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.
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