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Holoholo: Japan tackle shopping and fishing recap by Matthew

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Frequent guest poster Matthew was able to travel with his family to Japan during Spring Break and enjoy the food, tackle deals and fishing opportunities. Thanks for sharing your experience with us Matt, makes me want to go to Japan now!

Matthew: Warning: this is going to be a long one, so if you don’t have time, stop right here.

Over spring break I had a lot of fun. The day after I got out of school, I went fishing at my secret spot and got two Kaku and a Papio on some JDM’s (Japan Domestic Model products). I left for Japan, hoping to find more JDM’s and some fish.

We arrived in Osaka, stayed one night, then rode a local train to Kyoto, where we saw the monkey park and some other attractions. I found a Tackle Berry store, where I got some new used lures, even some JDM’s, some such as the Ima P-CE, and a lot others I will not name. However, the highlight of that store was a used Daiwa Sealine 250, which I got for only eight bucks. Must be a fake right? Nope, tried it when I got home and everything works fine, except for a few scratches and it being an old model.

In Tokyo, the food was so good, and one ramen place had the best ramen I’ve ever tasted. We visited Ichigaya Fishing Center, which has carp ponds. You have to pay to fish there, but it is worth it as you can catch up to twenty in an hour. I enjoyed fighting the carp on an ultra light handpole and a barbless hook. I was happy for my family, which all landed a fish. My mom and sister even landed one!

We visited the Joshuya in Shibuya, where I found the new Duel Hardcore shallow runner, which may be a limited edition, so get it while you still can. At a good price it should be 11-12 dollars in US conversion. For a general Yen price move the decimal two to the left. The shallow runner works very well, and is better than most lipped minnows, as it is not lipped, and has sort of like a built in lip, like all other Japanese lures. It is 90 millimeters and is floating, and has a knocker. Be careful not to get the mid diver, which looks exactly like it. It runs less than a foot below water when used correctly.

I also got a Pugachev’s Cobra, which is a lure that Uncle Thad likes so much. Now that I’ve tried it myself, I can see why. But for 90 millimeters it is highly priced at 19 dollars or up, some even going for 24 dollars on Amazon and Ebay. It walks very well, with a wide side to side motion. I also got a few more lures, but I have been warned to not mention their names. One works very well, with a slim nose and a nice surface action, moving around very erratically. We went to Shinjuku the next day, where we tried a fish foot spa. Some of you may have seen the video of me in the foot spa on my instagram – @shorefishing_oahu_style, but if you haven’t, then go check it out, it’s kind of funny. We went to the Tackle Berry there, where I found a used conventional for only ten dollars. Seems like Tackle Berry has good deals on used items. On research, I found out it was last made in the mid to late 1960s and was an Abu Garcia reel.

I picked up a lure that Uncle Thad had recommended, called the Daiwa Switch Hitter. It is 105 millimeters and has a neat S moving pattern 2 inches under the surface, which should drive the Kaku mad. I was lucky to find it marked off 30% of its original price, 17 dollars.

We went to a tonkatsu place next, where the chicken and pork tonkatsu was so soft, it melted in my mouth. I really liked that place.

The last fishing store we stopped at was Sansui, which is very confusing. They have two different “parts” that are broken up into four different stores, all within 1000 feet of each other. It was a huge challenge to find the saltwater part, and although it is a great place, I would advise you to not come here unless you know exactly which store you are going to, and which kind of fishing you are looking for. I purchased a Ima Komomo, which also was 90 millimeters and a diving bait with a knocker.

After five days in Tokyo, we left for Hakone, by Lake Ashi. We arrived there when it was already cold, but I couldn’t resist but to throw some lures. We ended up catching 11 smelt, but no bass or trout. After, we ate a traditional Kaiseki meal, with nine courses, which made me think my belly was going to burst. We stayed in a traditional Ryokan, with even a real Onsen. An Onsen is a lava-fed spring pool with minerals that are supposed to help with relaxation and skin issues. Only bad thing is that you have to get naked to go in there. With strangers. It was packed too, which was not good for privacy. Overall, I enjoyed the Ryokan though. The next morning, the lake was so glassy, that I couldn’t resist throwing topwater even though it was only 30 degrees fahrenheit. I somehow got a bite on my switch hitter, but it missed and was too lazy to come back for it in the cold weather.

We left Odawara Station for Osaka shortly after. When we got there, we checked into our hotel, which was very nice and in a good location. The food in Osaka was very good, unlike the fishing. I had the best crab ever at a street vendor selling king crab, Kani as they call it.

