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Holoholo: Birthday Ulua Outing

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

Matthew:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Composite Fall fishing report , zero to 350ft!

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If you were wondering if things improved after the lousy summer season, here’s the Team report from shoreline to boat:

Jeremy, flats whipper and fly fisher: After a really slow summer, I had high hopes for good action in September, as it’s been a prime month year after year. This year was no exception. Papio and o’io bites were good, along with the opening of moi season, accounted for my best month so far this year. But as we neared the ending of October, action has died down quite a bit. With winter approaching, catch numbers will drop, so it wasn’t unexpected that bites have dropped, but it still disappointing when you go home whitewashed sometimes, LOL. How has everyone else fared this fall?

Matthew, shoreline whipper and fly maker: It’s been a very slow September-October for me, months that in previous years have been great for me. The fishing has been very inconsistent (at least on my part), and I wasn’t able to find any pattern (tides or conditions) in the few catches I made except for “right place at the right time”. 

Since I am a fly tyer that is eager to test my new colors, I have been strictly whipping with bubble + fly at a few spots. The Papio bite has been odd this year, ending earlier than normal. Being on the south shore of Oahu definitely doesn’t make the bite any better, but perhaps other sides of the island are seeing similar trends, just less drastic. However, a bunch are still out there, and if you’re lucky, you may be able to catch one. I was able to pick off a few Papio at one of my spots, most of them in the early morning. The only thing similar with all of the catches is that they were caught on smaller flies, around ¾” shorter than my normal flies (a significant amount for a fly). Perhaps the Papio are keying in on smaller, easier to catch prey? The colors that worked for me this month the most were Oama and Hinalea patterned flies, to match the most common baitfish at my spot. One of the Papio that I was forced to keep because it swallowed the fly had a hinalea the exact size of my fly and a small manini in the stomach. 

I have been seeing less activity in the water, such as baitfish fleeing from a predator, less schools of baitfish along the shoreline, and less follows and boils on my flies. It could mean the bite is turning cold, but it’s no reason to give up. 

It may be a good time to focus on other types of fishing, such as fishing for “easier to catch” edible fish, such as Moana, Toau, Taape, or Weke. Kaku fishing on the flats with topwater lures is a fun, year-round event that I enjoy, but not something I’ll turn to yet. Oio fishing on the flats has also been inconsistent, with some of the guys getting great results one day, with nothing the next. While the fishing may be slow, I’ll keep plugging away at my spots until I catch something. For all of you like-minded whippers, keep at it, the time will come soon. 

Dino: “Well, another whitewash morning” I say to Thad as we walk back to our cars. This is a saying that was becoming more and more common during the peak summer months. I didn’t know what was going going on? Corona virus perhaps? Cutting my nails at night? Who knows…

Things changed as October arrived. I started picking up some small paps here and there. Noting to write home about, but hey at least I was getting some kind of action. I mainly fish town and north shore for the most part. Action was good at the north shore spots where the Halalu were coming in. Good sized Lai were caught and friends picking some nice sized awa’awa. I’m primarily a whipper these days. Hardly ever using bait anymore. That being said, bubble fly is my main technique. Picked up a nice sized omilu on the town side during a dawn patrol session, weighing 4 pounds. The sun was barey coming up when it hit. The Kanakē fly by my good friend Jourdan Kua’ana of Lawai’a Flies has been really productive for me. It’s what I was using when the 4 pounder hit.

October has been pretty good considering the peak summer months has been really slow for me.

Be safe, have fun!

Jason, fly fisher and on-the-water reporter: It’s certainly been a Fall (and year) like no other.  Looking back at my logs, I see that I’ve hooked at least one bone on all 4 of my fall trips, and friends have also been consistently hooking fish. 

I will note that I have seen far fewer bonefish in shallow this year – a direct result, I believe, of the pandemic-spurred increase in nearshore ocean activity.  I have also heard that other flats around the island have been a bit slow this year, but suspect these reports are coming from hardened sight-fishermen who simply aren’t seeing as many fish.  

I personally believe the fish are still around, they’re just staying farther from shore, or are hanging out in the deeper channels of the flat where they feel safe from the swimmers, SUP boarders, spearfishermen, whippers, fly fishermen, throw netters, windsurers, kite boarders, foil boarders…. well you get the picture!  It’s a “circus” out there, as my friend Rich likes to say, haha.   If you can come away with a fish, you definitely beat the odds.  Either that, or fish the weekdays (might as well, you can’t really go anywhere for vacation this year).  I personally enjoy blind casting for bonefish with my two-handed rods, so I am pretty well-adapted to catching bonefish that don’t want to be seen.

Another thing I’ve noticed, is there seems to be fewer reef fish in general on the flats, and the oama have never really made an appearance (at least in these parts).  I am not sure if this is also related to the general increase in activity, or maybe just an increase in folks harvesting them (legally and illegally).  I know there’s got to be more of that going on this year, thanks in part to our current economic conditions.

My suspicion is that things will begin to fall off soon (pun intended), but for now, I’ll keep shooting until I miss! 

Kelly, SUP inshore troller: Fishing has been slow, mo betta go surf!

