in comparison to the farmed hamachi that we are all familiar with.  Well, I was extremely lucky to receive one of these rare fish from Erik, who’s dad recently caught his second one on their boat on O‘ahu’s eastside.  I’ll share with you my thoughts on this prized catch.

My favorite way to consume any fresh ocean fish is raw as sashimi.  If it can be eaten that way, that’s how it’s going down. Aside from it being the easiest (and laziest) way to prepare fish, it allows you to really enjoy the unique flavor and texture characteristics of each species, without any sauce or spices to mask its flavor.  I do add a dab of shoyu with wasabi which seems to enhance its flavor.

The fish Erik gave me weighed approximately 3 pounds, already cleaned and scaled, and wrapped with paper towels and additional towels stuffed in it to absorb any blood or water to keep it as fresh as possible.  Man, I need to learn from Erik because when I give away, it’s left uncleaned and double bagged in plastic shopping bags.  The fish still had its yellow stripe and yellow fins but apparently much of its vibrancy was already lost when compared to the picture Erik took of it the day before.

 

 

 

 

I cut the fish into two fillets and sliced one into bite sized morsels to eat right away.  The white meat was slightly pink, much like papio.  I could tell from handling the meat that it was leaner than the farmed hamachi.  I could feel very little fat or oil on my hands.  I dipped the end of the sashimi into the shoyu and did see a small oil sheen form on the surface so there was obviously some fat in the meat.

The texture was definitely like hamachi.  Compared to papio, it was softer than white and omilu but very similar to yellow spot.  The perfect texture for sashimi.  I would say the fattiness of the hiramasa was also similar to yellow spot, although I recently had one from deeper and colder waters that was a little fattier than this hiramasa.  The flavor was distinctly hamachi without its sometimes overpowering oiliness.  I was surprised how great its flavor was, even though it contained less fat than hamachi.

I have to say, I really enjoyed the Hawaiian hiramasa and its unique characteristics.  It was similar yet so different from our other local fish.  It would definitely rank it up there as one of the better eating nearshore fish in our waters.  I hope you all get the chance to hook and sample one while they’re still around.

Nearshore fishing has been very slow!

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The winter cold water doldrums are in full effect now.  Our group has tried wade fishing, SUP oama trolling and deep water kayak fishing the last few weeks with very little to show for it.  My fish finder was reading 73 degrees on the surface in the mid-morning.  Average water temp in July is 80 degrees so the nearshore predators must have gone somewhere warm to wait out the winter cold snap.

On our last kayak/SUP trip, the fish finder marked clouds of bait at 100 ft but my 2 hook damashi with one ika strip only caught hage at the very bottom.  Frank trolled a fresh dead oama from 10 to 80 ft and nothing bit. That has never happened before at this spot.

 

 

 

 

 

I kept bouncing the damashi with ika on one of the two hooks as I worked my way back to land.  An occasional hage would hit the ika and leave the unbaited fly alone.  Then I hooked something in 20ft of water that fought a little differently. I was surprised to bring up a small weke nono in such shallow water.  Had it been larger I would have kept it for poke.  In the second photo you can see that it has a predator’s mouth like the obake weke, much larger than the common white weke.

Since the fishing has been unproductive, the guys want to surf and gather bait until the bite picks up again.  I won’t bore you with the surf trip reports but if you’re interested, I could do some brief bait gathering updates.  Anyone interested in that?

Failed kayak damashi attempt

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I had “accidentally” caught a nabeta on a 2 oz jig the last time out and hoped that a  damashi rig would be a lot more effective.  Found these packaged damashi rigs from my California party boat days but dealing with so many hooks concerned me.  I split the rigs in half, sort of, and limited the modified rigs to 2 hooks each.

Expecting the current to be slow on a projected light wind day, I used a 2 oz Ahi USA Assault jig with the treble hook cut off as the damashi weight about 2 ft before the bottom hook.  Added an assist hook to the top.

The winds were light on our paddle out and Frank immediately hooked up with two 12 inch omilu on frozen oama.  I put out a lipped sinking swimming plug when I reached 50 ft and had a screamer of a strike.  A fish jumped out of the water in the distance and I was hoping the long, skinny fish was another ono like Frank had caught a couple of weeks ago. Sadly, it was a tail wrapped aha which I video’d but am no longer giving those nasty fish any more media coverage.  With such a hot inshore bite we were anticipating some action in the deep.  It took a while to find what I think was the opelu school and they were scattered near the bottom in the 120 ft area.  Unlike the previous trips, they weren’t bunched up and thick, and just past them, there was a weird rip current churning the top of the water that took us on a bumpy ride out to sea.  We paddled back closer to shore and noticed the bait school was staying just on the inside edge of this rip.  Our weights didn’t get the damashi rig straight down through the strong current and after trying for more than an hr we paddled in a ways to look for nabeta.

More weirdness. Our damashi rig appeared to getting pulled to the east, but we weren’t drifting to the west.  Once again, the rigs weren’t straight up and down which made for sloping jigging of the flies.  Nothing bit our rigs and then the trade winds picked up and we had to paddle in to the protection of the inner reef.

Frank deployed another frozen oama and got bit right away.  Another off-season 12 inch omilu!  He was making it look too easy.  I joined him and whipped my swimming jig in the vicinity but bite ended.

I consulted my damashi senseis and asked why we did so badly.  They said our weights were too light for the strong current, my hooks were too far away from the weight, and when we fished the inside, there was probably a strong current pulling east with wind blowing west, holding our kayaks in place.  Bottom line, when the damashi isn’t getting down effectively, use more weight.  I’ll try 4 to 5 ounces next time, and make my lead about 5 inches from my bottom hook.  If we actually catch an opelu we’re not fully prepare to use it properly but we’ll deal with that bridge when we come to it.

If you guys have any damashi tips for us, please send them our way!

 

 

Hard fighting or great eating, take your pick

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In early November, Capt Erik invited Frank and me to fish on his 16 foot Livingston.  The winds were very light and surf was small, so we felt extra blessed and excited to fish areas that would normally be too turbulent. The plan was to start deep (300 ft plus), while the conditions allowed, and work our way in.  Erik and I jigged while Frank used the damashi rig to give the bottom critters more menu choices.

Capt Erik put us on spots that produced for him in the past, and while Frank began to bring up small moana, our jigs went untouched except for a phantom swirl that resulted in my Shimano flat side 140 gm lure gone and the leader slightly curled as if the knot got bitten off. Nothing bit for a while after, which made me wonder if I just tied a bad knot and the jig fell off on the way up?