We left at five in the morning for a place in Misaki, for fishing. It was supposed to be good, but I ended up not getting a bite for four hours, and just watched my bobber move with the waves. My mom bought live Halalu, or Aji as they call it, to try lure in the Hiramasa (Japanese yellowtail). I had one do a heart-stopping circle around it before watching it leave. Again. Back to bobber fishing. Waited for another hour and a half, until, finally, I saw my bobber twitch. I broke out of my trance and watched it more carefully. Sure enough, it started moving fast across the surface. I set the hook hard, and a screamer was on. What could it be? Finally done with the junk fish, I thought to myself, and for sure a new species. No. No. No. No. No. It seems like bad luck follows me everywhere. After 30 well-fought seconds, I pulled up a fully inflated… Puffer. A puffer. Not those same pests you catch all the time in Hawaii, these can sell for hundreds of dollars per fish. But still, I was happy to finally catch a fish, but sad that it was a puffer. I was so discouraged by that, so that we left shortly after giving the Tora Fugu to a local fisherman, who was enormously grateful.

We left for Hawaii the next day, thinking about the crummy fishing, but also about how good the food was. I didn’t have a single meal that tasted bad or even mediocre in Japan. Now, time to test the JDMs. I tried my luck with the Kaku and got very lucky. I quickly got three kaku within only 45 minutes.

Next, I wanted to try bass fishing. I went to a stream and casted my topwater lure. Almost instantly, a nice size smallie demolished my bait and put up a very nice fight. I later caught a smaller one that I trapped in a pond before taking pictures.

Overall, it was a very good break and I hope to get more action on my JDM’s, and more good food like in Japan.

Matt (who is too tired to complete another long bait report)

I will do a brief bait report.

Sardines: Few, rare at this time of season

Halalu: Two piles I know of

Oama: Starting to come in, seven spots I know of

Iao: Plenty, almost everywhere

Nehu: Same as Iao

Hunting the white papio school via kayak and SUP

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After Capt Erik took me around the bay and showed me the possible places the schooling whites could be holding, Frank and I tried to find them via our paddle-powered watercraft.  Unlike the recent boat trips, we launched in the afternoon on a big incoming tide to allow for enough time to get into position before the witching hour started.  The wind decreased from 10 mph down to almost no wind so we were able to cover more ground than usual.

My Garmin 44 CV fish finder/chart plotter marked bigger blobs halfway down the water column in the wide sandy channels, and there were bait balls around but the fish didn’t want to eat for the first 2.5 hrs.  Finally, at 5pm, Frank got got a hit on his frozen oama trolled near the papa’s edge and brought up a legal omilu (he didn’t measure his fish).  He followed that up with a bigger and stronger omilu and it looked like the early eaters were beginning to bite.

I surveyed our favorite papa and marked a lot of bait and what looked like suspended larger fish.  Frank got another hit on his trolled oama but the aha managed to skitter off.  At about 6pm I had something ambush the Waxwing Jr I was retrieving on the reef edge but miss the double hook.  Witching hour was beginning to start.

I tried to emulate Capt Erik’s popping style with a JDM popper that throws a lot of water with just a small tug, but was introducing slack on the spool and backlashing my Shimano Curado 300 EJ. To tighten the line I cast the floating popper and paddled 40 yds away, then carefully pinched the line and popped it back. I could get a good deep gurgle with a side sweep of the rod and didn’t have to worry about backlashing my cast.  On my 3rd attempt at this I got boiled on and hooked a fish!  It was a legitimate 14 inch white papio that I decided to take home so my parents could compare it the menpachi papio they just had.  I wasn’t able to get a good shot on the water shot so this will have to do.

Frank’s fish with his foot in the background. Looks like he needs a larger fish bag so he doesn’t have to bend the fish to get them in!

Just as I was bagging the white, Frank radio’d that he caught a white on his JDM sub-surface lure! That was his first papio whipping with his Shimano Stradic 4000 XHFK and he was stoked!  It was 6:30 at this point and the sun was getting closer to hiding behind the mountains.  We kept at it, and I got another boil on the popper that skittered off the hook like an aha.  I turned my kayak to drift in and was in 6ft of water when I had my last boil. Looked like a small white that couldn’t quite get the hooks in its mouth.  The witching hour was on but we needed to be on land cleaning and racking our watercraft so we bid the biting fish adieu.