Scott, offshore kayak fisher: Fall is normally a great time to offshore fish because there are more light wind days, the water temp cools a bit, inviting pelagics to come closer to shore again, and opelu become more catchable than they are in the summer. But recently, the kayak hammahs have been reporting slow pelagic fishing despite catching a tank full of opelu. My uku spots have only held bait stealers. Not sure where the bigger fish moved to. Bottom fishing for goats and nabeta is still productive, and the big jacks are still willing to take jigs. Hope the target fish are targetable soon!

Erik, small boat fisher: Nearshore bite has been good for us this season.  As the winds died down and the seas calmed, it presented more opportunities to fish.  Calm nights have brought a good menpachi/aweoweo bite in late September and akule bite was good earlier October with larger size akule showing up.  Bigger schools of opelu have also been seen and caught and the better bite times are at dawn and dusk.  Pelagics are seen more regularly closer to shore and ono and mahi are coming in to feed on the bait.  We’ve not had to go further than 350′ for the ono and mahi, and live-baiting seems to be the best way to get them.  We’ve gotten all the pelagics on lures so far and plungers/slant-faced along with deep-diving lures are what’s been working for us. 

Holoholo: Patagonia Stormfront sling pack review

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Our on-the-water fly fishing reporter Jason would like to complement the sling pack review Dino submitted with a review of his current pack.

Jason:

Since Dino just did his review of the Simms Dry Creek Z pack, I though I’d give my impressions of the very similar Patagonia Stormfront, a bag I have now owned for almost 3 years.  

The Stormfront lives up to its name in Japan!

When I purchased the Stormfront nearly 3 years ago, I had already owned a couple of waterproof packs.  Like Dino, I recognized after a few “incidents” that a normal pack was was not going to cut it for serious wading.  My first two waterproof packs were both Fishpond Westwater Sling packs.  These were slightly smaller, but similar in style to the Dry Creek and Stormfront.  They were great bags, but I had my eye on the Patagonia since I started fly fishing.  At some point, I broke the zipper on the Fishpond, and that was all the excuse I needed to upgrade.   I am sure many of you can relate.  

Like the Westwater and Dry Creek, the Stormfront is marketed as a “waterproof” sling fishing pack, meant to be worn across the chest from the right shoulder down to the left hip (although not reversible).  All 3 packs have a large main zippered compartment with an internal zippered mesh pocket, a small zippered outer pocket, and use welded TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) construction, a magic technology that means the bag has zero stitched outer seams, leaving the zippers as the only potential ingress points.   To solve for this, Patagonia uses a fancy German-made TIZIP waterproof zipper, the same type used on the older generation Simms Dry Creek bags.   Like the Dry Creek, only the large main compartment uses the fancy zipper, although I’ve found the outer pocket to be relatively waterproof.  To be safe, I only use it to store trash like line clippings and food wrappers.   As Dino mentioned, the zipper must be maintained.  The Stormfront came with a small tube of TIZIP branded lube, which is just ordinary synthetic silicone grease.  When I ran out of it, I started using the same Super Lube Synthetic Grease I use on my fly reels, which seems to work just fine.  

Like the Dry Creek, the Stormfront is equipped with multiple lash points and D-ring, as well as two attachment points on the rear for the fly rod tube straps.  The two straps that attach to these can hold a standard fly rod tube up to about 4-5 inches in diameter, but can also be used hold a landing net, a shorter two-piece whipping rod, or even a sand spike or two.  The D-rings and lash points on the strap are useful for hanging a zinger, hemostats, clippers, or any other fishing-related paraphernalia you want to keep within easy reach while on the water.  If you need to get something from inside the bag, you just slide it around your torso like you would for any other sling bag.  This is especially handy on the water where a regular backpack can be a PITA to get stuff out of when you don’t have anything solid to put it down on.

The Dry Creek and Stormfront do have a few minor differences, spec-wise.  The Stormfront does lack the fly patch, but more importantly to me, it also does not have a net holster.  I usually just stuff my net between my pack and my back, which is not the most elegant of solutions, but it works, though I have to admit I do get a tinge of net holster-envy looking at that Dry Creek.    The Stormfront is also a bit larger, at 20L versus 15L, but I don’t think this will be an issue for most people.  My older Fishpond Westwater was even smaller, at about 13L and I never had trouble fitting several spools of leader, a spare fly line, Hydroflask, a few granola bars or spam musubis, and a couple of fly boxes in there (unlike Dino, I keep my birth control pills securely in the glovebox of my car).  During the rainy months, a small packable rain jacket can also be stuffed in there, no problem.

All in all, if you’re looking for a good dry bag for whipping, fly fishing or any other activity near the water for that matter, the Stormfront will fit the bill.  It’s waterproof, durable and more than large enough to store everything you would need for an entire day out on the water.  On top of that, you also get Patagonia’s legendary Ironclad Guarantee, a true lifetime, no-questions-asked warranty.  Will you have to pay for it?  Yes.  Like the Dry Creek, the Patagonia is not cheap.   It retails for around $229.99 currently, although I scored mine for $219.99 back in 2017.  Definitely steep, especially for a bag you may only use a few times a month.  But as Dino says, “buy once, cry once.”  In the modern age of disposable, planned obsolescence, there is something almost nostalgic about a product that can potentially outlive you.

