Middle schooler Matthew has been actively surveying the fresh water and salt water fishing opportunities and provides this timely report.
Matthew:
Action has picked up just a little bit, but still not the desirable Papio and Kaku. I have gotten some barely legal Papio and some Kaku inshore. Besides that, they seem to have migrated offshore.
Like I said before, Smallmouth Bass fishing in streams is a good idea now, but watch the forecast and get out of the stream if it starts heavily raining. Many have died like that.
For saltwater fishing, go fishing for the less desirable fish like Moana, Roi, Toau, or Ta’ape. They are showing no disappearance in the colder months for fishing. Oio are showing up more surprisingly, with some big ones being landed still.
The smartest idea however, is to go on a boat inshore with frozen oama and slow troll. That will entice the predators right outside the surf break to eat. Trolling with lipped lures and surface lures is also a good idea. There has been a lot of wind recently, so kayaking is not often safe. Akule are starting to show up on boats inshore, fishing at night, along with some mixed catches of Opelu.
Now is the time to explore new spots that will fill with fish during the summer. I am trying ultra light fishing, with four pound line, to get the real fight out of the fish. As for bait, in some spots large schools of Iao and Nehu are showing up, so that is a plus. Early Oama are definitely starting to come in, and will be of catching size in around a few weeks. I’ve seen some very small sardines along the shore (0.5 inches), so hopefully this means it’s going to be a good Halalu and sardine fishing season this year.
However, nothing good is coming up except for Oio. Now’s a good time to try dunking (come on Uncle Scott!) and everything you didn’t do during the summer. Hope the action really picks up soon. Go gettum guys!
Nice catches! I gotta find me some of those smallies.
The oio are definitely still around, but they don’t come in shallow as often as they did during the summer. also note that the sharp jaw oio caught by baitcasters at deep water spots in east oahu may exhibit totally different seasonal behavior than the roundjaws commonly caught by fly fisherman and shallow water baitcasters. These don’t come onto the flats at all, so I have no experience them. Good luck out there, spring will be here soon!
Thanks for the background on the two different species of oio, Jason. How deep are the sharp jaws normally caught?
Not sure, but the deepwater spots I’m referencing are around 60-80′ deep, right off the rocks. I won’t use spot names, but these are slide-bait spots during the summer 😉
Winter time, people switch to small game, targeting kawelea and oio. most if not all of the oio caught are sharpjaws.
None of the fly-fisherman I know have ever caught a sharpjaw on the flats.
Wow, those deep water spots are deeper than I expected. I wonder where the round jaw oio live. The sharp jaw ones must live in deep canyons.
Again, we really don’t know for sure, but definitely not on the flats. The divers say they see big school outside past the breakers. I’ve heard the two species do not intermingle or school together.
Yeah, those spots crazy deep, and you get massive rogue waves sometimes. Not long ago, a guy caught a sailfish along that stretch at a spot I will not name 😉
One of my friends in Kailua routinely catches sharp jaw Oio, but he never catches round jaw Oio. Some of my other friends notice that too about Kailua. Maybe the sharp jaws are dominant over the round jaws over there?
Could be. I don’t fish Kailua. Kailua does not have flats lol
Nice pics and writeup Matt! Main thing you still getting ACTION!
Hey, Matthew!
My name is Mat, and I pulled up an 8.whatever lb. O’io over in K. I think I recognize you from the picture, and I think you even weighed our catch. If that’s you, funny I stumbled upon you over here, mahalos for the help that day!
Going into March, the only luck I’ve had from shore has been more O’io, and a solid white papio (today, at the same spot as that last O’io). Haven’t had much luck lately
Yeah, that’s me,
This picture you may recognize, it’s in the same spot, as well as many of my other catches on instagram. Also saw you again today. Did you catch anything? Hope that braid injury heals up. Maybe we’ll run into each other at that spot again. Let’s fish there during the summer sometime when the bait’s running.
Matthew
My favorite oio spots produce fish year round but tend to be most productive in March, April and May. Bigger fish and more consistent strikes. Its been this way for as long as I can remember.
So it’s Big Oio Season now? Gettum guys!
Hopefully they’ll be around for the tournament.