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Are JDM whipping lures worth the $$ ?

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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!

Early morning top water papio frenzy!

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Capt Erik (referred to as “Erik” when I’m not on his boat!) had been experiencing some great outings in the bay, getting the schooling white papio (GTs) and awa awa to frenzy on his poppers.  In fact, he hooked a 100 lb plus ulua on a Micky Mouse popper he bought from Bass Pro Shops near Disney World!  That true story of the epic 2 hr battle will be reported here if you guys ask him nicely.  🙂

He knew I was struggling to get a decent fish to test the 13 Fishing Concept Z reel so he invited me out on his 14’ aluminum Lowe boat with Yamaha 9.9hp tiller motor, and picked a not-so-early morning start time because he was well aware of my aversion to early mornings.  We reached the first spot at 8:30am and he hooked a big white papio on his 4th cast.  The fish was too strong to be horsed in and got sharked, and Capt Erik ended up feeling the long runs of the shark. After a couple mins the lure popped free and as he cranked it back in, and it got hit!  A smaller white was quickly brought in and released unscathed.  The bite ended and we went looking all over the place. We even trolled but couldn’t find the school until Capt Erik called up another white from the depths a few hrs later with his popper.  At the end I got a couple sub-7 inch whites in the shallows as consolation bites.

Capt Erik felt sorry for my lack of production so he invited me out again a few days later, for a true dawn patrol trip.  This would be testing the theory that the school bites better in the early morning independent of tidal movement since the tide was flat.  I woke at 3:30am, which is closer to when I normally go to sleep than when I wake up, and we were fishing at 5:45.  He got bit on the 4th cast of his small 7/8 oz Yozuri Hydro Popper again, and tagged a 14.5″ white papio with PIFG tag #A5646.

 

 

We both were silently thinking that the bite would stop after that, but the school stayed and I managed to call a 17 inch white up with a JDM popper that I can pop just by line retrieval, not rod sweeps.  I tagged that with #A5652.

 

 

We moved to the area that had been most productive for Capt Erik in the past, and once again he got them to frenzy on his Hydro Popper.  He kept his white papio in the water to keep the school close, and I cast a heavy 1.5 oz JDM sinking swimmer I had never used before.  It was the larger version of this 1 oz sinking swimmer that a big omilu hit.

It got boiled on, and the fish took line on a hard drag on the Tranx 400.  No head shakes, it felt like a really good fish and I was imagining it to be a non-jumping big awa awa, or even a shibi! But soon enough it got sharked too and my brand new JDM lure was gone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capt Erik hooked up again and got the papio in the boat before it could get sharked. It looked like a white papio but the eyes were larger and the body was narrower. Menpachi papio! I had never seen one before.  The fish were frenzying and my line on my big pole was cut. I looked at the Z reel and told it this was its chance to prove itself.  The JDM popper got boiled on 3 times and I was on!  I couldn’t horse the fish in with the small reel, and was pretty sure it was gonna get sharked but with the Captain’s encouragement I got it boatside and he netted it. 17 inch whitey. The little Z reel with 22lb max drag did the job. Stay tuned for the in-depth review.  We had 3 papio flopping around in the boat, released the 2 whites and I asked Capt Erik if I could take the menpachi papio home for my parents.

The bite stopped so we trolled around and ended up further out, over a deep reef.  Capt Erik was able to get a big boil on his GT Ice Cream plug but it didn’t stick.  Our 4 hrs of early morning fishing were up and it was time to race in.  I begrudgingly have to say that the schooling predators bite better at sun up than mid morning, and they seem to shut off just a couple of hours into the day.

The 14.5 inch menpachi papio had a semi-digested fish in its stomach and was riddled with worms the size of “orzo” pasta throughout its stomach cavity.  I’ll spare you guys that view.  The flesh was reddish, unlike omilu and papio, and I presented it to my dad worm-free. He fried and broiled it and said it tasted a little better than the more common papio.  Maybe it was oilier?  Thanks Capt Erik for ensuring I’d be able to test the Z reel against hard pulling fish by calling the school right to me, and sharing the rare menpachi papio with my family.

 

The Bolo is over!

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After 5 kayak and 6 shore fishing bolo trips, painfully documented in this post, I can finally say it’s over!  Thanks for the well wishes and suggestions on how to break the bad luck streak.

From shore I had been testing the 13 Fishing Concept Z bait casting reel I was given at the Fred Hall Show in March.  Was stubbornly sticking to top water and sub-surface lures although the thought of dragging bait did cross my mind. The reel cast and swam light lures really well and had some near misses so I was hoping it was just a matter of fishing the right conditions.

