Gear shake out

July 12, 2016 By Scott 2 Comments

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

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

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.

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

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.

The New Moon Curse?

June 6, 2016 By Scott 6 Comments

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.

He 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.

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.

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.

this white threw off the Live Deception jig

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?

One strike in 3 hrs of paddling

March 16, 2016 By Scott 1 Comment

Monday was the only day with relatively light wind/good tide/time to fish this week. The windward side was drizzling off and on but it looked like it was clearing so I headed out on the kayak. The synthetic fiber clothing I wear shed water fairly well but it did get cold when I stopped paddling.

And paddle I did. I headed out to where I last hooked an awa awa, about a mile from the launch point. I passed over some small fish on the bottom but nothing wanted to eat my oama. Got to the area that had action before and it was holding bait and suspended fish. It still took about 10 mins before I got a strike. The fish hit, then jumped but this time it couldn’t shake the hook. Had I not seen that I would’ve hoped it was a papio by the way it took line. Instead it was a 3lb awa awa youngster that didn’t know how to pace itself. After pulling hard against a stiff drag it came up tired.

I decided to let it grow up a bit, and after taking this photo it popped off as it rubbed against the kayak. Slack line really does allow the hook to wiggle loose even when it appears the fish is hooked well.

The rain fell harder closer to land and the wind was choppy at times. Nothing else hit the oama or flat fall jig.

Smaller moon, rising tide = more fish activity

March 1, 2016 By Scott 5 Comments

Last Wednesday, I kayak fished the deep Windward waters and didn’t even register a nibble. The nearshore fishing has been slow this Winter but that skunk really made me feel “kill fight”. Yesterday was forecast to have the lightest wind – best tide combination of the week so I made it a gear testing day, telling myself that the fishing was incidental. I took the old Scupper Pro out, which hadn’t touched water in more than 10 years, and used a heavier weight to keep the live oama down deep.

After the afternoon showers stopped, the wind completely died down. Not a fair comparison with the chop and slop conditions of the Aquaterra Swing’s last outing. I was worried the Scupper Pro would be tippy since it’s a lot narrower than the Swing, but because the seat sits lower to the water, it reminded me of sitting on a surfboard with my legs in the water. The Scupper Pro also paddled much easier due to its longer length and narrower, rounded hull. The Swing, in comparison, has a flat hull that feels like it’s pushing water, not knifing through it. The SP’s cockpit did feel cramped compared to the Swing’s, but I eventually got used to it.

There were a lot more tiny bait fish and suspended reef fish on the fish finder than last time. I braced myself for a strike on the trolled oama but none came. Hmmmppphhh. Well, since this was supposed to be a test of the Scupper Pro, I paddled further out than I had been fishing recently, enjoying the glide of the long, slender craft. The heavier fishing weight seemed to be keeping the oama down better, without getting hung up on the bottom. I slow trolled over numerous little bait collections but no predators felt like eating an oama with a hook in its nasal cartilage.

Finally something pulled the tip of the rod down a couple inches, then pulled drag. The fish seemed to be shaking its head but the vibrations were a little too frequent to be papio head shakes. I pictured an awa awa swimming in such a way that its large tail was slapping the line. Sure enough, after some powerful runs, I was able to short pump the fish to the surface. About a 4lb awa awa with its weird transparent forehead greeted me. I think awa awa pull harder, pound for pound, than omilu and whites, but once you get them boat side they’re pretty tuckered out.

It felt great to land a decent fish again. I dropped down another oama and a few minutes later something pulled some line off the reel. In my peripheral vision I could see a smaller fish leap out of the water. That was the first awa awa that jumped in the deep water, and it was able to shake the hook and gain its freedom.

Fish began to puddle on the surface and I expected more action but alas, the bite stopped. I took advantage of the glassy conditions by trolling through other promising spots, and dropped the flat fall jig down on bait pockets but nothing wanted to eat.

So why was there more bait and predator activity than last week? The moon was smaller, being 7 days after the full moon rather than just 2 days. And I was fishing the first third of the rising tide instead of the last third. The heavier weight was keeping the bait in the zone longer. And the glassy conditions made it much easier to fish. Why do you think it was better this time around?

