Thad, our JDM expert and shoreline whipping enthusiast, provides this report in early October.
Thad: Like many years before, I wasn’t able to fish this season’s peak summer months for oama, halalū, or papio due to other important things going on at home. Seeing and hearing of all the action my friends were having made me envious but I knew fishing would always be there and the next summer season would be just around the corner.
Recently, I’ve been able to venture out to do my regular early morning fishing sessions and was expecting the predator action to be slow so I went oio fishing instead. My friends were able to catch and release some legal sized papio while we targeted the oio so I wondered if the season had truly slowed down. It was already the middle of September and the bait schools weren’t as plentiful but it seemed like the papio were still hunting inshore.
The following weekend, I decided to devote my time whipping some CHL grubs Scott had given me to try. It was a decent morning with five omilu landed and several more that came off. Nothing big, but all legal sized ranging from 10 to 12 inches. Were these the last remaining papio of the season? Only one way to find out.
Two weeks later I decided to try my luck whipping some papio flies my friend Brandon makes for me, which I’ve had much success with in the past. The result of this morning session was several more hits and misses, with a 10.75 and 15 inch omilu landed. My fishing partners also landed a 13 and another 15 inch omilu on grubs. Still some pretty good action for October.
This past weekend I went on a solo mission – which is usually when the big ones bite right? I noticed a small school of tiny baitfish darting around the shoreline as well as a small pile of oama. The first cast of the morning with Brandon’s “Sparrow” fly produced a 10.5 inch omilu. Several casts later, something blew up on the fly only a few yards out and took off. There was no slowing the fish down on the first run. Then I felt the fish pop off much to my dismay.
I continued casting but whatever it was, it wasn’t around anymore so I decided to change it up and try a Mark White oama lure. One the second cast, another solid hook up and short run before the lure popped out of the fish’s mouth again. I like to change up my lures often so I went with grubs to see if there were any takers but no luck. It was nearing the end of my fishing time so I switched back to the trusty Sparrow fly to cast as I worked my way back. Sure enough, I got a few more tugs here there before I landed an 11.5 inch omilu to end the day.
Since I wasn’t able to fish the peak months of the season, I have no way of comparing the recent action to how it may of have been in June – August. The recent action has been pretty good though, so I have no complaints.
Nice work, and beautiful photos! I’m still hunting me some bigger omilu/whites on my fly rod. Interesting that the orange worked so well. That isn’t traditionally considered to be a “papio color” like whites, blacks and yellows. I may have to steal that idea ?. We do like orange for oio, so I got some of the materials already.
Thanks Jason. The fly is more of a red with a light belly and some gold flash. I tried other color patterns Brandon made for me but this sparrow one seems to be the most consistent, even as I’m casting in the low light conditions before the sun comes up. His version of the oama is also very effective.
Interesting findings. Oio guys, at least when fishing the east side, like orange for low light too.
Amazing job on all those papio in just the past three weeks. I went to the same spot with Dino and Logan, and they were slaying on the flies. In the end, Logan got 6, Dino got 1, and I got none. Lol. Maybe it was because I was using grubs. Or the color of the grubs. I usually use clear with sparkles or firecracker. Maybe I need to switch it up a little with the grub colors, or get some flies. Again, congrats, Uncle Thad the Papio Slayer.
Or maybe it just depends on what they are just looking for at the moment. I have been getting some luck with some legal papio on the grub, but hopefully I’ll be able to pick off some bigger 14″+ Papio on a north shore three night trip. Definitely gonna buy some flies and try them. Where do you buy your flies from? I think Uncle Dino uses Rubbahlip Flies, and I heard good stuff about automatic flies, but they’re too pricey for me to consider it. 11$ for a fly with a dull hook just doesn’t appeal to me. I have heard good stuff about Kahakai flies, low price, good quality.
Flies will tend weed out the smaller papio and you won’t need to keep replacing them like grubs that get their tails bitten off all the time. I get my flies from Brandon of vividprizmflies on IG although he’s currently not taking orders except from friends and family. There’s a lot of good fly makers out there on IG like flie_different_hawaii – which I also like, kapakahi_flies, ono_flieshi, and hi_tyed_flies. I’m sure I’m leaving out a ton of other solid fly makers. Yes, they’re hand tied so they’re going to cost more than grubs but in the long run they will pay for themselves when you consider how often you need to replace the torn grubs. As for dull hooks, I make sure to sharpen them before each use, same as I do with all my lure hooks.
Why do you think the smaller papio don’t really hit those flies? I’ve kind of noticed that too whipping my automatic flies
I’m assuming its because the fly is bigger than the 2″ grubs I normally whip with. I have caught papio as small as 7 inches on the fly but most tend to be around 11 or more.
Ask mom and dad for a vise for Christmas and learn how tie! It’ll save some money in the long run, if you’re concerned about price.
Haha, Dino said Logan rubbed it in all the way home. I usually have the best luck with any kind of clear grubs with glitter. Even clear with no glitter works well. I don’t usually stick to one style though. I’m always changing colors or changing from grubs to flies, bubble to lead, and even throw JDM lures all on the same trip.
Amazing catches uncle Thad! I recently tied my own flies with thread and craft feathers (I use neon pink, orange, and green) without a vise and are awaiting testing.
That’s awesome! It’s a great feeling to catch fish on something you made yourself. I used to make small, simple pencil lures out of wooden dowels when I was in middle school and caught a ton of papio with them on ultralight gear with 4lb test. I made them more out of necessity because I didn’t have the money to buy lures. ?
I have the money to buy lures but it’s fun to make them and plus my dad says I don’t need to waste money on things that he has. Also how do you secure hooks to wooden dowels.
Thanks, Elijah
I was just using the small screw-in eyes they sell for wooden floaters. Its ultralight so I didn’t worry about any fish pulling them out. The 4lb test mono would break first. The dowels were about the same diameter as real pencils.