The last two spots I wade fished were so murky and muddy that the fish couldn’t see the lure well.  Changing things up, I  tried a spot where I could walk out to the break on a very low tide.  Hadn’t fished it in more than a year but the last time I did, the omilu were going nuts for the JDM sub-surface lure.  Here’s how the action went down that day.  This time, on the -0.1 ft tide,  I almost made it to the break.  Hedging my bets because of the clear water, I dropped down to 25lb fluoro leader instead of the 40lb I had been using to prevent kaku bite-offs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My second cast into a small sandy pocket hooked something solid. I set the hook a few times to make sure it wasn’t gonna shake off like the previous fish on this bolo run, before turning on the hat mounted GoPro.  The Concept Z reel is so light and small yet has a max drag of 22lbs.  I had the drag set enough to over power the kaku so it came in green and flopped around like a trout avoiding a landing net.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I was so far from shore I tried tagging the kaku in the Promar ProFloat net. Keeping it captive wasn’t a problem but measuring the sharp toothed fish while keeping my reel out of the water was a challenge. I ended up grabbing the kaku through the net and doing a rough estimate.  19 inches, tagged with #A5651.  And just like that, my bolo was over.

On my next cast, a kaku of about the same size followed by a pound half omilu investigated my lure and turned away 10 ft from me.  That was it for the action in that little sand patch so I walked back to shore with a lot of weight lifted off my shoulders.  Sorry for all the photos of a slimy kaku but I needed proof I finally landed a fish with the Z reel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the zero foot tide I gathered some pipihi and mussels for my Toby puffer. Interesting that the pipihi were a 1/3 the size of the ones I gathered earlier at another spot with a large lava rock shelf.

I whipped a sandy, protective cove and missed 2 more kaku.  Fellow whippers I talked to when I was leaving said they saw a large omilu come in, swirl around and go out in the area I caught the bolo-breaking kaku.  Fishing is a matter of inches. If that kaku had hit the lure an inch back from the front hook I’d still be lamenting the bolo.

Seems like the omilu are coming in looking for bait but not finding much yet.  Still no reports of large oama schools inshore.

 

SUP with oama = 3; Yak with lures = 0

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Kelly, Frank and I hit the deeper water grounds that have been productive recently.  Kelly would be trolling frozen oama, Frank would whip lures first, and then troll oama. I was loaded for bear, with 40lb fluoro leader and abrasion resistant fluoro main line so I could bring in a big fish before Sharkey took his cut. I would stick to the lures that had been working the last two times I fished here solo.  The wild card was the “King Tide” that would flood the shoreline later in the day.

We started while the tide was below zero.  The wind was calm at the launch and we easily paddled to the area that was working last week. Something wasn’t right. The water was a copper-yellow tinge, not the way it would look if it were caused by runoff. Visibility was reduced and we suspected that the turbulence from the big tide stirred up sediment.  I marked much less fish on the fish finder, and nothing hit Kelly’s oama he SUP’d around.  I even tried fishing the suspended marks that produced big strikes the last time but I couldn’t even get a bump.

We spread out and a couple hrs of no bites went by. Then Kelly found a productive reef and landed a 2lb omilu followed by a kaku that cut the leader, and a roi that took his meal down a hole.  He ended his outing with a larger omilu that shook off before it could be landed.  Kelly passed some frozen oama on to Frank before having to leave, and Frank began trolling the reef closer to shore while I explored a deeper water papa further out.

The wind was over 12mph with gusts to 15 mph and the papa’s protected side was still bumpy.  The drift was fast but I was able to mark larger fish near the bottom.  The big boys were there but didn’t take any sub-surface, sinking lures or jigs.  Big contrast to the earlier trip when they came up in packs to hit lures.  I let the wind blow me back to where Frank was SUP trolling.

Frank had some roi action, then pulled in an oama head that was left by a papio or kaku.  After putting out a new bait he instantly hanapa’ad a 12″ FL omilu.  Repeating his path again he landed a 12.5″ FL white that was thicker and stronger.  After I had covered so much ground for nary a bite I was very surprised that an omilu and a white would be caught in the same area.  I put on a Waxwing Boy and whipped the flats and papa edge nearby. Still no love for me.  Frank’s last oama bait was pulled down into the rocks so we whipped lures on the way back to the launch site.

I put the trusty sub-surface lure back on and sure enough a roi jumped on.  Luckily it didn’t rock me and I dispatched it with a knife.  I’ve been catching roi with full bellies lately. Are they pregnant or just stuffed with reef fish?  This particular colored lure has caught more roi than any other lure for me.  Good for roi roundups but bad when the roi make it into the holes.

We checked the usual spots on the way back in but they were all barren.  So was it the King Tide and off color water that scattered the fish and made them unresponsive to lures?  The bait schools I had seen earlier were gone. Perhaps the bait didn’t feel safe in water they couldn’t see their predators coming, and without bait, there was no reason for the predators to hang around?

It was awesome to fish with Kelly and Frank.  We tried to work together to find fish. Kelly was the “control” with trolled oama, proving that some areas were indeed barren, and some areas held fish that wanted a room service delivered oama. Frank hooked a roi on the same sub-surface lure I did, but no papio.  That told me that the heavier leader and thicker main line I was using wasn’t the reason I got blanked.  And, it’s always good to fish with great guys who happen to be skilled watermen.

 

 

Predators gone amuck!