Big moon, big swell, choppy conditions = no fish

February 25, 2016 By Scott 3 Comments

According to iWindsurf.com, the Windward side yesterday was supposed to have relatively calm wind conditions. I picked a spot protected from the booming North West swell and was expecting close to sheet glass conditions. Instead my launch spot looked like this from the afternoon onshore winds.

Since I had schlepped all my kayak gear I was committed to paddling out. Heading into the wind and chop was definitely slow going and at times, small waves were cresting into my kayak. Not ideal conditions at all. I trolled a live, captive oama looking for bait schools on my fish finder. Bait was hard to find and the few suspended fish above the schools didn’t want to eat the oama or flat fall jig.

I trolled the outer papa edges, the deep channels, the inner sand beaches and came up empty. Not a single critter touched the oama. This had never happened anywhere before.

Was it because the full moon was two days earlier and the fish were feeding at night? Or did the epic swell that caused the Eddie Aikau Contest to run today cause the fish to hunker down for safety? Or maybe the windy conditions caused me to miss running over the fish with my fish finder? I sure hope conditions improve next week.

Live oama comes through on a slow evening

February 19, 2016 By Scott 1 Comment

Took the kayak out with two rods, one to troll live captive oama and the other to fish the Shimano Flat Fall jig. The tide was falling to a minus tide at around dark, and sure enough the fish and bait activity was almost non-existent. Something hit the live oama but wasn’t strong enough to take drag. It unbuttoned before I could see it.

I slow trolled the reef dropoffs hoping for a strike on the oama, and for a bait ball to show up on the fish finder. No strikes. When I found suspended fish I dropped down the 2.8oz flat fall jig and quickly realized my 6.5ft fiberglass/graphite blend bass rod was too soft for the heavy weight of the jig, and potentially strong fish that might eat the jig. 40 feet of water might be too shallow to fish that sized jig. It fell pretty fast and didn’t stay in the strike zone long enough, on the retrieve. I think I need a heavier action rod, and need to fish it in deeper water.

The evening witching hour arrived when the fish normally feed before dark but I couldn’t find the bait school. The falling low tide must’ve changed the fish behavior. I worked my way in, and out of desperation, paddled across a large channel to the opposite side of where the bait normally congregates. I began to see fish suspended two deep off the bottom and finally got a hookup. The fish was vigorously shaking its head all the way through the fight so I suspected it was a trumpetfish or needlefish (aha). I was thrilled to see a thrashing white papio that was trying to shake off the hook barely attached to its lip. It later taped out at about 14″ head to fork.

The bait school was holding near the bottom, and larger fish were suspended above it. I dropped the flat fall jig again and didn’t get a hit. When I stowed the flat fall rod away, I couldn’t find the bait school again and it was getting dark so I headed in. Oh well, I learned a new spot the bait school may use.

Shallow water “heavy” jigs to tackle test off kayak

February 18, 2016 By Scott 5 Comments

Green Mackeral Live Deception 1oz, Black/Chrome Waxwing Baby, Blue Sardine Waxwing Boy, Black Anchovy Flat Fall 80g, Blue Sardine Flat Fall 80g

Since I’ve recently been spending time floating in my kayak waiting for something to eat my live oama, I figured I may as well try some shallow water “heavy” jigs. My weighted live oama makes it down to the bottom if I’m not moving. But if I paddle, to fight current or slow troll, the oama is pulled near the water’s surface. A jig would more effectively fish the 40 – 50 ft depths.

I’ve never fished heavy jigs in Hawaii, and only speed retrieved “yo yo iron” for yellowtail in California. Just a few weeks ago, I was given two types of heavy jigs to tackle test.

Ahi’s Live Deception jig is meant to be fished like a “knife” jig, I believe. It’s made out of flexible lead and is laser printed with actual photos of fish so it looks as realistic as possible. The one pictured on the left is a 1 oz Green Mackeral, and it’s about the same length as the smallest Waxwing Baby next to it. It looks cylindrical in the photo but it’s actually beveled, with a narrow keel on the bottom. I’m not sure what kind of action it presents in the water, but the sales guy said that it could be bent so it would death spiral when dropped down. Might work on the nehu and sardine schools yeah?

