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“Live oama” vs “dead oama” vs “no oama” comparison

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The winds dropped this past Sunday and Monday (Labor Day) due to Hurricane Miriam blocking the trades.  Perfect conditions to see how “live oama” vs “dead oama” vs “no oama” compare.

Kelly’s SUP caught omilu

I wasn’t able to coordinate live oama pickup with Kelly so he SUP fished the south shore reefs on Sunday with frozen oama. He caught four omilu and a kaku trolling 7 frozen oama in 2.5 hrs.  He released a small omilu and the kaku.

Also on Sunday, Erik fished the east side throwing plugs from the small boat and didn’t get a single sniff.

 

Tori and Keely with the results of their short, successful trip

On Monday, Labor Day, Darren trolled live oama in the same general area Erik plugged. His crew was his daughter Keely and her friend Tori, and they trolled live oama for two hours in the morning.  They registered double and triple strikes, ending up with 8 omilu landed on 12 live oama, keeping 3.

At the same time, in the same area, Erik’s dad Ed took the tin boat out for some dead oama trolling with his two cousins. In 5 hrs of fishing they caught 10 omilu.

So live oama trolled by boat yielded 4 fish an hr, dead oama trolled by boat yielded 2 fish an hr, dead oama trolled by SUP yielded 1.6 fish an hr (didn’t count the kaku), and plugs didn’t work in the area where the papio were keyed in on oama.  Very small test sample and varying number of anglers and lines out but it supports the idea that live oama near the reef will get bit during the oama season, and dead oama will get bit, but just not as quickly as live oama.  Throwing lures on the papio looking for oama is a tough sell right now.

Frank and I ended up not kayak fishing because the storm generated waves sounded a little too risky.

 

 

Surfboard trolling scouting report

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Guys have been reporting sightings and catches of 1lb – 3lb papio on the South Shore so I dusted off the longboard and hit a favorite spot.  I brought 4 live oama I had been raising and a couple of frozen ones.   Being off the board for 5 months took its toll; my triceps and upper back seized before reaching the surf.  After a lot of rest breaks, I headed into the 15 mph trade winds so I would be blown back to the launch site when pau.

Nothing bothered the frozen oama I had towed until I got to a wide channel next to a surf break.  I paused to catch my breath and saw my floater go under.  An oama head came back on the front hook.  That gave me some hope.  I put on a live oama and started paddling again.  Something pulled the floater down but this time, when I checked the bait, a foot long reddish-brown ika was hanging on to it! I pulled the oama away and it had a one inch piece missing.  The ika stayed around my board even after I prodded it with my rod tip. I finally fed it the oama in hopes it would be full.

I paddled over to the eastern reef edge to get away from the pesky ika and the floater dipped again with no line taken.  This time the middle of the frozen oama was eaten and the hooks remained in the head and tail.  3 baits down and no drag pulled yet.  I decided to use the live oama before they died in the bait bucket, and loosened the drag so the weak strikers could take the oama deeper.

omilu 5-24-16Suddenly the clicker screamed and I had trouble getting the rod out of the holder.  But when I tightened the drag and pumped the fish back, it felt like something streamlined shaking its head.  I expected to see a small trumpetfish but instead landed a 13.75 inch fork length omilu.  I guess it spent all its energy on the initial run.  It was bagged for my parents since I hadn’t brought fish home for quite a few weeks.

I decided to drift back in but the current and winds tried to blow me out to sea.  I wasn’t making much headway and considered belly boarding a wave in, which is fairly risky with the milk crate mounted on the front of the board, but eventually made it around the waves.  When I pulled the bait in, I saw a reddish brown ika pull off the oama.  Either there was a pack of them or that one ika was a pig. I set the remaining live oama free away from any hungry ika.

The bite wasn’t red hot but there was at least one decent papio prowling around. Maybe the papio season is slowly starting.