I’m not sure if the nearshore pelagics like ono, mahi mahi and shibi (ahi under 100lbs) are more common in the fall, or if it’s just that the winds have finally dropped and more folks are fishing, but there have been a lot of reports on social media of kayak fish caught.

I got word that one of the kayakable spots was holding opelu in relatively shallow water, and with the winds light and surf down it was time to go! My partners couldn’t make it so it would be a solo session, under safe conditions.

My opelu catching skills continued to let me down so after more than an hr of searching for them, I put on a fresh, store bought opelu and slow trolled to 400ft. I crossed bait marks but nothing hit the opelu. Turned around and dropped to the bottom at 375 ft, brought the bait up a bit and something grabbed it and headed strongly back down.

With the frequent head shakes and unstoppable runs, I’m pretty sure it was an ulua. I fought it for more than 3 mins before the line parted. It felt lighter in weight than sharks I landed but much stronger and angrier. And while I think I could have eventually landed it, I would have let it go so it could give the shoreline guys some action. If you look at the photo of how my front hook was cut off, you can see that the 40lb fluoro was chewed and the line has a split end. Since this hook is snelled and the rear hook should be behind it, the knot didn’t come undone, which is what I originally thought when I saw the curly end!

I trolled another fresh opelu back to 100ft and finally I got a high speed strike. The fish pulled my rocket launcher rod holder down and the rod knocked my GoPro cap into the water! The Action Hat floatation did its job but by the time I wiped off the GoPro lens and put the cap back on, the fish had swum off with my bait. I’m thinking what hit was a pelagic because the rod holder would have had to be pulled down with a lot of force, and the clicker screamed for a couple of seconds.

More uneventful trolling went by so I dropped down a fresh opelu at one of the uku holes. Sure enough, tap, tap, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. The fish fought spastically all the way to the top and I was thrilled to see what I thought was a PB (personal best) uku.

The rear VMC 4X inline hook had just caught the tip of the uku’s upper lip and popped free when I jiggled it. Super lucky hook set!

I put down another 12″ opelu that immediately got chopped up but maybe the bait was too big for the other uku? Refrozen opelu just got hage bites so I made my way into the shallows and never found the opelu school. I later heard that another kayak fisher put the time in, found the opelu and caught a 25lb ono!

The uku taped out at 21.5″, exactly tied for my PB. I love catching uku cuz they are challenging to hook, fight hard, and fit nicely in my fish bag, unlike long, skinny pelagics.

I’m hoping we have more light wind days and my partners can free up from their responsibilities to help me find those opelu!