I’ve been relentlessly trying to fish the deeper water (100 ft to 250 ft) on my kayak in the hopes of getting better at catching tasty bottomfish and pelagics,  Unfortunately days of small surf and light wind on the south and east shores have been extremely rare. We even tried fishing the north west side of Oahu when Hurricane Miriam was supposed to block the trade winds, but the winds were blowing a dangerous 15 to 20 mph.  I bailed after my prescription Maui Jim sunglasses were blown off the top of my cap without me even feeling or knowing it.  Those were the best sunglasses I ever had and I was one grouchy guy for the next couple of days.   It was only a few months ago that I reviewed those Maui Jim Twin Falls. Here’s that review. RIP Maui Jim Twin Falls.

The last time I caught a fish in the deep worth keeping was back in February.  Here’s that write up.  That’s a long, frustrating drought.  In the meantime Kelly has been fishing the inshore reefs off his foam SUP minimalist-style with his rod tucked in the back of his shorts.  His success rate has been much higher than mine this oama season because he has a good grasp of where the shallow reef predators like to hang out, and can handle getting tossed by the waves once in a while. Since I can’t catch fish I asked Kelly to write up his last outing.

Kelly:

Recently, I went holo holo on the south shore of Oahu with the kids after work and got a few oama for pupus and bait. The next day was very windy, so my SUP fishing options were limited. I decided on a semi-sheltered spot that seems to produce small papio regularly and ended with a mixed bag.

The moana kali was about 11” and was a nice bonus fish on my last oama. Note: I sometimes take smaller roi to eat –they are sooo ono steamed– however I cut off the head and belly areas to (hopefully) reduce cig risk a little.

Here is how I made the larger papio, which was about 3 pounds.  Please click on the photos to zoom in.