Holoholo: Aim, load, cast, repeat.

September 23, 2024 By Scott 8 Comments

Matthew Ikeda started guest posting for us as a 6th grader. He’s our most prolific poster with close to 50 posts so far, and as his shore fishing knowledge has grown, so has ours. Congratulations Matt, on your many high school accomplishments and may God continue to bless and guide you as you go off to college.

Matt: The sun was well below the horizon, and I had gone three hours casting my lure without even a tug. It was so dark that I had no clue where my cast was going, and only muscle memory told me how to work my lure. I thought about packing up – after going through many “whitewash” trips, you sort of know the feeling when you’re not going to catch a fish. But something told me to stay. After all, this was one of my last chances to catch an Ulua before leaving for college. Catching a shore-based Ulua on a lure had been my goal since I started fishing at nine years old. I was now almost nineteen.

I thought about the real likelihood of an Ulua being around. This summer was one of the slowest I had experienced, with many back-to-back whitewash trips. June, July, and August are generally the best months for fishing in the year, but something was different this year. However, all of my doubts soon vanished.

A few casts later, I heard an explosion of water and felt my rod almost getting yanked out of my hands. I immediately snapped to attention, jerking my rod to set the hook and planted my feet to brace against the fish’s first run. I knew this was the Ulua I was looking for.

The fish ran wildly, reminding me of just how powerful Ulua were. Then it stopped. To my dismay, I felt the dreaded feeling of my leader rubbing on the reef. The fish was stuck and not budging. My heart sank. It would really suck to lose my Ulua this way.

Using my headlamp, I could see the rock my line was wrapped around. I opened my bail and frantically ran further into the surf. After taking a couple of waves to the face, I was able to free the line. I immediately started boosting the fish, and after a few smaller runs, I could see the chrome outline of an Ulua in the water. I knew I was close but I knew I couldn’t rush the fish, not wanting to pull the hooks loose.

I kept steady pressure as the Ulua stubbornly resisted, using its full body to ride the strong current. But it had reached its limit, and I could see just how exhausted the fish was. It gave a few strong kicks before finally coming to the surface just a few feet away. I grabbed the Ulua by the tail and quickly retreated to a safe area. I was stoked.

Looking at the Ulua on the rocks, I couldn’t help but think how amazing of a fish it was. This was a fish that had tormented me over the hundreds of hours I spent learning how to catch it, requiring tens of thousands of casts and many, many fishing trips over the years. I had hooked a few in the past, but every one found a way to get loose. But now it was all over.

However, the action was not over. A couple of days later I was lucky enough to land a Pao pao Ulua while sight fishing on the flats, a true rarity and a fish that I never thought I would even get a shot at catching.

Shortly after, I landed a nice 8.5# white Papio and then another Ulua to cap off the most insane two weeks of fishing I’ve ever experienced – a great way to wrap up my time in Hawaii.

As the first to learn fishing in my family, it was never easy. This Ulua is just one fish that represents a lifelong journey of learning, failing, and trying new things. While fishing has been difficult, I’ve never been alone. I started writing for Scott when I was in sixth grade, and I’ve always been grateful for the people I’ve met and advice I’ve received through this site. Thank you to everyone who has supported my passion for fishing over the years. It’s hard to capture in words how much fishing has meant to me, but I’ll always remember the good times we’ve shared together. Until we meet again🤙.

“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”

Holoholo: Plugging Report Summer 2024

September 7, 2024 By Scott 4 Comments

Thad, our JDM product expert, breaks down how his papio/ulua season has played out.

Thad: The plugging season at the spots we frequent on Oahu began a little later this summer than in the past couple of years. My fishing buddies Dino, Travis and I devoted a few sessions here and there from early April with the hopes that we would catch the start of the season but to no avail. On a whim, Travis wanted to try plugging a brand new spot in early June and convinced me to skip the flats fishing that day and I’m glad I listened.

We walked out near the edge of the reef and began casting our lures at the crack of dawn. It was still mostly dark with just a slight glow of the sun on the horizon when on my second cast, something came up from the deep to attack the new popper I had ordered from Japan. As it tried and missed three times, I could barely make out the splashing in the dark even though it was only 20 yards from me, but I could hear it. As the lure reached the tip of my rod in an area about shin deep, I kept the popper in the water and swept my rod back and forth to keep it moving with hopes the fish was still around. The ulua came up onto the reef shelf and while swimming sideways in the thin water, grabbed the lure and took off for the deep! It may have been the most exciting eat I’ve ever experienced. Unfortunately, after a hard 5 minute fight, the ulua popped off and got away. Based on the strength of the fish, it was a good sized one and definitely the largest I hooked this year.

I checked my lure and hooks and everything looked ok so I cast it back out and proceeded to show Travis the retrieve style I was using for the first hit when I got another one. This one felt smaller and I quickly brought in a 4lb white papio. After a few pics, the fish was released. I ended the short morning session with another catch and release 4lb white papio before we called it a day. Overall, it was an exciting start to the 2024 season.

The next weekend, Dino and I decided to try a spot on the opposite side of the island from the previous week. I lucked out again and within the first few casts, I felt a tug as the lure was nearing the rocks I was standing on. I set the hooks several times – harder than I did when I lost the first ulua. This fish felt heavy but wasn’t running nearly as hard. As it neared me in the whitewash, I pointed my headlamp towards the area of the fish and I could see that it was a small ulua foul hooked on its side. No wonder it felt heavy. I was able to tag my first ulua of the season with a PIFG tag and safely release it to grow some more.