Doubt began to creep in. Maybe the conditions were too calm and the predators weren’t feeding down there?  Frank brought up a small nabeta on the damashi as we drifted in shallower, that piqued Erik’s interest.  When a large nabeta came over the side, Erik grabbed his light spinner damashi setup and left me as the sole jigger.

Frank landed a jumbo moana, and then Erik hooked something with his damashi that peeled line off his small spinning reel.  I pointed my cap cam on the action and we were stunned to see what Erik coaxed up to the surface.

We were in about 140 ft when the damashi bite slowed.  Capt Erik announced we’d be moving once our lines were up, and then my jig rod slammed down with authority.  I had on the very dependable 2 oz green mackerel Live Deception, and it didn’t let me down.  The fish powered towards the bottom as I tried to put the brakes on.  I was using my heavier jig setup because I wanted the stiffer tip to spring back as I speed jigged, and was glad I had the Tranx 500 with 60 lb fluoro and 65 lb braid to back me up.  You can see how this up and down battle went.  Capt Erik filmed the cool underwater sequence and Frank filmed above water with my cap cam.  The fish was released tired but unharmed.

We stayed on the spot after the fish was landed and I checked my tackle. The kahala had slightly bent one of the treble’s tines out and I bent it back with my pliers.  I dropped the Live Deception down again, and maybe 10 cranks off the bottom something hit it. It felt solid but wasn’t running hard.  I wanted Frank to battle something with the big level wind bait caster setup, and I could use a break after the kahala, so I asked him to take over.  During that transition, the fish ran parallel to the bottom and if felt like it went in a cave.  Frank fought it for 50 minutes.  This battle really deserves a post of its own so please look for that sea monster story soon.

The yellow spot papio swimming in air, still trying to throw the jig

After that long battle we took a break for lunch and then Capt Erik drove us inside of the 80 ft mark.  Frank reminded me that I hadn’t caught anything to be taken home so I switched to the pink Jigging World jig Erik fishes in the shallows.  Sure enough I got a nice hit and a 13.5 inch yellow spot came up.  I bled it and iced it down so I could compare it to the delicious yellow spot we caught at the Banks that I turned into poke.  Here’s how we did on that Banks trip.

 

 

Capt Erik took us way inside to the papas’ edge to show Frank how he uses small poppers and right on command he hooked a scrappy 14.5 inch white papio on light line.

What a perfect day!  Everyone got a chance to scrap with some fish and bring home something delicious. The nabeta, weke ula and yellow spot papio are some of the best tasting fish we hope to catch.  Big Mahalos to Capt Erik for his relaxing hospitality and for putting us on so many different types of fish.

Stay tuned for the Sea Monster post. We were scratching our heads, wondering what could be so large and heavy and not want to be moved off the bottom.  It was definitely a tackle tester.

Product testing in 180 to 500 ft of water

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We definitely were past the “nearshore” boundaries on this outing.  I wanted to test some heavy jigs with the Shimano Tranx 400, and Capt. Darren and Rey were kind enough to let me join them. I was wearing a GoPro Session on my cap for the first time, hoping to get decent footage of how the Tranx performed, and of our catches since it would be easier to point the GoPro than to take my phone for a still photo.

Darren fished the traditional methods of damashi with lures, and deploying a bonus line with cut bait.  He caught more fish than we did jigging but Rey was a close second with an amazing variety of species caught with his customized vertical jig spinning outfit.  I just landed a few fish on my slow pitch jigs, jigged slow and also fast, but the catches were memorable.  Out of respect for their privacy I’ll just be talking about my meager catches.

I started with an “inchiku” type jig that had an octopus hanging off a chunk of lead.  A small yellow spot papio hit that but the action slowed so I moved on to the new Live Deception jig with UV paint and a stout assist  hook off the front eye. The original Live Deception had always caught fish so I was surprised with nothing hit the new one. I switched to the original and didn’t get bit either.  I tried other jigs that had worked in the past and still came up empty.  An oddball looking white jig with pink stripes got hit as I lifted off the bottom and a hage made it to the surface.  That gave me some hope.  On the next drop a yellow spot papio hit it on the first lift.

We drifted past 220ft so I went with an 80 gm tungsten jig that was very dense and fell quickly.  That got slammed by something bigger as I lifted it off the bottom also.  Still, it didn’t feel too big because the Tranx’s smooth drag and big gears.  We didn’t measure the white papio but it looked bigger than 7lbs.

Rey was doing really well fast pumping through the water column so I tried a medium – fast pumping retrieve.   The slow pitch jigs wouldn’t swim well at this pace so I had switched to a swimming/casting jig from Japan.  It was easy to to tell if the jig got bumped as it fell to the bottom, and a turn of the handle engaged the Tranx’s gears. In the video below I’m clumsily lifting and cranking to make the jig shoot up and then slide a bit before shooting up again.  A smoother retrieve would have been to life and crank in an exaggerated circular motion.

About 2/3 of the way up I got hit by something with head shakes and frenetic tail kicks.  It felt like a small kawakawa but then headed for the bottom with authority. I thought a shark or ulua got it as you can hear on the video.  Turns out this same jig had caught a smaller kawakawa on a previous trip.

The 14lb kawakawa was a fun fight but the Tranx 400 had things under control the whole time.  The Game Type J rod and Tranx reel were so light and comfortable to fish the whole day.  I also had the Tranx 500 on a Shimano Trevala TFC medium action jig rod, but that felt a little bulky for the size fish I was catching. If something big showed up, I was ready to grab it though.

Rey’s unique vertical jigs and refined technique outfished me 3 to 1.  My gear and lures were really meant for slow pitching but the fish didn’t want to eat slow pitched jigs that day.  The Tranx 400 was plenty fast with 41 inches per crank but the Game Type J rod didn’t spring back fast enough for a heavy, fast jigged lure. In hindsight, maybe I should have used the heavier Trevala jig rod, but the fights wouldn’t have been as fun.

The GoPro head cam wasn’t always pointed where I wanted, and I found out it takes a long time to go through and process the worthwhile clips, but all in all it was a successful equipment testing trip. Much Mahalo to Capt Darren for being so tolerant as I bumbled around the boat, and for Rey to fill in for me when I should have been helping more.  I started the day off getting seasick (first time ever) and my back tightened up fighting the kawakawa.  That made me even more impressed with how the guys could power through with little sleep on a constantly rocking boat.

