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Holoholo: Papio not biting? Go chase oio!

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Jeremy and Matthew have been whipping with small lures for oio this Winter and Spring while waiting for the papio action to heat back up, and all-season fly fisher Jason shares some helpful tips that cross over to spin fishing for oio.

Jeremy:

When the papio bite is slow, I switch it up and target o’io.  Fishing for o’io with lures is challenging, but it’s all worth it when you finally hook up.  Nothing beats that first screaming run.  I primarily like to use light spinning gear, but if the winds cooperate, I do also attempt to use the fly rod, which is a completely different challenge, LOL.  For the spinning setup, I like to use 9’-10’ rods rated up to 1oz.  For the reel, I’m currently using a Shimano Stradic 5K filled with around 300 yards of 15# braid and attached to that is 15# fluoro leader. 

Big o’ios can rip out a ton of line, so using a reel that has a high capacity will greatly reduce your chances of getting spooled.  There’s nothing worse than getting spooled and having all that line stuck all over the reef (Do NOT let yourself get spooled if you can help it).  And as always, I highly suggest catch and release.  O’io are great sportfish that put up excellent fights that all fishermen dream about.  Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could experience that every single time instead of only once in a while?  Just something to think about…

Matthew:

Lately the Papio action has been pretty dead, except for a few exceptions. Even the Lai and Kaku haven’t been playing recently, and it is probably the worst Papio fishing I’ve seen in a while. The only time I was able to catch was on the north shore at the break of dawn, which was a nice trip, with a 16” papio and a 12” papio.

But since the south shore has been completely dead for Papio, I’ve taken the opportunity to learn how to catch Oio whipping with lures, or more specifically, grubs. I’ve learned a significant amount in the past two months or so, but I’m still nowhere near the level of some real hammahs out there, who catch a few Oio per trip without problem. Whipping for Oio is a lot harder than fishing for them with bait, you have to trick the Oio into biting a fake imitation of a shrimp or crab.

Oio, in my opinion, are the spookiest fish in Hawaii. Do something wrong and you can see them take off towards the deep as fast as a bullet. Cast too close to one, it spooks off. Stumble on the reef and cause a small commotion, any Oio within 40 feet is gone. I think that the spookiness of the Oio in shallow water was the most frustrating thing that I had to deal with at first. I’m used to using noisy and big lures to catch Papio. The Papio is a very angry and aggressive fish, and the more noise and commotion you make, the better chance you have of hooking one. The Papio will rush towards any splashes on the surface. The Oio is the complete opposite. Make any sudden movements or cast wrong and you miss your shot. Papio will also take multiple shots at a lure sometimes. With Oio, you only have one shot. The most frustrating thing is when you see a tailing Oio and start making your way toward it, but then it spooks away even though you did absolutely nothing wrong. I still don’t have the patience to actively target tailing Oio, so I’ve resorted to blind casting in slightly deeper water (2.5 – 4 feet deep). I understand though, that it gets even harder, in fly fishing for Oio. Fly fishing for Oio is a serious art and I have great respect for fly fishermen who target Oio. It’s something that I might consider trying to learn, but much later. 

I was able to land four Oio in the past month, by sheer dumb luck. The biggest one being 23.5” and pushing seven pounds, and three smaller ones all being around four pounds. Whipping for Oio is especially addictive because you can actually feel their first run, whereas when you’re dunking, the heavy rod and sand/rock spike takes most of the first run away from the fish. 

Anyways, it’s slow right now, so don’t worry if you’re not catching. You’re not the only one. Try something different, go for light game, smaller papio. Try topwater lures for Kaku. Try using bait in deeper water. If what you’re doing right now is not working, consider trying something different until summer. Good luck out there??.

Jason:

O’io (bonefish) are one of the fly fishing world’s most revered sportfish, renowned both for their fighting prowess and skittish disposition.  But one of their more overlooked qualities, in my humble opinion, is that they are available year-round.  Unlike those targeting papio, I usually continue to see action, even through the cold, wet winter months.  That doesn’t mean things don’t get more difficult.  When the water gets colder, the fish often aren’t as plentiful in the shallows, and cloudy conditions can make sight fishing tough to near-impossible.  For those new to chasing bones on the fly here are few simple tips to increase your odds during the winter months.

