SUP with oama = 3; Yak with lures = 0

May 26, 2017 By Scott 3 Comments

Kelly, Frank and I hit the deeper water grounds that have been productive recently. Kelly would be trolling frozen oama, Frank would whip lures first, and then troll oama. I was loaded for bear, with 40lb fluoro leader and abrasion resistant fluoro main line so I could bring in a big fish before Sharkey took his cut. I would stick to the lures that had been working the last two times I fished here solo. The wild card was the “King Tide” that would flood the shoreline later in the day.

We started while the tide was below zero. The wind was calm at the launch and we easily paddled to the area that was working last week. Something wasn’t right. The water was a copper-yellow tinge, not the way it would look if it were caused by runoff. Visibility was reduced and we suspected that the turbulence from the big tide stirred up sediment. I marked much less fish on the fish finder, and nothing hit Kelly’s oama he SUP’d around. I even tried fishing the suspended marks that produced big strikes the last time but I couldn’t even get a bump.

We spread out and a couple hrs of no bites went by. Then Kelly found a productive reef and landed a 2lb omilu followed by a kaku that cut the leader, and a roi that took his meal down a hole. He ended his outing with a larger omilu that shook off before it could be landed. Kelly passed some frozen oama on to Frank before having to leave, and Frank began trolling the reef closer to shore while I explored a deeper water papa further out.

The wind was over 12mph with gusts to 15 mph and the papa’s protected side was still bumpy. The drift was fast but I was able to mark larger fish near the bottom. The big boys were there but didn’t take any sub-surface, sinking lures or jigs. Big contrast to the earlier trip when they came up in packs to hit lures. I let the wind blow me back to where Frank was SUP trolling.

Frank had some roi action, then pulled in an oama head that was left by a papio or kaku. After putting out a new bait he instantly hanapa’ad a 12″ FL omilu. Repeating his path again he landed a 12.5″ FL white that was thicker and stronger. After I had covered so much ground for nary a bite I was very surprised that an omilu and a white would be caught in the same area. I put on a Waxwing Boy and whipped the flats and papa edge nearby. Still no love for me. Frank’s last oama bait was pulled down into the rocks so we whipped lures on the way back to the launch site.

I put the trusty sub-surface lure back on and sure enough a roi jumped on. Luckily it didn’t rock me and I dispatched it with a knife. I’ve been catching roi with full bellies lately. Are they pregnant or just stuffed with reef fish? This particular colored lure has caught more roi than any other lure for me. Good for roi roundups but bad when the roi make it into the holes.

We checked the usual spots on the way back in but they were all barren. So was it the King Tide and off color water that scattered the fish and made them unresponsive to lures? The bait schools I had seen earlier were gone. Perhaps the bait didn’t feel safe in water they couldn’t see their predators coming, and without bait, there was no reason for the predators to hang around?

It was awesome to fish with Kelly and Frank. We tried to work together to find fish. Kelly was the “control” with trolled oama, proving that some areas were indeed barren, and some areas held fish that wanted a room service delivered oama. Frank hooked a roi on the same sub-surface lure I did, but no papio. That told me that the heavier leader and thicker main line I was using wasn’t the reason I got blanked. And, it’s always good to fish with great guys who happen to be skilled watermen.

Predators gone amuck!

May 22, 2017 By Scott 10 Comments

The whites I stumbled upon the other day kept calling my name. I went a little earlier this time, and the tide was still falling in the morning. It was a little windier, maybe 8 to 10 mph trade winds, but lighter than normal. Headed straight for Erik’s spot where I struck out the other day. My go-to sub-surface lure got bumped repeatedly on the papa edge but nothing stuck. That was odd cuz it normally produces. I put on a sub-surface lure that I modified to run two inline single hooks instead of 3 small trebles. I wanted to see if having 1 less hook would affect the hookup ratio.

Evidently not. On the first cast a fish chased it down, jumping out of the water twice to eat it. I thought I was fighting an awa awa but brought a white papio to color. I guess that fish preferred the swimming action of this slightly longer lure that was missing its belly hook. Disappointed it wasn’t an awa awa, I shook it off. My tag kit got soaked while tagging fish the other day and I decided to skip tagging today.