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The whites I stumbled upon the other day kept calling my name.  I went a little earlier this time, and the tide was still falling in the morning.  It was a little windier, maybe 8 to 10 mph trade winds, but lighter than normal.  Headed straight for Erik’s spot where I struck out the other day.  My go-to sub-surface lure got bumped repeatedly on the papa edge but nothing stuck. That was odd cuz it normally produces. I put on a sub-surface lure that I modified to run two inline single hooks instead of 3 small trebles. I wanted to see if having 1 less hook would affect the hookup ratio.

Evidently not. On the first cast a fish chased it down, jumping out of the water twice to eat it. I thought I was fighting an awa awa but brought a white papio to color.  I guess that fish preferred the swimming action of this slightly longer lure that was missing its belly hook.  Disappointed it wasn’t an awa awa, I shook it off. My tag kit got soaked while tagging fish the other day and I decided to skip tagging today.

Since the water was higher on the papa I drifted on it and cast to productive looking areas.  A smaller white hit about 10 ft from the papa edge but shook off before I could shake him off myself.  Hmm,  didn’t know white papio feed on top of the papas like omilu do.  Trying another drift over the papa I hooked something that took my lure into a long rocky tunnel. When the line finally broke, I was missing the lure and 3 ft leader.  I hope that roi chokes on my lure and dies, though I bet it was able to shed the single hook quickly.

Not wanted to lose any more sub-surface lures, I put on a heavy lipped swimmer.  It cast well but didn’t get bumped at all.  I had thrown it before and didn’t get a bite then either. Maybe that’s why it was half off on eBay.

Continuing with my lure tests, I paddled away from the papa and marked what looked like medium-sized fish suspended a little above squiggly lines that I assumed were bait fish.  I put on a smaller-bodied heavy lipped swimmer that was supposedly the hottest thing in Asia.  Cast out, let it settle to the bottom and retrieved steadily. It got bumped and I hooked fish but the hook kept pulling.  The fish felt like smaller white papio or maybe taape or some other reef fish?  I threw it closer to the pointed edge of the papa and an awa awa grey-hounded out of the water. Finally, the target fish!  The line went slack for about a second, and then took off again.  I fought the stubborn fish to the yak, and when I brought it to color it was a 13.5 inch (FL) white!  The awa awa had dropped the lure and the white picked it up thinking it was his lucky day.  Wrong, I bagged him for getting my hopes up.

So far that heavy lipped lure got bumped or hit on just about every cast.  I paddled back out to the concentration of fish settled near the bottom and dragged the lure over them.  I could feel the bumps again and imagined the fish were annoyed that this lure was interrupting their nap. Then I got a solid hookup and the fish felt like a 3lb white papio, just 3 times stronger. It fought up and down, and didn’t take a lot of line but I couldn’t bring it to the surface.  Fish started showing up on the fish finder all over the water column so I imagined the white papio school was trying to find out why their big bruddah was swimming so erratically.  I tried to get him to the yak as soon as I could before another fish ran into the line with its scutes and maybe 5 mins in the line cut.  I was disappointed that I didn’t see what I had hooked but kind of expected this ending.

The 17 lb mono main line was frayed; not the clean kind of cut like papio scutes normally cut line. I sent the picture to Erik and he said I got sharked.  The next day he went out and sharks were chasing down his fish and spinning in the air!  And to think, I had my legs in the water, straddling the Scupper Pro to stabilize it.

I put on another sinking swimmer and it got bumped but didn’t hook up on the first couple of casts. It was time to go anyway, and I was pleased again with the equipment mods. My cheap, portable fish finder put me on fish resting in the channel.  The 4X treble and single inline hook combination seemed to still allow the lures to swim and yet have the holding power to bring fish in.  I am gonna have to replace the 17lb mono with the castable fluorocarbon I used to use, to get more abrasion protection.  And keep my limbs in the boat, and a tourniquet nearby.

“Fish finder fish” landed on the stronger hooks

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Erik had been nudging me to get out on the water with his detailed catch reports. He actually drew maps of where he caught fish, and met me on the water to tell me where they were sitting earlier for his epic tag and release session. I braced for a hit as I threw out the sub-surface lure with stronger hooks.  Something jumped on that pulled a little and had a lot of resistance in the water but came off on the papa. Big roi or foul hooked papio? I metered fish near the papa drop off, a few feet off the bottom but couldn’t get them to come up to identify themselves.  My guide, Erik, had to leave for work so I was left to find my own fish.

The kayak with reduced transducer drag glided easily in the sheet glass conditions so I ventured further out than I had ever fished in that area.  My lure got hung up deep in a hole at the papa edge and the main line broke off. Dang roi hit the lure on the surface and pulled it down deep.  That was an expensive loss.  I put on another modified lure and trolled a little off the papa edges but nothing hit so I daringly trolled on the top of the papa in a few feet of water.  Finally, I landed a 10.5 inch (FL) omilu that was hooked in the mouth and lightly foul hooked with the front belly hook.  The fight felt a lot like the first fish, so I suspect that was a foul hooked papio also that got off.  The omilu was tagged and released back to his two waiting buddies.

