Holoholo: Whipping report, 2nd week in January

Jeremy is a long time fisherman who loves whipping, but will be adding fly fishing to his game this year. He’s been posting catches on his private IG account @jeremy.poi while the rest of us have been getting skunked, so I asked him if he’d mind sharing his most recent catch report with us. There’s a lot we can take away from this!

Jeremy:

Everyone knows that during the winter the bite really slows down, but can’t catch fish if you don’t go fishing so I try to get out there as much as I can.  This past weekend I braved the weather and was glad I did.

On Saturday morning, my friend and I decided to do a dawn patrol session.  It was super windy and rainy, but we love fishing so we just threw on our jackets, grabbed our gear, and headed to the spot just as the sun was about to come up.  The tide was really high and the water was a little dirty, so wasn’t the best conditions for wading, but we slowly worked our way out into the water.  I continuously made casts as I walked the reef and about 15 minutes into our session, I got a nice hit.  It’s a decent sized fish and I can feel the head shakes, so I know it’s a papio.  I get it to hand and see a nice 14” white papio on the end of my line.  I take a few quick pictures and release him safely.  First white of the year for me, so I’m happy and the pressures off. 

I continue to work the reef and cast into “fishy” areas.  About 30 minutes later, I feel a strong tap on my lure…miss…then another miss.  And then finally, on the third hit, I get a solid hookup.  Hanapa’a!  Line starts ripping off my reel and I know it’s a good sized one.  It takes about 60 yards on the first run before I get it to turn.  I’m only running 8# braid with 10# leader, so I need to be patient and not horse it in.  I slowly gain line, but the fish is still strong and takes multiple smaller runs.  I could feel the line rub slightly on the reef a few times, but after a back and forth battle of about 10 minutes, I was finally able to see the fish, grab my leader, and land this 5# o’io.  Chee!  Took some pics and thanked the fish for the awesome scrap before releasing it.  And that’s when I notice my hook.  The fish wasn’t hooked in the mouth, but on the side of his face on the gill plate, and my hook was opened up.  Got lucky on landing this one. 

Tip of the day:  Set your drag only as strong as your weakest link.  I run my drag on the light side since I’m running light line, but the wire of my hook is thin as well, so my weakest link in my setup was my hook.  Thankfully my drag was just loose enough and I didn’t lose this fish.  

Another fun session in the books.  Always nice to be able to get out there and do what we love.  And catching fish once in a while is nice too.  So all the guys not fishing due to the junk weather, take a chance and make some casts.  Fish still have to eat, so hopefully it’ll be your lure.  Good luck and tight lines!