The Season has started!

July 26, 2023 By Scott 7 Comments

It’s the last week of July and the El Nino has been warming the air and water for a few weeks. We expected that to kick off the oama, halalu and papio seasons but it seems like they all just recently started picking up. Halalu are in a few of the regular spots, in large piles and have been attracting papio and even ulua. Oama are beginning to fill in at the regular spots, and still look like they just swam in from the deep.

Since this is a transitional year from La Nina to El Nino, with the scientists predicting it will just be a moderate El Nino, maybe the fishing season will be similar to how it used to be: oama and halalu will peak in August and thin out by October; papio will be hitting the early piles now and not be as showy by September, but still catchable if you put out a live bait.

Now is the time to whip near the bait piles in the early morning and late evenings as the predators try to ambush the bait in the low light. To help with that, we have restocked our Japanese Domestic Model (JDM) lure supply with what was so successful in 2018 and 2019.

Go to the Store > Newly Added to see the recently added products, or select the product category you’re interested in.

Still a little early in the “season”. Here’s an early bait prediction.

June 25, 2020 By Scott 21 Comments

July is right around the corner but there aren’t a lot of bait fish in. The early oama that came in last month have grown to mid-size but the second wave of oama hasn’t arrived.

There were some halalu piles, like the one Matt found to have his personal best catch, but a lot disappeared and there’s speculation that they were illegally netted.

The iao (Hawaiian sardine) weren’t in at my whipping spots and the predators that follow them into the shallows were missing. I checked two spots with some new lures and bolo’d both times!

The guys (and gals) have been starting at dawn with flies on long leaders behind floaters and have been experiencing improved omilu action.

We’re hoping a waves of oama and halalu come in soon but it is looking like an off year compared the recent banner years. How do you guys think this season will pan out?

Holoholo: Tips to help you catch more halalu

August 3, 2019 By Scott Leave a Comment

Duane is a very accomplished shore caster, ultralight whipper and fly fisher. If it swims, chances are he’s caught it. He’s also married to the Oama Psychologist, Tina. Duane shares some technique and etiquette tips to put more halalu in your cooler.

Duane: Summer is here and most people get excited for the oama bite, but for me, I’m looking forward to the halalu run. When I get the phone call that the halalu school came in, some of my first questions are: how far out is the school, what color are they biting and how long does my leader have to be and what pound test?

The reason I ask how far out the school is, it will dictate what length of rod do I need. For halalu fishing, I will have 3 rods. A 5-6’, a 7-8’ rod and a 8.5-9.5’ rod. Typically, if the fish are closer to the shoreline, I will use a shorter rod. The shorter rod will provide more accuracy which is especially important when fishing amongst other fishermen standing a few feet from you. However, if the fish are further out, you’ll need to go with a longer rod to be able to cast past the school and drag your lure thru the school in hopes for a bite.

Regarding the leader question, it allows me to know how finicky the bite is. The more finicky, the longer and lighter the leader needs to be. That tells me how many casts will it take to get a strike.

And finally the question regarding the color of the lure that the fish is biting, I carry over 15 different color and shape combination of proven halalu colors and to be able to narrow down one of the variables from the start saves time and money.

The main thing to be successful at halalu fishing, as well as all types of fishing, is being able to adapt to what the situation calls for. One day the fish might be biting a fast retrieve and the following day, they might like a slower presentation. If I am not catching much, I will watch the guys hooking the most fish and emulate what they are doing. I will jig my rod at the same tempo, crank my reel at the same cadence, and see if I can get a peek at their lure. If they have figured out the magic recipe to hook fish consistently, then I should be doing my best to copy what has been successful.

