Frank and I tried a spot I had dunked before but never whipped.  The plan was to wade out on the very low tide and fish the drop off and reef shelf as the evening tide came in. We were both armed with the sub-surface lure from Japan that cast so well, floated and swum in an enticing wobble.  Two guys using a kayak as a floating tackle box were coming in.

The water was clear and there were enough small wavelets to oxygenate the impact zone.  We cast into the deep channel and brought the lure back. I hooked a small poopa’a which got us hoping for something better.  More casts… nothing.  Saw a tight school of oio cruising the impact zone on their way into the shallows to feed. Even more casts… nothing.

The area looked so good but there were no bait fish around to draw the predators onto the shallow reef shelf.  The sun got lower, sky got a little darker and it looked like the witching hour was about to start.  We reversed and whipped the reef edge walking in the opposite direction.  The water level was too high to walk to the edge so we tried to reach the drop off with our casts.

Suddenly my lure got grabbed and the fish went past the drop off and kept pulling straight out.  I had a 14 inch 40lb fluoro leader connected to 17lb Trilene XL mono.  Line steadily pulled off my reel despite a tough drag setting.  I began to wonder if I’d get spooled when the line suddenly went slack.  Arrgh, I was standing maybe 20 yds from the reef edge so it wasn’t the dropoff that cut me off.  The fight lasted less than 15 seconds.  I reeled in and the mono was cut with a slight curl. It cut past the fluoro leader and it wasn’t the knot that became undone.  I didn’t feel any rubbing at all but the Trilene XL is so soft I don’t think it can hold up to much abrasion.    Because I had seen oio earlier I was thinking it was a very big oio with a taste for fish that took my lure.  I didn’t feel the typical papio/ulua headshakes and my previous 4lb papio couldn’t pull against the drag that long.

Frank witnessed the short battle and was pumped up to try to get one on his lure.  I rerigged quickly and tied a sloppy uni to uni knot to connect the 40lb fluoro to the Trilene XL.  I put on that same type of lure in the gold/yellow “ayu” pattern.  I tightened my drag a bit and cast out. On the 3rd cast I hooked up again!  This time the fish couldn’t get to the dropoff and flopped around on the surface before the hook pulled. Awa Awa I think, because oio don’t flop around like that.  I’ve hooked 5lb plus awa awa in deep water on the kayak that ran deep and straight and never jumped.  We see more awa awa in the Winter and Spring than during the other seasons and they’re my favorite inshore fish for the way they fight and how good the flesh is in fishcake and lomi.

Frank’s old school Shimano spinner began to generate wind knots in the braid so it was time to head in.  Turns out he was having occasional bail and wind knot issues but didn’t want to complain and slow me down.

It’s been a while since I’ve had a fish on that I felt I might spool me. The risk of losing the fish and the hard to get JDM lure woke me up. I’m eager to try again, with a better line setup and with a true whipping reel for Frank.