Kelly, Frank and I hit the deeper water grounds that have been productive recently.  Kelly would be trolling frozen oama, Frank would whip lures first, and then troll oama. I was loaded for bear, with 40lb fluoro leader and abrasion resistant fluoro main line so I could bring in a big fish before Sharkey took his cut. I would stick to the lures that had been working the last two times I fished here solo.  The wild card was the “King Tide” that would flood the shoreline later in the day.

We started while the tide was below zero.  The wind was calm at the launch and we easily paddled to the area that was working last week. Something wasn’t right. The water was a copper-yellow tinge, not the way it would look if it were caused by runoff. Visibility was reduced and we suspected that the turbulence from the big tide stirred up sediment.  I marked much less fish on the fish finder, and nothing hit Kelly’s oama he SUP’d around.  I even tried fishing the suspended marks that produced big strikes the last time but I couldn’t even get a bump.

We spread out and a couple hrs of no bites went by. Then Kelly found a productive reef and landed a 2lb omilu followed by a kaku that cut the leader, and a roi that took his meal down a hole.  He ended his outing with a larger omilu that shook off before it could be landed.  Kelly passed some frozen oama on to Frank before having to leave, and Frank began trolling the reef closer to shore while I explored a deeper water papa further out.

The wind was over 12mph with gusts to 15 mph and the papa’s protected side was still bumpy.  The drift was fast but I was able to mark larger fish near the bottom.  The big boys were there but didn’t take any sub-surface, sinking lures or jigs.  Big contrast to the earlier trip when they came up in packs to hit lures.  I let the wind blow me back to where Frank was SUP trolling.

Frank had some roi action, then pulled in an oama head that was left by a papio or kaku.  After putting out a new bait he instantly hanapa’ad a 12″ FL omilu.  Repeating his path again he landed a 12.5″ FL white that was thicker and stronger.  After I had covered so much ground for nary a bite I was very surprised that an omilu and a white would be caught in the same area.  I put on a Waxwing Boy and whipped the flats and papa edge nearby. Still no love for me.  Frank’s last oama bait was pulled down into the rocks so we whipped lures on the way back to the launch site.

I put the trusty sub-surface lure back on and sure enough a roi jumped on.  Luckily it didn’t rock me and I dispatched it with a knife.  I’ve been catching roi with full bellies lately. Are they pregnant or just stuffed with reef fish?  This particular colored lure has caught more roi than any other lure for me.  Good for roi roundups but bad when the roi make it into the holes.

We checked the usual spots on the way back in but they were all barren.  So was it the King Tide and off color water that scattered the fish and made them unresponsive to lures?  The bait schools I had seen earlier were gone. Perhaps the bait didn’t feel safe in water they couldn’t see their predators coming, and without bait, there was no reason for the predators to hang around?

It was awesome to fish with Kelly and Frank.  We tried to work together to find fish. Kelly was the “control” with trolled oama, proving that some areas were indeed barren, and some areas held fish that wanted a room service delivered oama. Frank hooked a roi on the same sub-surface lure I did, but no papio.  That told me that the heavier leader and thicker main line I was using wasn’t the reason I got blanked.  And, it’s always good to fish with great guys who happen to be skilled watermen.