The current pushed me to the edge of the papa and the fish finder marked 3 larger fish suspended a few feet off the bottom that looked like a bunch of whites resting in the deep shade.  Sure enough one came up and took the sub-surface lure deep in its throat.  A larger white came up with it, eyeing me warily.  I had to use my long nose pliers to remove the rear single inline hook. Note that the front treble hook didn’t foul the fish like the stock trebles had been doing. I’m sure it would have survived after being released since the  rear single hook did much less damage than a treble would have, but I kept the fish since I had already tagged a fish. It went 14.25 inches (FL).

The wind had blown me far off the spot I had caught the whitey so I had to try and recognize where I had gotten the strike.  I used the fish finder to locate larger fish hunkered down in groups near the bottom and sure enough, on my next cast, a 15 inch (FL) white got caught on the front treble hook.  The free swinging rear single hook didn’t snag the fish at all.  Maybe that white was the fish that was eyeing me earlier.  The fish was tagged and set free.

Today’s whites were fat and strong for their size. They seemed to be eating well and the stronger replacement hooks didn’t stretch at all.  The reduced drag of the transducer mount let me expand my range and locate fish with the fish finder.  It was great to verify that the equipment modifications were actual improvements.

 

 

SUP and Kayak whipping action

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Frank had been customizing his surf SUP for fishing and came up with design where he could sit kayak-style with legs supported by foot rests, and paddle as if it were a surf ski.  It was much easier to transport than my kayak, and he could climb back on easily if he huli’d (flipped). If I huli on my old Scupper Pro, it’s a struggle to climb back in with all the accessories attached, and the hatch would have let in water.

We went out on a light wind, low surf day to see how Frank’s Fishing SUP fished.  I had misjudged the waterline of my kayak when I made an adjustment to the fish finder’s transducer mount so the transducer was high and dry and unusable. I rely heavily on the fish finder when scouting new grounds so it felt severely handicapping but turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  Without the drag of the transducer mount, the Scupper Pro felt lively and glided like it had never before.

Frank ventured into the white wash, and I stayed just out of range, trying to gauge the tippy-ness of the kayak.  Straddling the kayak as if it were a longboard helped greatly with stability.  Frank found a small break in the surf and hooked something on his JDM sub-surface lure. It tugged pretty hard for about 10 seconds and then unbuttoned.  That gave us hope.  An hr later I had yet to feel a tug.  I followed Frank into a protected break in the surf and watched as he fished up in the white wash.

In the serenity of the calm 5 ft water I hooked something! It pulled drag a bit and was hard to bring in. Turned out to be an omilu that was hooked on both treble hooks. I was stoked to catch something decent in the safety of the protected water and eventually worked my way further into the waves as they got smaller with the rising tide.  The grounds looked great but we didn’t get another strike for the next 2 hours.

At 6pm, when we were considering paddling in, we made one more attempt. It was the witching hour, after all.  We looked for the largest boulders and turbulence and bam! Something ran against my tight drag, making two strong, brief runs, then the hook pulled. UGH!  The two treble hooks were bent open! The fish probably was hooked like the first fish was, and was able to pry itself loose by straightening out the hooks. Since I had pinched down the barbs, it easily slid off after that. That had never happened to me before, mainly because I had never hooked a big fish with treble hooks.  I’m still amazed that the Owner 2X #3 treble hooks opened so easily but friends have since explained why single hooks are a much more secure connection to the fish.  I’ll be replacing the hooks on these very productive lures soon, hopefully keeping their swimming action intact.

Frank’s Fishing SUP performed very well. He was able to paddle comfortably and access rougher water than I could risk. Frank is very skilled at fabricating customized solutions and has created a fishing / surfing SUP transformer. He gets compliments on his gear wherever we fish. We both have some equipment and technique tweaks to make to fish safely in the wash, and we’ll be back, ready for the next SCREAMAH!

Lotta wading, not much catching

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Erik, Thad and I waded out to the break on a morning minus tide.  Thad and I were throwing JDM sub-surface lures and Erik started with a small popper. We couldn’t quite make it out to the very edge of the drop off because of the water level and surf but we were still able to fish the deeper channels.  I caught the first fish of the day, a chunky poopa’a that came up for the sub-surface lure as it crossed over the reef edge.

Thad had a 1lb omilu follow his sub-surface lure but it didn’t take it. Things were looking up at this point.  He kept changing lures to see how they’d swim in the wind and chop. Erik changed to a casting jig after losing his popper to a bad FG knot, and started to kick up sand in the deep channel to attract sand dwelling predators. Unfortunately, he found the one pile of rocks on the sand bottom.   After losing the jig he switched to a soft plastic encased nehu patterned lure.

We continued to cover ground but as the tide rose higher we were limited to fishing between the shore and reef break, in waist to chest high water.  Basically the no man’s land where fish just pass through, going from the deep to the shore to feed and return back to the deep.  Thad managed to catch a 3 ft plus trumpetfish in no man’s land that sucked down his tight wiggling, small sub-surface lure. Sorry, I didn’t take a pic because my phone was tucked away in my sling bag.