Holoholo: Simms Dry Creek Z waterproof sling pack review

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Dino, a hard-core bait caster who recently has been obsessed with ultralight whipping, shares his thoughts on his first waterproof sling pack.

Dino: “Damn”, you say to yourself as you retrieve your lure back up to your tip. You turn around and stare at the shoreline some half mile away…“Lemme change lures…maybe that’ll work..” you swing your tactical sling bag you bought off of eBay for $12.99 around and bruuhhhh…everything is soaked inside. Your wallet, phone, birth control pills, all soaked. Now you’re real mad. The fish weren’t biting and now you have a waterlogged bag. You make your way back to shore as fast as you can, and whoops! You step into a hole and go under. Seal the deal brah, you’re completely soaked.

These kind of things happen. It’s happened to me. I went through a pretty good amount of bags during my time fishing. Some were good, some were not so good. After doing some research, I finally did it. I bought a waterproof bag. I prefer sling packs. I can swing it around and get to my gear without having to take the pack off. Especially when standing in the water which I do a lot.

Introducing the Simms Dry Creek Z waterproof sling pack. Completely submersible so your can protect your birth control pills or whatever…the pack has one big main compartment with a lot of room to store your tackle boxes and such. It also has interior zip pockets for smaller items. It can be a little tricky to access the interior pockets with it loaded out, but it’s a nice feature to have nonetheless. A smaller pocket sits on the front side of the bag, but it is not waterproof. It is water resistant so me mindful of what you store in this pocket. I keep my tagging kit in it.

Build quality is superb on this little guy with multiple attachment points for tethers and such with reinforced stitching. The shoulder strap is comfortable with an integrated handle cut right into the strap itself. It also features a landing net sleeve! One tricky thing about this pack is the TRUZip zipper. It is awesome and 100 percent waterproof, but takes some effort to close and open. Lubing it with some armor all or 303 aerospace lube will make it easier to open and close. There is also 2 hook and loop sections on this pack for all you fly fisherman out there, or if you just wanna stick a moral patch on it (that’s what I did. I can’t fly fish to save my life).

All in all this is a great waterproof pack. Lemme warn you now though…it is not cheap. It’s comparable to other high end waterproof sling packs on the market today. Running In the ballpark of $230. But I figure hopefully this will be the buy once, cry once pack for me.

Be safe, have fun, practice catch and release, and enjoy the outdoors. ALOHA!

~ Dino

Holoholo: Shorefishing Summary – July to August 2020

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Holoholo writer Matthew summarizes the inshore Summer season so far. Has the season already peaked? How do your fishing trips compare?

Matthew:

Traditionally, August is the absolute best month of the year for shorefishing. However, this August has been much different for many people. July was a great month, at least for me, some of my friends, and some other people that I follow on social media. The Papio bite was hot, as well as the Oama and Halalu bite at certain spots. 

The “Act with care order” imposed early August made fishing a slightly more difficult, due to the fact that you had to be below the high water mark, but still left a lot of spots viable. For me, that meant one of my spots was gone. Throughout August, it was consistently slow for me and some of my friends (strictly lure users though) at many different spots. A few Papio showed up, but nothing like we were anticipating for what was supposed to be peak fishing season. Some people I know had success using live bait near piles, as well as at certain deeper water spots. 

Towards the end of August, the oama started thinning out and getting smarter, and it seemed like the Papio bite had stopped dead, at least for the south shore. A friend of mine had success on the North Shore, but the south shore appeared to be pretty barren. It seemed like the season had peaked early in July, and ended early as well. 

A lot of the catches made in the past few weeks were on smaller lures (small flies, kastmasters, grubs)  perhaps signalling that fish are keying in on smaller baits. 

The “stay at home” order made fishing a lot more difficult, due to the fact that you had to actually be in the water now. It left me fishing a spot I have a love/hate relationship with, and many others frustrated.

At this writing on September 6, a good number of moi hunters have been having a hard time to find bigger moi in the first six days of the season. A couple bigger ones have been landed but most of the ones I’ve seen caught were either undersize or 11-12”.

A couple of the flats fishermen targeting Oio have been getting great results though, and a couple of 7-9# range Oio have come up in the past week or two. 

Perhaps the large number of people heading into the water have made the fish skittish in certain spots, or the increasing pressure from the growing numbers of fishermen have contributed to the bite as well, and it is certainly tough for me and a couple of others I talk to. I’ll keep whipping until either my arms fall off or I catch a Papio, whichever comes first?.

It appears to be a tough month, but please drop a comment if you feel otherwise. Good luck to all, and keep on fishing????????.

Wade whipping during the Stay At Home Shutdown

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Oahu’s Mayor Caldwell’s 2-week lock down had gone into effect this morning (8/27/20). Thankfully fishing in the water (wade fishing, diving, kayak fishing, boat fishing…) was still considered essential.