1) Be willing to blind cast.  
I know for many, “bombing” (as it’s referred to by Hawaii fly fishermen) can be a tough sell.  I know of a few sight casting purists who will refuse to blind cast, out of principle.  There are others who simply think it isn’t worth the effort.  “Why waste time and energy casting if you don’t see any fish around?”    If you’re like me and enjoy the casting almost as much as the catching, this is a no-brainer!  When the clouds show up, and high tide blows out the flat, you can just stand there staring at glare on the surface, or pack it in… or you can throw out a few blind casts, and you just might get lucky!  If nothing else, you’ll get in some good casting practice, and for me, it’s simply relaxing!  

2)  When in doubt, wade out.  
When you aren’t seeing many fish in shallow, there is a decent chance they’re all hanging out near the outer edges of the reef, where the water is deeper, there is more wave action, and they feel safer.  I find this to especially be the case in spots where there is a lot of nearshore activity from swimmers, divers or other fishermen.  Bonefish hate people!   You do need pretty good eyes to spot them out here, but in my experience at least, you’re far more likely to get an eat way out here.   And if you can’t see them, see tip  #1! 

3) Successful blind casting isn’t entirely blind.
While I never pass up the opportunity to take a shot at a fish that I see, as mentioned above, I tend to prefer bombing with a switch rod because I find it more relaxing.   Some folks I know don’t understand how it’s possible to consistently catch fish this way, but I believe the key (in addition to possessing stupid levels of persistance) is “targeted” blind casting.   I’ve found over the years that I catch more fish when I am targeting areas I have previously seen fish in, either on a lower tide, or when the light conditions were better.   As you spend more time sight fishing, and seeing fish, you will start to recognize the type of terrain that just looks fishy.  I will often target areas with a bit of wave action, where the bottom is a mix of rock and seaweed (not just in the sand pockets), or areas along the edges of channels or near on-ramps to the flat.  I will also never bomb in waters shallow enough to sight fish in, as this is a recipe to spook everything within casting radius!  As you wade out, you should also hit some of deeper sand pockets along the way as these can hold fish even on a lower tide.

4) Move!
Whether sight-casting or blind casting, there are countless times where I’ve hooked a fish just minutes after moving to a new spot.  Whether this is simply dumb luck or not, is tough to tell, but I tend to believe that if you aren’t seeing fish, or aren’t getting bites, it can often pay to move.  The more water you cover, the greater your odds of finding fish.
Well, that’s all folks!  Bonefishing during the winter is really not much more complicated than that, at least for how I like to catch them!  Good luck, and remember, he who has the most fun wins!

Added some of my favorite lures to the Store

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The lure inventory has been depleted and I’m looking for new manufacturers to partner with. In the meantime, here are a few of the lures that have worked well for us. You’ll find a sample of each in the Store.

Jigs

Capt Erik introduced me to these inexpensive but effective semi-slow pitch jigs back in 2016. In that report, I referred to the jig as the “pinkish, silvery 30 g (1.05 oz) Japanese micro jig”. You can read how effective there were for Capt Erik that day.

These JDM Xesta Afterburners are casting jigs, meant to be retrieved diagonally. They’ve caught numerous inshore fish, kawakawa and even the ono Frank caught trolling one. Here’s that incredible story.

These shore jigging lures were purchased at the Fred Hall Show in Long Beach back in 2019 before Major Craft Jigparas became so accessible in Hawaii. Very effective, beautifully crafted, reasonably priced jigs.

Shimano’s Flat Fall jig introduced the US to slow pitch jigging. We’ve caught everything from jacks to pelagics on these. Great zig zag fluttering action and superb hardware.

Shimano’s Coltsniper was introduced a bit later as a casting and vertical jig, shaped to imitate small slender bait fish. Affordable and very versatile.

Sinking Lipped Plugs

The Zetz F-Lead was my secret weapon for whipping off the kayak for submerged white papio in the Bay. 90mm and almost an ounce in weight, it was easy to cast from a seated position and would sink down to the depths of the schooling fish. Check out how good it worked in this report. I refer to this killer as the “heavy lipped swimmer”.

The Ima Gyodo Heavy Surfer is a similarly compact, heavy plug with a shorter lip that swims more like a fish shaped, lipped jig. Very popular in Japan for shore whipping over non-snaggy terrain.

Both of these would be great casting from shore into deeper water.

Compact Tungsten jigs have slayed nearshore and offshore!