Sundown was about 7:15pm on this day and the whites didn’t really start getting active until after 6:30.  So the witching hour probably starts 45 mins before sundown and continues until dark.

After eating the white papio, my dad said he prefers that to the menpachi papio, “although some people may like the darker meat menpachi papio”.  I hadn’t kept a papio in months so maybe he was just appreciating both?

 

 

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.

 

Guest Post: JDM Top water action on the shallow reef shelf

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This guest post is from Thad, our resident JDM fishing equipment purveyor and top water expert. He also wrote this very popular halalu fly tying article.  Because I haven’t caught a decent fish since February, Thad was kind enough to share how he did on his last outing.

Fishing has always been more than just a casual hobby for me.  I do it not just for the excitement of hooking and landing the big one, but to get out and enjoy being with Mother Nature.  It’s a relaxing Zen sort of thing which I’m sure many of you can relate to.  Even if I don’t catch anything, I fully enjoy the experience of just being out there near the ocean.  I’ve been fishing since I was in grade school so even though I could fish favorite spots that can produce fish consistently, I love exploring and testing new grounds that I’ve never fished before – regardless of what other have told me about them.

Recently, I’ve been exploring a spot that I had always wondered about and stared at on Google Maps satellite view.  The first two weekends at the new spot had been decent, producing some exciting kaku hits on JDM topwater and shallow swimming subsurface lures.  I was also able to try some flies someone had tied and given to me.  I whipped them with a clear bubble and landed a bunch of catch & release sized omilu, as well as a nice 14” yellow spot papio.

Despite two consecutive trips there, a few unexplored areas remained where I wanted to try using different lures and methods, so I went a third time. Unfortunately, the early morning conditions on that day were not as ideal as the previous two weekends.  The tide was a little higher, the wind was very gusty, and there was also a swell rolling in.  All this movement made the water murky and difficult to see where I was stepping.  I spent the first couple of hours wading near the break, not getting any action, and being bashed around by an occasional set, so I decided to try tagging a kaku in the shallows near the shoreline before I headed home.

The gusty winds were blowing off-shore in a diagonal direction so I could get decent distance throwing my 14gram JDM top water lure downwind.  I’ve had great success fishing this walk-the-dog lure for kaku and papio before.  Its slender shape allows for long, missile-like casts, often out distancing lures that weigh several grams more.  I decided to go with this lure since the water I would be fishing was very thin at about 1 to 1.5 feet deep. The very first cast got out a good distance but I quickly realized the choppy surface and pull of the wind on my line made it difficult to walk the lure like I normally do. A harder than normal twitch of the rod tip was required to get it to glide from side to side but this in turn gave it a bigger, more attractive splash on each turn.  I gave it more time to glide between twitches so the retrieve was very slow paced but looked very good from my vantage point.

With the confidence gained working the first cast, I let the second one sail out with the wind and then began my retrieve.  After a few slow but deliberate twitches, something hit the lure violently with a big splash and bend my rod over.  Fish on!  Unlike all the previous kaku I had hooked there, this fish felt considerably stronger and took line in nice long spurts.  I thought to myself, this must be one of those monster kaku my nephew Reef hooked here and had told me about.  I hoped my 25lb fluorocarbon leader was nowhere near its razor sharp teeth. The fish headed sideways towards the left which was different from the way other kaku have fought. There was no signature head shake of a papio and the water was very shallow so I began thinking maybe I hooked an oio instead.  Excited by this thought, I carefully fought the fish closer and within sight. Papio!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Now, I’ve caught papio in very shallow waters before and know they do come in close to hunt the reef flats but I was surprised since this was a decent sized one and I didn’t feel any of the telltale head shakes of a papio.  I immediately could see why as the fish was foul hooked with the tail treble hooked to the bottom of a gill plate and the front treble hooked in the belly. I fumbled around trying to grab my wading net but found it was tangled with my fish bag and rod holster I keep on my waist.  The hooks looked secure on the fish so I decided to walk it over a nearby sand beach.  The fish measured 20 inches to the fork of the tail and would later weigh 5 pounds 0.5 ounces on my kitchen scale.

 

 

 

 

 

With a nice fish in the bag, it was time to head home.  I had walked a long distance down the beach from where I was parked, so I whipped my lure as I worked my way back.  A few yards from where I hooked the papio, another topwater blowup led to a 22 inch kaku which I released with PIFG tag #A5343 securely attached to its back.  I noticed several small, broken schools of very early season oama. They were very skittish and wouldn’t allow me to get close but they were definitely oama.  Maybe they were drawing the predators on to the shallow flats?  Hmm.  Has the 2018 season begun?  I hope so.