The next two weekends in late June were spent traveling in Japan with my family and friends. I didn’t do any fishing there and constantly imagined all the ulua swimming around our Oahu shores just waiting to be caught. I returned home on a Saturday in early July, determined to get back out the next morning. My friends and I don’t normally fish the same spots very often and enjoy rotating them or testing new ones so that Sunday, Dino and I decided to try another spot, different from the ones I recently went to. As usual, we met early in the morning before sunrise and started our walk to the spot. It was a dark moon that weekend with small surf and light winds. Excited to be home and fishing again in near perfect conditions, I told Dino I had a very strong feeling one of us would be hooking up.

We were throwing our lures for about half an hour and the sun was just beginning to glow on the horizon when I felt a strong tug in the distance on my second sweep of the cast. To ensure a good hookset, I yanked hard several times. This fish also felt like a good one on the initial strike but I was using a slightly heavier set up than before so I boosted the fish in quickly – so much so that at one point I told Dino I didn’t need help landing it because it might be a papio. When the fish in front of me, I shined my headlamp at it and to my surprise, it was a decent sized ulua. I yelled to Dino that I needed his help after all so he quickly got to the water’s edge, grabbed the ulua’s tail and brought it up on the rocks. What a great feeling to start the season 2 for 3. Unfortunately I forgot my PIFG tags so after taking a few pics, the fish was released tagless.

The rest of July and August was filled with more missed ulua strikes and papio landed without any slow down in the action. It seems the late start to the ulua bite this summer means the action will continue later around Oahu as well.

Holoholo: Intro to Plugging from shore and boat

March 15, 2023 By Scott 1 Comment

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

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

What is Plugging?

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

Plugging Gear:

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

Reels:

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

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

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

Main line:

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

Leader line:

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

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

Lures

Poppers:

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

Stickbaits:

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

My setups:

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

Heavy:

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

Medium/Light:

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

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

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

Holoholo: Birthday Ulua Outing

December 19, 2020 By Scott 7 Comments

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

Matthew:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hunting the schooling white papio

August 12, 2019 By Scott 3 Comments

Seasonally the white papio, some ulua-sized, school up in the bay for a month or so, and for the last couple of years Frank and I tried to crash their their feeding frenzy party on our paddle watercraft. Each year we couldn’t find them, or they just didn’t want to bite.

We have caught small ones (less than a pound) just as the sun was going down, but never got the bigger ones to bite in the morning. Our boating friend Erik located a big school a few weeks ago, and that was the intel we went on.

Frank and I were on our smaller watercraft since we weren’t going past the breakers. He was on his SUP converted into a sit down kayak style board and I was on my old Scupper Pro kayak. I still had use of my Garmin Echomap fish finder and could see scattered bait and what looked like larger fish spread out in as shallow as 8ft. I dragged sinking swimmers and lead headed jigs through the schools for nada. Frank trolled through them with frozen oama and stopped off a reef edge to throw a popper. As soon as the popper hit the water he was on! The aggressive white taped out at about 11.75 inches. Way to find the biting fish Frank! But the action shut down since it was getting close to 9am.

I slurped the same popper Frank had luck with, over large fish marks but couldn’t get them to wake up. Finally I foul hooked a baby omilu with that popper, on the reef. Almost 2 hrs from Frank’s first fish, in the same general area, he got a surface explosion on his popper I could hear 40 yds away! This was a bigger fish, and went almost 14 inches.

That was all the action we got on poppers. Frank wisely dragged his frozen oama around and released a small omilu and got another white to match his first one. Good thing I have a fishing partner that can catch fish when the fishing gets tough. Without his whites I would have assumed those big blobs on the fish finder’s screen were turtles or something!

So we know the whites were there, it just was too late in the day to get them to frenzy. We’ll start earlier next time!

JDM vs Non-JDM Round 1

June 8, 2019 By Scott 4 Comments

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!

Are JDM whipping lures worth the $$ ?

June 5, 2019 By Scott 6 Comments

The product testing crew here has been buying Japanese Domestic Model (JDM) whipping lures from Japan for a few years now, and some JDMs are beginning to show up in the local tackle shops. Because of the higher quality and international shipping, they cost quite a bit more than US Domestic lures. But are they worth it?

Scott:

I had been trying to fish shallow reef flats (1ft to 3ft) and sinking lures like Kastmasters kept snagging the bottom or picking up limu. The floating plugs found in the shops at the time were bigger than our inshore baits (nehu, iao, baby mullet) and didn’t swim that well. The popular bubble and grub setup required a long leader and therefore a long rod to be fished effectively.

I was given a Shimano Waxwing in 2015, a couple years after it made its successful debut in Hawaii. The Waxwing immediately caught fish on the flats because the rear double hook faces up and is relatively snag free, and it has a very aggressive zig zag swimming action. The Waxwing worked in the surf too, and I even caught an oio on it! Read about that here.

The Waxwing was so ingenious, yet only sold in the US market, not in Japan. That got me curious. Did that mean there were other Japanese lures even better than the Waxwing that we don’t see in the US? I tried some popular JDM lures purchased online overseas, and most worked, to some extent. Then I met Thad through this website and he took my JDM knowledge to a whole ‘nother level.

