I met Tina a few years ago when I was a struggling oama fisher. I was doing so badly, Tina started putting her oama in my bait bucket! Since that embarrassing outing, I had seen her over the years at the spots, usually out fishing the guys. Her *secret* isn’t a bait, instead she studies the behavior of the oama to determine how to get them to eat that particular day. Here’s a brief set of tips, with more to come in the next installment of the Oama Psychologist.

Tina: One of the things I enjoy most on the weekends or after work is to go oama fishing.  I know it is a bit early for the oama to start running, but I was getting excited.  So a few weeks ago, I went to check to see if the oama had came in.  Walked around and around and around and found nothing at multiple spots.

Went to check it out again this past week.  The first spot I checked out, I searched all around and there was not one oama to be seen.  Went to the second spot and found a small school of maybe 50 oama swimming around with the tiniest oama- maybe about 4-5 inches long and really skinny.  The fish were not really eating a lot and were a little skittish.  There were some other people fishing with me that caught one or two fish, and then gave up and went home a little bit after I got there.  Some other people came to fish after that, and I noticed they were using large pieces of bait, and were not catching anything.  I started making my baits really tiny since the fish were super tiny, and started to catch a few. Caught just enough to eat for pupus, and then went home. 

So here’s some general oama tips for all you oama enthusiasts, that I have gathered over the years:

1. If you want to find oama, don’t always rely on other people to find the schools.  Check around at different places, because the early bird gets the worm, and you might find some secret spots that no one knows about!
2. Catching oama is not the same for every place.  You have to be able to adjust to changing situations.  Some oama like small bait, some like large bait.  Sometimes you have to drop your bait to the bottom, and sometimes halfway or leave it at the top. I even found one place that if the bait gets any type of dirt, sand or rocks on the bait, the oama won’t go for the bait. 
3. Show aloha to others – I have made many friends out there oama fishing and had lot of good laughs and conversation.  It’s amazing how well you can get to know someone fishing together for an hour or two.  If you show aloha to those around you, they often will teach you the best techniques, or give you advice for gear, line and hooks that work best.