Find the bait, then find the elusive white papio school?

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Frank and I have been chasing reports of schools of white papio marauding bait in the deep channels but we’ve always been a paddle or two behind.  Bolo-ing on the last mid-morning search, we decided to try the evening bite.  Conditions were challenging, with gusts over 20 mph and rain threatening.

Not much was showing on my portable fish finder’s screen so we pushed through the wind to get to the spot we were told held the whites.  Fish appeared to be a few feet above the bottom on the protected side of the papa but nothing wanted to take our live oama offering.  As we waited for the 5pm witching hour to wake the fish, the steady wind blew me closer to shore. There were pockets of fish hovering  near the bottom that I assumed were white papio waiting for the evening frenzy.

Suddenly fish began to show up on the “sidefinder” view of the fish finder, indicating fish near the surface directly in front of my kayak. My Huminbird Fishin Buddy’s display is almost toy-like but I’ve come to learn that when fish are spotted near the surface like that, they are bait fish spread out on the surface over a sandy bottom.  I paddled my kayak’s bow like a hammerhead shark surveying side to side until I could also mark fish below me.  Suspended fish are either bait schools thick in the water colum or white papio stacked up under the bait fish.

When I took this photo, the surface bait fish weren’t showing up in the sidefinder view on the left of the screen, but the composite view of what I had passed over indicated bait fish thick under me.  Despite all this bait, nothing took the live oama I was deep trolling behind me.

 

 

 

 

Remembering I had brought a jigging rod in hopes that we’d be sitting over a school of whites, I clipped on a 3/4 oz, 2 inch compact tungsten jig and dropped it down but wasn’t surprised when nothing took it.  Out of boredom, I cast it out and jigged it back as I watched the fish finder’s screen.  Something was pulling back!  It felt like a fish but the Shimano Type J rod and Tranx 400 easily controlled it.

 

 

 

When I brought it in view I thought it was a 4 foot gray shark but it turned out to be a 12 inch white with 3 other whites following it.  Guess I had been watching too much Shark Week.

Stoked that the compact little jig had worked on the school of whites, I tried to whistle Frank to get his attention but the wind blew the sound inland, not out to him.

Paddling into the headwind as efficiently as possible, the trolling rig went off!  I was stunned to land a 12.75 inch omilu on the oama a few feet from where the white had bit.  I left the bait out of the water this time and finally made it out to Frank.  By the time we made it back in, the whites and the bait fish were gone!  Nothing showed on the fish finder and nothing hit our bait.  Ugh… I really had hoped Frank and I would finally experience a white papio frenzy.

We headed back to our launch spot and stopped at the spot Frank lost a screamer.  The fish finder’s screen was blank so we spread out and slowly paddled in.  I took a blind strike near the reef edge and had to put the rod in the holder 3 times and paddle back into the channel before landing a 14 inch white.

What was interesting about these 3 fish were their stomach contents. The 12 inch white was stuffed with small opae despite being around the bait school.  The 12.75 inch omilu was full of  inch and a half nehu, which looked very similar in length and profile to the tungsten jig.  The 14 inch white had a small mantis shrimp and a flat, whitish piece of cartilage stretching its stomach.  All were well fed and none appeared to have any oama in their bellies. No wonder our oama baits have been ignored.

Ever the team player, Frank was happy for the catches and new understanding gained but agreed we need to improve communication on the water.  He suggested looking into 2-way radios like the offshore kayak guys use.  Do you guys have any recommendations?

Big Island Bottomfishing Trip 2017

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Continuing the tradition started last year, the Pacific Islands Fisheries Group (PIFG) guys, Neil and Erik, traveled to the Big Island to boat fish the day before the Tokunaga Challenge weigh-in.  We stayed with Neil’s childhood friend Jeremy, who chauffeured us around like celebrities. The moon was a lot bigger than last year’s half moon conditions, and there was a 5.3 earthquake the day before.  We were eager to see how that would affect our jigging prospects.

Capt Wes was fishing a tournament in Kona that day so Capt Braiden, last year’s first mate, took us out on the 19 ft Glasspar he recently purchased.  The wide beamed boat easily handled the five us and provided a stable platform to bottomfish.  We started at the jigging spots that were productive last year, and came up empty.  Capt Braiden, who doesn’t normally shallow bottom fish, worked the sounder and GPS to find other likely spots.  Jeremy fished cut shrimp, Neil and I jigged, and Erik switched between jigs and damashi with flies.  Jeremy hooked something solid and carefully brought a big, thick yellow spot papio to the net.  That gave us hope, but the lure bite didn’t materialize.

Slowly the guys switched over to shrimp on damashi and went through the initiation of hage and lizardfish.  Erik hooked something big on the bottom hook of his light damashi setup and gingerly worked it up but it eventually bent the hook and swam free.  Capt Braiden tirelessly worked the various reefs and drop offs. The tide was halfway through its rise and Neil got a small nibble that felt different from a hage, and heavier than a lizardfish. Nabeta!  It was on the small size but very welcome since nabeta were the best eating of the first we had caught last year.  Soon the guys were bringing up singles and doubles of  larger nabeta as Capt Braiden carefully plotted his drifts.

Neil continued his nabeta pioneering by landing a black fish that we later realized was a nabeta, followed up with a second black nabeta.  Turns out black colored nabeta are of the same species we were catching, but a very uncommon catch.  The two black nabeta were smaller than their lighter colored siblings, but pulled harder.

Live Deception green mackerel, left most. Flat Fall 80 gm, 4th from left.

I stubbornly kept jigging, using slow falling, fast falling, larger bodied and very small bodied jigs, eventually trying 9 different lures.  Earlier something small was on, shook its head pretty actively and came off. Then a larger fish took drag repeatedly but slipped off the debarbed hooks when I paused to try to find the “on” button of Erik’s Go Pro camera strapped to my chest.

My jigging muscles were tired after hours of non-productive lifting and cranking.  I felt bad that I wasn’t contributing to the nabeta pile so I bummed a homemade 2-hook dropper rig from Neil and baited up with shrimp.  Once I hit bottom I felt a strong tug and cranked what I thought was a whopper of a nabeta to the surface. Turned out to be hage and so was the next fish I brought up.  The guys said I had to go through the hage initiation and thankfully the third fish I brought up was a nabeta.  At this point we had run out of shrimp and were chunking lizardfish for bait, and I added a couple more nabeta. The others were much more effectively adding to the community catch.

