I whip/drag cut bait because I love to feel the initial take and don’t like waiting around for a fish to pick up my chunk of bait.  But most noteworthy flats catches are accomplished by guys wading out and dunking bait in the sand pockets with larger gear than my whipping setup.  Landing a big oio with fly gear is also noteworthy, but beyond my skill set.

The last two days I fished with friends who dunked while I dragged bait.  Here’s how we did.

Yesterday I ran into Kris and his wife Ai at the spot he caught his big oios last week.  He kindly took me out on a guided trip and we fished the rising morning tide.  They cast into prime spots and held their poles while I dragged bait with my regular setup (7.5 ft inshore casting rod, Calcutta 200 TE baitcaster  with 12 lb flouro mainline, no leader).

My smaller hook, lighter line and moving bait got more strikes, even snagging a small omilu in the top of his head!

 

 

 

 

 

The bite really turned on when the water rose and turned murky. The small omilus and occasional weke were hitting every bait. I tried a live crab to get something larger to take, but the crab clung so tight to the bottom I was bringing up rocks!

 

 

 

 

Kris and Ai were bringing in their share of small omilus and weke on their dunking gear when Kris hooked the fish of the day.

The 15 inch omilu was Kris’ largest papio to date, and he was stoked, especially after catching his personal best oios at this spot the week before.   Ai loves to eat papio but after seeing how beautiful they are alive, she couldn’t bear to kill it.  Kris was stunned but set it free.

 

 

 

On this day, my lighter, more active whipping method caught more fish but Kris’ dunking method caught the largest fish.  Ai was a hybrid, initially dunking and then switching to whipping when the bite really turned on.  All caught fish were released.

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Today I took Chester to Kris’ spot. Chester hadn’t gone oio fishing for a long time and really wanted to make taegu and lomi lomi oio.  He loaded up with a 40 lb leader and 30 lb main line to increase his chances of bringing in the oio that bit his dunked bait.  He planned to just take one fish, and brought out a cooler on a bodyboard to ensure the flesh would be well preserved. Chester started where the flats drop off into a  sand channel and I dragged bait over the crushed rock and ogo grounds inside of his spot.  I eventually got a small nibble as my cast bait settled to the bottom.  It was a lighter tap than a small omilu would make, and felt like a bait stealer.  The fish initially ran a few feet and took a bit of drag.  Then it realized it was hooked and steadily swum off, in a calm manner like it had someplace to go, but wasn’t in a hurry.  I was told by Kris to let the oio run, and my drag was set under breaking strength for 12lb test so I just enjoyed the pull.  When I looked down the 100 yds of fluorocarbon top shot was gone and I was into the 100 yds of 30 lb power pro.  With 160 yds out I had, at most, 40 yds left and tightened the drag.  The fish continued to swim steadily, unconcerned that it was tethered to me, and 10 yds later the hook pulled and got stuck in a rock.  Arrgggghhhh!  I made the walk of shame over to free my hook.  The hook was fine but my line was a little frayed.

I walked back to tell Chester what he missed, and I’m not sure he really believed me.  We went back to fish the spot I lost the oio, and slowly worked our way towards shore as the tide rose.  The whipping bite was a lot slower than yesterday, and over an hr period I just got a couple small omilus and an obake weke.  Chester had his bait stolen a few times and was lapsing into a coma when he felt a weak tug followed by a short spurt.  He was thinking that a small omilu had taken his big bait and then the rod doubled over and his drag screamed out.  Chester kept the drag relatively tight and tried to muscle the fish in as fast as possible.  5 mins of hard runs passed and he had the fish on the surface.  With shaking hands he grabbed the oio and threw it into the cooler.  He estimated it was close to 5 lbs and would provide enough flesh to make both taegu and lomi lomi oio.

He said he’d keep his word and would not take another oio, even if it was larger than this one.  As he caught his breath I scrambled to try to get my second shot at an oio.  Sadly, the bite slowed even more so we made our way back to shore.  2/3 of the way in, Chester was soaking his bait, watching me play with the small omilus.  Chester’s rod doubled over without warning and the drag rang out.  Because he was able to muscle it in within a couple mins we assumed this fish was smaller than the first.  At color we couldn’t believe our eyes; it was even larger than the first fish.  After a few pictures of his second largest oio ever, estimated at more than 6 lbs, he said he’d be letting it go.  I held it behind its head to revive it in the water. It felt like holding on to a thick carp.  I know the pictures look like they’re of the same fish, but if you look closely the second fish is much thicker.

 

Mission accomplished so we headed in.  On the way I hooked a 14 inch omilu as a consolation prize.  Legal, but skinny, I let it go.

Today was so much different from yesterday.  The bite was a lot slower and there were oio bites whereas yesterday we were in the middle of an omilu frenzy. Fewer omilus allow the big oio a chance to wolf down a bait.  I wonder what caused this to happen?

In these conditions Chester’s dunking method trounced my whipping method.  He only caught 3 fish but 2 were impressive oios.  While I was lucky enough to hook one oio on my moving bait, I was under gunned with 12lb line.  I’ll be moving up to 15 lb test in the hopes of proving I can subdue a monsta oio on inshore whipping gear.

Stay tuned for the next whipping vs. dunking challenge.