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Holoholo: Summer big papio action was red hot – will it continue?

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If you haven’t been working the grounds this summer, Matthew tells you what you missed and what you can expect to happen in the next few months.

Matthew: Summer is now pretty much just a memory, and the action is unfortunately starting to slow down. I expect that we might only have a few weeks left of decent fishing before the action reverts back to levels commonly experienced during the winter months. The saving grace for the remainder of the season could be the arrival of the Oama, which still have not fully arrived inshore yet. Many are struggling to find schools of Oama and I personally only know of a few. Those few are not big schools and are not really biting too well. 

For bait fishermen, the numerous Halalu piles over the course of the last month or so have served as Papio magnets, and those fishermen have been quite successful. However, some of those piles have been netted or just left without warning. The few piles that remain are guaranteed to be crowded and not so fun to fish. Without the Halalu piles to draw in the fish, and with the Oama still being nowhere to be found, there won’t be much incentive for Papio to come inshore. Sure, there will always be a few Papio hunting for smaller reef fish and Lizardfish, but unless the Oama come in, there definitely won’t be as much action as we saw in July and the first week of August. 

In general, the fish have been dead set on biting at true dawn and true dusk, with not much action between those times. I’ve been getting the vast majority of my action from 530-630 A.M. and 630-730 P.M. Pretty much all of my trips have produced no action for the “junker” time, but then had one or two bites from a bigger fish towards the “better” time period. Unfortunately I got to experience the sting of a bunch of total whitewash trips over the last two weeks, something that didn’t happen to me during June and July, except for maybe a few times. 

I think that it is still a good idea to squeeze a few more Papio out of this season before the action goes completely dead. After all, it will take a few weeks to make the full transition to “winter fishing” again. But after the action dies down, it may be a good idea to reconsider other types of fishing. Freshwater fishing is a year-round option, as well as Oio fishing, Moi fishing (when in season), and other small game alternatives (reds, reef fish, nenue, kala). Of course, you can still fish for the straggler Papio as well.

This summer was definitely the best season that I’ve ever experienced, with several big Papio caught and many smaller ones. A few of my friends also had great success fishing for big Papio as well. Overall the year so far has provided much more action than the previous one, so perhaps this winter will hold more fish than in the past. Stay safe out there, have fun, and good luck fishing! 

Go gettum! -Matt

Are they in?

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At Hawaii Nearshore Fishing, we feel strongly against “burning spots” that others have worked hard to find and learn. Photos and videos are edited to not reveal landmarks, and we don’t mention specific locations.

Regarding “where da oama stay?”, our recommendation for oama pro and newbie alike is to walk the likely areas on various tides and times of day and see if the early season oama have come in. If you find them before the word gets out, you’ll have them all to yourself for a few days.

Our prediction is that it will be a “recovery year” for bait fish and papio, much better than last year but not as good as the warm El Nino years. There have been more fruits on the trees than last year, and the early papio season has been better than last year’s, supporting the “recovery” theory. Have fun and be safe.