Since the water was higher on the papa I drifted on it and cast to productive looking areas. A smaller white hit about 10 ft from the papa edge but shook off before I could shake him off myself. Hmm, didn’t know white papio feed on top of the papas like omilu do. Trying another drift over the papa I hooked something that took my lure into a long rocky tunnel. When the line finally broke, I was missing the lure and 3 ft leader. I hope that roi chokes on my lure and dies, though I bet it was able to shed the single hook quickly.

Not wanted to lose any more sub-surface lures, I put on a heavy lipped swimmer. It cast well but didn’t get bumped at all. I had thrown it before and didn’t get a bite then either. Maybe that’s why it was half off on eBay.

Continuing with my lure tests, I paddled away from the papa and marked what looked like medium-sized fish suspended a little above squiggly lines that I assumed were bait fish. I put on a smaller-bodied heavy lipped swimmer that was supposedly the hottest thing in Asia. Cast out, let it settle to the bottom and retrieved steadily. It got bumped and I hooked fish but the hook kept pulling. The fish felt like smaller white papio or maybe taape or some other reef fish? I threw it closer to the pointed edge of the papa and an awa awa grey-hounded out of the water. Finally, the target fish! The line went slack for about a second, and then took off again. I fought the stubborn fish to the yak, and when I brought it to color it was a 13.5 inch (FL) white! The awa awa had dropped the lure and the white picked it up thinking it was his lucky day. Wrong, I bagged him for getting my hopes up.

So far that heavy lipped lure got bumped or hit on just about every cast. I paddled back out to the concentration of fish settled near the bottom and dragged the lure over them. I could feel the bumps again and imagined the fish were annoyed that this lure was interrupting their nap. Then I got a solid hookup and the fish felt like a 3lb white papio, just 3 times stronger. It fought up and down, and didn’t take a lot of line but I couldn’t bring it to the surface. Fish started showing up on the fish finder all over the water column so I imagined the white papio school was trying to find out why their big bruddah was swimming so erratically. I tried to get him to the yak as soon as I could before another fish ran into the line with its scutes and maybe 5 mins in the line cut. I was disappointed that I didn’t see what I had hooked but kind of expected this ending.

The 17 lb mono main line was frayed; not the clean kind of cut like papio scutes normally cut line. I sent the picture to Erik and he said I got sharked. The next day he went out and sharks were chasing down his fish and spinning in the air! And to think, I had my legs in the water, straddling the Scupper Pro to stabilize it.

I put on another sinking swimmer and it got bumped but didn’t hook up on the first couple of casts. It was time to go anyway, and I was pleased again with the equipment mods. My cheap, portable fish finder put me on fish resting in the channel. The 4X treble and single inline hook combination seemed to still allow the lures to swim and yet have the holding power to bring fish in. I am gonna have to replace the 17lb mono with the castable fluorocarbon I used to use, to get more abrasion protection. And keep my limbs in the boat, and a tourniquet nearby.

SUP and Kayak whipping action

May 3, 2017 By Scott 8 Comments

Frank had been customizing his surf SUP for fishing and came up with design where he could sit kayak-style with legs supported by foot rests, and paddle as if it were a surf ski. It was much easier to transport than my kayak, and he could climb back on easily if he huli’d (flipped). If I huli on my old Scupper Pro, it’s a struggle to climb back in with all the accessories attached, and the hatch would have let in water.

We went out on a light wind, low surf day to see how Frank’s Fishing SUP fished. I had misjudged the waterline of my kayak when I made an adjustment to the fish finder’s transducer mount so the transducer was high and dry and unusable. I rely heavily on the fish finder when scouting new grounds so it felt severely handicapping but turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Without the drag of the transducer mount, the Scupper Pro felt lively and glided like it had never before.

Frank ventured into the white wash, and I stayed just out of range, trying to gauge the tippy-ness of the kayak. Straddling the kayak as if it were a longboard helped greatly with stability. Frank found a small break in the surf and hooked something on his JDM sub-surface lure. It tugged pretty hard for about 10 seconds and then unbuttoned. That gave us hope. An hr later I had yet to feel a tug. I followed Frank into a protected break in the surf and watched as he fished up in the white wash.