Out of cut bait and an hr left to fish, we worked our way back towards our launch spot. Capt Braiden stopped in the general area where we caught the ulua last year.  He must’ve dialed it in perfectly because the first drop of the 2 oz  Ahi USA Live Deception in Green Mackeral (last year’s magic lure) got walloped a few lifts off the bottom.  It felt awesome to have something bend the rod and pull drag.  I babied it a bit since it would be my first jig fish of the day if landed, and it took me around the stern.  It came up very shiny and Neil expertly netted it. Kagami papio/ulua, the first jig fish I caught last year too!  This one was smaller than last year’s and the guys decided it was too beautiful to kill.  We tagged the 20.5 inch (FL) kagami and set it free.  Erik blended my chest cam’s footage and his stick cam to create this beautiful video.

The guys were pumped and Jeremy dropped down a frozen oama Braiden’s wife had caught the year before.  It got inhaled and he calmly battled a stronger fish than the kagami I had just released.  After a series of powerful runs a larger, slightly less shiny fish surfaced.  21.5 inch (FL) white papio/ulua.  That one was headed to Capt Wes’ smoker.

We drifted out to deeper water and my 2 oz Live Deception took longer to hit bottom.  The “scope” of the line was greater than I preferred because my lifts couldn’t make the lure fall as intended but the jig got picked up and the fish made an initial run.  Thinking it was another papio, I was waiting for a strong dive as I tried to smoothly bring it to the surface, but the fish was whipped. It turned out to be a weke ula, maybe a couple of pounds.  Erik had been telling me to eat the weke ula raw instead of steaming it, since it’s a little firm and crunchy when cooked, so I kept it.

Nothing hit my Live Deception on the next drop and since we were in deeper water  I put on an 80 gram (2.8 oz) Shimano Flat Fall.  It got picked up and I felt tugs as I reeled it in. Hage on both assist hooks!  How’d it fit such large hooks in its small mouth?  That was a sign that it was time to head for the barn.

We suspect the slow jig bite was due to the full moon the night before.  The predators may have fed at night and were resting up for the next night bite. Big ups to Capt Braiden for putting us on the most productive nabeta harvest we’ve ever experienced and over some big papios.  Much Mahalo to Jeremy for the Big Island Hospitality.

Jeremy, Neil, Scott and Capt Braiden

Here’s the crew. We couldn’t all be in the same photo because someone had to take the picture!  Neil plans to donate one of the black nabeta to the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, and eat the other to compare to the normal colored nabeta.

 

Jeremy, Neil, Erik and Scott

 

 

Nearshore shallow water scouting expedition

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Captain Ron asked if I wanted to try the slow pitch jigging technique in relatively shallow water.  We had talked about trying over the past couple of years but something had always come up, usually the wind.   I jumped at the opportunity but warily watched the wind forecast.  2 days before our outing, the winds ended up being stronger than predicted, but the day before our trip was pretty calm.  Capt Ron said the main purpose was to shake out his 18 ft Boston Whaler that he hadn’t run in a while, and we’d try to find suitable jigging grounds not too far off the beach.

One of the two Honda outboards was having some ignition and throttle issues but didn’t make it unsafe to run, so off we went.  The winds were about 10 -12 mph with gusts to 15 mph, and was making us drift faster than I preferred.  We started off with jigs lighter than an ounce but they took too long to make it down before we had drifted away so we went up to the 1 oz Live Deception.  In 65 ft of water, I finally got a hit. Hage… but hopefully we found were the target fish were hiding.  The drift was still a little fast and my line extended a ways from the boat so I pumped the jig back in. Hanapa’a! The fish was shaking its head but bending the soft tip of the Shimano Game Type F light weight rod, but didn’t feel like a papio.

At color we saw something orange. Weke nono, the deeper water weke ula.  This was one of our target species and the fish was a couple pounds so I kept it for my parents to steam. Unfortunately the Live Deception’s treble hook got stuck in the net even though I had crimped the barbs down. Guess I didn’t do a good enough job. By they time we freed the lure we had drifted off the spot and had to start our drift again.  A while later a lizard fish came up so we decided to go deeper.  Small pockets of fish showed up on the sounder but we couldn’t drop the heavier jigs down quick enough before drifting past them.  We ended the day fishing in 17 ft of water off the reef and saw predators attacking bait fish on the surface but couldn’t reach them with the 6 ft jig rods.

It was a slow day jigging but a good shake down for the boat. Capt Ron patiently put me on the likeliest of spots but the fish didn’t want to cooperate.  It was a good safe, comfortable first outing with him.  We’ll have to try some rockier areas on a very light wind day.

Sheet glass conditions on a big moon day

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Erik invited me out on his small aluminum boat again since the conditions were too good to pass up.  Sheet glass, no wind for a few hours, and small surf.  The water couldn’t be any flatter than this.  Only concern was the big moon the night before.

The plan was to fish upwind of the normal wind pattern and work our way back.  On the way out Erik saw aha attacking bait and threw his sinking JDM swimmer. An aha went airborne with it and shed the hook.  The heavy, calm air transmitted sounds for miles, it seemed. Whales were breaching and expelling air, turtles were startling us with their snorkly exhales and big 10″ to 12″ malolo were being chased around.  We even saw a dolphin school playing a few hundred yds off.  All that life got us pumped up.

We kept motoring upwind but the deep reefs were just too tempting.  Erik hooked up his portable Huminbird PiranhaMax fish finder and we trolled around until we found the edge of the 100 ft drop off.  Down went our small jigs but nothing was interested in them.  We kept  heading upwind while watching the fish finder.  Fish were stacked up so we dropped the jigs again.  Erik jigged his lure erratically after reaching the bottom, then let it hit bottom again.  His lure looked lively on 10lb braid and he felt something heavy.  Hage! But at least we found fish.

When the fish finder found clumps of fish we fished harder. I tried my 20 gm jigs, 30 gms jigs and 60 gm jigs until I finally got a hage too.  By then Erik had let go a few.

Then we stumbled on a spot where Erik hooked something 1/3 of the way off the bottom. It felt small but had a consistent tail beat.  Baby weke ula!

 

 

 

 

 

I was able to get one also, then Erik hooked a stronger fish with his erratic jigging motion.  It tried its best to stay on its deep, home reef but Erik coaxed it up. Omilu! It taped out at 11 inches, head to fork of tail, and was tagged and set free.

We drifted off that productive spot and Erik had a hunch the deeper drop off would be even better. At 140 ft the finder was marking fish a little suspended off the bottom.  I ended a dry spell with the lowly trumpetfish so we moved a bit and Erik hooked two more juvenile weke ula, and I brought up the ubiquitous hage.

