This has been the best oama season since maybe 2017? They came in by early August and kept coming in. A friend reported that the oama fishers have thinned but the oama are biting really well in the evening with papio hitting the piles.
Halalu came in thick in some spots and bit like crazy. They were so close in a few not-so-secret places, that a straight pole with bait was enough to fill a bucket. That appears to have peaked, but they are still around.
The bigger 5 to 8lb papio were seen and caught early in the season, and now the the 1 to 3 lb papio are hitting the piles. Fish around the piles with oama or whipping lures before the season ends. Who knows if next year will be as good as this year?
It’s been a very good oaama season. There are still huge schools of oaamas on Maui. There were bigger papios caught 8 or 9 lbs. Looks like oaamas going run till November over here,mix bag of small medium and large ones.
Great to get your report Craig. Hopefully the good fishing helps Maui heal.
It’s been a great year for oama on Oahu too with big papio caught but not as many papio as you’d expect for having so much bait in.
Take care,
scott
Thank.you Scott for the prayers,yes Maui will heal it will be awhile but we are strong. Oaamas biting before sunrise and sunset when the sun goes down,1hr time window. Big ones now. Hope you can answer this question Scott. Over here there were big schools oaamas throughout the day,moon was small. But they weren’t biting. They were swimming around only,do you know why??
When the oama get big they become smarter and feed in the early morning and evening. But chumming with their favorite foods gets them fired up. Get a steady chum going and they may stay around and start eating. Good luck Craig!