Here are a couple old timer rules for fishing for halalu:

Never cast into the school – this will only scare the fish and make the bite more difficult for everyone
Cast straight – with people fishing shoulder to shoulder, it is very important to cast straight to avoid tangling others. If the school is not in front of you, wait til the school moves or pick up your gear and change spot.
Cast from one direction – if the majority of the people are casting from one side of the break wall, don’t go on the other side that is 90* from the first wall and start casting. You will only tangle everyone.
Don’t try to snag fish – while it’s tempting to bust out the treble hook and try to snag the fish when they aren’t biting, you’re going to just scare the fish more and turn off the bite. You’ll only snag sardines that is sometimes mixed in with the halalu but you’ll never snag halalu…they’re too fast anyways.

2nd Halalu attempt – getting better

August 15, 2017 By Scott 7 Comments

After my disastrous first attempt at halalu fishing with a small bait caster, I tried a slightly larger, better bait caster and had a similar disaster. I guess these reels weren’t meant to throw 4lb test line in windy conditions. I don’t own a small spinning outfit so I thought I had a way out to avoid any further halalu embarrassment.

But the guys wanted to go again so I asked my dad if he had a small reel and he pulled out a Stradic 1000FH. My dad’s a dunker, not a whipper, and has an assortment of Penn SS reels so I was stunned that he’d have a light line, early model Stradic. After cleaning it up, it spun smoothly. The lightest action spinning rod I could find was the 6.5 ft Daiwa graphite rod I used off my surfboard in the 80s. It had been in storage most of that time. The guides were corroded, and the epoxy wrap finish had peeled. I couldn’t even make out the model number or see what it was rated for. But the guide rings looks smooth and it passed the ‘swish’ test so I cleaned it up and mounted the Stradic 1000FH.

Loaded the reel with 4lb test mono off the bait caster and the rig felt pretty balanced. Next, I tied a bunch of 3lb test leaders so I wouldn’t have to make leader at the spot, in the wind. Lastly, I cut some strips thinner than the pre-cut ones, since that seemed to be that the other regulars were using the previous time we went. Looks like I was set to go.

Frank and I got to the halalu spot and were thrilled to see a smaller crowd than the first time. Even though I was using my old spinning rod, it felt strange to cast such light line in a confined space. Frank starting emulating Thad’s shake-the-rod-with-the-right-hand-above-the-grip-and-crank-with-the-left-hand technique and started catching fish! He caught 5 in rapid succession, and a regular there started asking him what he was using as a lure.

He was using a short stubby soft plastic lure that looked like a bait fish made out of the same material as my strip, but I wasn’t getting bit. Resigned to copy that rod on the hip, shaking style, I was surprised to actually catch a halalu. On my next cast a fish broke my hook off and I put on a slightly shorter pre-tied leader. I couldn’t get bit again so I put Frank’s bait fish lure on. It was still slow, and Frank was landing fish after fish so I changed to the longest leader I had, maybe 6ft. With that and Frank’s lure I caught another fish as Erik joined us. It was Erik’s first time halalu fishing, and he started off with a fly, then a small clear bodied grub and tried various jigging techniques. Erik got a halalu with the rod on the hip style but it was a slow go as the tide rose. I changed back to strips and maybe caught one fish. Went back to the bait fish and actually got bit when the lure was just falling to the bottom! Meanwhile, Frank was quietly putting fish in the bucket. The aha and omilu knew Frank was the high liner of the day and attacked his halalu. He had an omilu on for about 20 seconds before it broke his 3lb leader.

Part of my many problems was I’d hook a fish, and then let the guys know I finally had one on, then admire it in the water and see if something would attack it. By then it would shake off. But our second outing was way more enjoyable than our first since we weren’t breaking lines and retying in the wind. Frank and I had to leave Erik. At that point Frank had 26 halalu, Erik had 3, and I had a whopping 5. After we left, some old Japanese halalu ringer showed up and Erik learned from the master, using a strip lure and not the bait fish lure. Erik caught 7 more halalu in a short span to end his first day halalu fishing with 10. I can’t blame my equipment this time. My dad’s old reel on my old whipping rod did the job. Guess I’m just a slow learner.