Holoholo: Hookum Flies restocked! Read how to fish ’em.

Holoholo writer and fly tier Matthew has restocked the store with his well-designed and effective flies.

Matthew: A second run of Hookum Flies will be available in the shop now. Very sorry for the delay to all of those who have been waiting, but there was a load of orders I had to deal with, which have now been taken care of. In this second run we will be running the Oama and Halalu again, this time in larger numbers, but we are introducing three new colors, those being the Golden Blaze 2.0, Mullet, and Cotton Candy. These five are some of my favorites as well as top sellers and producers. Understandably, since it’s now summer, Oama has been working well, as well as halalu as the usual summer baitfish trickle in. They may be coming in late this year, but they are starting to come in and Papio catches statewide have picked up recently.

For this run, a lot has been fine tuned. The Oama, Halalu, and Golden Blaze designs have changed drastically with a lot more layers and different types of flash and feathers being added. Hooks remain the same: Gamakatsu 2/0 saltwater series hooks. Again like last time, we are offering only the four inch flies on the site, but if you would like to order a custom order or view more of my products not on sale on this site, please contact Scott and he will put you in contact with me. 

Some other products I regularly make are the 5” big flies and 2.75” mini flies. The 5” flies are meant for bigger game and are tied on 4/0 Gamakatsu hooks. They can be tied in any color. The 2.75” flies are meant for lighter game fishing, sort of as a more durable replacement for grubs and soft plastics, and also can be tied in any color. I have a lot more colors that I tie that are not on this site, so please feel free to contact me through Scott or leave a comment below. 

Currently, it is evident that fly season is starting to pick up, as me and my friends have started to catch a little more in the past few weeks. Here are a few pictures from my catches on my flies recently, including two Awa awa and a bunch of Papio:

The rig that many people whip flies with is the bubble and fly rig, which has gained a lot of popularity in the past few years. Many people are used to fishing grubs and strips behind bubbles, but flies seem to do even better behind a bubble. I use a specialized big bubble, which has a wire running through it to avoid fraying of the line, made by a friend. I then tie on a fluorocarbon leader, which is usually around 6-7 feet long, sometimes more or less. I usually use 20-30 lb. My fly choice depends on the spot, but I have been trying a prototype Hinalea fly recently that has been doing good in reefy zones. If it’s more of an area filled with sand pockets I’ll tie on the Oama or Halalu, but all flies work in most applications. 

Again, the Oama fly has been doing good in sand pocket areas, the Halalu fly appears to be doing good in deep water with a significant amount of reef, the Golden Blaze 2.0 fly has been doing well in similar conditions to the Hinalea, which is deeper water with coral heads, the mullet fly has been doing well in murky water or anywhere there is mullet, which can also be applicable to surge zones, where the Uoa’oa inhabit. The Cotton Candy fly seemed to generate bites in all of those places, generating the most bites at dawn or dusk.

Thanks for supporting my business, and if you catch something on it, please let me know via my Instagram page, @hookumflies or in the comments on this post. Stay safe, and tight lines!

 ~Matthew (Hookum Flies)