Erik quickly dropped his jig back down on this productive spot and something strong ripped line for about 5 seconds but the hook pulled. Arrggh.  We’re thinking it must’ve been a big papio or ulua.

He even caught a medium-sized moana on a deep reef with his active jigging action.  My slow pitch on 17lb mono wasn’t even attracting the hage anymore.

We had an hr left of fishing time so we tried throwing poppers and swimmers on the shallow reefs but there were no takers this time.

I think the bite was slow in the shallow water because the water was so clear and the moon was so big the night before.  The big predators had been chasing bait the night before and the smaller fish were running from the predators.  They all must’ve been resting in their hidey holes until the big moon evening activity started again.

But wow, what a beautiful day to be on the water.  All the fish caught were released.

Here’s how we did last week on a flatter tide but smaller moon.

My favorite nearshore and semi-nearshore lures – 2016

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Please keep in mind that my recent experience has been limited to fishing

  • knee high water from the sand
  • the tops of shallow reefs from my surfboard or kayak
  • jigging from a boat in 50 to 300 ft

and I use a 7’6″ to 8′ bait casting rod so I like lures I can hang a few inches off the rod tip. I don’t cast the bubble and grub even though that method works very well for folks with long rods.

In my limited experience I stumbled upon some relatively new lures that out performed the old standbys.

Shallow shoreline, light winds, clear water, low light:

lure-lineupI’ve recently tried a number of finesse top water lures from Japan and have been amazed at how they draw strikes from papio and kaku when other mid-column lures have failed to produce.  The slender Japanese lures mimic the small inshore baitfish well and don’t have thick bodies to get in the way of their hooks.  On days when the fish are being finicky, the gurgles and dips of these works of art draw strikes.  The fact that these lures float make them safe to use in even the skinniest of water.

Shallow shoreline, off color water, choppy conditions:

waxwing-baby-boy-and-jrWhen the fish can’t see the top water lures well, the sub-surface Shimano Waxwing shines.  In really murky conditions, the fish are still able to see the bone color Waxwing and feel its tight zig zag swimming pattern.  Slow down a bit to give the fish a chance to zero in on the lure.

 

 

 

Covering a lot of relatively shallow areas:

white-on-waxwing

The Waxwing can be fished pretty fast and stays safely out of the rocks at that speed, so it’s a good lure to use in search mode.

Around bait schools when predators are crashing the pile:

second-whiteSmall to medium sized poppers like the Yozuri Hydro Popper work well in imitating a predator boiling on bait.  The most aggressive predators will explode on the popper as it noisily makes its way back to you.

 

 

 

Fishing vertically in 50 to 75 feet of water on a slow drift day:

micro-jigsBreak out the shallow water micro jigs and “slow pitch” them.  Keep them in the strike zone by smoothly lifting and lowering your rod tip a few inches at a time.  Most strikes come as the jig flutters down.  If the current isn’t running too fast, a 1 oz jig or lighter should work.  Go with as light a jig as you can get down to the bottom.

 

Fishing vertically in 75 to 300 feet of water on a slow drift day:

aa-80-100-gm-flat-fall-collageThe Shimano Flat Fall and similar center keeled lures designed to fall slowly by zig zagging their way down the water column provide an enticing action and still make it to the bottom.  Start with the 80 gm size and if the currents prevent it from reaching the bottom, go up to the 100 gm size.  Slow pitch these larger lures like you would a micro jig and speed jig them after you’ve covered the bottom fourth of the water column.

uluaDon’t forget to drop a 2 to 4 oz Live Deception jig also.  I still don’t understand why the lure works so well but it just does.  If you want it to fall slower, bend the jig in a wide “U”.

 

There you have it.  To fish the shoreline out to 300 ft deep, you just need an inshore top water lure, sub-surface Waxwing, small popper, micro jig and a couple heavier slow pitch jigs.  You probably could get away with just 2 rod setups: a medium action whipping / jigging setup, and a heavy action jig setup for the deep water but if you want to splurge, add a light jig rod to make the small to medium sized catches more enjoyable.

 

Gear shake out

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Finally, after a month of gusty days, the wind slowed enough to kayak fish.  During that time off the water I had repurposed two reels I hadn’t been using, purchased a light, sensitive jig rod, and assembled some eye catching micro jigs from Japan.  With so many things to try out I left the frozen oama at home.

(L to R) Calcutta 200TE, Calcutta 300TE w/Trevala rod

(L to R) Calcutta 200TE, Calcutta 300TE w/Trevala rod

I started by whipping the black/chrome Waxwing Baby with an upgraded Calcutta 200TE.  The level wind reel was great for fishing bait but too slow for retrieving Waxwings, so it hadn’t seen use in months. I came across a 200TE main gear upgrade sold on a Japanese Domestic Model (JDM) website that increased the line retrieval from 25 inches to 32 inches per crank. The downside of that retrieval increase is a proportional decrease in torque and drag (level wind reel have drag washers on the gear stack and are affected by gear ratio).  Sure enough the Waxwing was zig zagging like it does on the high speed Shimano Curado 300EJ, but on the discontinued Calcutta 200TE that sports a stronger frame and better centrifugal brakes.  I did feel one bump and a miss.

I put the whipping rod down and picked up the new lightweight jig setup: A Shimano Trevala S rod so thin and light that it made the compact Calcutta 300TE reel look big.   The 300TE, one size up from the 200TE, was gathering dust in a box since I stopped using it as a small trolling reel. I added a longer power handle to replace the two-knobbed paddle handle and could immediately feel the increase in cranking efficiency.

(top to bottom) Live Deception, After Burner Japanese jig, Jigpara Japanese jig

(top to bottom) Live Deception, After Burner Japanese jig, Jigpara Japanese jig

I lobbed the shiny, nehu looking Jigpara jig (bottom lure in the photo) from Japan and lifted and fluttered it back.  Not a single bump.  Odd. So much activity on the fish finder and so little interest in the lures.  In the distance, 2 guys on a boat were whooping it up like they landed an ulua, so that made me fish harder.