I took a drive down the Windward coast and there were a lot less shore fishers, but some were still standing on dry land or sitting in their trucks.

The tide was really high for most of the day, contradicting the steep rise and fall predicted in the Hawaii Fishing News Almanac. Guessing all that water was due to the King Tide phenomenon. On the way back from my scouting trip, it looked like the tide had dropped enough so I waded out to one of my reliable lure testing spots.

Started with a 3.5″ jointed rubber Vudu Mullet that got followed by not attacked. Maybe the kaku wanted a more aggressive swimmer? I put on the IMA Sasuke 120F with the clear body and lime/yellow top and was stoked on how that lure cut through the wind. On the second cast I hooked a kaku, turned the GoPro on, and got footage of the fish imitating a tarpon.

Then it purposefully leaned its head to the left to wind up and throw the lure to the right. Nonchalantly, it slowly swam away. So glad it waited ’til I had the leader firmly in my grip before it shot the lure sporting 3 treble hooks.

I reloaded, cast the Sasuke out again and caught a smaller kaku. Back to back! I let that kaku shake off before it got too close, and after that the bite went dead. There was a guy dunking near me, sleeping in his truck so he effectively cut me off from wading past him.

This was the first time I fished the Sasuke seriously and man was I impressed. The ball bearings roll to the back on the cast, and then roll forward on the retrieve, making it wobble and dart crisply. The 3 stock treble hooks are very sharp, going 2 for 2 on the hard-to-hook kaku, but be careful when you release your fish! The Sasuke dove more than 2 feet on a fast retrieve, but floated back to the surface when the line slacked. All you have to do is wind straight and hang on!

We still have the Sasuke in 3 color patterns in the Store. Sorry it took so long to test it.

Holoholo: Bouncing a tiny jighead for big oio

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Accomplished whipper and new fly fisher, Jeremy, returns to his fishing roots.

Jeremy: Since I’m still working from home and traffic has been good, I’ve been trying to get in a short session before my workday starts.  I get to the beach around 5:30am and need to leave by around 7:15am, so not much time to fish, but it’s a nice way to start my day.  I’ve been fly fishing a lot more recently and been in a dry spell, so I decided to switch it up and bust out the spinning gear again to help increase my chances of catching something.  On this day, I decide to try out a spot where I’ve been lucky in the past and where I know the grounds really well.  Tide is a little high, so I decide to just work the inside reef.  I wade out a bit, to around thigh deep, and begin casting.  I’ve seen fish in this particular area in the past, so I fan out my casts to really comb the area and hopefully find a hungry fish.  And right around 6am, I get lucky.  I’m slowly bouncing my jighead on the bottom and feel some slight resistance. 

I lift my rod tip and feel something on, but it feels like only a nibble.  I rapidly crank my reel to try to set the hook, but the fish is swimming towards me and I’m just hoping he doesn’t spit.  After what feels like a few seconds, he finally realizes he’s hooked and takes off on a blistering run.  Yes!!!  Finally hooked a fish and I can tell it’s a good sized one.  He takes out about a 100 yards on the first run, I gain line back, and he makes another screaming 100 yard second run.  

It’s a back and forth battle and after 7 minutes, I get him close and finally net him.  Chee!!!  Big boy! 

I take a measurement, get some quick pics, and release this beautiful 25″ o’io.  This matches my personal best for biggest o’io, which I guess to be around the 8-9lb range since this bugga was FAT!  I’m super stoked and luckily I got this one on the GoPro so I can relive this moment over and over, LOL.  Awesome scrap and it’s always a nice feeling to see the fish strongly swim away.  Hopefully I can catch him again when he’s double digits.  

Holoholo: The oama and papio season has started!

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The oama have arrived just in time for traditional August to September period. Matthew describes how the papio bite has spiked accordingly.

Matthew: Summer seems to finally be picking up. What started out as a very bad season may be turning around pretty soon. Oama are coming into several spots and the Papio bite is very hot right now. Oama are in, “young and dumb” which means that they are easier to catch. Perfect papio snack size oama, around 3-4 inches, and also good for oama fries if you prefer to eat Oama. If you find the right pile, many piles right now don’t need palu or super “finessy” gear, they’ll just bite the bait without thinking.

Understandably, with the arrival of the Oama, the Papio have been coming inshore. My friends and I have been getting hot action whipping at different spots, but the one thing they have in common is a lot of moving water with some depth and structure. It’s a good time to go whipping or dunking right now. 

Many people are dunking Oama right at some piles I’ve seen, and some decent fish have been pulled up on live Oama. I’ve even caught these roi, taape and menpachi whipping fresh dead oama, and missed some big omilu so far.

Whipping lures around the piles has also been effective. More halalu piles and sardine piles are showing up around the island, but some have been netted.

Oama are starting to trickle in, Papio are biting good, we’re having beautiful days, time to get out there! Just be sure to wear a mask and practice social distancing, for the concern of you and others around you. Stay safe, good luck, and most importantly, have fun. ~ Matt

Holoholo: Hookum Flies restocked! Read how to fish ’em.

