I went out looking for oama again and the school of about 8 scattered when I threw chum at it.  Waited for more to show up, and waited and waited.  Went home demoralized.

The conditions were still good with moderate wind and a steeply rising tide so I took the fishing board out in the afternoon for some exercise.  The Waxwing System performed well in the trade winds, much better than it did casting into the wind from shore.  Sitting at water level, the lure tracked well and I got a bump before I made it out to the break.

I always seem to do best fishing in front of where the surfers surf so I did just that and probably annoyed the SUPers.  Bam! My first real fish on the Wing!  The rear double hook held and the Curado 300EJ’s drag didn’t feel as strong as the Calcutta’s but did it’s job.  I finally caught a legitimate papio.  I couldn’t unlock my phone through the waterproof case so I couldn’t take an on the water shot.  The fish taped out at 15 inches, head to tail.

Paddling parallel to the break, I whipped some fishy water for a couple hits and misses and when I got back to the main surf break smaller omilus slammed the Wing. The Curado 300EJ’s fast retrieve definitely made the Wing more enticing.  My left thumb started to sting and it turns out that the Powerpro was slicing into my skin as I pinched the line to provide tension for the bait caster.  Ouch.  I’ve never used braid as my main line before.  Gonna have to change the way I fish the reel.

Maybe I don’t need oama after all. It’s much easier to throw a lure into the waves than to troll a live oama as close to the waves as possible.  Pfft, oama, who needs you?

Note: The omilu was skinny for its length because it wasn’t gorging on oama. It did have a small bait fish in its stomach.