Previous to my recent shibi and kawakawa catch, I hadn’t caught pelagics (migratory offshore fish) in 2 years. Because of that recent success, I planned to drag live opelu out to the deep at my favorite Windward spot to see if the late Fall pelagics were still around.

It was another too calm day between windy days, and the fish weren’t interested in the damashi. I finally found some happy opelu that jumped on the damashi hooks and took one out past 250ft, weighted down with a 2oz tungsten bullet weight. Nothing bothered it, and the damashi fishing in the deep was nonexistent, so I paddled back in to try to salvage the trip by catching good eating reef fish.

I’m not good at keeping the trolling line out of my rudder mounted motor while damashi fishing, so I reeled the live opelu up and kept it just at the surface a couple feet from the kayak. The damashi fishing in the 100ft range was slow but I did release a 2lb omilu, and stumbled upon a 1.5lb yellow spot papio, which is the 2nd best eating jack after the kagami.

I couldn’t find any more yellow spots, and I was shocked to hear my live bait reel’s clicker go off in a jerky manner. Then I saw a small mahi mahi jumping about 30ft away from me. Because the line’s “belly” took a while to catch up to where the jumping fish was, I wasn’t sure if that was my fish.

The fish jumped 4 times in rapid succession and didn’t look that big, but took line off the reel in spurts. I kept the drag moderately tight so it wouldn’t rip off. He fought over his weight class but came up worn out and docile.

I was stoked to catch a mahi, and carefully bled it, and chilled it on the kayak. Put out another live opelu on the weighted rig, and it was hit by a very strong fish that ran off a lot of line. I was convinced I hooked a nice shibi ahi but ended up with a 30lb ulua that was released. Bought ice on the way home to keep the mahi as cold as possible overnight.

Here’s a short video of the mahi fight as I experienced it in the kayak seat.

My neighbor Brian and his family love yellow spot papio sashimi because it’s so clean but also a little oily tasting. They mopped the plate.

The mahi weighed in at just under 7lb and I able to get a little over half of that in fillet yield. These are the nicer, more presentable cuts. The less than perfect ones went to my family. The mild, firm meat was enjoyed raw and pan fried by all.

Don’t know how much longer my pelagic lucky streak will last but I am checking the wind forecast a few times a day in hopes there will be another break in the weather.