Opelu only attracted sharks so we dropped down to jigs and damashi to find the fish

May 2, 2021 By Scott 2 Comments

Been hearing of ono caught within kayak range on the South Shore so Guy and I went out to the deep to hunt for opelu. Couldn’t find any biters and headed inside 100ft dragging a frozen opelu. Something tapped the bait, then took off on a few sustained runs. I was hopeful but when it slowed and felt heavy, my heart sank. I dropped the Avet SX Raptor into low gear and 20 mins later a 6 ft plus sandbar shark was cut free.

Reef fish were showing from 90ft to 75ft (counting backwards since the drift was toward shore) on the sonar so I broke out the 60gm tungsten jig and hooked something that felt really jerky. A small yellow spot papio came up that spit the jig just as I was about to lift it into the yak.

Guy hooked a yellow spot on a 20lb fluoro dropper rig to add to the nabeta he caught earlier and we worked the area for a while but the bite was really slow. I hooked another yellow spot on the jig that stayed on, and this one was about 10.5″ FL. Nothing else wanted to bite the jig, and my half pieces of opelu were getting yanked off my bait rig armed with big hooks so I put a slice of opelu on the assist hooks of the tungsten jig. Hookup! Something pulled drag and began to do the circles that deepwater fish do. Uku! Small, at 2 to 3 lbs but a fun fight and great size to steam whole.

Guy managed to hook a hagi on a jig and then the bite completely went dead, so we retraced our track to head in. Guy saw some bait balls near the bottom in 100ft of water and I dropped my home made damashi rig with 10lb fluoro and special opelu flies that Robert had tied up for me a couple years ago. Instant hookup and a small kawalea (Heller’s Barracuda) came up but the other damashi hook was cut off.

I dropped the 60gm tungsten jig down and it didn’t get a sniff. Rebaited the solo damashi hook with a CHL Minnow, found the school again, dropped down and hooked another kawalea. Next drop the deep water cuda bit me off and that was it for me. Guy’s dropper rig with 20lb test, geared for the big fish that broke off on previous trips, may have been too heavy for the kawalea this day. They only wanted Robert’s lucky flies.

I gave the uku, yellow spot and one kawalea to my church friend who previously liked the moana I had given her but said the small bones were a little tricky to deal with. The bones on these fish are much easier to locate and remove, and all three are great tasting white meat fish. She steamed the uku whole for her family, fried the yellow spot and is contemplating what to do with the kawalea. 🙂

Motorized kayak damashi and jigging action!

September 17, 2020 By Scott 2 Comments

The wind forecast finally dropped to fishable conditions. It promised a 10mph East wind directly onshore on the Eastside, and a 15mph North East wind coming down the mountains on the south side. So I headed East and had the launch and water to myself due to the social gathering restrictions.

The wind felt like 12 mph heading straight into it but I could push through with the help of my Bixpy motor mounted on my rudder. It was 2.5 miles out to the 130ft spot I hoped held opelu but no schools showed up on my oldie but goodie Garmin Echomap 44CV. I paddled around with the motor assisting me, at about 3mph, as I scanned around for bottom marks.

The first scattered mark, slightly off the bottom, produced a lai which I kept for a buddy who makes flies out of the skin. Next up was a surprise nabeta which must have been in a sand patch I didn’t know was there.

Then I went deeper, all the way out to 180ft but didn’t see anything good and my frozen opelu went untouched. The wind brought me back in, and I started exploring the shallower water. A very active mark showed up on the bottom so I used the motor to hold me in place against the current and dropped the 2-hook damashi rigged with CHL Minnows. As soon as I lifted it off the bottom the pole arched and line pulled off the reel! I was trying to remember how heavy the branch line on the damashi was, and was hoping it was at least 10lb test. The fish battled me all the way up, on the light drag, and I was surprised to see an uku that later was weighed 2lb 10oz. The other branch line was broken off so maybe two uku hit the rig. I had been searching for uku in this area in the past and never expected to catch them on a damashi!

When I checked my opelu it was gone and the 2oz tungsten bullet weight I was testing had teeth marks on it! Man, that was a crazy frenzy.