Spreading out, we approached the shallows from the deep.  I was surprised at the lack of bait fish, which lowered our expectations for action in the knee deep water.  Limu began to snag our hooks but Erik was able to rip his sinking 4 inch 1.2 oz soft nehu on the surface above the limu and hooked something that kicked up a lot of water.  Kaku! Our target species for the shallows.

We weren’t planning on tagging fish because of the deep water we were wading in, but I had a tag kit with me so we tagged it on the beach.  17.75″ FL, good size kaku considering there wasn’t any noticeable bait in the shallows.

With that day saving catch, Erik left for home and Thad and I tried to scrounge up a kaku of our own.  Thad had repeated hits as he walked his surface lure in the 2 ft of water, and I got hits on the sub-surface lure I had fished all day, but nothing stuck. With all the ground we covered we just caught one fish each.

The tide was great, the moon was small but no bait was around.  Are we still between seasons, and the Spring bait influx hasn’t started because we’re in a La Nina cycle and nature is recovering from the strong El Nino cycle?

 

Ruined or improved my sub-surface lure?

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The superb casting sub-surface lure Masa recommended got punctured by a long tooth kaku a few weeks back.  When I fished it the next time, it slowly sank instead of floating.  I opened up the puncture, let the water drain out, sprayed some Salt Away to keep the sliding weight mechanism from rusting, and sealed the wound with epoxy glue.

To add to the wounded look I painted it with a white nail polish base and colored it in with a red marker.  It floated, just barely, in an empty oama tub.  The lure did look like a freshly scraped up bait fish so I started with it when Frank and I hit his whipping test grounds.

 

The lure cast further than the original lure. Within the first couple of casts a kaku hit it, missed and came back to finish it off.  Hmm, maybe the mods made the lure more attractive? I walked the kaku in to tag, and Frank asked me if I wanted 2 fish to tag. His sub-surface lure got hit right after mine did!  The fish that hit my wounded sardine taped out at 18.75 inches, the largest kaku I’ve tagged so far. Frank’s was just 1/4 inch shorter.  The bigger kaku must be coming in now to feed on bait fish we have yet to locate.

The released kaku took their friends with them so we walked out to the dropoff as the tide rose to its top third. Nothing wanted our lures except for the two roi that thought my lure was dying. I killed the first but the second slipped off the hook before I could net it.

We walked back to the kaku spot and Frank hooked another one casting toward the shore.

 

 

 

This one measured 17 inches, a little smaller than his first but still pretty big to be so close to shore this time of year.  In just a few whipping trips, Frank has gone from a neophyte whipper to one who can consistently catch the hard to hook kaku.  Time for us go after some harder fighting fish.

And it sure seems that the doctored up lure I was throwing has been improved. Masa is still not letting me puncture and weigh down his lures though.

 

Consolation predator

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Wanted to check a couple of spots I hadn’t fished since the “season” last year to see how they produce in the “pre-season”.  First up was a reefy spot exposed to swell.  Got out early enough to catch the light winds and rising tide.  A few dark reef fish followed the JDM sub-surface swimmer in, but nothing hit it for a while.  Then something hit on the shoreline reefy shelf that took drag but turned and swam in with the waves.  It didn’t feel like a papio, and the area was too rough for kaku.

Saw something cylindrical and light green colored with a mustardy orange spot.  Moana kali?  The fish hit in a few feet of water, not the normal moana kali grounds, but it did hit a swimming lure.  Upon closer examination I realized it was a big “mongoose fish” or cigar wrasse.

I’ve caught these before on cut bait but never eating size.  Heard from multiple sources that it’s good eating.  Considered keeping it but wasn’t sure if my folks would want to try a “hinalea” so I let it go.  Because of its shape and size it fought like a good-sized weke.  Another mongoose followed the lure but didn’t hit it. That was the only action I got at the first spot so I jumped in the car to check the second spot.

The water level was low at the second spot and still rising.  It was late morning and I didn’t see any bait fish and didn’t get a single follow on my lures.  I’ve caught fish in a man-made channel at this spot in the past but only in lower light conditions.

Dunno if a foul hooked mongoose fish counts as a non-bolo head. What do you guys think?

 

 

Fish dinner for Mom

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My mom started feeling better after not feeling well for a week, and wanted fresh fish. There was a really nice tidal rise starting from a negative tide, and the trades were up so I decided to wade a spot I hadn’t fished since 2015. It was kind of a long shot since it wasn’t the peak oama season but I hoped to be able to walk out a bit to reach some deeper channels.

The trades combined with the NW and S cross swells really bumped up the water. Wading out to thigh-high still sent waves knocking me back.  Masa’s recommended lure that did so well on the kaku the last time out cast well but tumbled in the turbulent water.  A light brown kaku and some just legal omilus checked it out but didn’t hit it.  I put on another JDM swimmer with a tighter wobble and it seemed to track well in the churned up water.

