shallow oio feeding grounds
The tides haven’t been good to troll my remaining oamas and the north winds have made the water pretty chilly. Instead, I’ve been wading the flats on low, evening tides in search of oio. I’ve actually seen them feeding with their tails out of the water (tailing) but haven’t been close enough to take a suitable picture with my camera phone. The oio look to be 5 – 8 lbs. I’ve tried casting my cut shrimp setup near them but haven’t gotten any to take.
A helpful guy I met on the beach told me of his secret bait. He had three strong hits when I was out wading and ran out of bait. I gave him some shrimp but the picky oios snubbed that bait. I’ll try to acquire his secret bait and give that a try next time. It was great to see so many oio consistently feeding over the last few outings. The lay net ban on the South Shore has definitely helped restore the oio fishery.
about to be freed
On that conservation note, I returned the large weke I caught 2 weeks ago. It hadn’t eaten anything in captivity, including live opae, but was still very healthy as it swam to freedom. Too bad I couldn’t train him to tell me where the oio were hiding.
Aloha Scott. Hey, I like this blog site – makes me want to get geared up again. Keep up the good work here and maybe someday when I have the time (hehe) I’ll beg you to take me out. I know a place on the West side but it’s not exactly a secret anymore.
Hey Mark,
Yeah, there are no secret spots on Oahu anymore. And all the spots within a few steps of a parking spot get hammered daily. I waded in with the special “oio” bait today, and still came up empty. Tide, time of day, abundance of bait and a healthy dose of luck have to come together. Still fun on a cold North wind day, but I needed a hot shower to thaw out.
-scott