Holoholo: Persistence paid off

November 18, 2019 By Scott 8 Comments

Holoholo reporter Matthew describes how he overcame the slowdown at the end of “papio season” and found a way to consistently catch fish in the “off season”.

Matthew: Mid September to Mid October was one of my worst streaks ever. Lost a lot of big fish, couple whitewashes, and many lost lures. At the end of November, it all changed for me, but before that it was slow-complete shutoff bite. Some others have been getting good luck, but I haven’t been as lucky as them and the bite has significantly slowed down for me.

Many fishermen have been getting good and consistent luck on flies, which might mean that the bait is getting bigger and that I need to upsize my two inch grubs for something a little bigger. Most of the master fishermen who use flies fish semi-turbulent deep water. I fished a few times with a group of fly fishermen and one time got totally smoked by them. One guy got two Papio, his girlfriend landed six Papio, and I landed none on the grubs. They were using bubble and fly rigs, and the flies seemed to be either oama or light brown colored.

I have been getting limited luck on the sardine pile somewhere with a Lai and two Kaku, and then a nice sized Yellowspot Papio at a spot near my house. The next five trips passed painfully, with over 15 hours fished with not a single fish landed. In those trips, I lost a big Omilu, around four pounds. It fell off as it was being reeled up the wall. That was really painful.

The next trip, I hooked a screamer on my ultralight and fought it for over 10 minutes at dusk. I could barely see it when it came close to shore, but I immediately recognized it as a big white Papio, upwards of 17 inches. It made another run, and I was able to see it one more time before it made a last huge run, and I felt the line go slack. The four pound line had cut. I knew it was coming but I was still mad. Probably the closest I’ve ever been to having a fit when losing a fish. I don’t usually get mad, but that was after two trips of nothing and last trip of losing a big Omilu. I was beaten. I thought for sure that next trip I would land a fish, but I was dead wrong. I hooked something big, and lost it again. This time I didn’t even get to see it but I think it might’ve been a decent Papio.

Fed up with all of the losing fish and whitewash, my morale was at an all time low and seriously did not know what was going wrong. I decided to make a last ditch run to one of my most consistent spots with my partner. It paid off greatly.

The first cast, I landed what felt like a small Papio, but upon closer examination it was a nunu. I didn’t care. I needed anything after that long whitewash period. It got even better though. The next cast, I hooked something that ran really hard, and resisted in the whitewash for quite a long while. It made another run and that’s when I knew it was a good sized Omilu. I had to find a safe way to land it, and my partner went down in the splash zone and netted it for me. I was screaming. I don’t know how the neighbors did not think something was wrong and called the police, but I’m glad they didn’t. After five trips, my gamble had finally paid off at the spot I knew I should have been fishing all along. The day was not over though.

I proceeded to land another good sized Papio, and another, and another. I was pretty hyped, and so hyped that I didn’t even bother to change my leader where it was frayed. As it so happens, laziness Within thirty minutes, I had landed four good size Omilu and a Lai. My partner had also landed a Lai as well. This was probably the best day I’ve had all season, and so late in the season too.

The following weekend, my sister had a tennis match, so I got to fish during her tennis match at a place right near the courts. The water was really murky and I had a hard time seeing inside the water at some points. The fish didn’t seem to care though. I was using my ultralight and felt something take it with a lot of power and make a very powerful run out toward the open sea. It took a whole two minutes for me to bring it into sight range, and I landed it another minute later after it made a few stubborn runs right at shore. To my surprise, it was the biggest Kaku I had seen in a long time inshore. I didn’t measure it, but it was pushing 24 inches or a little up.

On the ultralight four pound test and a 1/8th size kastmaster, it was amazing that either the very bendy hook did not bend out or that the line did not touch the Kaku’s teeth. I made another few casts, and hooked another Kaku, at around 14 inches, on the ultralight again. I landed it, but it didn’t fight half as hard as the other one. I switched to the bigger kastmaster with the VMC red trebles, and landed another Kaku, this one at 13 inches roughly. Already happy with my success, I let my dad use the ultralight with the kastmaster in hopes of him catching his first Kaku, and he handed me the light rod with the grub and egg lead.

We moved more toward clear water and stayed there for five minutes when I felt a take, and all of a sudden, line started peeling out, and after a very spirited fight, I could see the electric blue outline of a decent size Omilu coming in. The fight lasted too long, because I was really letting it tire itself out so the hook wouldn’t pull. I got it in eventually and it was roughly 12-13 inches fork length. That was the last bite of the day for me, however, I was still very happy because all of this action happened between 1130 and 1245pm. I had a chance to fish later that day, and since I was already happy with the action, I decided to go after something that I never catch anyway-Moi.

I went to a spot I heard had Moi, and after a while, I had a fight with something that pulled hard, but with hardly any drag pulled. I started yelling to my uncle as I realized it was a Moi. I took a picture, and then measured it. It was half an inch short to my dismay. I released it.

The next cast I hooked something that felt really big, and pulled a lot of drag, when all of a sudden the hooked popped. I am 99% sure that it was a very legal moi. The very next cast, I hooked another Moi, and during all my excitement, I forgot to release it in the tidepool the other Moi was in, and I threw it back into the ocean. I realized what I did as soon as I let go of the Moi, and made a rushed cast toward the Moi hole, but the bite had already shut off, and the Moi weren’t biting anymore.

I’m sure I would have caught a legal Moi that day if I hadn’t released the little one. I kept casting, and on the way back, I was lucky enough to catch my second Kagami Papio ever, even though it was small, I was still stoked on landing such a rare fish again.