Thad had been tracking JDM lures for a number of years and started me on a few “guarantee catch” ones. Those lures cast well due to rear weights, swam perfect every time, and drew some incredible strikes.

Thad:

Why do I prefer to use JDM lures over the ones available here in the US? It mainly comes down to variety and quality. While we in the US are limited to a few domestic brands and a small handful of Japanese makers that have branched out to the US, the sheer number of brands and models available in the overseas market is staggering. All those lure choices leads to increased competition between lure makers to produce higher quality and better performing lures. Even when a Japanese company branches out and makes a lure available in the US, the JDM version will often be available with more color options as well as a saltwater version that comes with stronger hooks and increased weights.

Testing new lures to see how they perform here in our local waters is something I and many of my fishing friends enjoy doing. With Japanese brands collectively releasing numerous new lures each month, we never run out of models to try. I’ve come across a few JDM duds that didn’t perform as hoped, but more often than not they turn out to be winners. It’s an expensive addiction that we all enthusiastically share.

Features I look for when reviewing new lure specs are size, weight, floating vs sinking, diving range, and swim action. My ideal specs are around 80-125mm, 10-25g, floating, and if it dives, I prefer a range of 0-30cm. These requirements alone will rule out most lures available here. Another “must have” for subsurface lures is an internal weight transfer system to provide optimal casting distances and swim action. I believe Daiwa was one of the first companies in Japan to use an internal weight transfer system back in the early 80’s. It’s pretty much become a standard feature of subsurface lures marketed in Japan but it’s not as widely available in US lures.

Scott: We’ve been exclusively whipping the JDMs for so long, we’ve decided to do a JDM vs Non-JDM challenge to see if the JDMs really are that much better. Stay tuned as Robert uses grubs, kastmasters and domestic plugs while I fish the JDMs! And if you have had experience, good or bad, with JDM lures, we’d love to hear about it, via a comment on this post. Chee!

Ulua Fighting Championships

May 20, 2019 By Scott 4 Comments

This plugging catch of a lifetime story originally ran in the Hawaii Fishing News, July 2015 edition. The author Gary Soma, aka @sakana_sniper on IG, gave permission to run this on Hawaii Nearshore Fishing, for those who may have missed it the first time. Enjoy!

At 6 O’clock on a midweek morning, I got a text from Kaimi reporting that the conditions were prime for a late afternoon plugging sesh. We had just finished a batch of experimental lures we’ve refined over the last year, and I had just finished wrapping a factory sample of our 8’6” Medium Heavy Popping Rod. This would be our chance to give them a trial by fire. The variable winds made work miserable and I couldn’t wait to punch out and get on the water. As soon as the clock struck 4, I was out like trout! Once home I quickly gathered all the necessary equipment and headed out to gas up. On the way, I got a call from Paul saying he’d be joining us but got held up at work, so he’d be a little late.

After launching the Whaler, Kaimi and I decided to bust out the light tackle for a Papio hunt. We cruised to one of my spots that I’ve nicknamed “Papio Pass,” which usually holds a good size pile of whites. Just like we hoped, school was in session and they were looking for a fight. On Kaimi’s first cast he hooked a good size fish with his bubble and grub rig. After a great fight Kaimi landed the Omilu and we both took a moment to admire the beautiful two pounder’s electric blue, neon green and lemon yellow hues before gently releasing it. We always let the first fish of the day go for good luck, because as everyone knows, a little luck can go a long way when fishing.

Next it was my turn to get on the board. Soon after my lure hit the water on my third cast, something decided to annihilate my 3 ½ inch Yo-Zuri Sashimi 3D Popper. I fought the bugger for around 5 minutes and the white ended up weighing around 3 pounds. The “Scrap and Release” action was awesome that afternoon and we managed to land half a dozen Papio before it was time to scoop Paul up. With the tide rising, I couldn’t wait to see what the big game spots had in store for us.

On our way to the “Proving Grounds” we readied our new weapons for battle. I hadn’t had time to properly connect my 100# braid to my 150# mono leader so I went with the second best option tying a double palomar knot to connect my braid to a heavy duty swivel and palomar knots to connect my leader to my lure. This knot is my go to knot and has proven to be bullet proof when tied correctly. On Paul’s rod, our newest prototype, he had tied an FG knot linking his 80# braided line to 8 feet of 150# mono leader.

Upon arrival at the Proving Grounds we all commented on how epic the conditions were and the anticipation of action was as thick as the voggy Kona wind air. I was the first one with his lure in the water with no takers, but it usually takes a couple retrieves to wake the big boys up. With the commotion of three lures splashing and splashing it didn’t take them long to hear the ringing of the dinner bell. On my fourth I cast really leaned into one and sent my 6 oz. prototype popper on a first class trip. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. The line took forever to float down to the slick cobalt surface and I slowly picked up the slack. Once the line came tight I up jerked my rod and made a perfect pop sending a shower of liquid fire set ablaze by the setting sun. My next jerk created a textbook chug sending a bellowing “boop” resonating to the depths. Just as I was about to follow up with another pop a large shiny submarine half breached, creating a ten foot radius of foamy wash followed by a thunder clap of a tail slap. All I could do was hold onto my rod with a death grip. The fish immediately dove with all of its might as I desperately struggled to get the butt of the rod into my fighting belt. Luckily the fish took a half second break in between runs allowing me to get my rod into its fighting position. I tried my best to slow the fish down by turning up the drag, but my feeble attempts failed miserably. On its second blistering dash the fish managed to find the reef, and my punishment came to an abrupt end. The release of pressure sent me reeling back and fortunately the center console saved me from taking a plunge over the opposite side of the boat. The feeling reminded me of when the opposing team released the rope in a match of tug of war. With my tail between my legs I retrieved my line minus my swivel, leader and defiled lure with about ten feet of the end of my 100 pound braid showing sure signs of being cut off by the jagged ledges below. This first round had gone to the heavy-weights.