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Top to Bottom: 60gm, 60gm, 80gm, 100gm

Last summer I requested some Tungsten jigs from two jig manufacturers , and was sent a batch of 60gm test models from the first company. A few months later the second company sent a couple 80gm and 100gm models. Both sets were painted but lacking the tough clear coat to make them puncture proof, and some were eye-less. I had a feeling they’d work, purely due to their small size, and resemblance to tiny bait fish.

The 60gm jigs came through just about every time I tried them off the kayak, catching fish as small as moana, and as large as ulua and kahala. They were so easy to fish because they got down to the bottom quickly, even in current, and didn’t have much resistance as I jigged them back up. As a control, I switched back to a lead jig of the same weight in the middle of a hot bite, and didn’t get a single hit.

These are some jacks that went wild for the compact jigs.

Wanted to see what these jigs could do in the hands of a jigging pro, so I passed a couple of the little 60gm jigs to Capt Erik. One day at the buoys the pelagics were showing on the sonar but not taking trolled lures. Capt Erik and his dad started with larger lead jigs that had caught fish in the past, but those jigs were ignored. So they dropped the little 60gm jig down and KABLAM! Shibi and aku fought over them and the guys had to stop fishing and drive away because they caught enough for their ohana. The tuna had tiny bait fish in their stomachs and the jigs had perfectly matched the hatch.

Thanks for making this video Capt Erik!

Tried the 80gm and 100gm jigs a couple times off the kayak and like them because they are heavier and get down faster when I’m fishing deep but I haven’t landed anything on them yet. I broke off two ulua and unbuttoned what felt like a small uku. These bigger jigs don’t look as eye catching as the 60gm jigs from the first company, but they still hooked fish. All this has convinced me that compact jigs dropped on hungry fish will get bit!

I ordered a small batch of 80gm and 100gm jigs from the first company with a few 60gm jigs thrown into the order. The production finish, with glow in the dark stripes exceeded my expectations. Almost too beautiful to fish, and coated with a tough sealant. I’m selling these at “friends and family” pricing to guys that catch fish and take great pictures. 🙂

Stay tuned to hear how effective those jigs are, from cliff, kayak and boat. Mahalo.

Update: Check out how well the tungsten jigs worked for Coach Haru here!

Holoholo: Winter 2021 Shore Fishing Report

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Here’s Matthew’s much awaited shore fishing Winter round up. He’s surveyed other fishers to provide a wider coverage.

Matthew: January and the beginning of February were very consistent. It was consistently terrible. The bite was pretty much dead and the many cold days plus the cold front didn’t help the bite at all. All around the island the bite, even for bait users was slow. Like usual, the people fishing deep water got a pass this time, and were actually getting some decent fish. However, for shallow water lure users, it seemed like our attempts were being made in vain. So far in 2021 I landed only a 12” papio and a small lai for all of this year. Not exactly the start I envisioned, but hey, it’s something and I’m glad to be able to catch something. Some of the people I fish with have been getting lucky, with some occasional Papio and some smaller fish caught jigging, but nothing big. There does appear to be some good sized Papio inshore right now, and it seems like there may be very few smaller Papio inshore. The big boys may be in, and a few have come up and some more have been sighted. 

The inshore bait report is equally as bleak, with the only two Halalu/akule spots on the island being “almost year-round” spots and being very crowded. There’s no sign of Oama or that they’ll come inshore anytime soon. There is a small sardine pile at a spot that I fish but nothing too significant. Nehu don’t appear to be lining the shorelines along the flats and I haven’t spotted any bait on the flats, period. Many times the people I fish with and I have gone trips without getting bites these past few months. 

There is hope though, and this past weekend shone some light on the darkness. There was a very good-sized Omilu that came up and there was decent action at a dropoff that me and some friends fished. Strangely there were a lot of bigger Kaku present as well. Around the island there were some nice catches this weekend, but as much as I would like to see it as some new hope, I’m not going to assume anything. 

The bite appears to be very dead right now, and it’s a great time to try to change things up and throw the fish a curveball. Go fish a dropoff, or try for Oio. Try freshwater fishing, ultralight fishing, scale down your lure size, or do whatever you feel will attract more bites. Do anything but give up. Remember, even when the bite is bad, you have a greater chance of catching a fish when you’re fishing than sulking about the crappy bite at home. 

