mauled oama
I trolled 4 live oama today. Each one got bit but still no papio landed. My bolo head streak extends to 6 trips.
The first two oama were trolled with just a hook through their nostrils and the attacking fish mauled and killed the oama but didn’t pull much line. The top oama in the picture has two parallel bite marks that seem to indicate a narrow mouthed fish. Maybe a barracuda or stickfish?
I added a second hook near the anal fin of the last two oama. The attacking fish got hooked on that back hook and immediately bit through the line. The bottom oama was one that had hooked the attacker before the back hook was cut off. Guessing a toothy barracuda did this.
The South Shore beaches are filled with juvenile fish now. And no one I talked with has caught any papio on their oama baits. The current theory I’m hearing is the papio are filling up on the bait fish and don’t need to go after bait with hooks in them.
Drop me a line if you think something other than a barracuda mauled my oamas. Hopefully I catch the offender soon, or better yet, break my bolo head streak.
Bummer. You catch papio like I catch halibut. Next time I’m out I’m going to take your advice and switch to live bait. Could you add a tiny wire leader between the two hooks? Run the wire inside the fish?
Cheers,
Justin
Hey Justin,
Wire leader between the hooks is a great idea. Might have to run the wire on the outside so as not to kill the oama. The barracuda mauled and severely weakened the oama so when I reused the oama, even though it was alive it didn’t get bit again. Looks like the fish this year are so picky they want lively bait. Last year I just used frozen oama.
If I end up landing the barracuda, then I have the problem of unhooking such a toothy critter on my surfboard.
-scott
Dang, sucks to not have caught a papio yet. Good luck in the future.
Hey Dean,
Yeah, next week, an out of town friend and I are gonna go back to the flats and use cut bait. It’ll be interesting to see if the papio prefer that over live oama!
-scott
Wire? Two hooks? Are you fishing with live bait or “soon to be dead live bait?” This is all counterintuitive. Encumber the oama minimally so as to get freer action as the fish leaks from its wound and flashes awkwardly with the weighting of the hook. I’ve fished oama that swam back into the school and the papio/barry, etc. invariably struck my offering–easy lunch. And never ever use a floater unless fishing shallow flats. Fools.( Anonymous in order to survive another day, of course.)
Hi Larry,
Thanks for your proven techniques on proper presentation of live oama. The more natural the presentation the better.
I’m trolling on my longboard over a shallow reef of 3 to 5 feet and when I stop to rest the oama sinks down. I use an orange colored floater so I can see how far back my bait is and to keep the oama off the bottom. The one hook presentation gets bit more but usually the fish hits the back and doesn’t stick. So I’m resigned to the 2 hook method, using fluorocarbon all the way through the leader and connector between the 2 hooks.
And you’re right, the lively oama gets bit way better than when it’s already wounded by the predators who didn’t take the bait. Frozen oama used to work last year. Not this year…
-scott