Suddenly I got a strike that took line. I had made my drag looser since the previous kaku tore themselves off the hook, and the fish dove into the rocks and got stuck.  I could feel that the fish was still on and was pretty sure it was an omilu, but omilu rarely rock me like that.  I really wanted the fish for my mom, and wanted the expensive lure back.  Watching Frank dive for his lure a few weeks ago gave me the idea to do the same.  Problem was, no one was around to hold my gear. I walked up the beach and placed my rod/reel, hat, sunglasses and sling bag on top a hedge and followed the line into the water.  It was neck deep and the line led to a small tunnel in a rock pile.  As I eased the fish out I sure hoped to see a blue finned omilu and not a brown eel or an ugly roi.

Out came an omilu connected to my lure by just one hook of the rear treble hook.  Even though I had tried to smash the barbs down, there was enough of a barb to keep the hook in its jaw.  Good thing the fish was retrieved otherwise it might have been eaten by something larger down there.

 

 

That was the only strike I got during that short whipping session but the 12 inch omilu was exactly what my mom wanted.  It was bagged, not tagged and looked small on my new fish cleaning table.

 

No bait fish, a few kaku on the Eastside

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Bait fish and predators have been noticeably absent at my south shore lure testing spots.  A trip to the Eastside testing grounds was long overdue.  The tide was halfway up its steep climb and there were no bait fish in sight.  I started with a lure I used in off color conditions and didn’t get a sniff.

I put on the lure Masa had been recommending and once again it cast superbly with the wind and into the wind.  Still no follows though, after an hr of whipping both lures.

Suddenly a fish wrestled with the lure on the surface. The best casting lure could catch fish too.

 

 

 

 

Kaku, the target species!  It resisted a little but soon let itself be slid on the surface of the water.  I scooped it with the Promar floating landing net and walked it to shore. I love this net because the netting is so deep and the material is tangle free.

 

 

It measured 17.5 inches fork length and I tagged it, revived it and set it free.  The center hook had caught the edge of one of the kaku’s eyes but didn’t penetrate the eye socket.  If the fish is recaptured it would be interesting to see how well that injury heals.

I missed another kaku on the way back to my car and drove to another spot where I had always seen bait schools. No bait schools around but a large kaku surprised me by taking drag and coming off the hook.  That happened on the next cast also so I loosened the drag, missed a couple smaller kaku that I could see and the flurry ended.  Masa’s recommended lure definitely represented well.  Imagine how good it’s gonna be when the bait fish return.

 

Sub-surface kaku action in light wind, slightly murky conditions

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Frank and I returned to the area that yielded a brute of a fish the first time out, and shark and kaku sightings on our second visit.  I did a  temporary repair of my Calcutta 200TE that allowed me to get into free spool and was back in business, learning the new grounds with Frank.

 

 

The tide was on the top 1/3 of the rise and the shallow flat was somewhat murky despite the light winds.  That actually helped our cause since the fish wouldn’t be as spooked by our presence.  We started in the area we saw kaku the last time, and sure enough we got follows.  Frank hooked a kaku that hit his JDM sub-surface lure, but it shook it off when it went airborne.  I hooked one not too far from him and tried walking it over but it shook off also.  We spent another 30 mins fishing a limu covered reef but didn’t get anymore follows.

There was another area that looked promising so we walked a few hundred yds in the opposite direction and entered the water.  A small school of mullet scattered, and we started snagging the hairy type of limu we find in brackish water.  A storm drain was dumping fresh water and some not so pleasant smells into the area, which created the brackish water ecosystem.  There was even a school of tilapia feeding around the mangrove roots.  Sure enough kaku started following our lures. They didn’t seem to mind being seen but didn’t commit. Maybe the moon was still too big?

Eventually we moved away from the shore and tried wading out to the drop off.  Halfway out, in hip-deep water, I hooked a fish on a heavier sub-surface lure. It thrashed on the surface and shook the lure.  From the size of the fish and fact were weren’t near defined structure, I assumed it was the awa awa we were targeting.  Shortly after, Frank said “I think I have a fish…”. He had felt some pressure on his line and then the fish made a few surges.

On closer examination it was a kaku.  Odd that they would be in the area between the shore and the drop off.  It was Frank’s first on a sub-surface lure and a nice, healthy one.  Frank’s whipping prowess improved greatly in just 3 outings.  The water’s depth was too deep to tag it without dunking our gear so he released it.

We fished the brackish water area on the way in and the kaku were gone. Maybe the ones we hooked mid-way to the drop off were those kaku leaving the shallows to sleep in deeper water?

I’m now wondering if the fish I hooked on our first outing wasn’t an awa awa but some other predator like a big jack or a shark.  I had thought it was an awa awa because I after that hookup I had hooked a fish that thrashed on the surface, but that could have been a transiting kaku.  More exploratory trips needed!

 

Sheet glass conditions on a big moon day

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shark. Roi? Broken Reel!!