An Ulua strike is about the only thing that can get my heart to jump out of my chest. Every blow up never fails to catch me by surprise and there’s nothing that cures the fatigue of throwing a 6 oz. lure a hundred times better than that. Based on the strike, boil and run, we estimated the fish I had just lost to be at least 80 pounds. Even though I took some cracks I readied my gear for the next fight.

The sun was fading behind the Koolaus when the bell rang signaling the start of round two. I was casting off the bow so I was first to get my lure into the zone directly above the Ulua mansion. Every bit of my attention was on my lure and it was as if it was an extension of me. I took up the slack in my line as my lure surfed down the face of the swell. I gently twitched my rod trying my best not to jump and tumble the lure which could tangle my barbless 4/0 trebles around my leader, ruining a perfect cast. As my popper began its uphill ascent I popped with full force creating the ideal series of pops. Nearing the apex of the wave my lure duck dove through the swell and I was startled by a Titanium Ulua side slashing with murderous intentions aimed at its next victim. With deadly precision the fish smashed my popper and plunged downwards shaking its head with its brand new chew toy tightly gripped in its jaws. This pitbull of the sea surely had motives of hanging another lure on its wall of trophies but I was not about to let one more of our home lathed lures suffer the same cruel fate as his brother did minutes earlier. I forced the butt of the rod into my gimbal and locked the drag down. The added pressure only seemed to enrage the Titanium Ulua and its burst of power caught me off guard, nearly jerking me overboard. Luckily still dry I regained my fighting stance, feet staggered with hands locked high on the rod. The last bits of sunlight were vanishing quickly and I knew I would soon be fighting with the lights out. Luckily Paul was on top of things and gave me an assist by placing my headlamp on, helping me to be as safe as possible. While I exchanged blows with the Titanium Ulua, Paul decided to swap out his lure for one of our experimental nocturnal prototypes for Kaimi to sample. With the fish still diving, I decided to try and turn his head with some heavy upward jerks. I slowed its momentum and thought I had my opponent on the ropes but playing possum the Ulua’s next sprint literally forced me to take a knee. My line was straight down and each inch of line gained was back breaking. Amazingly I endured the barrage and finally got to see color about 20 minutes into the battle with the aide of Paul’s 300 lumen headlamp. About a minute later Paul had the fishes tail in his grasp and lifted it over the gunwale. Once in the boat we realized why the fish fought so hard. It was foul hooked with the front barbless treble lodged in the collar area under the gill plate, unfortunately piercing several gills. Once I removed the hooks the fish began to bleed out and I could tell it was in too bad of shape for a release. I reluctantly dispatched the fish and put it in the cooler. Round two was one to remember.

As I shut the lid of the ice chest I heard a tiny splash behind the boat. With my headlamp I searched the boat and was surprised by a shout of “Hanapaa!” Kaimi was hooked up on his first cast! I immediately put the fighting belt around his waist as the beast ripped line full steam ahead. Kaimi made his way to the bow and I did my best to clean the deck of the blood and slime from the previous fish. Kaimi tried to stop the monster from running home but its charge was one of those freight train screemahs. Paul was right beside Kaimi and told him to brace himself because Paul was about to turn up the drag to the max. Paul coached Kaimi and urged him to jerk the rod to attempt to turn the brutes head. Fortunately Paul’s tactics paired with Kaimi’s strength succeeded in turning the fish and it detoured towards deeper waters with us in tow. The bend in our newest rod was a sight to see. The way it shouldered the burden of whatever was on the end of Kaimi’s line was simply beautiful. I wanted to see what this rod was capable of and yelled to Kaimi, “Boost! Boost Um!!!” Kaimi’s efforts only seemed to aggravate the fish and its next dash for the deep was insane. The pressure was impossible to weather and Kaimi’s rod began to get closer and closer to the rail. I placed my hand between the rod and rail to prevent the rod from snapping in two. Kaimi tried cranking and said,” the reel is broken I can’t crank!” The reel he was using had a 6 to 1 gear ratio, so I told him,” you gotta boost, then crank! The reel no more torque!” Once he figured out how to gain line, the tug of war began. At this point I remember Kaimi saying,” What the hell did I get myself into!” Kaimi would gain 10 yards and the giant would steal 20 in return. The struggle was real! This back and forth punching and counter punching went on for the next 15 minutes. At that point the reel looked half empty so there was still quite a bit of work to be done. Every so often Paul and I would shout battle cries to Kaimi ordering him to keep the line tight and to BOOST! The strain on his back and arms were beginning to take its toll, mirrored by the looks of agony on Kaimi’s face. I told Kaimi to move the fight to the rear bench to alleviate some of the strain on his back. The seated position was also a safer alternative with darkness upon us and his strength fading. Fueled by adrenaline the fight began to slowly tip in Kaimi’s favor and the leviathan started coming in. Once Kaimi gained a fair bit of line back we knew we’d soon see color. Every so often we’d shine our lights into the midnight blue depths as Kaimi continued his give and take battle with the monstrosity on the end of his line.

