Resumed kayak fishing after an almost 3 month hiatus. A more detailed report to follow. Started at the bottom of the low tide and fished into the big rising tide. Was very surprised to hook omilu to 4lb and white papio past 10lb that broke me off, all on 1.5″ to 2.25″ Completely Hooked Lures soft plastics fished on 15lb to 25lb damashi rigs.
I’ve never had so many papio hit the damashi, and those big fish seemed to have pushed the reef fish away from my productive spots. Maybe the papio are staging to spawn inshore soon, and are waiting for the halalu and oama to arrive? Could be an epic inshore season!
Here’s a video showing how the fish consistently got larger as the day went on.
Nice! I love omilu – my favorite papio to catch and eat.
Hi Mark,
I can usually tell if it’s an omilu on the line versus a white papio. Omilu tend to run faster and more jerkily, whites are more dogged.
Stay tuned for the next post where I show how my friend prepared that 4lb omilu. I was surprised at the color of the meat.
thanks,
scott
Hi Scott sure seems like going to be a good year. Looking Facebook guy from kaui caught one big one. My friend said get oaamas but skiddish Southside. Looks like they gonna start coming in soon. Will check it out in about 1 or 2 weeks. They say El Nino going to be a strong one. Possibly a super El Nino but the chances aren’t that good. Take care my friend!
Hi Craig,
Thanks for that report. I also heard this week that there are very early oama on Oahu, in an area that normally gets the oama late.
Papio been showing up shallower now too. Get ready!!
-scott
Yes I will! Got my splitshot,poles ready. This year gonna try the okuma pole see how that goes 🙂 take care check back with you later.
Hope this is the year for you Craig!
Yes Scott I hope so 2year drought hehe. It all valances out sooner or later.
Nice catches! Are you just using 1 or 2 hooks on the damashi rig? What are the components, and how do you tie them up? I’ve seen maybe a dozen different ways to tie branch lines, each with its pros and cons, some rigs for opelu and some for weke nono and bigger game- I’m still looking for a good method. For the weke nono/yellow spot papio, we use 30lb main and four to five 25-40lb branch lines, all fluoro, depending on what comes up. You could easily go lighter, but when you have multiple fish on, or the tax collector is around, and you need to horse ’em in, the heavier line works well, although the trade off is fewer bites…
Hi Randy,
Always good to chat with a fellow damashi bottom fisher! I usually just have 3 hooks on the rig because more than that will just hook something on the deck of my kayak, and also add to the risk of a 2nd big fish hitting the rig and breaking it off. If you watch the video again, a lot of the fish landed came up with the other hooks busted off.
I use the dropper loop knot style and cut open the loop and tie a hook on with a snelled knot. That dropper loop knot does weaken the line so it does pop off under pressure of a strong fish. Using a separate Uni to Uni branch line is stronger, but takes longer to tie.
I start with 15lb fluoro for opelu and if I get busted off by something else I go up to 20lb, then 25lb. On this last trip, an ulua busted me off on 30lb. The reef fish seem to hit 25lb flouro no problem. I’ve even caught big opelu on 25lb before. But I am taking 40lb rigs next time.
I’ve found that a heavier jigging rod helps me control the bigger fish and get them up quicker than my softer jigging rod. I use Shimano Game Type J rods, the older versions, from Japan. They can handle big fish but are still sensitive.
Damashi fishing is so effective. The fish can’t resist the multiple small lures moving like a school of small fish or shrimp.
-scott