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Frank and I returned to the beach where the mystery fish swum away with my JDM sub-surface lure.  This time Frank was well armed with a new 8.5 ft spinning rod (on sale at Charley’s) and a new Shimano Stradic 4000 XG FK reel Masa, our JDM lure expert, sold at a great price.  Thanks Masa!  Armed with the same lure we used the previous week, we explored a new spot on the flat. Light colored kaku immediately responded to our lures, and nibbled on them but didn’t get hooked.

Still in mid-thigh deep water, and wading towards the drop off, I couldn’t believe my eyes.  A 5 ft plus black tip shark passed by me and was headed straight for Frank. I calmly called out “Shark” and didn’t expect Frank to be too concerned but he froze in his tracks.  The shark veered off  about 10 feet in front of him and we never saw it again.  Frank later explained that despite all his years in the ocean, he had never been standing in the water with a shark zeroing in on him.  I guess I would have been unnerved too but I’ve seen black tip sharks in the shallows twice before and both times the sharks weren’t very interested in us.  I assumed that sharks and kaku in the same area meant there was bait around for them, and as long as we weren’t the bait, it bode well for us.

The dropoff looked fishy but my Calcutta 200 TE bait caster free spool button got harder and harder to depress, and eventually jammed. An internal lever had gouged a hole in the reel’s aluminum frame and was stuck in gear.  After just 20 casts I couldn’t put the reel into free spool and was out of commission.  I was bummed but realized this was a great opportunity to watch Frank whip.  He was making long casts over the drop off with his new equipment and thought he felt some tugs but his lure ended up getting stuck in a small channel cut, 5 ft down.  There was no way his floating lure could have dove deep enough to get stuck there so I suspected a roi hit it on the surface and buried himself in the reef.  Because of the value and scarcity of the JDM lure, Frank asked me hold his rod and swam down to free the lure. I didn’t remind him of the shark that seemed so enamored with him.  He popped up with lure in hand and there was no fish attached.

He followed the contour of the reef drop off and hooked something that provided water resistance but not a lot of fight. Every so often he could feel a kick.  It turned out to be a foul hooked, medium sized roi, suggesting that the fish that got his lure stuck on the bottom was indeed a roi also. We didn’t have a knife to dispatch the reef fish killer so I used my long pliers to squeeze it behind its head.  What a beautifully patterned fish with a creepy mouth.  Zoom into the photo to see the rows of backward facing teeth used  to ensure that swallowed reef fish can’t back their way out.

We didn’t connect with papio or awa awa but we did see so very efficient predators.  With all the life out there, we intend to return soon.

Extensive product testing in nearshore waters

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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!

 

It’s the ones that get away that keep you coming back

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Frank and I tried a spot I had dunked before but never whipped.  The plan was to wade out on the very low tide and fish the drop off and reef shelf as the evening tide came in. We were both armed with the sub-surface lure from Japan that cast so well, floated and swum in an enticing wobble.  Two guys using a kayak as a floating tackle box were coming in.

The water was clear and there were enough small wavelets to oxygenate the impact zone.  We cast into the deep channel and brought the lure back. I hooked a small poopa’a which got us hoping for something better.  More casts… nothing.  Saw a tight school of oio cruising the impact zone on their way into the shallows to feed. Even more casts… nothing.

The area looked so good but there were no bait fish around to draw the predators onto the shallow reef shelf.  The sun got lower, sky got a little darker and it looked like the witching hour was about to start.  We reversed and whipped the reef edge walking in the opposite direction.  The water level was too high to walk to the edge so we tried to reach the drop off with our casts.

Suddenly my lure got grabbed and the fish went past the drop off and kept pulling straight out.  I had a 14 inch 40lb fluoro leader connected to 17lb Trilene XL mono.  Line steadily pulled off my reel despite a tough drag setting.  I began to wonder if I’d get spooled when the line suddenly went slack.  Arrgh, I was standing maybe 20 yds from the reef edge so it wasn’t the dropoff that cut me off.  The fight lasted less than 15 seconds.  I reeled in and the mono was cut with a slight curl. It cut past the fluoro leader and it wasn’t the knot that became undone.  I didn’t feel any rubbing at all but the Trilene XL is so soft I don’t think it can hold up to much abrasion.    Because I had seen oio earlier I was thinking it was a very big oio with a taste for fish that took my lure.  I didn’t feel the typical papio/ulua headshakes and my previous 4lb papio couldn’t pull against the drag that long.

Frank witnessed the short battle and was pumped up to try to get one on his lure.  I rerigged quickly and tied a sloppy uni to uni knot to connect the 40lb fluoro to the Trilene XL.  I put on that same type of lure in the gold/yellow “ayu” pattern.  I tightened my drag a bit and cast out. On the 3rd cast I hooked up again!  This time the fish couldn’t get to the dropoff and flopped around on the surface before the hook pulled. Awa Awa I think, because oio don’t flop around like that.  I’ve hooked 5lb plus awa awa in deep water on the kayak that ran deep and straight and never jumped.  We see more awa awa in the Winter and Spring than during the other seasons and they’re my favorite inshore fish for the way they fight and how good the flesh is in fishcake and lomi.

