Catching, raising and transporting live oama isn’t without risk.  I was headed to my kayak fishing spot this week, with 9 captive oama in a 5 gallon bucket.  The morning commute was just beginning to slow down when the guy in front of me suddenly changed lanes to avoid rear ending the car in front of him. I hit the brakes pretty hard and the oama bucket slid forward.  I could hear the water sloshing on the rear cargo mat and oamas flopping around.  Arrgh, I didn’t secure the bucket from sliding.

I got off the freeway and retrieved the scattered oama but the oama-scented water had made its way into the rear passenger cabin and down the cargo deck.  There was no water left in the bucket so I had to listen to the oamas’ tail beating until it mercifully stopped.  Even in death the oamas stayed in a tight schooling pattern, mostly pointing in the same direction.

I sprayed down the cargo area at home to dilute the salt water that pooled in the floor boards and sprayed the undercarriage.  Hopefully this prevents future rust and oama steenk issues.  The dead oamas were salted and frozen to be used when I run out of live ones.  It really sucked to have to abort my kayak fishing plans that way.

The area where I raise my oamas in plastic tubs had become really smelly a few months ago.  That area always smells like slightly stagnant fish water but this was getting progressively worse. It smelled like a rat died nearby and I sniffed around but couldn’t find the source. Weeks later, I pulled off some buckets I had stacked and found a rotten oama infested with maggots.  Did I not notice the oama when I had emptied the fresh caught oama into my tubs? Or did the oama jump out of a tub like they very rarely do, and I unwittingly stacked buckets on top of it?  The smell in the bucket was so infused that I couldn’t even remove it with clorox.

Incidents like these and the recurring cost of feeding oama with frozen Mysis shrimp makes me wonder if it’s worth raising those cuddly, whiskered fish.