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Holoholo writer and fly tier Matthew has restocked the store with his well-designed and effective flies.

  • Cotton Candy
  • Mullet
  • Halalu
  • Oama
  • Golden Blaze 2.0

Matthew: A second run of Hookum Flies will be available in the shop now. Very sorry for the delay to all of those who have been waiting, but there was a load of orders I had to deal with, which have now been taken care of. In this second run we will be running the Oama and Halalu again, this time in larger numbers, but we are introducing three new colors, those being the Golden Blaze 2.0, Mullet, and Cotton Candy. These five are some of my favorites as well as top sellers and producers. Understandably, since it’s now summer, Oama has been working well, as well as halalu as the usual summer baitfish trickle in. They may be coming in late this year, but they are starting to come in and Papio catches statewide have picked up recently.

For this run, a lot has been fine tuned. The Oama, Halalu, and Golden Blaze designs have changed drastically with a lot more layers and different types of flash and feathers being added. Hooks remain the same: Gamakatsu 2/0 saltwater series hooks. Again like last time, we are offering only the four inch flies on the site, but if you would like to order a custom order or view more of my products not on sale on this site, please contact Scott and he will put you in contact with me. 

Some other products I regularly make are the 5” big flies and 2.75” mini flies. The 5” flies are meant for bigger game and are tied on 4/0 Gamakatsu hooks. They can be tied in any color. The 2.75” flies are meant for lighter game fishing, sort of as a more durable replacement for grubs and soft plastics, and also can be tied in any color. I have a lot more colors that I tie that are not on this site, so please feel free to contact me through Scott or leave a comment below. 

Currently, it is evident that fly season is starting to pick up, as me and my friends have started to catch a little more in the past few weeks. Here are a few pictures from my catches on my flies recently, including two Awa awa and a bunch of Papio:

The rig that many people whip flies with is the bubble and fly rig, which has gained a lot of popularity in the past few years. Many people are used to fishing grubs and strips behind bubbles, but flies seem to do even better behind a bubble. I use a specialized big bubble, which has a wire running through it to avoid fraying of the line, made by a friend. I then tie on a fluorocarbon leader, which is usually around 6-7 feet long, sometimes more or less. I usually use 20-30 lb. My fly choice depends on the spot, but I have been trying a prototype Hinalea fly recently that has been doing good in reefy zones. If it’s more of an area filled with sand pockets I’ll tie on the Oama or Halalu, but all flies work in most applications. 

Again, the Oama fly has been doing good in sand pocket areas, the Halalu fly appears to be doing good in deep water with a significant amount of reef, the Golden Blaze 2.0 fly has been doing well in similar conditions to the Hinalea, which is deeper water with coral heads, the mullet fly has been doing well in murky water or anywhere there is mullet, which can also be applicable to surge zones, where the Uoa’oa inhabit. The Cotton Candy fly seemed to generate bites in all of those places, generating the most bites at dawn or dusk.

Thanks for supporting my business, and if you catch something on it, please let me know via my Instagram page, @hookumflies or in the comments on this post. Stay safe, and tight lines!

 ~Matthew (Hookum Flies)

Holoholo: Ultralight fishing – test your skills. Or luck (mostly luck for me)

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Dino first posted about targeting awa ‘aua in the early spring when the papio bite was slow. For his second post he’s sharing his ultralight obsession.

Dino: I’ve always been a fan of ultralight (UL) fishing. I bought a Penn 420ss when I was a teenager, loaded it with 4 pound test, paired it with the smallest rod I could find, and challenged myself. That’s what hooked me. The challenge.

You’ll lose a lot of screamahs over time, but sometimes you’ll land a nice one and that feeling is truly something. You’ll find yourself doing all kinds of weird things while fighting a fish. You’ll talk to yourself, bend your knees when a fish takes line (idk why I do that lol) you’ll find yourself cranking so fast to try and keep tension on the line since the reel is so small. You’ll catch yourself trying to cast so hard even though the lure is only gonna go so far lol.

If you haven’t tried it yet, give UL fishing a try. It’s super fun and you’ll test your skill (mostly luck…for me that is).

~ Dino

Inshore fishing is still sloooooowww…

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Photo by Jon

Inshore fishing is still slow. I haven’t seen much bait fish (mullet, iao, oama, aholehole) this season and haven’t seen preds busting on schools near shore. It’s still a little early for oama but the other bait fish should have been in by spring time. I looked back at the July posts last year and fishing was slow this time too and picked up in August but not like the warm El Nino years where a lot of oama came in and stayed into the beginning of winter.

There’s also been a lot of people shore fishing since the shutdown started, so that must translate to fish caught and spooked. The guys that are catching are going at dawn and dusk, in spots that haven’t been pounded yet. And if they’re fishing the daylight hours, they’re using small, realistic baits.

How has the fishing been for you? Drop a comment to let us know. Mahalo!

