Smaller moon, rising tide = more fish activity

Last Wednesday, I kayak fished the deep Windward waters and didn’t even register a nibble.  The nearshore fishing has been slow this Winter but that skunk really made me feel “kill fight”.  Yesterday was forecast to have the lightest wind – best tide combination of the week so I made it a gear testing day, telling myself that the fishing was incidental. I took the old Scupper Pro out, which hadn’t touched water in more than 10 years, and used a heavier weight to keep the live oama down deep.

After the afternoon showers stopped, the wind completely died down.  Not a fair comparison with the chop and slop conditions of the Aquaterra Swing’s last outing.  I was worried the Scupper Pro would be tippy since it’s a lot narrower than the Swing, but because the seat sits lower to the water, it reminded me of sitting on a surfboard with my legs in the water.  The Scupper Pro also paddled much easier due to its longer length and narrower, rounded hull.  The Swing, in comparison, has a flat hull that feels like it’s pushing water, not knifing through it. The SP’s cockpit did feel cramped compared to the Swing’s, but I eventually got used to it.

There were a lot more tiny bait fish and suspended reef fish on the fish finder than last time.  I braced myself for a strike on the trolled oama but none came.  Hmmmppphhh. Well, since this was supposed to be a test of the Scupper Pro, I paddled further out than I had been fishing recently, enjoying the glide of the long, slender craft.  The heavier fishing weight seemed to be keeping the oama down better, without getting hung up on the bottom.  I slow trolled over numerous little bait collections but no predators felt like eating an oama with a hook in its nasal cartilage.

Finally something pulled the tip of the rod down a couple inches, then pulled drag.  The fish seemed to be shaking its head but the vibrations were a little too frequent to be papio head shakes.  I pictured an awa awa swimming in such a way that its large tail was slapping the line.  Sure enough, after some powerful runs, I was able to short pump the fish to the surface. About a 4lb awa awa with its weird transparent forehead greeted me.  I think awa awa pull harder, pound for pound, than omilu and whites, but once you get them boat side they’re pretty tuckered out.

It felt great to land a decent fish again.  I dropped down another oama and a few minutes later something pulled some line off the reel. In my peripheral vision I could see a smaller fish leap out of the water.  That was the first awa awa that jumped in the deep water, and it was able to shake the hook and gain its freedom.

Fish began to puddle on the surface and I expected more action but alas, the bite stopped.  I took advantage of the glassy conditions by trolling through other promising spots, and dropped the flat fall jig down on bait pockets but nothing wanted to eat.

So why was there more bait and predator activity than last week?  The moon was smaller, being 7 days after the full moon rather than just 2 days.  And I was fishing the first third of the rising tide instead of the last third.  The heavier weight was keeping the bait in the zone longer.  And the glassy conditions made it much easier to fish.  Why do you think it was better this time around?