Holoholo: Persistence paid off

Holoholo reporter Matthew describes how he overcame the slowdown at the end of “papio season” and found a way to consistently catch fish in the “off season”.

Matthew: Mid September to Mid October was one of my worst streaks ever. Lost a lot of big fish, couple whitewashes, and many lost lures. At the end of November, it all changed for me, but before that it was slow-complete shutoff bite. Some others have been getting good luck, but I haven’t been as lucky as them and the bite has significantly slowed down for me. 

Many fishermen have been getting good and consistent luck on flies, which might mean that the bait is getting bigger and that I need to upsize my two inch grubs for something a little bigger. Most of the master fishermen who use flies fish semi-turbulent deep water. I fished a few times with a group of fly fishermen and one time got totally smoked by them. One guy got two Papio, his girlfriend landed six Papio, and I landed none on the grubs. They were using bubble and fly rigs, and the flies seemed to be either oama or light brown colored. 

I have been getting limited luck on the sardine pile somewhere with a Lai and two Kaku, and then a nice sized Yellowspot Papio at a spot near my house. The next five trips passed painfully, with over 15 hours fished with not a single fish landed. In those trips, I lost a big Omilu, around four pounds. It fell off as it was being reeled up the wall. That was really painful. 

The next trip, I hooked a screamer on my ultralight and fought it for over 10 minutes at dusk. I could barely see it when it came close to shore, but I immediately recognized it as a big white Papio, upwards of 17 inches. It made another run, and I was able to see it one more time before it made a last huge run, and I felt the line go slack. The four pound line had cut. I knew it was coming but I was still mad. Probably the closest I’ve ever been to having a fit when losing a fish. I don’t usually get mad, but that was after two trips of nothing and last trip of losing a big Omilu. I was beaten. I thought for sure that next trip I would land a fish, but I was dead wrong. I hooked something big, and lost it again. This time I didn’t even get to see it but I think it might’ve been a decent Papio. 

Fed up with all of the losing fish and whitewash, my morale was at an all time low and seriously did not know what was going wrong. I decided to make a last ditch run to one of my most consistent spots with my partner. It paid off greatly. 

The first cast, I landed what felt like a small Papio, but upon closer examination it was a nunu. I didn’t care. I needed anything after that long whitewash period. It got even better though. The next cast, I hooked something that ran really hard, and resisted in the whitewash for quite a long while. It made another run and that’s when I knew it was a good sized Omilu. I had to find a safe way to land it, and my partner went down in the splash zone and netted it for me. I was screaming. I don’t know how the neighbors did not think something was wrong and called the police, but I’m glad they didn’t. After five trips, my gamble had finally paid off at the spot I knew I should have been fishing all along. The day was not over though. 

I proceeded to land another good sized Papio, and another, and another. I was pretty hyped, and so hyped that I didn’t even bother to change my leader where it was frayed. As it so happens, laziness  Within thirty minutes, I had landed four good size Omilu and a Lai. My partner had also landed a Lai as well. This was probably the best day I’ve had all season, and so late in the season too.

The following weekend, my sister had a tennis match, so I got to fish during her tennis match at a place right near the courts. The water was really murky and I had a hard time seeing inside the water at some points. The fish didn’t seem to care though. I was using my ultralight and felt something take it with a lot of power and make a very powerful run out toward the open sea. It took a whole two minutes for me to bring it into sight range, and I landed it another minute later after it made a few stubborn runs right at shore. To my surprise, it was the biggest Kaku I had seen in a long time inshore. I didn’t measure it, but it was pushing 24 inches or a little up.

On the ultralight four pound test and a 1/8th size kastmaster, it was amazing that either the very bendy hook did not bend out or that the line did not touch the Kaku’s teeth. I made another few casts, and hooked another Kaku, at around 14 inches, on the ultralight again. I landed it, but it didn’t fight half as hard as the other one. I switched to the bigger kastmaster with the VMC red trebles, and landed another Kaku, this one at 13 inches roughly. Already happy with my success, I let my dad use the ultralight with the kastmaster in hopes of him catching his first Kaku, and he handed me the light rod with the grub and egg lead. 

We moved more toward clear water and stayed there for five minutes when I felt a take, and all of a sudden, line started peeling out, and after a very spirited fight, I could see the electric blue outline of a decent size Omilu coming in. The fight lasted too long, because I was really letting it tire itself out so the hook wouldn’t pull. I got it in eventually and it was roughly 12-13 inches fork length. That was the last bite of the day for me, however, I was still very happy because all of this action happened between 1130 and 1245pm. I had a chance to fish later that day, and since I was already happy with the action, I decided to go after something that I never catch anyway-Moi. 

I went to a spot I heard had Moi, and after a while, I had a fight with something that pulled hard, but with hardly any drag pulled. I started yelling to my uncle as I realized it was a Moi. I took a picture, and then measured it. It was half an inch short to my dismay. I released it. 

The next cast I hooked something that felt really big, and pulled a lot of drag, when all of a sudden the hooked popped. I am 99% sure that it was a very legal moi. The very next cast, I hooked another Moi, and during all my excitement, I forgot to release it in the tidepool the other Moi was in, and I threw it back into the ocean. I realized what I did as soon as I let go of the Moi, and made a rushed cast toward the Moi hole, but the bite had already shut off, and the Moi weren’t biting anymore.

I’m sure I would have caught a legal Moi that day if I hadn’t released the little one. I kept casting, and on the way back, I was lucky enough to catch my second Kagami Papio ever, even though it was small, I was still stoked on landing such a rare fish again. 

Anyways, hopefully it sheds some light on the next few weeks of fishing. I haven’t been trying for Oama at all in the past few weeks, but I have been seeing quite a lot while whipping. Lots of Omilu are coming up onto the sand when the waves pound it just to eat the oama. Maybe it’s time to try a little bit of oama style lures? The nehu are still somewhat in as well as the mullet. Good luck guys.