Coach Haru: Japanese style jigging tips – Part I

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Coach Haru is a well known and well respected MMA striking coach. He’s been effectively jigging off his kayak in Hawaii using techniques learned in Japan and would like share his insight with us.  We’re super blessed to have a jigging sensei share such hard earned knowledge. Coach Haru feels that jigging can be very effective when done correctly, and the assist hooks allow for the safe release of fish you don’t want to take home. He loves the challenge of using lures only to capture his prey. Currently he’s in Japan and hopes to return to HI when the quarantine lifts.

Coach Haru:

Tairaba by Daiwa Baylover

These are the most popular lures in Japan now.

Tairaba style jig is good from kayak. Drop it and reel it, no need action, just reel it even fish bite still just reel it. No need to set hook, just reel. The easiest jigging style from yak. Long time ago, Shimano released Lucanus modified Tairaba but didn’t sell well. In Japan, Tairaba is very popular because no need technique just reel it. It is good for bottomfish like uku, opakapaka, onaga, roi, even pelagic fish. But use smaller hooks that big fish can break easy and it’s not cheap.

Tairaba Japanese video 1: https://youtu.be/MDkTPu0Sq2w

Tairaba Japanese video 2: https://youtu.be/j_rvnPYU0rk

You can use a baitcaster with Tairaba, no need to impart action, just reel.

Metal vibration by Big Backer

Set Upper diving minnow by Daiwa

These jigs, metal vibration, and diving minnow can fly so far. Can cast almost 100 yard. I wanna take them to Big Island for shore fishing someday.

Also popular is squid skirt. 3, 4 inch skirt under Tairaba or simply put a weight (1/2 or 1oz) in the head, drop it down to the bottom and just reel it up.

Color of lure is very important. Blue or natural fish color for sunny, daylight with clear water. Silver, glow color, zebra glow for dawn time. Pink for cloudy sky, gold with red or gold with green for murky water.

Usually Hawaii has sunny and clear water, I like to use blue, blue pink, sometimes pink. Deep water I use glow or zebra glow. West side I had good time with gold green. Daiwa sells TG Bait. People call it as bait not lure. It is made with tungsten that’s heavier than lead. Small silhouette than the same weight lure so when fish hesitate to bite bigger lure it works and goes deeper because of small size.

Slow pitch is hard with strong current or windy day. Center balance, long jig is fine when line goes diagonal or even side way by strong current but flat slow jig is hard make action right because it spins.

Jigs like Major Craft Jigpara that are made to swim is good for that. Because just reel it makes jig swim. I used Jigpara cast off kayak. As soon as hit water reel fast as I can. Caught kawakawa, ono, kaku, when I went to buoy caught so many aku and shibi.

In Japan use jig like metal blade. Cast and reel not jig. Many companies making jig to swim.

More gems from Haru to come soon!

Still a little early in the “season”. Here’s an early bait prediction.

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Photo by Matt

July is right around the corner but there aren’t a lot of bait fish in. The early oama that came in last month have grown to mid-size but the second wave of oama hasn’t arrived.

There were some halalu piles, like the one Matt found to have his personal best catch, but a lot disappeared and there’s speculation that they were illegally netted.

The iao (Hawaiian sardine) weren’t in at my whipping spots and the predators that follow them into the shallows were missing. I checked two spots with some new lures and bolo’d both times!

Thad’s omilu on Lawaiaflies

The guys (and gals) have been starting at dawn with flies on long leaders behind floaters and have been experiencing improved omilu action.

We’re hoping a waves of oama and halalu come in soon but it is looking like an off year compared the recent banner years. How do you guys think this season will pan out?

Holoholo: Lady Luck Has Me Hooked!

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After enjoying occasional fishing adventures as a child, Logan started whipping this past Fall to spend more time with Holoholo writer Dino and to find a way to unwind. The repetition of casting and retrieving while occasionally catching a fish is now her way to relax between teaching and doing work to support teachers. Now she’s hooked and has recently been outfishing Dino and Matt (Holoholo writer and Hookum Flies owner).

Logan:

It all started on a Saturday at the end of September 2019.  Dino wanted to stop to pick up more fishing gear and I jokingly picked up a pole and reel combo and said I was going to buy it. Well, the joke was on me and we left the shop with a simple setup and a pair of tabis. That afternoon we went to Magic Island and I caught a moana. The next morning we waded out on the flats and I caught a small papio. I was hooked!

After a couple of months of what seemed like endless sessions of coming up empty, Lady Luck is on my side again.  It started a couple weeks ago during an unplanned afternoon trip to our favorite spot.  The tide was higher than normal and the surf was up. I was tempted to say the conditions were too rough, but I had a good feeling. I’m glad I stayed because I caught eight omilu (6”-9”), a lai, and a wave (knocked me off my feet and dunked my reel!).  That Sunday we went to the same spot for a dawn patrol session and I walked away with two omilu added to my count. Dino couldn’t believe it and suggested we go out one more time that afternoon.  I almost didn’t go, but Lady Luck was calling and I caught two bigger papio and a tilapia. This past weekend, my streak continued.  I added five omilu, a papio, and two kaku to my count. I can’t wait to get away from my computer and my virtual work this weekend. Hopefully the streak continues!

My strategy? Keep it simple. I use a simple whipping setup with a medium bubble. I usually use grubs – greens and anything that sparkles are my favorites!