In the serenity of the calm 5 ft water I hooked something! It pulled drag a bit and was hard to bring in. Turned out to be an omilu that was hooked on both treble hooks. I was stoked to catch something decent in the safety of the protected water and eventually worked my way further into the waves as they got smaller with the rising tide. The grounds looked great but we didn’t get another strike for the next 2 hours.

At 6pm, when we were considering paddling in, we made one more attempt. It was the witching hour, after all. We looked for the largest boulders and turbulence and bam! Something ran against my tight drag, making two strong, brief runs, then the hook pulled. UGH! The two treble hooks were bent open! The fish probably was hooked like the first fish was, and was able to pry itself loose by straightening out the hooks. Since I had pinched down the barbs, it easily slid off after that. That had never happened to me before, mainly because I had never hooked a big fish with treble hooks. I’m still amazed that the Owner 2X #3 treble hooks opened so easily but friends have since explained why single hooks are a much more secure connection to the fish. I’ll be replacing the hooks on these very productive lures soon, hopefully keeping their swimming action intact.

Frank’s Fishing SUP performed very well. He was able to paddle comfortably and access rougher water than I could risk. Frank is very skilled at fabricating customized solutions and has created a fishing / surfing SUP transformer. He gets compliments on his gear wherever we fish. We both have some equipment and technique tweaks to make to fish safely in the wash, and we’ll be back, ready for the next SCREAMAH!

Shark. Roi? Broken Reel!!

March 13, 2017 By Scott 8 Comments

Frank and I returned to the beach where the mystery fish swum away with my JDM sub-surface lure. This time Frank was well armed with a new 8.5 ft spinning rod (on sale at Charley’s) and a new Shimano Stradic 4000 XG FK reel Masa, our JDM lure expert, sold at a great price. Thanks Masa! Armed with the same lure we used the previous week, we explored a new spot on the flat. Light colored kaku immediately responded to our lures, and nibbled on them but didn’t get hooked.

Still in mid-thigh deep water, and wading towards the drop off, I couldn’t believe my eyes. A 5 ft plus black tip shark passed by me and was headed straight for Frank. I calmly called out “Shark” and didn’t expect Frank to be too concerned but he froze in his tracks. The shark veered off about 10 feet in front of him and we never saw it again. Frank later explained that despite all his years in the ocean, he had never been standing in the water with a shark zeroing in on him. I guess I would have been unnerved too but I’ve seen black tip sharks in the shallows twice before and both times the sharks weren’t very interested in us. I assumed that sharks and kaku in the same area meant there was bait around for them, and as long as we weren’t the bait, it bode well for us.

The dropoff looked fishy but my Calcutta 200 TE bait caster free spool button got harder and harder to depress, and eventually jammed. An internal lever had gouged a hole in the reel’s aluminum frame and was stuck in gear. After just 20 casts I couldn’t put the reel into free spool and was out of commission. I was bummed but realized this was a great opportunity to watch Frank whip. He was making long casts over the drop off with his new equipment and thought he felt some tugs but his lure ended up getting stuck in a small channel cut, 5 ft down. There was no way his floating lure could have dove deep enough to get stuck there so I suspected a roi hit it on the surface and buried himself in the reef. Because of the value and scarcity of the JDM lure, Frank asked me hold his rod and swam down to free the lure. I didn’t remind him of the shark that seemed so enamored with him. He popped up with lure in hand and there was no fish attached.

He followed the contour of the reef drop off and hooked something that provided water resistance but not a lot of fight. Every so often he could feel a kick. It turned out to be a foul hooked, medium sized roi, suggesting that the fish that got his lure stuck on the bottom was indeed a roi also. We didn’t have a knife to dispatch the reef fish killer so I used my long pliers to squeeze it behind its head. What a beautifully patterned fish with a creepy mouth. Zoom into the photo to see the rows of backward facing teeth used to ensure that swallowed reef fish can’t back their way out.

We didn’t connect with papio or awa awa but we did see so very efficient predators. With all the life out there, we intend to return soon.