With the bite this hot and my damashi rig only having one hook now, I switched to my jigging setup rigged with a 2 oz, 2.75 inch prototype tungsten jig I’ve been hoping to test. I couldn’t find that mark despite having set a “Man Over Board” on the GPS so I searched around the area.

Found another good mark in 90ft, dropped the jig on it and “kapow!”. A good fighting fish jerked the tip, pulled a bit of line and gave a good account of itself. The compact jig had fallen like shot and must’ve hit the omilu on the head, haha.

I had another jig shape to test so I switched and went hunting for a good mark again.

Dropped the second tungsten jig on the mark and “whammo”, hooked up! This fish wasn’t taking line but still felt fun. A nice moana came up. Both the omilu and moana were released. I was stoked to see how well the tungsten jigs worked.

I moved off the spot and only saw scattered marks on the fish finder so I went back to the damashi, with 3 hooks this time. By now it was midday at the top of the big King Tide and the current went slack. Fish didn’t bite for a while but then it picked up with a smaller uku and omilu. I released those and the misc reef fish that were keeping me busy.

When small, brown hagi started coming up it was time to head for home. I ran the motor at a 3/4 speed and the battery died about a half mile from my landing. Running between 1/4 and 3/4 speed for 6 hrs drained the battery. Now I know and will keep more juice in the tank just in case.

Without the assistance of the Bixpy I couldn’t safely do the 7 mile round trip, and wouldn’t have been able to stay over marks while I dropped on them. Thank you Bixpy!

Stay tuned for more testing of the compact tungsten jigs. Even though they are only 2 oz (60 gm) they fall like a 3 oz (90 gm) jig because of their compact shape.

Caught the target kayak species, but…

May 1, 2019 By Scott 2 Comments

The offshore kayak guys who consistently catch pelagics (ono, small ahi, mahi mahi, kawakawa, etc) do so by catching live opelu and then trolling ’em. Frank and I have specifically gone out to try to bring up opelu on our damashi rigs, and failed. The few times the opelu school was under us, they kept moving and we didn’t drop our damashi rig in time.

We always start our day by trying to catch bait, and eventually give up and put on frozen bait. Our latest trip to the Windward side started that way, and Frank brought up some taape on the damashi for the frying pan. I was just getting my CHL Purple Obake colored Minnow bitten off, so I put on a light green, translucent Minnow. A small brown hage took that Minnow so I put on a jade colored CHL Blue Dust Minnow with blue flakes.. Frank then hooked something strong that broke his damashi branch line, but the bite in that area stopped shortly after.

Remembering that Capt Erik and I stumbled upon deep water gold (nabeta) on his tin boat months ago, I paddled out to that mark on my GPS but didn’t see anything on the fish finder. Here’s that epic nabeta trip post from last fall.

I dropped my 2 hook damashi rig with 4oz weight down, and because the rain squalls offshore were generating gusts, I started drifting before my weight hit the bottom. Immediately it felt like I snagged a small bag and could feel the slightest twitches on the line. I cranked the rig up and brought up a deep water lizardfish. Next drop yielded another instant lizardfish. By now I had drifted about 50 yds off my mark, and into shallower water.

Dropped one more time before paddling back upwind and felt more twitches but less resistance. Yeehah!! Deep water gold was mined! I called Frank on the VHF and he paddled out but the rain and wind really made things cold and choppy. I tried paddling back to my original mark but it took so long I dropped down in slightly shallower water. Frank had headed to the less windy inshore grounds and I told him I’d give it a couple more tries before meeting him. Lizardfish, trumpetfish, lizardfish, lizardfish… Every drop, even though my line was sharply angled by the time it got to the bottom, yielded some bottom dweller but not the delicious nabeta.