If you’re one of those people who use bait, it may be a good idea to try to catch small reef fish and tow them slowly behind a bubble float. Perhaps a small Hinalea dragged around at a dropoff would produce some good fish. If you know a halalu spot, maybe go try catch some and fry them up. If you can throw them out alive (don’t tangle others up of course), then do it. Another good idea may be to use light tackle and drag shrimp or grubs at a sandy area, targeting weke, oio, smaller papio, and anything that bites.

I and many others agree that this is the worst winter that they have seen in a long time, if not ever, and there may be some contributing factors to it. 

Some Theories:

  1. Increased number of “catch-to-eat” anglers during COVID
  2. Unfavorable weather patterns last year
  3. Cold water temperatures
  4. “Spot Burning”, often caused when someone with a large following posts a video or picture obviously depicting a known spot
  5. Lack of education about rules and regulations amongst new anglers, leading to many undersized fish being kept, bag limits being exceeded, and aquatic life being taken out of season

Whatever the reason may be for such a bad winter, it is bad and that is a known fact. There is a light at the end of the tunnel though, and we should be seeing a rise in action pretty soon. And like stated earlier, you have a better chance of catching fish at the ocean than at home. Good luck to all, and see you on the next report??.

Found an affordable compact Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) kayak battery!

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First of all, while Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) sounds like Lithium Ion, the two battery types are very different. Without going into all the chemistry I don’t understand, here are the important differences. Lithium Ion batteries are slightly lighter and have a higher “energy density” but less stable under pressure and heat and can catch fire. These are the type of batteries you can’t take in your suitcase on a plane. Lithium Ion batteries are good for high consumption electronics that need as light a battery as possible.

Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries are a newer technology and are good for slow drawing applications like fish finders. They are safer to store and last longer than Lithium Ion batteries, which last a pretty long time already.

I happened to stumble upon this ExpertPower 12V 5 Ah Lithium Iron Phosphate battery on Amazon while looking for an affordable Lithium Ion battery. It had good reviews and is comparable in run time to the 12V 7Ah Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) battery I’ve been using.

It weighs 1.625 lb compared to the 4.25lb SLA battery and takes up much less room. It also starts off with a much higher charge of 13.8V compared to the 12.5V the 2 yr old SLA starts off with.

Amazon currently sells the ExpertPower battery for $39.99 but doesn’t ship it to HI. I bought a cosmetic blem from Amazon for $28, which wasn’t much more than the original SLA was, and that cosmetic blem was shipped directly from ExpertPower to me.

Kind of sounds too good to be true so let me run the battery on a few outings and let you know how it performs.

Completely Hooked Lures “Minnow” catches everything

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This product endorsement is long overdue. We’ve been using the 1.5 inch CHL Minnow on our damashi rig and whipping for halalu for more than 3 years now and it has never let us down.

We got hooked on the little Minnow when the Purple Obake color slayed the halalu. Here’s one of the halalu reports.

The various shades of green work really well in the deep, catching not only the target fish but often hooking big fish that bust our rigs, although I’m sure all 80 colors perform at their optimal times. I personally think it’s the fish shape and the kick of the little split tail that makes the predators bite.

The nabeta actually prefer the Minnow to cut bait!

A lot of the kayakers use the CHL 1.5″ Minnow on gold hooks to catch their prized opelu baits.

The best part about the CHL Minnow is that they’re made to catch multiple fish and are less expensive than the other soft plastic brands. Look for them at your favorite fishing supply store but if you don’t find the color you want, you can purchase them online at chlures.com.

Holoholo: Winter shore fishing report

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If you weren’t sure how the shore fishing has been this winter, Matthew breaks it down for you.

Matthew:

Winter is usually the worst time of the year for shorefishing; this year was no exception. Throughout the months of November, December, and now early January, the only thing that was consistent was the scarcity of Papio. I must have gone something like 0 for 20 in terms of Papio in fishing trips. I did manage to catch two nice sized Awa’awa as a nice bycatch, but the Papio were no where to be found. While the Papio have not been in, the Awa’awa have been making an appearance and my friends as well as I have been hooking a few recently. 

Many different spots at different times were tried, but all proved to be equally as bad. Some of my friends and I would sometimes even go many trips without a single bite. In December I went seven trips in a row (3-4hr whipping sessions) without a single tug or boil. Many of the Papio I have seen caught on social media have been caught with some sort of bait, most caught dunking. However, for most of the time I use strictly lures so that is not an option for me. If you have the chance to, I would probably say go for dunking with Tako, Ika, or leftover baitfish.