I can honestly say that If I was the one doing all the heavy lifting I probably would have thrown in the towel by now, but Kaimi has the strength of a bull and the “Cojones” to match. If you’re curious about how it feels, grab a broom stick and tie a thirty pound dumbbell three feet from the tip and have someone push down on the tip every so often. Time yourself to see how long you last.

After a dozen peeks over the side of the boat we finally saw something silver down deep and yelled, “Ulua! Boost! Bring Um Up!!!” The beast had other ideas. Startled by the alien lights above it went on another blistering tear. I again had to cushion the rod from the rail with my hand, otherwise it would be “Sayonara!” Kaimi endured the run and had to pivot as the fish ran to the opposite side of the boat. Gaining line, the weight of the fish was more of a dead weight now. We knew the fish was coming to the surface this time. With Paul’s light penetrating into the abyss, we could see the sterling shape making its death circles on its way to the surface. When given the opportunity I planned on tail grabbing the Ulua. As we watched the beast’s ascent, the reflective shape kept growing and growing. When it finally surfaced I stood in shock stunned by the size of the fish. Paul yelled, “F@#&ING BEAST,” snapping me back to reality. I was not about to tail grab the giant and risk a dislocated shoulder should it decide to flick its tail. I yelled to Paul, “get the gaff!” and he scrambled to find it and eventually found it near the fuel tank. With surgical precision he sank the gaff in the behemoths gaping mouth and the cheering began. Kaimi had triumphed in the 30 minute Super Heavy Weight Main Event, giving him the Ulua Fighting Championship Belt.

On our first attempt Paul and I failed in lifting the titan into the boat but with Kaimi’s help we heaved its enormous head out of the water and slid its torso into the boat. Seeing the fishes length span from one side of my boat to the other I’m sure every curse word out there found its way out of our mouths. I quickly grabbed the measuring tape off my console and measured the fish from nose to fork. We couldn’t believe that the number under the center of the tail read 58 inches (147.3 cm). The fish was guaranteed to be over the hundred pound mark, every ulua fisherman’s dream catch. Several years ago I had landed an 80 pounder while spearfishing and this thing made that one look like a pan fry papio. Paul and I then assisted Kaimi in getting the fish on his lap for some quick photos before the release. After snapping some souvenir pics I gave Kaimi the green light for the release and Paul gave him a hand with sliding the fish back into the water. The momentum of the fish sent it five feet below the surface and we shared a round of fist bumps and “Chee Hoos!” Kaimi soon noticed that the fish had floated back to the surface and was on its side with no signs of life. Occasionally after a strenuous battle it takes a bit of reviving to help the fish recover. I started the boat and we guided the fish, flushing fresh ocean water through its gills for 5 minutes before Paul released it once again. The fish just floated again as it did before. We tried again but the mighty Gladiator had fought to its death. We were bummed that the fish had died, and looking back, the fish never kicked once after it surfaced. The great champion had likely perished on its last ditch run for the reef. We took solace in knowing that the fish would be feeding our families and friends for weeks to come.

Out of curiosity we decided to get the fish weighed before we cut it up the following day. At Nanko’s Fishing Supply we weighed the smaller of the two first. It weighed a solid 43 pounds which was much heavier than our closest guess. It’s funny how small it looked sitting next to Gladiator. Next it was time to weigh in Gladiator, with all three of us struggling to get the Ulua’s tail rope onto the hook of the scale. Once the behemoth was fully supported, our eyes instantly found the digital screen, with mine nearly popping out of my head. The certified scale read 130.1 pounds, a true colossus. I never would have imagined that we would land an Ulua over a hundred pounds, yet alone one that weighed a hundred thirty. After weighing the fish I made a Gyotaku of Kaimi’s catch of a lifetime. Hearing the story is one thing but seeing the true size of Gladiator immortalized on rice paper leaves most speechless.

After printing the fish, we quartered the pair of Uluas with the majority of the meat going into a cooler for an icy bath in my secret marinade. After a two day soak I smoked the strips low and slow for at least four hours. Everyone can’t seem to get enough of the stuff and by the time it comes out of the smoker all bags are always spoken for.

When recounting our greatest fishing tale, people still find it hard to believe that Gladiator was landed on an eight foot six, medium heavy popping rod and a budget spinning reel. With this type of tackle we are clearly underdogs when brawling with large Ulua, but that’s what makes this type of fishing so challenging, exciting, and ultimately rewarding when you do land that one fish after losing countless others. All out scraps with the monarchs of our Hawaiian reefs is what we live for. For us its all about living the Plug Life.

Fred Hall Show 2019 – Part I

March 11, 2019 By Scott Leave a Comment

Being able to talk with the major fishing brands in one setting was too hard to pass up. The crew who provide reviews for this website couldn’t make the trip so I went solo and opted to use Lyft to get around.

I hit up the vendors on the first two days of the show, Wednesday and Thursday, while they were still fresh. Last year, when Erik and I hit the show on the weekend, the guys in the booths were swamped and glassy eyed.

A lot of the guys we met last year weren’t there this year, but I did meet some new folks and learned a lot about the products we use and hope to use. The show focuses on Southern California fishing and Alaskan / Mexican destination fishing lodges, but I was able to see a bunch of products and services that would interest us back home in Hawaii.