A larger rain squall came through, and I made my final drop. This time I lowered the rig after feeling a fish hook up, then felt it get extra heavy. A lizardfish was on the top hook but an opelu was on the bottom hook! I could not believe my eyes. After specifically trying for opelu in much better conditions, I catch one in torrential rain while bottom fishing for nabeta. I wanted to troll that opelu around but my trolling rig was wrapped around my rudder because I neglected it as I was pushed around in the wind. I couldn’t free it while seated and decided not to get in the water with the wind pushing me at 15 mph plus. I paddled in so Frank could free my rudder, and the opelu stayed alive with splashes of water wetting its gills but died after 10 mins. Just as well, more rain was about to drench us.

Despite the rain and wind, I’d consider this a successful exploratory trip. There were huge barren spots in the deep, but the “nabeta spot” had so much life for some reason. Just no predators who wanted to eat my frozen halaluu. Definitely worth exploring again under calmer conditions.

The nabeta and opelu were both on the smaller size, about 6 or 7 inches. Smaller, thinner nabeta fry up easier, and because the sun never really came out, the nabeta was so fresh it didn’t taste like fish at all! My wife and I don’t like “fishy’ fish, so fried nabeta is our favorite fish to eat. The junior opelu will hopefully prove to be lucky when I troll it next time. And I’ll start with the CHL Blue Dust to see if its success was due to the overcast conditions, or if it’s an even better color than the Purple Obake.

2nd kayak damashi attempt

January 1, 2018 By Scott 12 Comments

It rained really hard last week and I waited a day before attempting to kayak fish while the storm system was blocking the trade winds Expecting brown water, I was stunned to see so much debris on the beach. The brown tint extended a half mile out of the protected bay.

My fishing buddies couldn’t make it but since it was forecast to be the lightest wind day that week, I paddled out for more damashi training. Taking the advice of friends, I brought 4 to 8 oz lead weights with pre-tied line, short 2-hook damashi rigs and Gulp grups. The best thing about the gear was that it was stuff I had around the house. The lead weights were from my grandfather’s pre-1970 shore casting days.

On the previous outings I had marked clouds of bait with my new Garmin Echomap 44CV in the 100 to 125 ft depth range but on this day a bait cloud passed under me at 55 ft. I dropped a damashi rig with 2 small artificial fish skin hooks weighted by a 4 oz torpedo sinker. The weight was heavy enough to sink straight down and after the second pull I felt a strong tug on the line. The fish pulled like I imagined a strong opelu would pull, and assuming it was just a bait fish I was lifted and cranked fairly quickly. There was a good bend in the rod and about 20 ft from the surface the hook pulled! The fish had straightened the small damashi hook. I was playing the 7lb test branch line, not realizing the hooks were so soft. Both sets of fish skins were pulled off the hooks, just leaving a bead and bare hook.

I put on the heavier rig with the small squid skirts but the bait school had moved on. Continuing on to 125 ft, I dropped down on small pockets of bait but nothing bit. Giving up on the deep bait school, I put a Gulp grub on one of the two squid skirted hooks and paddled into the 70ft range. When I checked the rig, there was a deep water lizardfish head, chomped up, hooked on the Gulp grub hook. Shucks, missed whatever took that lizardfish. Got another hit that ripped up that Gulp grub but didn’t stick. I also diagonally whipped a 60 oz swimming jig unsuccessfully.

By this time I had been out for 2 hrs and hadn’t landed a single fish. I was a mile from shore and the trade winds began to blow above 10 mph. There was heavy rain in the valley. Began to paddle towards the safety of the shallows and the wind really started gusting. I was paddling directly into the 15 to 20 mph wind and the heavy rain had reached me. It took 30 mins of hard paddling to cover the half mile distance to a more protected spot in the bay. In 25 ft of water a small trumpetfish got hooked on the Gulp grub and I hastily unhooked it and resumed my paddle in. The conditions were so treacherous at times that a boat came by to check on me. That was comforting to know that some caring boaters watch out for the smaller craft.

The rain let up for about 10 mins and then another squall with strong winds came through and tried blowing me back out to sea. I pulled my line in and made the paddle of shame back to shore.