People say Dino is lucky that his girlfriend likes to fish, but I am lucky that he’s a patient teacher and gives me tips so that I can improve. Poor Dino has had to listen to me brag to my dad about catching more than him and listen to me cheer when I feel the tug.

Holoholo: Matt is selling his Hookum Flies!

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Holoholo writer Matthew, soon to enter the 9th grade, has dialed in his fly patterns after putting in a lot of field work.

Matthew: Over the past few months, I started tying flies, got better, and eventually started selling them after extensive testing. Many of the tests were successful, thanks to testers. Thanks to everyone who tested flies out and decided which flies were the best.

Based on the test results, we will be releasing the four colors that have been working best, which are the Vanilla Ice (white with flash), Halalu (dark green top, yellow stripe, white bottom), Golden Blaze (gold, black, red), and the Oama (olive top, yellow stripe, white bottom). All flies are tied with premium 2/0 gamakatsu hooks. Currently, they will be sold on my IG page @hookum_flies and in the HNF Store. They will currently be sold for $8.99 USD.

However, if you’d like to request a custom order, please contact Scott, who will contact me. There are also many other colors that I make that are also proven, and if there is enough demand, we can bring those in too. Here are the pictures of the four flies we will be selling for now:

  • Vanilla Ice
  • Halalu
  • Golden Blaze
  • Oama

Many Papio have been caught on the flies, as well as Kaku and an Awa Awa, which was caught by Dino in the last post on the Oama fly. Here are some pictures of fish that have been caught on the flies in the past month:

Note that I have not caught all of those fish, but some are mine. 

A question I get often is, “What time do I use the flies at?” and the answer is that the flies will work at any time as long as there are fish around, but there are times for certain colors that have been proven to do good. The Golden Blaze seems to be a killer in low light conditions, at dawn and dusk, but it can do good at any time of day. The Vanilla Ice seems to do best in high light conditions, AKA midday, where the massive amount of flash can be refracted off the most due to the sun shining. The Oama seems to do best all day, and there is no time it will work better than not. The Halalu also seems to be the same case, but the test subjects bit a little bit after dawn.

Another question I have gotten asked is, “How do I store the flies and is there anything I should know about caring for them?” and the answer is that since they are Gamakatsu hooks they should last for years, so if you rinse the fly with fresh water and dry it before storing, it should last. A general rule is to never store somewhere moist, as that may cause eventual rust. However, the Gamakatsu hooks are exceptionally good, and have a hard time rusting. 

Another question I have got before is,”What setup do you recommend for using your flies?” The answer is that you can use whatever you want. Some people use egg lead setups, same as a grub, but so far all the fish caught have been on bubble floats. For the bubble rig you’ll need a large size bubble, a barrel swivel, monofilament line for leader (I use 30), and the fly. You’ll need to feed your mainline through the bubble and tie it to the barrel swivel, then tie anywhere from 4-7 feet of mono to the other side of the swivel, it is all preference. I prefer around six feet. You’ll need to fill the bubble up with water to make it go far, by pushing down the skinny-push-button-looking thing and letting it fill up with water. You’ll know it is filling up when you see bubbles rising. How high you fill it depends on your pole. Lighter poles may require less water in the bubble to cast effectively, and heavier poles may need the whole bubble filled up. I fill my bubble up either ¾ of the way or all the way. 

Let me know if you want more colors of flies to be brought in, some that I am looking at bringing in are the Hinalea (Hinalea – Blue, Orange, Green, Red, Gold), Akakin (Red, Yellow, White), Big Red (Red, White, Gold), and many more colors, if there is enough demand.

Holoholo: Slow season fishing? Go for the Awa awa!

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Dino’s been fishing most of his life. His father taught him how to fish and he’s been keeping it going ever since. Was a heavy bait caster and is now a heavy whipper. He’s also the adult fishing partner of middle schooler and Holoholo writer Matthew.

Dino: Winds were light and the tide was dropping, so Matt Ikeda, and I headed out to one of our spots that we like to hit up (Matt doesn’t really like this spot, but I think he’s starting to warm up to it lol). Fishing has been a little slow for us lately, but just being outdoors and getting to cast the rods is more than enough to make us happy. The water was pretty calm today, so we ventured out to the point. Bubble + Fly was the name of the game today, and I was using an oama pattern Matt tied for me.

Soon after our initial casts, Matt hooked up to a nice Lai that he kept for a meal and use the skin for his flies.  About the 169th cast in, I felt a nice healthy tug on da fly about halfway in. Bango! I’m on! It instantly started jumping and flipping in the air. It made a couple of nice short runs, and was landed shortly after.  Eh, it was so nice to hear the reel talk back to me little bit! She’s been giving me silent treatment lately. The awaawa weighed in at 4.5 pounds. A bit refreshing since only baby paps have been caught lately lol.

All in all it was a good day spent being outdoors. Especially during these times. Big Mahalo to Matt Ikeda for netting my fish.  Be safe, be healthy, and remember it doesn’t matter if you catch or not. Sure as hell beats working any day.