Shimano’s Butterfly Flat Fall jig has been out for a few years, and like the Shimano Waxwing, I’m getting on the bandwagon a little late. The flat fall jig is a new twist on Shimano’s butterfly jigs, that were meant to be speed retrieved and slashed back to the boat. Due to the flat fall’s wider, keeled surface area, it falls much slower than the butterfly jigs, in an exaggerated gliding zig zag pattern. Practitioners of “slow pitch” jigging recommend a controlled fall, feeling for strikes, and then retrieving it a half crank up at a time, with a smooth tempo. Slow pitch jigging is supposed to be the Tai Chi of jigging, where it is relaxing and non-taxing. Leave it to the Japanese to improve on deep jigging and make it a zen-like pursuit. I’ve placed the two flat fall jigs to the right of the Waxwing Boy for size comparison. Those 80g / 2.82oz jigs are the smallest, lightest flat falls.

The flat falls have already been very successful on the Mainland and here in Hawaii anglers have landed shibi, mahi, uku, ulua and kahala on them. I don’t know if the 40 – 50ft water I’ve been kayak fishing is deep enough but I’ll soon find out.

One mystery sea monster unmasked

February 5, 2016 By Scott 6 Comments

During the winter “off season”, I’ve been fishing the deep water Windward spots. Haven’t landed a decent fish in the last 3 outings. Each time I had a big strike that either broke off or slipped off. So I went back to the general area where I got the awa awa a few weeks ago, and fished the slight tidal rise in pure glass conditions. I headed away from the area that had been productive, and paddled around for nada. Nothing wanted to eat a slightly tired, tub-raised oama.

When I returned to the previously productive area, my fish finder lit up with fish on the bottom and fish breezing near the top. I slowed to let my oama sink to the bottom and sure enough something pulled against the hard drag for a few seconds. The oama was gone but the two hooks were left intact. This happened 2 more times even though I made the drag really tight. I found out what this strong armed Houdini was on the next strike.

I got a hit near the papa (reef) edge and the fish ran faster than a papio normally would. It fought the tight drag for a while and stayed deep. I could see the oama’s white color but couldn’t see what was under it. When I finally began to see color, I saw fluorescent blue fins and a tail. A long omilu perhaps?

Arrghh, no, a big crocodile needlefish or aha, nicknamed “blue bone” because it has blue-green bones. These fish have been known to jump out of the water and unintentionally (we hope) spear people in the head and chest, causing a few very unfortunate deaths.

Not sure if you can tell how large the fish was, next to the kayak with the oama still on one of the hooks, but it was somewhere between 3 and 4 feet. The rear hook is in his jaw but he had bitten off the line connected it to the front hook.

If you look at his top jaw, I think those cuts were from each successful attempt to steal the bait. So this is the guy responsible for all the hard strikes and lost fish I’ve been getting. Kill fight yeah?

Well, I had a few more live oama so I lowered one down the side of the kayak and immediately hooked up. Ugh, another aha since I was right on the papa edge? But no, this fish pulled a little slower and more steadily; it could even turn the kayak.

I was pleased to see a lightly hooked, 2lb plus awa awa. I looked at my watch and it turned out that the flurry of action happened right at the peak high tide and ended 30 mins later. I guess aha and awa awa like the slack high tide so they don’t have to fight the current. Kaku are lazy like that too.

So now I know what’s been ripping drag and stealing baits. I did have a strong fish cut me off on the reef, and a really heavy creature pull me around for 20 minutes. Guess I need to go back and solve those mysteries.

Hooked and fought a sea monster for 20 minutes

January 18, 2016 By Scott 8 Comments

I’m sorry, I don’t have any photographs to back up the story I’m about to tell you. Gonna try to be as objective as I can be, and you can tell me what you think I hooked.

I was fishing the deep lagoon on the Windward side, about 40 yds past the reef drop off. I dropped a live oama, hooked through its nostrils, to the bottom in about 40 ft of water, and began to slowly paddle the kayak away from land. The bait was probably in the mid-water column when something hit and pulled drag at a medium-fast pace. The creature ran for the bottom and then out away from me. It easily pulled line in smooth spurts, but slowed after 50 yds or so. I was able to gain some line, and then it would pull line again, but never ripped line too fast or went too far. It felt like a huge awa awa at first but an awa awas would’ve taken more line.

