The New Moon Curse?

Kelly and I SUP’d / kayaked fished the day before the New Moon.  My fish finder marked fish and we caught a few legal omilu and whites on frozen oama, with Kelly getting cut off on coral by a larger fish. Nothing hit my micro jig.  All the papio were released intentionally or unintentionally, in preparation of the start of Papio Tagging this summer.  The bite was the best around the top of the tide so we went back the following day to dial things in.

The wind and swell were down a bit from the day before, and nothing seemed to be stirring in the depths.  The same places that showed fish on the fish finder the day before were barren.  Even the turtles were absent.  I scouted the deep areas and the reef edges, and Kelly crossed over the flats into deep water and back.  Halfway through our outing Kelly got a strong hit that took a third of his line. He had paddled over the reef edge, into the deep side, and was perfectly positioned to fight the fish in obstacle-free water. But it came unbuttoned.

That fish gave us hope but all we got was a series of short bites on our frozen oama and I landed a 9″ white.  Kelly paddled back to the launch point and I dawdled behind, hoping an evening bite would magically materialize.  In the 20ft to 15 ft sandy/muddy gap in the reef, the fish finder began to show some mid-sized fish.  Another 9″ white was hooked and released, and the next oama got hit as I let out line.  The frenzy was on but Kelly was already out of the water.

He texted “goodbye” and I was free to try out the small but heavy jigs. I paddled out to deeper, clearer water to give the jigs their best chance.  The fish finder transducer was suction cupped to the side of the kayak at an angle so the depths read deeper than they actually were. I’m guessing it was 30 – 40 ft even though the fish finder said 56ft.  The fish were marking from the bottom to halfway up and really thick.

 

I cast a 1oz Live Deception jig that had a rear treble hook, with added assist hooks connected via a Tactical Angler Power Clip.  I had snagged my trolling line and as the lure sank it hooked up!  Another 9″ white came up but the Live Deception lure was gone!  Meanwhile the oama didn’t get touched so I reeled that in and stowed the rod.

 

 

 

 

I kept the assist hooks and slid on a 30 gm micro jig.  It got hit halfway down the sink also!  And same thing, 9″ white caught on assist hook but the micro jig was gone.  What the heck?  This happened when I had caught a kahala deep jigging an 80 gm Shimano Flat Fall. I had thought a fish hit the Flat Fall hook and another hit the independent assist hook, and the Flat Fall-hooked fish pried itself off the clip. Now I began to realize that the kahala and small whites were flipping the heavy jigs off the clip with their head shakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had one 30 gm micro jig left and slid it down the power clip next to the assist hooks.  Cast out, let it sink, hookup, repeat. Couldn’t be any easier.  Reel in a 9″ white and no jig left on the clip.  I guess the clip wasn’t intended to have heavy lures and separate assist hooks.  3 casts, 3 whites, 3 jigs lost. I was out of jigs so I got a chance to see how surface lures would work on these sub-surface whites.

The normally effective Waxwing Baby couldn’t raise them and neither could the Yozuri Hydro Popper, which slayed the 1lb – 3lb whites off the boat the previous week.  I had been disappointed that the Waxwing and micro jigs did not work at all when the Poppers raised all those fish from the depths and was beginning to think poppers were all we needed.  But on this weird evening following very little activity during the day, when the small whites were swarming halfway down the water column, the only thing they wanted were sinking jigs.  I guess every lure has its day.

Friends who fished further out on their boat, and others who fly fished the flats said this day was unusually slow, yet the next day had more action.  I had heard that the New Moon, like the Full Moon, was a slow day to fish.  One theory, my wise fishing kupuna told me, is that fish travel on those two moon phases so they’re less interested in eating.  It’s like the predators and prey have a truce so they can complete their migration. How productive has the New Moon been for you?