It’s often pretty difficult to locate the traveling school of oama. With glare, wind chop and a lot of ground to search, it takes a trained eye to spot the oama schools.
Can you see the small school in this picture?
Can you see the oama?
Polarized sunglasses cut a lot of the glare. This is a simulation of how it would look with polarized sunglasses. I zoomed in on the school to highlight it. They’re traveling toward the upper left hand corner of the photo.
Ah, there’s the oama!
The first third of the battle is finding the oama. Then you have to catch them, and then keep them alive long enough to use them properly as bait. Here’s some tips on how to keep them alive and healthy.
Hey Justin,
The oama, being goatfish, taste their food tentatively with their barbels so it takes a delicate touch to hook them. The hooks required are very small.
And if those guys had a throw net with eyes small enough to catch small fish, the nets were illegal. The minimum eye size is 2 inches, stretched. I’m surprised they talked with you as they were blatantly breaking the law. Shucks, I hope I see them in action so I can call in to the DLNR! Did you recognize any of the bait fish caught?
I didn’t recognize the fish in the bucket. All of them were the same species. From what I recall they were all about 3 to 6 inches maybe longer. I did an image search for Oama and it’s possible that’s what they were but I don’t remember whiskers on them. They could have been Opelu? I remember it was a plain looking fish with no bright colors. I only got a glance in the bucket. They said they were going to cut them up, salt them and freeze them. So not fished whole. I wish I had taken a picture.
The oama chance color to match their surrounding, so they can be drab gray, or light beige and green. In the pic here, they are pretty dark: https://www.hawaiinearshorefishing.com/live-bait-oama-long-live-king/
Maybe the fish they caught were some kind of mullet or sardine. Perhaps gray/silver? Interesting they showed you what the caught since they were obviously breaking the law. They spoke English fairly well?
Yup, grey/silver fish. They spoke English well. I just bumbled up to them like a dumb tourist (which I was ) and asked, whacha guys catching, and looked in the bucket. They didn’t really have a choice if I looked or not. In hindsight they did seem a little nervous. The holes in the net had to be smaller than two inches. I wish I had known they were breaking the law at the time.
That’s too funny. Next time we’ll equip you with a hidden GoPro so you can catch all these offenders in the act!
Anyone try the wiggle worms with scent on them from Cabela’s . In hilo bay areas. The mullets like them, feeding off the bottom . Just jig, slowly,
Beatle spinners can work too.
Hi Wayne,
Hadn’t heard of anyone using those in the salt. Are the scented Gulp lures used too?
Thanks for the tip,
scott