Elijah is a 5th grader and has been fishing for about a year with his dad and younger brother. He wanted to share his love of fishing and some slide bait catching tips with the readers.
Elijah: I don’t whip a lot because my brother can’t so I float baits right now . I can do a report on catching small pan size fish like mamo, kupipi, and slide bait size hinalea.
So this is my 3rd time at some popular Westside beaches and I kinda know where the fish are and when I cast out to that spot (usually where red is surrounding a sand bottom) I felt a small tug and out of nowhere my drag starts screaming and I set the hook but it popped so I retrieved my float and the buggah took my bait so I walk to the cutting board and use my secret method of hooking squad and making it look appetizing.
So I recast and jiggled my floater and suddenly my float zooms 3 feet under the water and I see the fish, a nice sized mamo and some omilu! And I see the floater straining a mamo to the surface and I quickly reel it in and it was a good 2 pounder! Soon after we had to pack up and leave.
Next day we went to another beach and we set up. I was rushing to get my and my brothers floats in the water and on my first cast I realized I had missed an eye! So I reeled in the float that was 4 feet away from me and felt a small tug I reeled it to me and found a baby hinelaea chewing on my hook!
My dad told me to put it in the bucket for slide-bait and I quickly dropped it in. The secret to catching small fish for live or slidebait is to look for small pools of water in the rocks and just drop your float down and wait. You can also find some kupipi and mamo in the holes and hinalea. In the end I caught about 15 live baits, a poopa’a that we took home and some squirrel fish (my dad wasn’t happy about the squirrel fish) and was a successful day! If you are setting up a slidebait and need bait FAST jiggle your bobber for a couple of seconds.
Aloha, Elijah
Good job guys! Some of my earliest fishing memories are of bamboo pole fishing the tidepools for juvenile kupipi, hinalea and aholehole. Like you, I later graduated to floater fishing with a spinner, and we used to catch quite a bit of mamo, kupipi and nenue this way. We used to use bread or shrimp , and sometimes doughballs made with water, flour and sardines.
Thanks uncle Jason we started to catch papio and aha on floaters but they were babies so hopefully we can whip soon
Also is fly fishing hard and do you recommend it? Thanks
– Elijah
From what I understand fly fishing is extremely hard, and requires a lot more skill than regular spinning or baitcasting. You have to know where the Oio come in and fish at the right tide. You have to stalk the fish, which is often Oio in hawaii, in shallow water where it can see you if you get too close or make sudden movements. In order to perfectly present a fly you also have to be accurate to get to the Oio, and then make it look lifelike while stripping it. I think they like certain patterns too. If you do hook one, you have to be extremely skilled to not get cut off or spooled by a big one if you’re in an area with some rocks. Fly fishermen are often out there for the sport only and don’t keep fish often. The skill of stalking a big fish, making it bite, and then landing it on a pool noodle rod is what makes Oio fishing super hard. I have high levels of respect for any fly fishermen out there, as it takes grit, persistence, and skill to land an Oio fly fishing. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Matt, I’ll let Jason respond, who may be fly fishing in Japan at the moment. But I just wanted to say that you understand the challenges and nuances of fly fishing in HI more than the guy I witnessed yesterday:
I saw him get out of a rental car with his wife, and gear up to wade and fly cast for oio. He entered the water, walked straight out til it was waist high (tide was high and rising further and the water was very murky where he was standing) and started casting. I was testing a rubber, segmented swim bait and walked up and down the beach. He stayed in that spot til he quit, frustrated. I passed he and his wife three times, as they set up, as I fished past them, and as they left, and she smiled and said “hi” but he made a point to look away. Had he looked at me I would have told him that the oio won’t come to him in such a deep, murky, windy spot where he couldn’t see his boots! Maybe he just wanted to practice his casting?
Note to newcomers to any form of fishing: Smile when approached, be humble, and treat others with respect. Chances are the other fishers will offer some helpful tips to get your started.
Thanks Matt and uncle Scott?