I had been tracking the Bixpy electric “jet” motor that mounts to a kayak’s rudder for a while. The jet motor has such a compact footprint on the rudder and the lithium ion battery is so small and light, that someone could paddle around without running the motor and not be negatively impacted.

My concern was how long the jet motor and lithium battery would last in the salt since together they cost $1000. The Bixpy rep said the motor should be able to run maintenance free for a few years, and then would be easily repairable at the factory. The lithium battery, however, would need to be replaced after about 3 years of normal use, and a replacement battery would cost about $500. That’s still cheaper than the $1800 plus Torqueedo kayak motor.

Since one of my favorite sales guys, Rick Carr, was repping Minn Kota electric motors at the show, I stopped by to understand how much it would cost to mount a salt water trolling motor on my new Ocean Kayak Trident Ultra 4.3. Rick recommended the Minn Kota Riptide Transom Mount 45lb thrust with “Digital Maximizer” that efficiently conserves battery power. List price is about $320, and it would be mounted off the right side of the kayak, behind my seat, and I’d control it with an extended tiller. Sounds like I know what I’m talking about huh? I’m not a boat/motor guy so it took a while for me to understand the terminology. This would be the least expensive way to add a motor to my yak but the downside would be the added weight of an SLA battery and the weight/size of the electric motor hanging off the side of the kayak.

Steve and Peter Oropeza working hard and having fun in the Promar booth

Steve Oropeza, of Promar / Ahi USA, helped me get situated with the locations of the 500 plus exhibitors, and told me that Chase Baits and Hookup Baits were two of the hot lure makers this year.

Chase Baits makes very realistic swimming soft plastic squids that look like they would be effective to fish vertically. The squids were about the size of our Hawaiian cuttlefish and could be killer in low light but I opted not to get any since I still have a few lures I haven’t tested from last year!

At first glance the Hookup Baits just looked like beefed up freshwater tube baits with better hardware. But the owner Chad explained how the lures were properly weighted with Owner jig hooks to swim optimally and the durable plastic bodies were infused with fish attracting scent. Their photos of the saltwater bass, yellowtail, and tuna with Hookup Baits hanging out of their mouths spoke to the effectiveness of the easy-to-fish lure. The lures could be cast and retrieved like you’d retrieve a weighted soft plastic, or fished off the bottom in a hopping manner. The silhouettes really replicated the bait fish they were imitating. I picked up some 3/8 oz jig head versions to whip with, and some 1 oz jig head versions to fish vertically.

A friend wanted me to pick up a Nomad Design DTX Minnow in the 6.5 inch, 3.75 oz size to troll fast and deep for pelagics. They are the hot offshore brand of lures from Australia that are encased in hard plastic, wired throughout the body, and rigged with heavy duty inline single BKK hooks. I can’t troll a lure faster than 3 mph so I decided to try the Nomad Design Maverick, in the 5.5 inch, 1.5 oz size. The Maverick is a very versatile lure that floats, and can be popped, walked or retrieved so it swims underwater in a gurgling S-shaped pattern. I’m thinking I can put the Maverick out as I paddle around, and retrieve it on the surface when I get to a fishy spot.

Stay tuned for Part II covering a Mexican destination bucket list trip, UV protection leggings for kayak fishing, dogs jumping into frigid water on command and more!

Sheet glass conditions on a big moon day

March 15, 2017 By Scott 1 Comment

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.

Extensive product testing in nearshore waters

March 9, 2017 By Scott 12 Comments

I was fortunate to go out on Erik’s small aluminum boat again and test some lures. The wind was really light and swell was on the smaller size so we started up the coast, behind the breakers. The water was pretty clear and maybe 20 to 30 ft deep in the sandy channels. The reefs looked about 15 ft deep. Erik used a casting jig to work the full water column and I used the JDM sub-surface lure I’ve been using lately on my inshore rod. As good as the spot looked, we didn’t get a single sniff so we drifted in closer to the back of the waves.

Erik switched to the Waxwing Baby to cover ground quicker and I switched rods to a GLoomis 8ft “Backbounce” rod that has a graphite – fiberglass blend to flex more on the cast. I had the new Tranx 400 mounted and loaded with 50lb Sufix 832. First time trying the Tranx 400 and first time using Sufix 832 as braid. The heaviest swimming lure I had was a lip-less with a lead cylinder in its body. It didn’t swim as well as the lighter swimming lures but cast well on the Backbounce rod and Tranx. I was impressed that the Suffix was coming off the reel smoother than the PowerPro I used in the past.

Still no hits so Erik changed to a floating gurgling type of JDM lure that had been very consistent in the past. Omilu came up to investigate but didn’t commit. I was enjoying casting the 1 oz heavy swimmer but really didn’t have confidence in its fish attracting qualities. Then a fish hit it about 10 inches below the surface, halfway to the boat and flipped its tail at us. Hanapa’a! We were getting close to the back of the breaking waves so Erik started up the motor and pulled us away a bit. The fish felt strong on its initial runs back to the safety of the reef but the Tranx drag was smooth and its gears brought the fish boat side after a few mins. Electric blue Omilu!

Erik filmed the fight and landing and netted the fish with his other hand. Not only did he put us on the fish but he captured the action and did post production on the pics and video. Can’t beat that service! The fish taped out at 20.5 inches (FL). Not sure how many pounds that equates to but it was definitely bigger than the 4lb omilu that were my previous best. I tagged and released it and it splashed me in the face in its hurry to get back home.