~ Dino

The Store is low on inventory – working to restock

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Fishing is picking up, guys are are refilling their tackle boxes but supply from the gear suppliers has been throttled by the forced shutdowns.

Sufix 832 has become very popular in Hawaii and we’ve sold all our inventory. A bigger order will be placed once the Rapala/Sufix warehouse is restocked.

We’ll also restock the always popular JDM whipping lures.

Thanks for your patience and patronage.

Holoholo: Hand-tied flies end the Rubber Hook Curse

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JDM expert and whipping aficionado Thad fills us in on how his last 3 months of fishing has turned around.

Thad: The papio bite at my usual spots had shut down since the start of February, so I tried targeting oio for a while without much success.  Other guys I know that were fishing similar spots were landing nice oio regularly so it kept my hopes up every weekend.  Its not like I wasn’t hooking up though – I’ve been stricken with the “rubber hook” curse, fighting decent sized fish on most trips only to have them spit the hook before I could land them. 

So the weekend before the COVID-19 shutdown, I decided to try the usual spot again, armed with some new flies Matt (IG: hookum_flies) had tied and given to me to test.  For someone that just started tying flies a week or two earlier, they were well made and looked sure to fool a fish into biting.  The morning proved to be slow again, but I managed to hook what felt like a good sized papio on Matt’s Golden Blaze color.  Just as I was bringing the fish to the surface and could see color, the rubber hook curse struck again.  Losing fish is just a part of the fishing experience, but I felt a little disappointed that I couldn’t send Matt some pictures of his creation in a fish’s mouth.   

Skipped fishing the next two weekends after the COVID-19 shutdown.  By the time I felt comfortable enough to get back out there, I had also received some additional flies from Lawaiaflies (IG: lawaiaflies) that I was excited to try.  Armed with the new flies on April 26th, I tried my luck again, expecting it to be another slow day but hopeful I could send some fish pictures to some fly makers.

I decided to start with an orange and white fly from Lawaiaflies, appropriately called the Creamsicle.  Not long after I started whipping, I got a solid strike and landed a scrappy 12.5” omilu.  It felt great finally being able to land something after losing so many to spit hooks.  I quickly tagged it with a PIFG tag and released it to fight another day.  For the next hour and a half, I continued whipping without any action, switching between flies from different makers. 

Walked to another spot I hadn’t fished in a while, to see if anyone was hungry.  I tied the Creamsicle back on and immediately foul hooked a small omilu on the top of its head. 

A short while later, another small omilu decided to take the same fly.  Man, this Creamsicle color was really productive!  Just as I was thinking I may need to order more of this color, I got a big blow up on my big Tough Bubble that immediately cut my mainline.  I’ve caught several big kaku there so that was the likely culprit.

It was time to start heading back in so I put on another bubble and tied on Matt’s Golden Blaze fly.  I tried a slower retrieve this time, working the fly a little deeper in the water column.  It worked and I was able to land a very colorful moana.  I took some pics for Matt and called it a day. Reports I’ve been hearing from friends and the recent papio bites (albeit small ones) seem to indicate that we may be working our way out of the slow season.

Holoholo: Fishing during the winter months

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Our Middle School Holoholo writer Matthew is social distancing like the rest of us, and took up fly tying! He also wanted to share how tough this Winter has been for him.

These past few months have been great for a lot of people, but they’ve been the worst four months in all the time I’ve been fishing. During December, January, February, and March, I went fishing a total of 39 times, sometimes going two different spots in one day (mostly because winter and spring break fall in those months) and only caught a measly total of 7 notable fish (not counting a bunch of Hinalea, Nunu, and Lizardfish), which were a 2-3 lb Omilu, a 2 lb Omilu, Three good size Moana, and a small Kaku. Not counting as a fish, but I did catch my first ever Samoan Crab on rod and reel. I tried a bunch of spots, deep and shallow, and tried just about every technique from flies, kastmasters, grubs, to dunking but still not much. I had the mentality, “If I keep pounding I’ll eventually get something”, but eventually it seemed like it would not get better, so I’m giving up until summer, or until this coronavirus passes, which I hope it will. On a positive note, pretty much everyone else has been catching a lot of stuff, with more Papio popping up on my Instagram feed. Certain hammahs have been catching like it’s still summer at certain deep spots, or wading. 

In the downtime, I decided to pick up fly tying. I’m figuring if I can’t catch fish I might as well stock up for when the fish are actually biting. At first, I had no idea, and the flies looked horrible. I had no idea what to do, and I just used nail polish to get the flies together at the head. I kept trying, got a little better, my UV flashlight and UV resin came in, and I was able to finally add eyes to some flies. 

After a lot of refining the design of the flies, I think I am starting to get the hang of it, but I still have a very long way to go to get to the level that other local fly makers are at. Eventually, I want to sell some to pay back the significant amount of money all the fly materials and tools cost. If anyone has any tips for me they would be greatly appreciated, from materials to different designs I could try, everything would help me. 

Good luck to all of you guys that are still going fishing now, although it seems like everyone is doing quite fine. Stay safe and healthy during this outbreak and practice social distancing.