Dean and I board fished this morning since the wind was supposed to be less than 15 mph. Contrary to that forecast there were gusts over 20 mph which made it hard for Dean to stand up and paddle. The wind had less effect on me since I paddle lying down on my longboard, but I was still affected by the chaotic swell.
Dean trolled a dead oama behind a floater the way I used to, and I sat on my board as close to the waves as possible and cast into the surf. I got more strikes than he did but also got stuck a lot more since my prototype oama whipping rig sinks. I suspected fish were hitting the oama and pulling it into the rocks since I would pull some snags out and everything came back except for the oama. When I pulled an eel out of the rocks my suspicions were confirmed.
Dean caught the first fish, a non-legal omilu, and then we both started getting hits, misses and cut lines. Seemed like other reef fish were pulling off the oamas, and kaku were cutting us off. I finally stuck a good fish and it ran in a funny way which made me think it was a big stickfish or cornetfish. I was relieved to see the color of a beautiful 2lb omilu. I finally made use of my gaff by lifting the omilu out of the water by putting the gaff hook through its mouth and out its gill.
The wind picked up and it was hard to effectively fish the surge zone. My next papio ran through the rocks and popped my line. Dean was getting occasional hits but having a harder time paddling upwind from his knees. It was time to head in.
I had quickly gone through 4 whipping rigs and 15 dead oama.
It was more fun to feel the strikes of the fish while whipping the oama but I definitely lost more tackle than I do when I troll with a floater. I’ll have to work on the prototype whipping rig some more.
Brah, you are on FIRE! Glad to hear the papio are still around. Thanks again for posting and hope to hear more fiiiishing taaaales …. with Scott Haraguchi … 😉
Hah! Kind and funny words Kelly. Hope we hookup on the water soon. I pre-fished your spot today and as you suspected, the fish were present and hungry.
-scott
Aloha Scott,
I suggest you use a cast bubble setup to whip your dead oama. If the water is calm enough, the vibrations and splashes from the cast bubble seem to attract papio. I’ve been using this method of whipping oama in an ancient Hawaiian fishpond for several years as a part of my predator removal project for Mālama Loko Ea Foundation. It has proven itself successful more times than not, and I also have never snagged. Mainline through cast bubble to swivel, 3-4 ft. leader, and a single large, barbless circle hook through either the eyes or snout of the dead oama. Slow retrieve and occassionally twitching the rod tip to make splashes. Even though I’ve been whipping using a spinning reel which makes the oama spin in the water, I’ve always caught papio/kaku within the first few casts.
Hope this helped,
Pono
Hi Pono,
Thanks for sharing your effective oama whipping method with us. The bubble is great for keeping the oama off the rocks and for causing the commotion you mention, what a great setup.
For my outings I’m either waist deep in water or sitting on my board, with a 7′ 11″ rod. If I have a leader longer than a foot the bait would be in the water on the back cast so I’m trying other methods to streamline the cast. I’m trying to cast as far as I can into the surf without getting hit by the surf!
Still have oama up your way?
-scott
Aloha Scott,
I honestly don’t know if there are oama left… A couple of weeks ago I’ve heard talk of oama near Pu‘uiki but I really don’t know because I haven’t gone to find out for myself.
I’ve been finding that the Campania Lures Pearl Jam color is very effective, even on days without significant tidal swings. Have you dunked your oama at night this season? A few seasons ago my dad caught a 4Ib moi dunking frozen oama at night. This fall I want to find a spot where I can catch moi whipping in the day, do you know of any?
Aloha Scott,
I honestly don’t know if there are oama left… A couple of weeks ago I’ve heard talk of oama near Pu‘uiki but I really don’t know because I haven’t gone to find out for myself.
I’ve been finding that the Campania Lures Pearl Jam color is very effective, even on days without significant tidal swings. Have you dunked your oama at night this season? A few seasons ago my dad caught a 4Ib moi dunking frozen oama at night. This fall I want to find a spot where I can catch moi whipping in the day, do you know of any?
Still loving the posts
-pono
Hi Pono,
4lb moi? That’s huge. Sorry I don’t target moi so I don’t know of any consistent whipping spots. We’ve just caught babies incidentally when going after papio.
-scott