There were large turtles around so I began to worry that I had hooked one of those. I tightened the drag to bring the “turtle” up, or pop off the hook, and the creature just powered for the bottom again. It was so strong I had to straddle the kayak to prevent getting tipped. It swam out away again, and I thought I thought I felt tail pumps and head shakes. For awhile it circled deep below me and I had extend the rod to clear the stern (back) and bow (front) of the kayak. An accidentally hooked turtle would’ve surfaced eventually but this thing wanted to stay as deep as possible.

I began to suspect it was a large sting ray, although I had never hooked one before to know how one would feel. It stayed down deep and swam back to the reef’s edge but stopped about 10 ft away from it. I was worried it would cut me off on the reef so I tried to muscle it up. About 2/3 of the way up the 15 lb fluoro leader cut. It was frayed just a bit, a few inches from where it cut above the hook. I never got to see color.

The creature didn’t head shake much, like a papio/ulua would, but it also didn’t just rest on the bottom like large sting rays like to do.

After retying, I paddled over a bait school suspended off the bottom, let my bait sink and sure enough I got a strike. The rod bounced like a papio hit the bait, but all that came back was the oama head on the single hook. I changed to a double hook setup and hooked a 10.5″ (FL) white papio and that was the end of the action.

What do you think the sea creature was? I would like to think it was an ulua, hunkering down on the bottom.

Last ditch attempt to catch something/anything; taegu recipe included

January 14, 2016 By Scott 9 Comments

The inshore bite really slowed in the late December, early January time period. The 8 – 1o inch omilu have shown up sporadically but the larger ones appear to have gone wherever they go during the winter. Awa awa have been saving the day for Kelly, as he nimbly trolled dead oamas between sets on his SUP. Lacking the paddling speed and courage, I fished away from the impact zone on my longboard with not much to show for it.

As a last ditch attempt to find a feisty predator, I kayak fished the deep waters of the Windward side solo today. The winds were very light, and armed with live tub-raised oama, I had high hopes. After an hour of aimless paddling I finally got a strike. It felt like a decent omilu, but it broke the surface halfway into the fight. What I thought was a short awa awa turned out to be a pretty large lai. My family doesn’t eat lai so I shook it off the hook.

Hopes raised, I paddled through bait marks on the fish finder, skirted the edge of dropoffs, and even dropped my oama to the bottom. Nada. The evening witching hour came without any predator activity and I dejectedly paddled for home. As my landing site came within view, my ratchet finally screamed. I hoped it was a thick papio but suspected awa awa in such deep water. The fished towed me a bit and spun me around before I could see color. Awa awa it was, and it saved the trip for me.

It taped out at 26 inches (forklength), not as large as the previous one I caught here in the summer, but my first keeper of any kind in 3 trips. The papio continued to prove elusive.

Chester made lomi lomi awa awa out of the fish and said it had a delightful fresh, mild taste. With the left overs he made taegu for us, using recipe below. Yummm!

This taegu recipe had been featured in Lawai’a magazine. Chester uses a small convection oven and dries on the lowest setting. He puts it outside so it doesn’t stink up the whole house. Genius! Oh, and he only uses a half teaspoon of chili pepper flakes. Adjust that to your heat tolerance.

Awa awa on the kayak!

August 18, 2015 By Scott 7 Comments

Eddy and Kris pedaled out on Eddy’s Hobie tandem and I tried my best to keep up with them on my oldie but goodie Aquaterra Swing sit-on-top. The light wind conditions made for a beautiful day to be out on the water.

My fish finder was marking fish throughout the water column and we could peer down and see omilu and white papio through the sheet glass surface. With so many fish around it was a good day to try various baits and lures. The fish could see the difference between lures and real bait, and ignored the fake stuff except for Kris’ small lures fished deep.

I started with fresh, dead oama and two were taken off the tandem hooks without much sound coming out of my non-levelwind Calcutta 400’s ratchet. I put on a live oama and immediately hooked a small white papio. The guys began catching small, feisty whites on frozen, year old oama. As I crossed a deep channel, my rachet went off, slowly. I pulled the rod out of the rod holder and started reeling, and the fish shook its head like a very small omilu. Then it got mad and powered away, taking at least 75 yds of line with it. I had made the cardinal mistake of leaving my partner kayak without telling them where I was going, so they were out of ear shot.