I broke one of the flimsy treble hooks when I unhooked the fish prior to tagging and releasing. It seems like the JDM lure manufacturers choose light hooks so the lures swim as well as they can. The US domestic lures have stouter hooks but don’t swim as well. So we’ve been changing out the JDM hooks to larger Owner trebles that don’t adversely affect the action.

Back to the action: After seeing the omilu swim off strongly, we looked up and could see a wave building. Erik put us in gear and we scrambled to safety. Whew. It’s definitely dicey fishing that close to the impact zone where the fish hang out. The sinking swimmer’s broken treble didn’t dangle properly so I switched to another untested lure, a larger floating pencil style bait meant for small pelagics. It was lighter than the sinking lure so I backlashed the first cast into the wind. Ugh… the tangle looked bad but once I picked it off the Suffix cast fine. That was my only backlash of the day, much unlike my experience with PowerPro and a bait caster. The pencil lure didn’t have much action on its own and I struggled to make it walk from my seated position on the boat. Then there was a blow up but the fish hit just in front of the tail hook. It left teeth marks but didn’t come back. We think it was a big papio/small ulua.

We moved away from the waves to the safety of the inner bay. Erik put on a JDM walking top water lure he had success with in the past and some omilu too small to take the hook followed it in. Going further inside, I threw the JDM sub-surface lure I started the day with. A small omilu checked it out on the way back to the boat that was first attracted by Erik’s 1/4 oz Yozuri popper. It eventually hit it but was too small to tag. Erik got more papio to come off the channel bottom to investigate his popper but not commit.

We suspect the action was slow because of the mid-day sun and the mostly slack tide. The fish weren’t aggressive enough to commit to hitting surface lures but did occasionally hit my lures that ran up to 1 foot under water. It was good to try such a variety of lures for comparison. Sub-surface swimming action isn’t as critical as I thought if you run the lures over where the fish are hanging out in the impact zone.

I was really pleased with how the Tranx and Sufix performed. Smooth casts and fast, powerful retrieves. 2 products I need to test again!

Latest issue of Lawai’a is on the newsstands

December 9, 2016 By Scott Leave a Comment

Admittedly, I’m biased, but this issue is the best one yet. I know I’ve said that before, but the magazine, behind a team of dedicated volunteers, just gets better and better.

Besides the reader contributed fish stories and historical and educational pieces, here’s a couple nearshore lure reviews:

Eric Parubrub breaks down the GTFC popper lineup to help you decide which model is best suited for your ability and fishing conditions. In the next issue he’ll break down the GTFC pencil type lures in similar fashion. That’s Erik’s dad Ed in the photo. Handsome buggah yeah?

And I describe how the Live Deception jig has out-fished live bait in shallow jigging conditions all the way out to 300 feet. For $5 to $7 depending on the jig size, it’s a no brainer to keep a few on hand just in case.

Sorry for shamelessly plugging my own article.

My favorite nearshore and semi-nearshore lures – 2016

October 20, 2016 By Scott 14 Comments

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:

I’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:

When 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:

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:

Small 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:

Break 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:

The 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.

Don’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.

Best top water and sub-surface lures?

August 28, 2016 By Scott 6 Comments

I’ve been fishing the top water (floating) and sub-surface (slow sinking) lures a lot, recently. They don’t get hung up in very shallow water and the strikes are often explosive. Whipping these lures doesn’t require much gear, and I’ve been mainly casting from the water’s edge.

The lure bite has slowed dramatically due to the abundance of oama inshore but I still prefer throwing the lures vs. dealing with messy live or dead oama.

The lures in the photo were all manufactured in Japan. Some, like the sub-surface Shimano Waxwings in the bottom row, are sold in the U.S Domestic Market. The others may have been sold in the U.S. at one time but are now only available in the Japan Domestic Market (JDM) in those models or colors.

The 4 light colored ones with green stripes look like they were drawn on because I marked them up to look like oama! The larger Waxwing caught this 16″ white papio (tagged and released) without the bad artwork but I figured it couldn’t hurt to make the lure look like the food the predators are hammering now.

The chubby lure in the 2nd row, left, had been getting hammered by kaku when I threw it in another color scheme before the oama moved in.

The top secret JDM lure in the upper left, has caught omilu and kaku. It’s been so effective that I was asked to never show it online. Sorry. It won’t be in the Best Top Water or Sub-Surface Contest but the other lures will be.

If there’s enough interest I’ll run a poll so you guys can guess which one is deemed the most effective lure.

JDM lure looks great but hasn’t caught a fish yet?

August 2, 2016 By Scott Leave a Comment

I’ve been running a lure comparison pitting a few JDM (Japan Domestic Market) top-water lures against the Shimano Waxwing, my go-to sub-surface lure.

One JDM lure in particular has trounced the competition. The Waxwing had fallen behind until I resharpened its hooks and it made a strong come back the last time out. Another JDM lure has the perfect profile of a chubby baby mullet, and has great coloration. It hadn’t even gotten a boil, however. I was told by my JDM supplier that the chubby lure rides higher in the water than the one trouncing the competition, and because of that, the predators aren’t able to see the lure as well. He recommended weighing the lure down by putting on heavier split rings and hooks.