Switching back to the WW whipping setup, I cast onto the shallow reef top, hoping I wouldn’t backlash and get my lure stuck.  A long fish lunged for the WW and missed the hooks. On the next cast, the lure was sucked down and a fish swam through the shallow crevices in the reef. I was relieved to see omilu blue instead of aha gray.  The omilu ran line out against the drag and I had to tighten it further.  The drag really was diminished by the higher gear ratio, and didn’t feel as smooth as it normally did.  Because I was “practicing” tagging papio, I had planned to take a photo while the fish was still in the water, measure the fish against the markings on my kayak, and let it go.  The fish wasn’t aware of my good intentions and literally spit the lure at me. It missed me by about a foot to the right.  The freed omilu, which I got a good look at, was at least 2lbs, maybe even 3lb.

Nothing else was on that reef top so I paddled out a bit and cast over another reef edge.  A pretty big aha grey hounded across the water like it’s nickname “poor man’s marlin” and also spit the hook. I was relieved my lure was still attached and I didn’t have to release that toothy demon.  To give the jigs an equal chance, I switched back to the jig setup, changed to the Live Deception jig and bounced it off the shallow bottom. Still no interest.  Back to the Waxwing and I got another hit and drop of either an aha or kaku.

It was about time to see if the white papio were gonna swarm at dusk like they did the last time they hit every micro jig dropped in the water. The fish finder picked up breezing fish gathering close to shore, but they didn’t take the Waxwing or the Live Deception jig.  Maybe it was too early? I waited for the sun to drop lower and then “poof” they were gone. No fish on the fish finder. I paddled around not believing that they would suddenly pick up and leave but appeared to be what they did.  The whites must’ve gotten bigger and headed somewhere else to attack bait.

WW baby underside

Look at what 3 fish did to this lure! (zoom in)

WW baby top side

Maybe I had missed other fish and didn’t realize it?

 

 

 

 

No fish landed but I was glad my confidence in the Waxwing was restored.  It had recently been outfished by surface poppers and heavy jigs, but proved once again that in shallow spots holding bait, there is no equal to a well-retrieved Waxwing.  And the Calcutta 200TE with higher gear ratio was fast enough to make the Waxwing look enticing.

The Trevala S light jig rod could cast jigs well despite it’s short 6’3″ length due to its soft tip.  I guess I’ll have to see how well it holds up to a fish some other time.

Note: Charley’s is running a jig combo special, which includes the Trevala S jig rod and the Shimano Curado 300EJ reel I used on that Big Island jigging trip of a lifetime.  Trust me, it’s a deal you don’t want to miss out on.

 

 

 

Big Island boat jigging trip of a lifetime

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Warning: This post will cover action beyond the “nearshore” boundaries and may take a while to read.

I was invited by Neil, the President of Pacific Islands Fisheries Group (PIFG), to boat fish the Big Island the day before the Tokunaga Challenge weigh-in.  We would be working the weigh-in, collecting nearshore tagging data and selling Lawai’a magazine subscriptions.  I almost declined the invitation because I had gum surgery 2 days before the planned fishing trip and hadn’t eaten solid food since.  I’m glad Neil encouraged me to go.  I decided to bring a 3-piece Cabelas travel casting rod instead of my 1-piece rods, to avoid paying for oversized luggage. The rod tip was pretty stiff to jig with but I had no other option.  I paired the rod with a medium action Curado 300EJ, filled with 15lb fluoro and backed by 50lb braid.  There was about 175yds of line in total, and I attached a 25lb fluoro leader.  I was hoping for some goats, papio and maybe even an uku on my relatively light gear.

We had Captain Wes at the helm, first mate Braiden, Neil and myself aboard the 19.4ft Alii Kai named the Akemi K.  We started by trolling frozen oama but they were quickly mauled by hage so we replaced them with Crystal Minnows.  A just-legal yellow spot papio was landed during a long dry spell so we stowed the trolling gear and zipped out to the first bottom fishing spot.

We wanted to field test a few different jigs so I handed Neil a 42gm (1.5oz) Shimano Coltsniper, one I hadn’t fished before.  He dropped it down with his medium spinning rig, got a bump, had a fish pull line and come unbuttoned.  That was promising.  I free spooled a 2oz Promar Live Deception jig, a size I had never fished,  and dropped it to the bottom. Jigged it up and down as best I could with the stiff rod tip, and began to do the slow lift and crank.  About 15 feet off the bottom the line took off.

kagamiIt felt like a good-size papio, making smooth runs, shaking its head and resisting being pulled up.  The Cabela’s travel rod had a good parabolic arc, bending from the middle of the rod, and performed much better than expected.  After about 5 mins we could see what looked like a big omilu making deep circles under the boat.  As it got closer we couldn’t believe our eyes – Kagami Ulua (African Pompano), a relatively rare and delicious catch.  Braiden gaffed the fish and it was official.  Kagami on the first drop of the Live Deception! My first ulua ever.  Neil and Wes looked at each other in disbelief, then Neil quickly dropped his Coltsniper back down.

 

Neil's 1st hageNeil got picked up and the fish fought stubbornly but didn’t shake its head.  Uh oh, hage action!  That was his introduction to micro jigging.

 

 

 

 

 

 

omilu with jigI dropped down again, jig/pumped and about 20 ft from the bottom, felt a hit.  A few nice runs, abrupt headshakes, and a 3lb omilu was boated. I expected a larger fish from the way it ripped line and shook its head. Man those omilu are tough.  I checked the line and the 25lb leader had a couple small nicks so I changed it out and made sure the uni-to-uni knot connecting fluoro main to fluoro leader was cinched down.  I didn’t want to lose another big fish to a badly tied knot like I did a few weeks ago.

 

Neil's trumpetCaptain Wes re-positioned the boat and Neil hooked into something that pulled stubbornly but not like a papio.  After a fun fight, Neil hoisted the largest cornetfish I had ever seen. Cornetfish are often confused with the trumpetfish, but the cornetfish can get much larger. It was shaken off the jig and set free.

Neil followed the trumpetfish up with a moana and was definitely catching on quickly to this “shallow water” jigging technique.

We moved to a new spot; I dropped the Live Deception down and before it hit the bottom the jig felt like it got picked up in a strong current. I engaged the reel and line peeled off the drag. The line angle looked straight up and down but the water wasn’t as deep as the amount of line out.  75 yds of 15lb fluoro top shot was out and the fish wasn’t slowing.  Captain Wes quietly said “this is a big fish”, telling the others to clear their lines.  I tightened the drag carefully and the fish still kept going.  Finally I tightened it to the point the line started pinging and there was maybe 25 yds left on the spool.  The guys were coaching me but we all figured the fight would end in a few seconds.  Miraculously the fish slowed and I started making very small pumps, gaining one or two turns of the handle at a time.  The fish rested and I got back 1/4 of the braid backing.  It surged again, but didn’t take out too much line.  I then started doing the drop a few inches and crank quickly method and the Capt remarked that he never saw anyone boost an ulua with such small gear. I took that to mean “be very careful” so I slowed the pumping action and tried to be as smooth as possible so the fish wouldn’t realize it was being yanked out of his home.

