Guys have been reporting sightings and catches of 1lb – 3lb papio on the South Shore so I dusted off the longboard and hit a favorite spot.  I brought 4 live oama I had been raising and a couple of frozen ones.   Being off the board for 5 months took its toll; my triceps and upper back seized before reaching the surf.  After a lot of rest breaks, I headed into the 15 mph trade winds so I would be blown back to the launch site when pau.

Nothing bothered the frozen oama I had towed until I got to a wide channel next to a surf break.  I paused to catch my breath and saw my floater go under.  An oama head came back on the front hook.  That gave me some hope.  I put on a live oama and started paddling again.  Something pulled the floater down but this time, when I checked the bait, a foot long reddish-brown ika was hanging on to it! I pulled the oama away and it had a one inch piece missing.  The ika stayed around my board even after I prodded it with my rod tip. I finally fed it the oama in hopes it would be full.

I paddled over to the eastern reef edge to get away from the pesky ika and the floater dipped again with no line taken.  This time the middle of the frozen oama was eaten and the hooks remained in the head and tail.  3 baits down and no drag pulled yet.  I decided to use the live oama before they died in the bait bucket, and loosened the drag so the weak strikers could take the oama deeper.

Suddenly the clicker screamed and I had trouble getting the rod out of the holder.  But when I tightened the drag and pumped the fish back, it felt like something streamlined shaking its head.  I expected to see a small trumpetfish but instead landed a 13.75 inch fork length omilu.  I guess it spent all its energy on the initial run.  It was bagged for my parents since I hadn’t brought fish home for quite a few weeks.

I decided to drift back in but the current and winds tried to blow me out to sea.  I wasn’t making much headway and considered belly boarding a wave in, which is fairly risky with the milk crate mounted on the front of the board, but eventually made it around the waves.  When I pulled the bait in, I saw a reddish brown ika pull off the oama.  Either there was a pack of them or that one ika was a pig. I set the remaining live oama free away from any hungry ika.

The bite wasn’t red hot but there was at least one decent papio prowling around. Maybe the papio season is slowly starting.