Anyways, hopefully it sheds some light on the next few weeks of fishing. I haven’t been trying for Oama at all in the past few weeks, but I have been seeing quite a lot while whipping. Lots of Omilu are coming up onto the sand when the waves pound it just to eat the oama. Maybe it’s time to try a little bit of oama style lures? The nehu are still somewhat in as well as the mullet. Good luck guys.

Holoholo: Heeia Fishpond Fundraiser for Mauna Kea – Heeia trial nine

September 18, 2019 By Scott 5 Comments

This would be my ninth time fishing at the Heeia Fishpond, and I was hoping to take advantage of the rising tide for most of the time that I would be fishing there. When I got there, the conditions were pretty good for fishing, but it was also very humid due to the rain the night before, and no wind at all. Within an hour I was already soaked with sweat and it looked like I had actually fallen in the pond. I caught two Kaku on back to back casts on the Kastmaster, but then, after that I decided to go after some of the toau. Since both of my poles were occupied, I set up a handline. I had never handlined with a spool before, so unfortunately on the first toss I tossed both the bait and the $15 dollar spool of line in the water.

Luckily, I had brought my nine foot net, and I just scooped it up. But if the water had been deeper, it wouldn’t have ended so well. I learned how to successfully throw it and landed three Toau in short order. But that was sadly the whole school of Toau. I put on an oama and started whipping with it, and I was just about to take it out of the water when a Kaku came out of nowhere and inhaled it. I was tempted to set the hook right there, but I let it swallow it and then set the hook. I landed it, and it was a decent sized 16 inch Kaku, and really fat for its size. I started to dunk some oama and then I heard the bell ring. Someone had tangled my line and I reeled it in to untangle it. The line was still halfway in while I was untangling it. After I untangled it, I put it back in the pole holder.

Immediately after, the bell started to ring again and the reel started to scream a little. This time it was a real fish. I reeled it in thinking the whole time it was a Papio, but it fought differently than I was used to. Then I saw why. A really fat moi had surfaced with my oama in its mouth. I yelled for the net and my mom came, and she started recording instead of handing me the net. I took matters into my own hands and grabbed the net, and netted the real fat moi. It was only 13 inches, but it must’ve weighed a pound and a half or a little over because it was so fat. Almost obese fat. I tagged it and released it, and watched what could’ve been a real good dinner swim away.

I started whipping shortly after with a bubble and strip rig. I was worried because the leader was only six pound, because I forgot the 20lb I usually use at Heeia because of the Kaku. I just hoped there would be no more Kaku that would bite that day. I was wrong. Far out, I saw a Kaku take the lure and jump out of the water with it in its mouth. It then took off on a short 15 yard run due to my relatively light tackle, with an eight pound mainline, but not ultralight. I worried about the six pound leader the whole time, but somehow it came in close enough for netting. It saw the net and didn’t like it at all. It took off on another run, but that was its last effort. It came in reluctantly into the net after. It was the biggest Kaku of the day, at a decent 17 inches, but good on six pound line. I bagged all of the Kaku that day, as well as the Toau, and donated them to the Heeia Fishpond staff, which were asking for donations. After that, I had a real nice strike on my dunking pole that would not stop. The hook eventually popped and I was super bummed about that. I think it was either a big Papio or Oio.

Overall, that day was sort of a success, but it could’ve been better. Interesting that almost none of the dunkers hooked up at all, but a lot of the whippers on the wall had caught fish. Once again, whipping takes the vast majority, but dunking hooks the quality fish, as it has with pretty much all my fishing trips. I think I prefer whipping. Kastmasters and strips were again KEY in catching the smart Kaku in the fishpond. Scott has some Kastmasters in his shop, the exact same kind I have, for cheaper prices than in the stores. Oama are fully in, go gettum guys.

Waxwing shines again

July 24, 2015 By Scott 6 Comments

I went back to a shallow, rocky area with a sandy pond to look for oama. A few weeks ago the oama weren’t in and I had some follows on my Waxwing Boy in the Chrome pattern, but no hookups. Today there were mid-sized mullet and micro aholehole in the protection of the rocky shoreline, and the kaku and small white papio were nailing the Waxwing just 15 feet from shore.

caught on the Waxwing Boy size

I missed a couple larger kaku and landed a kaku and 3 small whites. There were even some very small oama running back and forth in the pond

The bite shut down an hr before sundown, right before Kris arrived. Just before dark Kris hooked a small moi on the sandy beach. Such a drastic change from the slow action I experienced the last time I visited. The summer action is definitely heating up.

All the fish were released unharmed.

Tough fishing on a new moon day

June 16, 2015 By Scott 6 Comments

one lonely fish for me

The tide was coming up fast today (New Moon) and we had high hopes for the dark moon conditions. The tide had already reached 1 foot by the time Kris and I started fishing and as the water got murkier, and the bait fish grew scarcer, it appeared that we missed the prime period to fish. Kris took turns throwing a Campania grub and a piece of cut bait, and I threw the trusty black/chrome Waxwing. It was very slow going until Kris caught an obake weke on the bait. I was still looking for my first follow when I cast near Kris’ bait and immediately hooked a small white papio. I suspect Kris’ bait had drawn the papio to the area

moi on the Campania

The lull continued until Kris got a hit on the Campania grub and caught a small moi on the next cast. Sadly, that was all we had to show for a few hours of fishing. We talked to a bait fisherman going for oio, and he said that he had fished for most of the day without getting a decent strike. Slow day indeed.

maybe my shirt scared the fish?!

As a consolation prize, Kris took this photo so I could check my casting form. Always good to fish with a professional photog!

All fish were released unharmed.