The travel rod’s foregrip was half the length of my other rods so my left hand spilled over the ends and was beginning to cramp.  My left bicep was engaged the whole time and felt like I was doing a really long isometric curl. But I could hear the voices of ulua vets in my head saying “kill its spirit, don’t give him hope”.  So I kept the tension in the rod, hoped my back would hold out, and short pumped when I could.  Halfway up, the guys decided to resume jigging cuz they figured it would either be awhile before the fish was landed, or the line would pop soon.  The travel rod seemed up to the task but I was worried about my uni-to-uni knot joining the braid to the 15 fluoro main line that I tied months ago. I really hoped I tied that knot well!  The fact that I hadn’t eaten real food in almost 3 days also wore on my mind.

At around the 8 minute mark the uni-to-uni splice was on the reel and I had about 75 yds of 15lb fluoro left.  The big fish saw the boat and tried to make it down to its home but only took about 30 yds of line. That was the last big run it made. The rest of the way it planed its body and resisted getting pulled into view.  We still didn’t know what was on but thought it was some kind of big jack.  I had only caught one kahala before, a little more than 10lbs, and just caught my first actual ulua, but strongly felt that this fish was an ulua not a kahala.  The one kahala I fought didn’t seem to have the leverage of a wide body that this fish did.

uluaWhen it was finally at deep color, it looked brown and long like a kahala. Ugh… I was disappointed but still wanted to see how large it was.  Then as I pulled it closer, the body shortened and color darkened.  Black ulua?  It looked huge, even larger than I had imagined.  I had always said that I’d photograph and release a large ulua but the Capt had plans for smoked ulua to share with the ohana, so he told Braiden to gaff ’em. Capt Wes had given us smoked ulua and was super ono so I knew the fish would feed a lot of people. The Live Deception’s treble hook was hooked on the outside of the fish’s head and so was the assist hook.  This caused the lure to bend but also prevented the fish from chewing through the 25lb leader I had just tied on. Lucky-Lucky.  The leader and main line didn’t have any nicks at all.  I removed the 2 oz Live Deception to ensure I wouldn’t lose it to a fish or a snag. It was going into “the museum”. I didn’t have any other 2oz lures so I put on a 1 oz Live Deception.

Upon closer examination, Capt Wes said that the fish was a dark, white ulua or GT.  Oxymoron, I know, but I guess they can get dark if they live in the black lava tube caves.  I would not have believed that my tackle and lack of big fish catching success would’ve allowed me to land that.  All credit goes to the Capt who put us on the fish and maneuvered the boat. Near the end of the fight he backed down to help me gain line, deftly keeping the line away from the props.

Neil's hageI told the guys to use my bait casting setup cuz I was done for a while! My left arm felt useless.  Neil declined and promptly brought up a monsta hage on his spinning setup.  He said he was doing his best to keep the rubbish fish away from the rest of us.  What a nice guy!  Actually, what he didn’t know was that I rubbed hage-attractant on the Coltsniper before I gave it to him and it appeared to be working.  He brought up a good sized moana next that jumped off the hook. I actually saw it break the surface!  He still refused to use my bait casting rig so I dropped the 1 oz jig down, did one lift and a fish was on!  I had never fished with Neil before and he was beginning to think I could catch fish at will.  If you have read my blog you know that was far from the truth.  In fact, a fishing buddy Kelly has never seen me land a decent fish. Here’s a classic outing.

zoom in to see the treble near its tail

zoom in to see the treble near its tail

So I asked Neil to fight the fish on my line and he said “no, no need” (translation: I don’t need your pity, I can catch my own fish). I told him I’m just gonna put the rod in the rod holder and let the fish come undone so he took the rod and skillfully battled the fish.  Turns out the omilu was foul-hooked. Neil said “you knew was foul-hooked you buggah, that’s why you nevah like fight ’em!”.  He was beginning to think I could catch fish at will and tell how they were hooked!

 

Wes with omilu uluaThe Capt had seen enough and took his turn with my bait caster.  He had used large conventional trolling reels with right hand cranks, and smaller spinning reels with left hand cranks, and had to adjust to cranking such a small, light reel with his right hand.  On the first drop he got used to the action of the rod, the quick free spool release and the level winding of the Curado.  On the second drop he hit the bottom, jigged once and was on!  The pole bent in its parabolic arc and line peeled off the spool.  Another big fish, surely an ulua.  Capt Wes took his time and played the fish like he catches ulua every day, which he probably could do if he wanted to.  After a patient battle he landed a beautiful omilu ulua, about 15lb.  Capt Wes was very impressed with the gear and the way the 15lb flouro held up to such a strong, heavy fish with sharp scutes.

nabeta on the jigNeil and Braiden switched to damashi to target the tasty kau kau fish.  I wanted to see what else the Live Deception lure could catch and dropped down again.  Neil started catching legal yellow spot papio, which are tastier than omilus and whites.  Braiden started off eradicating a few taape.  I felt what I thought was the jig getting fouled on itself and brought up a deep water lizardfish. Uh oh, maybe Neil rubbed some lizardfish-attractant on the jig when I wasn’t looking.  The boys started bringing up nabeta (razor wrasse), which were the best eating fish caught on the trip. I hadn’t eaten nabeta before but grew up hearing how it just melts in your mouth when you fry ’em scales and all. Then I actually foul hooked a nabeta on the Live Deception! Man that lure really does deceive everything!

The jigging action slowed down for me, probably because we were in shallower water where there were less predators.  A moana came up on their damashi and I dropped it down as live bait.   I was hoping for big papio and maybe even the uku that has eluded me on Oahu. Nothing hit that lively moana on the next few drifts and the boys continued to catch yellow spot papio, nabeta and taape.

ukuToo lazy to rig up with damashi, I dropped the 1 oz Live Deception down again and felt it get picked up right off the bottom.  Felt like a couple lb omilu so I asked if Braiden wanted to play with the bait caster.  He took the small reel in his large hands and worked the fish up to the boat.  UKU!!!!  My first uku I ever hooked, and on a jig at that. And I handed it off!!! Aww shucks.