I tried a few different types of fishing to try to catch any fish at all, and it worked to a certain degree. I tried shore jigging in deep water, bass fishing in streams, Oio fishing, and ultralight whipping. The bass fishing worked the best and I ended up with a nice 14” smallmouth that turned out to be my new PB. For mainland fishermen, a 14 inch bass is considered big here since our streams are shallow and narrow. While fishing with topwater lures for bass may not be the most effective way to catch them, it surely is the most exciting. Seeing a bass inhale your topwater lure while jumping in the air is pretty exciting to most sport fishermen. 

Shore jigging has been popular in the winter because of the low numbers of fish in the shallows. Even though the shallows have been dead, Uku, Goatfish (Moana, Moana Kali, Weke nono, etc…), Kawakawa, and Shibi have been showing up at some shore jigging spots recently. Jigging is a very effective way to fish during the winter but it is also very taxing. A shore jigger should expect to lose many jigs in a month, sometimes even losing up to eight per trip. When you consider the average price of a jig, which is around nine or ten dollars, the losses start adding up very quickly. A lot of the times, when you break your line after getting stuck, you lose some of your braid mainline as well. This means you have to respool your reel more frequently, and braid is not cheap. While it is taxing financially, the reward can be very high, especially when you catch prized fish such as Uku or Moana Kali (although I haven’t yet).

The temperature has also been noticeably colder in the past month, both in the air and in the water. Sometimes when I’m out there early for dawn patrol, I start to question if it’s really a good idea, especially if it’s raining and a little gusty. The water temperature has also been more cold, which may possibly be the reason the Papio are nowhere to be found. 

In summary, the low numbers of success in catching Papio may suggest that it is a good time to fish for other species and other types of water. Perhaps you should take up Jigging, Bass fishing, Ultralight fishing, or Oio fishing, unless you’re as stubborn as I am, and want to continue pressing to catch a Papio. Good luck to you all, and stay safe???

Holoholo: A look back at 2020

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Krystal shared her shibi from the shore catch a couple months ago. This is her recap of the past year, only her 2nd “real” year of fishing ever.

Krystal:

Well, 2020 sure wasn’t what anyone thought it would be. As my 2nd real year of fishing, I had made goals for Summer 2020 back in December 2019. I told myself I was gonna go fishing everyday that the halalu were around because I missed so many days during Summer 2019. Well, the Hilo halalu run was pretty pathetic this year. I got a couple good days early in the season but the halalu were so small I felt bad bringing them up. The one nice thing was that because of COVID, not much people were at beaches. There were times I had the whole place to myself all afternoon! But the schools were smaller this year with smaller fish. One day the school would be there but not really bite, so we would hope for a better bite the next day only to find that the school was gone. There’s been lots of talk of people throwing illegal nets over the schools at night which would of course take much of the fish, but also spook the ones they didn’t catch. The fish were skittish and hard to come by. The halalu were biting real good at other areas of the island, though. I made a special trip out to the west side one day and caught a decent amount. They were good size, too. Wanted to try out the halalu down on the southeast side but never made it. Made it a new goal to skip halalu altogether and catch akule down South Point but never reached that goal as well. The only akule I’ve caught this year were about four in January and one in August by mistake.

As sad as my halalu/akule year was, 2020 for fishing in general was amazing. I made so many new friends through fishing. Got lots of new fish I could check off of my list of first time ever caught including pualu, lai, kawakawa, and shibi! All from shore!

So many places I got to go fishing for the first time ever. Fishing with such awesome new friends was more than I could wish for. You don’t even need to catch fish. Just being out there with good company is all that matters. I truly feel I’ve made lifetime friends this year. I’ve even made great friends this year on Instagram! Many of them are guest writers right here on Hawaii Nearshore Fishing. Though I haven’t met them in person, I feel I can call them true friends I can trust. I’ve learned so much this year thanks to kind fishermen who are willing to share their hard-earned knowledge. I don’t know where I’d be without their kindness and taking me under their wing. I only hope I can pay back what I’ve learned or at least pay it forward to the next generation of fishermen.

The goal I set for my 2nd real year of fishing was not met, but this year turned out to be even better than I ever thought. Full of excitement and good times with new friends. I’m really looking forward to fishing in 2021! What are you looking forward to next year?

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!