I tried a deeper water spot a mile down from where I’ve been getting pestered by barely legal papios. This new spot had deeper channels leading to a 20 foot dropoff, but was also windier than my other trolling spots. The wind made it a bit of a workout to get out, even on a light trade wind day. After trolling the inner reefs for the last two months it was a little spooky to not see the bottom and the occasional wave breaking on the outer reef added to my uneasiness.
My live oama didn’t get any action, probably because it was on a 5 foot leader connected to a floater, so I happily made my way back to the inner reef. I headed in the direction of my familiar spot and expected the same kind of frenetic action, but the bites were infrequent and less aggressive. A few baits were pulled off the hooks, one hook was cut off, and the two barely legal papio I landed were a lot thinner than the ones I have been catching. I’m guessing there’s less bait around this area to fatten up the fish.
There was a different strike that didn’t feel like a papio. It ran in spurts like a small oio and immediately found the rocks. I didn’t feel rubbing but somehow the fish dislodged the hooks on a boulder and I had to break off the line. This had happened to me a couple times in the last month. I don’t know how roi feel when hooked but would imagine that roi were lurking in the bouldery reef waiting to ambush a wayward oama.
Well, I branched out to a deeper water area only to end up getting all my hits on the inner reef. I’m still looking for the first fish of the oama season to scream out line. All fish hooked were either purposely or inadvertently released.
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