Tackle test in less than ideal conditions

The wind and surf were up and the solunar activity was down.  Not the best time to wade out and fish the reef.

baby omilu under the float

To avoid having to re-tie rigs I tried drifting cut bait on an adjustable float.  I didn’t snag anything but found it hard to cast such a light float in the windy conditions.  I caught a few small omilu but didn’t like the slack line required to drift the float in the current.

When the waves started hitting me at the neckline I gave up and headed for shore.  I switched to a rainbow trout pattern 3/8 oz Kastmaster just to throw something that would go further than a few yards.

The power handle I added to my bait caster did its job and I could retrieve fast enough to burn the lure in. Small papio were chasing the Kastmaster  a few feet from the beach so I varied my retrieve and hooked up.  Finally, after two outings with no bites on lures, I caught something.  The papios turned out to be 6 inch white papio, and they were following the lure in from the deeper, cleaner water and ambushing it in the muddy water near shore.  It was great to get back into the rhythm of casting, retrieving in a crank-crank-crank-pause tempo and feeling the occasional hits.  The single, siwash hook I had on the kastmaster is sized for larger fish so I missed a lot of the bites.  But the baby white papio I caught helped bring some lure casting mojo back.

Here’s how I customize my Kastmaster hooks to reduce snags.