Lessons Learned

Unstable weather can generate rain squalls, which can generate very strong winds.
When wind starts blowing out to sea, don’t stop paddling until you’ve reached safe water.
The damashi rig is much more effective when it can be fished straight up and down.
Fish the damashi with a light drag since the hooks are soft and two fish could be pulling against each other.
Adding scent or bait makes the damashi flies more attractive.

Well, I was stoked to hook something in the bait school even though I didn’t see what it was. I’ll try tipping the damashi hooks with ika or shrimp next time, and may even drop down a frozen oama. And I’ll keep a more watchful eye on the weather conditions.

Happy New Year!!!

Thanks for reading the blog even though we’re beginning to stretch the boundaries of Nearshore Fishing.

Hard fighting or great eating, take your pick

November 29, 2017 By Scott 14 Comments

In early November, Capt Erik invited Frank and me to fish on his 16 foot Livingston. The winds were very light and surf was small, so we felt extra blessed and excited to fish areas that would normally be too turbulent. The plan was to start deep (300 ft plus), while the conditions allowed, and work our way in. Erik and I jigged while Frank used the damashi rig to give the bottom critters more menu choices.

Capt Erik put us on spots that produced for him in the past, and while Frank began to bring up small moana, our jigs went untouched except for a phantom swirl that resulted in my Shimano flat side 140 gm lure gone and the leader slightly curled as if the knot got bitten off. Nothing bit for a while after, which made me wonder if I just tied a bad knot and the jig fell off on the way up?

Doubt began to creep in. Maybe the conditions were too calm and the predators weren’t feeding down there? Frank brought up a small nabeta on the damashi as we drifted in shallower, that piqued Erik’s interest. When a large nabeta came over the side, Erik grabbed his light spinner damashi setup and left me as the sole jigger.

Frank landed a jumbo moana, and then Erik hooked something with his damashi that peeled line off his small spinning reel. I pointed my cap cam on the action and we were stunned to see what Erik coaxed up to the surface.

We were in about 140 ft when the damashi bite slowed. Capt Erik announced we’d be moving once our lines were up, and then my jig rod slammed down with authority. I had on the very dependable 2 oz green mackerel Live Deception, and it didn’t let me down. The fish powered towards the bottom as I tried to put the brakes on. I was using my heavier jig setup because I wanted the stiffer tip to spring back as I speed jigged, and was glad I had the Tranx 500 with 60 lb fluoro and 65 lb braid to back me up. You can see how this up and down battle went. Capt Erik filmed the cool underwater sequence and Frank filmed above water with my cap cam. The fish was released tired but unharmed.

We stayed on the spot after the fish was landed and I checked my tackle. The kahala had slightly bent one of the treble’s tines out and I bent it back with my pliers. I dropped the Live Deception down again, and maybe 10 cranks off the bottom something hit it. It felt solid but wasn’t running hard. I wanted Frank to battle something with the big level wind bait caster setup, and I could use a break after the kahala, so I asked him to take over. During that transition, the fish ran parallel to the bottom and if felt like it went in a cave. Frank fought it for 50 minutes. This battle really deserves a post of its own so please look for that sea monster story soon.

The yellow spot papio swimming in air, still trying to throw the jig

After that long battle we took a break for lunch and then Capt Erik drove us inside of the 80 ft mark. Frank reminded me that I hadn’t caught anything to be taken home so I switched to the pink Jigging World jig Erik fishes in the shallows. Sure enough I got a nice hit and a 13.5 inch yellow spot came up. I bled it and iced it down so I could compare it to the delicious yellow spot we caught at the Banks that I turned into poke. Here’s how we did on that Banks trip.

Capt Erik took us way inside to the papas’ edge to show Frank how he uses small poppers and right on command he hooked a scrappy 14.5 inch white papio on light line.

What a perfect day! Everyone got a chance to scrap with some fish and bring home something delicious. The nabeta, weke ula and yellow spot papio are some of the best tasting fish we hope to catch. Big Mahalos to Capt Erik for his relaxing hospitality and for putting us on so many different types of fish.

Stay tuned for the Sea Monster post. We were scratching our heads, wondering what could be so large and heavy and not want to be moved off the bottom. It was definitely a tackle tester.