Holoholo writer Matthew summarizes the inshore Summer season so far. Has the season already peaked? How do your fishing trips compare?

Matthew:

Traditionally, August is the absolute best month of the year for shorefishing. However, this August has been much different for many people. July was a great month, at least for me, some of my friends, and some other people that I follow on social media. The Papio bite was hot, as well as the Oama and Halalu bite at certain spots. 

The “Act with care order” imposed early August made fishing a slightly more difficult, due to the fact that you had to be below the high water mark, but still left a lot of spots viable. For me, that meant one of my spots was gone. Throughout August, it was consistently slow for me and some of my friends (strictly lure users though) at many different spots. A few Papio showed up, but nothing like we were anticipating for what was supposed to be peak fishing season. Some people I know had success using live bait near piles, as well as at certain deeper water spots. 

Towards the end of August, the oama started thinning out and getting smarter, and it seemed like the Papio bite had stopped dead, at least for the south shore. A friend of mine had success on the North Shore, but the south shore appeared to be pretty barren. It seemed like the season had peaked early in July, and ended early as well. 

A lot of the catches made in the past few weeks were on smaller lures (small flies, kastmasters, grubs)  perhaps signalling that fish are keying in on smaller baits. 

The “stay at home” order made fishing a lot more difficult, due to the fact that you had to actually be in the water now. It left me fishing a spot I have a love/hate relationship with, and many others frustrated.

At this writing on September 6, a good number of moi hunters have been having a hard time to find bigger moi in the first six days of the season. A couple bigger ones have been landed but most of the ones I’ve seen caught were either undersize or 11-12”.

A couple of the flats fishermen targeting Oio have been getting great results though, and a couple of 7-9# range Oio have come up in the past week or two. 

Perhaps the large number of people heading into the water have made the fish skittish in certain spots, or the increasing pressure from the growing numbers of fishermen have contributed to the bite as well, and it is certainly tough for me and a couple of others I talk to. I’ll keep whipping until either my arms fall off or I catch a Papio, whichever comes first?.

It appears to be a tough month, but please drop a comment if you feel otherwise. Good luck to all, and keep on fishing????????.