Winter is the season of light wind days, large north swells and the scarcity of pelagic predators. It’s the time when opelu and other prey fish are abundant and actively feeding because they aren’t being harrassed. Makes for a great time to brush up on opelu catching.
I fished the Southside the day before New Year’s eve and I guess a lot of guys had the day off because I counted 5 boats, 5 kayaks and 2 jet skis within a mile of us. Needless to say, the fishing was lousy and all I took home was a toau. That turned out to not be as forgiving as uku. The person I gave it to overcooked it and said it had rubbery skin, small bones and just an “ok” taste. But at least that invasive was taken off the reef.
One crowded day on the Southside was enough to sour me from fishing there, so I went back to the Windward side the following week and found the opelu biting, even though I starting looking for them at 9 am. Ended up with 5 opelu, my PB so far, but the 12 inch opelu were too big to be swallowed by the small predators and the 7 inch opelu were pulled off the hooks. At least I had bait leftover to vacuum seal and freeze.
Followed that up with another Windward trip. This time the opelu bit late again but the small predators didn’t want to take on the 12 inch opelu and a 7 inch opelu got pulled off in the shallows. I caught one nabeta early and when I went back later to round out the catch I couldn’t find ’em. Since nothing big seems to be around in that area I’m gonna try another Windward spot I haven’t checked since last March.
The better kayak guys have been loading up on opelu and some have even found the elusive pelagics. So always got chance for something good when you have live opelu.
Hi Scott,
I recently picked up a tandem kayak (wife wanted to get out on the water)…and knowing she wouldn’t want to go out that often, started rigging it up for fishing. My goal is to learn to catch opelu and live bait for pelagic’s. I live on the windward side…10min from Kualoa. I was hoping you could email me some area’s I might get lucky at finding these fish? I fly-fish with Jason Tsurumaki and have been successful at that, primarily using a SUP to get me off-shore a bit away from others…but, I wanted to get away even further from the shoreline guys. I really want to learn to catch Opelu…to use for bait as mentioned, but to also eat. One step at a time for me…when I become proficient at catching these, I’ll try my luck for the pelagic’s. I’ve been following your website and appreciate all that you share. Thank you,
Brent Sugita
Hi Brent,
I like your plan: get comfortable fishing on the kayak, get comfortable catching opelu, then target pelagics when safe. I’ll email you some info. Thanks for reading.
-scott