I tightened the drag when 1/3 of the spool was gone, and the fish slowed. I could feel head shakes and tail pumps and was hoping I finally hooked a large papio. When I brought the fish close it powered straight down, bending my 7’6″ rod into the water. It spun my kayak a few times before I could make out a long, slim, silvery shape. Oio on a live oama? I guess it was possible since I was fishing deep and had hooked an oio on a subsurface lure in the surf before. Click here to read about that surprise catch.

Then I saw the top lobe of a very large tail sticking out of the water. Awa awa! The previous awa awas have always jumped out of the water, but those were hooked in relatively shallow water. I hooked this one in at least 50 feet. I tired the fish out to grab it by the mouth, largemouth bass style, since I didn’t have a net or gaff with me. The fish was too tired to put up much resistance.

I decided to keep it since I heard of other yak fishers recently catching awa awa in the general area, and had only kept two others ever. I paddled back to the guys and Kris took this pic.

The guys pedaled off to the white papio hot spot as I replaced the line that the awa awa shredded with its sandpaper mouth. Once again, they were out of ear shot when I landed a smaller awa awa on another live oama. That was released and when I caught up with them, they both were battling 2lb whites that bit fresh dead oama.

Somehow those guys can catch the larger whites when I’m stuck with the 9 inch ones that steal my precious oama baits. Eddy followed that up by catching this beautiful awa awa on a frozen oama.

Soon after, we ran out of oama and made our way in.

Perfect kayak fishing conditions. All fish were released except for my awa awa and Kris’ 2lb white papio. The awa awa measured 32″ and weighed 5 lbs. My dad much prefers awa awa to oio for fish cake and was happy to receive it although I did have to clean it for him.

Kayak fishing with oama

August 12, 2015 By Scott Leave a Comment

I ended two of my boycotts: no kayak fishing and no oama for bait. Kris and Eddy have been fishing off a tandem Hobie pedal boat in somewhat sheltered waters and have been encouraging me to dust off the kayak I haven’t fished in 10 years. And I’ve been shunning oama for bait this season, instead throwing the Waxwing.

Yesterday I shlepped my kayak and the required gear down to fish some papas surrounded by deep water with Eddy. A couple minutes into the paddle out and my back was already cramping up. I couldn’t slow down my drift like I can when sitting on my longboard, kicking with my feet, so I had a hard time casting to the desired spots before I swept past them. And when I fished the papas my Waxwing got stuck in the deep crevasses and I lost two Waxwing Babys. I was yearning for the simpler surfboard fishing days.

My fish finder detected a lot of fish near the papa edge and on the flat bottom but none of those fish wanted anything to do with the kastmaster I dropped down.

soon to be released

Eddy did much better using a heavy egg lead and plastic strip bait for small omilus, and caught a 1.5 lb white papio on a deep diving Crystal Minnow. He ended the day losing that lure to a papa also.

I initially started another kayak fishing boycott after my miserable performance but decided to attempt to avenge the loss of my two Waxwings. Eddy, Kris and I fished the same spot today on the kayak. I started by dropping cut bait down into the depths and the guys deep trolled live, fresh dead and year old oama. The guys’ oama initially got munched from the back, and since they weren’t running a rear hook, the fish got away.

Then Eddy took a screaming hit and battled a muscular 2lb plus omilu to the boat. I was just getting nibbles and small omilu on my cut bait so I bummed a fresh dead oama and immediately got a hit. It came up as dead weight and turned out to be a small hammerhead.

I bummed another dead oama and hooked a 8 inch white papio within a couple of minutes. Guess the fish were around but waiting for the real thing. The guys were getting bit on fresh dead and frozen oama but since none of us were using a trailing hook we all lost our best fish (or at least it appeared to be that way). All besides Eddy’s omilu were white papio and a few small hammerheads.

pack of whites

On the way in the fish finder lit up with a bait ball. I dumped the cut shrimp, ika and aku belly overboard that failed me earlier. Hoping I caused a frenzy, I dropped cut shrimp all the way to the bottom and it went untouched. Remembering the two opae lolo a fellow kayak fisherman gave me when we launched in the morning, I dropped the fresh but dead lolo down to the bottom.

As soon as it reached bottom I hooked up with a 10″ white that was followed by his friends. Kris and Eddy had a double hookup on oama and Kris took this awesome photo of the whites chasing the hooked fish up.

The next lolo was slammed instantly also, but this time it was a hammerhead.

The fish are really keyed on natural bait now, even if it’s dead bait.