Frank’s old school Shimano spinner began to generate wind knots in the braid so it was time to head in.  Turns out he was having occasional bail and wind knot issues but didn’t want to complain and slow me down.

It’s been a while since I’ve had a fish on that I felt I might spool me. The risk of losing the fish and the hard to get JDM lure woke me up. I’m eager to try again, with a better line setup and with a true whipping reel for Frank.

Sub-surface lure season

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I got bitten by the Top Water bug last summer. The fish stopped responding to surface lures when winter rolled around since there were less bait schools inshore.  The spring rains brought the bait schools back and some predators have been seen lurking around.  The predators aren’t attacking with abandon so I’ve gone to lures that run a few inches below the surface that give the predators a closer look.

My go-to subsurface lure had been the Shimano Waxwing in the smallest size, the Baby. It’s upturned double hook made it almost snag resistant but had a low hookup ratio when kaku attacked from below.  I recently discovered a JDM sub-surface lure after Masa educated me on this type of lure that floats, runs a few inches below the surface, and has a very lifelike tail-wiggle.  The first time out it caught 3 omilus. That got my attention.

I often fish in very shallow water, less than 2 feet deep, so a shallow running lure is less apt to snag limu and rocks.  The fact that it floats allows me to cast and take my time before working it back in.  I’m planning to do the combo troll and whip off my kayak with it since I won’t have to worry about it sinking and catching Oahu.

The lures are beautifully designed and have a tungsten ball bearing that is magnetically attached to the middle of the body.  On the cast, the ball bearing is released to the tail of the lure to help it sail further.  On the retrieve, the ball bearing is reattached to the middle of the lure to properly align the lure during its swimming phase.

The sub-surface lures have been out performing the top water lures during this Spring season.  They probably will continue to work in the summer but top water lures are easier for the angler to watch on the retrieve and their aerial strikes are heart stopping.

Since the sub-surface lure my buddies and I have been testing has worked out so well, I’m beginning to try other sub-surface lures.

Any of you guys fish sub-surface?

Finally got a taggable fish!

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My last few outings have been plagued by rain storms, not enough water on the flats and a backlashed reel (met a guy on the beach that wanted to cast it). In contrast, my friends have been catching omilu and kaku on their JDM (Japanese Domestic Model) sub-surface lures we’ve been testing.  I really needed to get out of this slump and catch a decent fish.

A fairly big rain system was headed our way, and though, lately I haven’t done well fishing before the storms arrive, I was desperate.  I got to the test grounds an hr before peak high tide and there was only a foot of water to fish in. Worse yet, there was that reddish-brownish hairy limu floating throughout the water column.  Every cast brought in limu, on the hooks and even the knot that splices the leader to the main line.

I was carefully guiding my sub-surface lure through the obstacle course of limu and just after it snagged a clump a hungry kaku slammed into it.  The kaku was a little guy but was a very welcome sight.

 

After snagging more limu, I put on one of my favorite top water lures.  It got a boil right away, but snagged limu also so I swapped it out with the trusty black/chrome Shimano Waxwing.  The hooks on the Waxwing ride up so it normally catches less limu but even that got fouled.

The tide was almost at its peak, a little more than a foot high, and the limu was still crowding my normal fishing spots.  I tried a sandy mud spot with less rocks and seaweed just to get a few limu-free casts in.  Nothing hit the Waxwing there so I put on a longer sub-surface lure my cousin had brought back from Japan.  I knew nothing about this lure and just wanted to see how it cast.

Well, it cast very well due to its tungsten weights that release on the cast and roll back to cause the lure to fly tail-first.  The lure hit the water and a kaku instantly jumped out and came down on the lure! I’ve had omilus do that but never kaku.  The fish was large enough to tag so I kept it in the water attached to my line and got my tagging gear out.

 

15.75 inches and healthy.  2 kaku tagged in the summer were caught 3-4 months later and grew 3 inches.  We rarely see kaku over 20 inches inshore and it’s believed they head out to the open ocean and follow the opelu schools around.  Hopefully this one is recaptured with an interesting story to tell.  My next casts with that lure brought in clumps of limu. Turns out it dives to a max of 2 feet deep.  The only way I could catch fish with it was the way it happened. Throw it out and hope a fish pounces on it before I move it!

2 kaku in one day was better than I had done in a while on the flats so with pressure off I tried an odd looking lure I recently bought at half price on eBay.  It cast very well for its weight but did nothing as I reeled it in.  I had to work really hard to make it walk a little.  Despite being thrown where bait was getting attacked, nothing showed an interest.  My bilingual fishing friend, Masa, translated a Japanese web page and informed me that it was a “wake” bait and was supposed to be retrieved smoothly, creating a V-wake behind it. I guess that type of swimming action imitates a bait fish motoring at the top of the water in distress.  I’ll try to remember to try it again where bait fish are being wounded.

While I had been fishing, the guy that tried my bait casting reel the last time came by. He’s become a friend but won’t be casting my reel for awhile.  I ended the day walking back to the car with him.