Because that lure looks so darn cute I ran out and got the heavier Owner hyper rings and Owner 4X treble hooks. Using the Daiwa heavy duty split ring pliers I got from my JDM supplier, sliding thick gauged hooks onto split rings was no longer an exercise in frustration. I did a buoyancy test in an unoccupied oama tub and the lure floated much deeper in the water.

Since this was the only lure in the test that hasn’t even gotten a look, I started with the chubby guy today. The beach was lined with conventional rods as if some tournament was going on. I couldn’t fish my normal test grounds so I cast out about 20 yds from the last rod on the beach.

A few casts later and a 17″ kaku boiled on it and was hooked. I kept the toothy fish hooked so I could leave it in the water, and tagged it. Weighing that lure down really did make it more visible to predators.

I put the Waxwing on and didn’t get a single bump but I attribute that to all the activity in the water.

So at this point of the lure test, the Waxwing and the two JDM top-water lures have all caught fish. Each lure has had its day under different circumstances. Another JDM top-water lure arrived in the mail today. More testing is ahead.

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?

Semi-nearshore boat popping for papio

May 26, 2016 By Scott 5 Comments

The wind was forecast to be under 10mph and Erik invited me to dial in the shallow water micro jigging. The last time we did this, Erik found the spot by triangulating the landmarks without aid of GPS and fish finder, but I had a discontinued fish finder lying around that I had been dying to use. I jury rigged the Huminbird PiranhaMax 230 to be more water proof, by removing the base and putting the AA batteries in a waterproof tackle box. I was as excited to see if the fish finder would help us as I was to actually catch a fish.

The winds ended up blowing more than 15 mph and there was a trade wind chop on the water. We had to scrap the bottom fishing plans and throw lures on the inside. Erik started with a Yozuri Hydro Popper on his Shimano Sahara 4000 reel, packed with 15lb braid and a 30lb fluoro leader. I kept my micro jig on and tried bottom fishing the marks that began to show near reef edges. At the first drift an omilu shot out and followed Erik’s popper, then a 6 ft Galapagos shark got interested. Erik kept his lure out of the shark’s mouth and action slowed. I jigged in the shallow water for nada.

The fish doesn’t look as big as it really was because I had taken it at an angle

Erik moved us to another spot and hooked up on his first cast. A strong fighting 3 to 4lb white gave him a good tussle before surrendering. Erik let it go, planning to keep his 4th papio and 6th papio if he was able to catch that many. His plan wasn’t boastful, he just wanted to keep a fish if there were enough of them were around. My micro jig wasn’t getting any love so I changed to a Live Deception jig I could cast.

Erik moved us to another spot, gurgle-popped his popper and hooked up on the first cast again! A slightly smaller white fought its way back to the boat. I cast the Live Deception around, tried different retrieves for … nada.

Third drift, Erik hooks up on the first cast with the Hydro Popper again. Man, that guy can find and catch fish. I tried a Waxwing Boy where he hooked his white papio but got no follows even though it swam so enticingly. I dug around and found an old resin Kaku popper from the 80’s. It didn’t float and thus, didn’t line up that well to make a big splash on the sweep. Erik’s next fish could be kept so we made another drift.

He got a hit as soon as the popper touched the water, even before he moved it! But it came off during the fight. I had yet to even get a strike. He felt badly that I was getting skunked so he offered me the lure that had been working so well for him. I was afraid I’d lose it in the rocks or something but he assured me it floats. He put on a larger Yozuri 3D popper.

Next drift, Erik landed his 4th white but it was smaller than the previous ones so he released it. I was struggling to get used to popping with a bait caster and wasn’t getting the right gurgle and slurp action going. Erik stopped fishing and tried to put me right in front of some easy to catch fish. Drifts went by and finally a fish lunged and splashed but alas, no hookup. Another white missed the hooks and then we saw a silvery streak hit the lure from the side but missed the hooks. Arrggh… we’re right on top of the reef at this point but I tried again since that was the closest I had come to hooking a fish.

Hookup, the fish took to the air to pull somersaults. Awa awa! I guess my retrieve couldn’t get the more aggressive white papio going but it fooled a not-so-smart awa awa. At this point I wasn’t picky. Erik had already landed 4 whites out of 6 hookups. The awa awa wasn’t very big but it jumped and shook it’s head right next to the boat. The hook stayed in and we were able to release it.

We tried some other spots but the bite had slowed way down. With a few minutes left, Erik took us out to where he had the most action and a papio hit and shook off his 3D Popper. I threw into a deep channel, saw a splash, and felt a solid hookup. A second later the line went limp. What the heck?!! The 15lb fluro main was cut clean, above where it was spliced to a 2.5ft 40 lb fluoro leader. Either a long fish cut the line with his tail or a pack of fish swarmed the lure and one hit the line above the lure. I felt awful to lose Erik’s magic Yozuri Hydro Popper. Hope the replacement popper I get has the same mojo.

Erik ended up not taking any papio home for grandma but didn’t seem to mind. I was happy I was able to hook something on my inaugural popping trip and was satisfied with the way the fish finder worked. Erik didn’t use it to find out where the fish were, but it did mark fish where we got our strikes and even marked followers when we retrieved our lures back to the boat. I’m hoping it proves its worth on a bottom fishing trip.

Jigging and popping for pelagics and ulua

May 17, 2016 By Scott 11 Comments

(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.

The 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.

After 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.

Erik 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.