Top water kaku fail

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I fished 5 times since last catching a decent fish in February.  Shoreline whipping and kayak bottom fishing.  Bolo’d every time.  Heard from Thad that the kaku were hitting top water lures at one of his spots and I really wanted to catch a fish on the 13 Fishing Omen travel rod and Z bait casting reel I’ve been trying to test.  Since the Z reel cast light lures so well I replaced the mono with 20lb Sufix 832 Coastal Camo braid to see if I could cast the light lures further without backlashing.

The morning I picked was a peak box jellyfish day and there were stranded jellyfish drying out on the exposed reef flat and floating in the calm water. That kept me on dry land.

I started with my go to 3/8 oz top water “walk the dog” lure Thad turned me onto a couple of years ago.  Made a 3/4 effort cast and it went flying off my line.  Arrgghh… I had put on the new Sufix 832 too loosely and hadn’t wet the line before casting. It backlashed and broke at the FG knot connecting the Sufix to my fluoro leader.  I thought of wading out to retrieve the floating lure but with so many jellyfish in the water I bid it farewell. Hope the finder will catch lots of fish on it.

The Sufix backlash was much easier to pick out than previous PowerPro backlashes. That was an unplanned test with a positive result.

 

 

 

 

 

When I spun my Patagonia sling bag around to tie on another leader I realized my Promar floating landing net was missing.  It was connected to the bag with a Rapala Magnetic Release Clip and the net must’ve snagged something as I walked and pulled off.  I retraced my steps back to where I remember holding the net in my hand and found it tucked away in the bushes. Some Good Samaritan must’ve found it, and left it partially hidden in the hopes that the owner would know to look for it.  The two magnets on the clip are strong yet easy to pull off and reattach. I gotta be more aware next time I wade.

I was beginning to wonder what else was gonna go wrong. Trip and fall head first into a pile of box jellyfish?  I strung up the Sufix through the rod’s guides, tied another FG knot to the fluoro leader and put on the same type of top water lure in another color. No backlashes even with a side wind, but the line piled up on one side of the spool.  What the heck?  Doh, when I pulled off the backlash and stopped to find the net, the braid had slipped out of the level wind guide and I strung up the rod with the braid running on top of the reel. What a dufus!  I undid the FG knot, ran the the Sufix through the level wind guide and rod guides and just tied a simple Uni to Uni knot to join the braid to fluoro leader.

Back in business, I made a series of casts with a tail wind and a side wind and the Z reel was able to cast for distance without overruns. Even with heavier, thicker braid I get more backlashes on my other bait casters. I’m really impressed with this ball bearing less reel.  But I didn’t get a single boil on the lure and am still waiting to see how the setup will handle a fish.

 

Lychee and mangoes ripening, what does that mean for this year’s oama season?

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Early season lychee and mango have been picked and eaten.  Some old time fishermen believe that the seasonal triggers that cause those fruits to blossom and ripen are the same that trigger oama to come into the shallows.  We sure could use early season oama because it has been really slow inshore and even nearshore on our kayaks.

I haven’t caught a decent fish since February, and favorable wind days have been scarce.  But just recently, the bite seems to have picked up.  The guys are beginning to get white papio and omilu just outside the reef on their watercraft, or from land at hard to access places, so maybe the bait fish have arrived.

Erik and Kekoa got these throwing Yuzuri Hydro Poppers off Erik’s tin boat.  Multiple white ulua hit and cut off or shook off.  With that many whites and omilu staging just off the reef edge, there must have been a source of bait nearby.

 

 

Maybe the bait was this?  Early season papio tend to be larger than later season papio, so the early season fisher is rewarded with smaller crowds and bigger fish.  Go get ‘um!!!

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?

 

I’m dreaming of a Top Water Christmas

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xmas-treeThe top water bite began in the Spring, peaked in the summer and really slowed in the fall.  It’s my favorite style of fishing because of the aerial attacks, and minimal gear required. I optimistically checked two spots where I got blanked the last time out.

I was stunned to get a boil on a thin JDM top water lure and when it didn’t attract anymore attention I switched to a gaudy colored walk-the-dog type lure and hooked two very small kaku.  Both jumped and eventually threw the hook.  Action slowed so I checked the 2nd spot down the road.

