Hawaii Nearshore Fishing

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The Season has started!

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It’s the last week of July and the El Nino has been warming the air and water for a few weeks. We expected that to kick off the oama, halalu and papio seasons but it seems like they all just recently started picking up. Halalu are in a few of the regular spots, in large piles and have been attracting papio and even ulua. Oama are beginning to fill in at the regular spots, and still look like they just swam in from the deep.

Since this is a transitional year from La Nina to El Nino, with the scientists predicting it will just be a moderate El Nino, maybe the fishing season will be similar to how it used to be: oama and halalu will peak in August and thin out by October; papio will be hitting the early piles now and not be as showy by September, but still catchable if you put out a live bait.

Now is the time to whip near the bait piles in the early morning and late evenings as the predators try to ambush the bait in the low light. To help with that, we have restocked our Japanese Domestic Model (JDM) lure supply with what was so successful in 2018 and 2019.

Go to the Store > Newly Added to see the recently added products, or select the product category you’re interested in.

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.

Still a little early in the “season”. Here’s an early bait prediction.

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Photo by Matt

July is right around the corner but there aren’t a lot of bait fish in. The early oama that came in last month have grown to mid-size but the second wave of oama hasn’t arrived.

There were some halalu piles, like the one Matt found to have his personal best catch, but a lot disappeared and there’s speculation that they were illegally netted.

The iao (Hawaiian sardine) weren’t in at my whipping spots and the predators that follow them into the shallows were missing. I checked two spots with some new lures and bolo’d both times!

Thad’s omilu on Lawaiaflies

The guys (and gals) have been starting at dawn with flies on long leaders behind floaters and have been experiencing improved omilu action.

We’re hoping a waves of oama and halalu come in soon but it is looking like an off year compared the recent banner years. How do you guys think this season will pan out?

It’s official, the Summer fishing season has started!

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It’s the first week of August and like clock work the oama are filling in around the island and omilu are coming into the shallows to grind ’em. Omilu are even being caught on frozen shrimp now, in places that weren’t biting a week ago.

White papio are schooling up to feed and spawn, and kaku are hanging around the sardine schools, falling for lures that resemble the baitfish.

Halalu have been in for a few weeks and are drawing bigger predators.

We suspect this isn’t gonna be a long season, so get out and get yours now!

Is the first wave of the Summer papio season over?

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these picky oama took 2 of us hours to catch!

It’s now mid-July and from what I’ve been hearing from you guys, and what I’ve been seeing on the water, the “first wave” of the season is over.  Friends and I have this theory that the oama came in early, in June, and some spots are now barren because the oama have gotten big and left for the reef.  The oama remaining in other spots are akamai to the normal baits we’ve been using, and have gotten lock jaw.  The big papio that came in a few weeks after the oama did have either been caught or are eating oama out in the deeper water.  So is it time to hang up the fishing gear and wait ’til next year?

Well, if you want to catch oama now you have to find “new, dumb ones” or figure out when they’re the most hungry.  Be creative with the baits, they “old” oama have seen everything by now.

If you have oama to use, you’ll have to take them further out since the papio aren’t coming close to shore anymore.

And if you like to throw lures like I do, be prepared to get bolo’d.  The papio and other preds are hunting further out, as mentioned, and are keyed on the abundance of natural baits still around.

There’s still fish to be caught during this next stage, but it will take akamai fishers to catch them.

If you have any fish stories or reports to share, please comment on my posts or contact me through the Contact page.  I’m always stoked to hear that this blog has gotten you fired up to fish more often.

Are you ready for Oama Season?

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Big Island and Maui had oama for awhile. I haven’t heard about the other islands.  But it sounds like the oama are finally coming into Oahu.  The piles are small and the oama are still the tiny ones that swam in from the deep water, but hopefully these early oama will be followed by waves of more oama like what happened last fall.

Oama BasicsIf you’re not ready for oama season you might want to pick up the latest Lawai’a magazine available on new stands now.  There’s a pretty comprehensive article that covers the gear you need, where to find oama, how to catch them, how to keep ’em alive and how to use ’em for bait.  Ok, sorry for the self-promotion but the article might help you make the most of the oama catching opportunities in what may be a short season.