With that it was time to pack it up and head for the barn.  What a boat trip of a lifetime.  My equipment held up, the 1 oz and 2 oz Live Deceptions were on fire, and I was bathed in Big Island hospitality by Capt Wes, Braiden and Neil.  I brought back the Kagami ulua, uku and a few nabeta to Oahu for my family and friends to try.  Will write more later… this has gotten too long as it is!

kagami with curadoAlmost forgot. This is how small the reel was. Too bad I didn’t take a picture of it next to the 30lb ulua.  It wasn’t even fully loaded with line.  Lucky-luck indeed.

 

Note: I purchase my Live Deception jigs at POP and Charley’s.  POP has the most variety, both in sizes and in colors. Charley’s has the best prices in general, and besides the Live Deceptions, they’ve brought in a new assortment of very small micro jigs from Japan.  Charley’s is also running a jigging combo special: the Curado 300EJ I used on the Big Island paired with the Shimano Trevala S jig rod which would’ve had more sensitivity and backbone than the travel rod I used.  That combo at the price Charley’s is running now, will be the perfect setup to start shallow water jigging.

The New Moon Curse?

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Kelly and I SUP’d / kayaked fished the day before the New Moon.  My fish finder marked fish and we caught a few legal omilu and whites on frozen oama, with Kelly getting cut off on coral by a larger fish. Nothing hit my micro jig.  All the papio were released intentionally or unintentionally, in preparation of the start of Papio Tagging this summer.  The bite was the best around the top of the tide so we went back the following day to dial things in.

The wind and swell were down a bit from the day before, and nothing seemed to be stirring in the depths.  The same places that showed fish on the fish finder the day before were barren.  Even the turtles were absent.  I scouted the deep areas and the reef edges, and Kelly crossed over the flats into deep water and back.  Halfway through our outing Kelly got a strong hit that took a third of his line. He had paddled over the reef edge, into the deep side, and was perfectly positioned to fight the fish in obstacle-free water. But it came unbuttoned.

That fish gave us hope but all we got was a series of short bites on our frozen oama and I landed a 9″ white.  Kelly paddled back to the launch point and I dawdled behind, hoping an evening bite would magically materialize.  In the 20ft to 15 ft sandy/muddy gap in the reef, the fish finder began to show some mid-sized fish.  Another 9″ white was hooked and released, and the next oama got hit as I let out line.  The frenzy was on but Kelly was already out of the water.

whites on FFHe texted “goodbye” and I was free to try out the small but heavy jigs. I paddled out to deeper, clearer water to give the jigs their best chance.  The fish finder transducer was suction cupped to the side of the kayak at an angle so the depths read deeper than they actually were. I’m guessing it was 30 – 40 ft even though the fish finder said 56ft.  The fish were marking from the bottom to halfway up and really thick.

 

live deception + assist + power clip

Exploded view of Live Deception jig and assist hooks before being slid onto Power Clip

I cast a 1oz Live Deception jig that had a rear treble hook, with added assist hooks connected via a Tactical Angler Power Clip.  I had snagged my trolling line and as the lure sank it hooked up!  Another 9″ white came up but the Live Deception lure was gone!  Meanwhile the oama didn’t get touched so I reeled that in and stowed the rod.

 

 

 

 

micro jig + assist + power clip

Exploded view of micro jig and assist hooks before being slid onto Power Clip

I kept the assist hooks and slid on a 30 gm micro jig.  It got hit halfway down the sink also!  And same thing, 9″ white caught on assist hook but the micro jig was gone.  What the heck?  This happened when I had caught a kahala deep jigging an 80 gm Shimano Flat Fall. I had thought a fish hit the Flat Fall hook and another hit the independent assist hook, and the Flat Fall-hooked fish pried itself off the clip. Now I began to realize that the kahala and small whites were flipping the heavy jigs off the clip with their head shakes.

 

white assist hook 1

this white threw off the Live Deception jig

white assist hook - 2

this white threw off the 1st micro jig

this guy threw off the 2nd and last micro jig

this one threw off the 2nd and last micro jig

 

 

 

 

 

I had one 30 gm micro jig left and slid it down the power clip next to the assist hooks.  Cast out, let it sink, hookup, repeat. Couldn’t be any easier.  Reel in a 9″ white and no jig left on the clip.  I guess the clip wasn’t intended to have heavy lures and separate assist hooks.  3 casts, 3 whites, 3 jigs lost. I was out of jigs so I got a chance to see how surface lures would work on these sub-surface whites.

The normally effective Waxwing Baby couldn’t raise them and neither could the Yozuri Hydro Popper, which slayed the 1lb – 3lb whites off the boat the previous week.  I had been disappointed that the Waxwing and micro jigs did not work at all when the Poppers raised all those fish from the depths and was beginning to think poppers were all we needed.  But on this weird evening following very little activity during the day, when the small whites were swarming halfway down the water column, the only thing they wanted were sinking jigs.  I guess every lure has its day.

Friends who fished further out on their boat, and others who fly fished the flats said this day was unusually slow, yet the next day had more action.  I had heard that the New Moon, like the Full Moon, was a slow day to fish.  One theory, my wise fishing kupuna told me, is that fish travel on those two moon phases so they’re less interested in eating.  It’s like the predators and prey have a truce so they can complete their migration. How productive has the New Moon been for you?

 

Jigging and popping for pelagics and ulua

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

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

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

80g blue sardine flat fall

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

kawakawa 5-13-16 2The guys let me fish the starboard (right) side of the bow, which had a lot of open space and allowed me to cast right handed.  On the second drop, about 20 ft off the bottom, I got hit.  The fish pulled a bit of line and then I could feel frenetic tail beats.  The soft tip of the Trevala rod made it a fun fight and soon we saw a tuna-shaped fish swimming in circles. Kawakawa for Erik’s grandma!  The guys were stoked that I was able to get my first flat fall fish and we resumed jigging and cranking with anticipation.

kahala 5-13-16After a couple of drops we weren’t seeing anything on the fish finder so we were about to move. I burned the flat fall back in and got hammered about a third of the way up.  This fish took drag and kept the rod bent.  I wasn’t sure-footed enough to stand and fight the fish so I sat side-saddle on the bow’s platform (I don’t know the proper boating terms) and tried to short pump it up.  It felt like a decent sized jack and made some powerful runs straight down, but the Lexa’s smooth drag eventually tired it out.  Erik got some great underwater shots of the fish and then deftly lifted it over the side of the boat. My first kahala ever.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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