I could see a baby mullet with its side scraped off, and saw an off season oama with the same type of wound.  Sure enough my black/chrome Waxwing baby got hit and a small kaku went airborne.  The perpetrator shook the hook like his brethren and returned to his hiding place to filet another unsuspecting bait fish.

Nothing landed but at least there were some jumps on a cold December Hawaiian day. Maybe I will have a Top Water Christmas after all.

Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you have a Christmas season filled with God’s Peace and Joy.

-scott

My favorite nearshore and semi-nearshore lures – 2016

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shallow shoreline, off color water, choppy conditions:

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

 

 

 

Covering a lot of relatively shallow areas:

white-on-waxwing

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

Around bait schools when predators are crashing the pile:

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

 

 

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

 

Short morning top water session

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10-5-inch-whiteHad less than an hr to throw top waters this morning so I picked a spot nearby that’s a close walk from the car.  I started with a smaller version of the chubby lure we’ve been using. The water was high and cloudy and didn’t look promising.  There was a bit of chop on the water but the smaller chubby lure was still able to gurgle and pop nicely. About 20 casts in I hooked something 10 ft from shore.  Turned out to be a 10.5 inch white.  Photograph – Tag – Release.

That was the smallest papio I’ve tagged and don’t plan to go any smaller since the tag may inhibit its swimming ability.

I switched to a wooden, smaller version of the narrow faced lure. It was given to me to try because it wasn’t swimming right when made to dive. Even after heavier split rings and hooks were added it still tumbled clumsily on the retrieve so I gave up on it.

orange-topwater-walkerThere was a bit of time left so I put on an unusually thin, top water lure from Japan that was designed to walk in a wide, zig zagging, bobbing pattern with minimal splashing.  Masa had contacted my through this blog and recommended it. After watching some videos I was eager to give it a go. It cast very well and was easy to walk. It even dove well if I forced it too.  Nothing came up for it though. Maybe it was the bright orange color or maybe the tagged white papio took his friends and left the area? I’ll have to throw that lure on some hungry fish that like flashy food.

Top water action and inaction on East and South side

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board-launchOn a day when the wind was blowing 10 – 15 mph, Erik fished his top water lures on the East side and I stuck to the South side. Erik pointed his aluminum skiff to the deeper water and I started board fishing at the break.

 

 

 

 

eriks-omilu-1Nothing was showing for Erik as he trolled the outside so he worked his way back in. He didn’t get any boils on his trusty popper but his fishy sense was going off. He changed to the translucent pencil lure from our previous top water outing to practice retrieving it. Suddenly the lure got sucked down and his light action rod bent over. After a spirited tousle, he landed a foul hooked omilu. It had taken the front hook in the corner of its mouth and the rear hook snagged its chin. No wonder it felt much larger than the 11.5 inches (FL) he measured before tagging and releasing.

 

 

eriks-omilu-2He moved to a nearby spot and a pack of omilu rushed his lure.  As he brought in another foul hooked fish, 2 others tried to rip the lure away.  This one was 12 inches and he tagged and released it back to its buddies.  I was impressed when I heard how he was able to fool the omilu which often rush top water lures only to swirl and swim away unhooked.  I have yet to catch an omilu on a top water lure.

Erik had another omilu shake off, then missed something very large that threw a lot of water.  He finished the day at the edge of the murky water with an 7 to 8lb kaku zig zagging behind his lure and kicking up spray but not slicing into his plastic bait.

Meanwhile, nothing showed interest in my new narrow faced top water lure that replaced the raccoon faced lure lost to a kaku the other day. I board fished a channel break that had been previously productive when I used frozen oama.  The wind chopped up the water so I paddled in to fish from shore.  Bait was missing from the usual spots and I didn’t get any boils as I walked the shoreline.  Then I saw small baitfish erupting out of the water and falling back like heavy rain drops.  My first cast near the eruption yielded a very small kaku, maybe 12 inches, too small to tag.   Nothing hit my next few casts so I changed to a few other top water lures I wanted to test, and even tried a Waxwing Baby.  Nothing.  I switched back to the new raccoon faced lure and had two boils as the sun set.  Later, when I washed down the lure I realized the last two fish had actually scratched up the lure but missed the hooks.

narrow-face-left-side-scarsnarrow-face-top-view-scars

I think the narrow profile of this lure looked enough like the baitfish to draw strikes, whereas the other lures I tried were fuller bodied.

And I think Erik has mastered the chubby pencil lure and we need to get video of that monster kaku attacking his lure.