Our JDM equipment expert and whipping enthusiast, Thad, provides a snapshot of how Oahu shoreline whipping has been going this year.

Thad: The whipping and plugging off-season had been painfully slow for me since the start of the new year.  Plugging was completely ineffective and whipping with the bubble/fly setup was only slightly better.  My fishing partner Dino and I began targeting other species on lures such as oio with some success.  But whipping light to medium plugs and bubble/fly is our true passion so we kept at it with the hopes of getting lucky one weekend.  Around the beginning of June, we began catching a few small papio in the 1 to 3lb range which indicated to us that the papio season may be just around the corner.

At this writing, it’s now mid-August and safe to say we are in the middle of the summer papio/ulua season – at least for the spots we go to.  A little over a month ago, I took my first good dawn patrol strike of the year on a 45g Shimano Rockpop Slim popper from Japan.  It ran for a good 10 seconds before spitting the hook but it was so exciting to know the big fish were coming around.  Around late July, we decided to try a new spot that we’ve always been talking about.  I committed myself to plugs that morning and resisted the urge to switch out to the more consistent bubble/fly setup.  We started our normal dawn patrol session by reaching the spot before any light peeked over the horizon.  I started with the cheap, but surprisingly effective Rockpop Slim.  Just to give a background on why I use this lure – when plugging in the dark in an area with a rocky shoreline, I often can’t see where my lure is until it’s very close and this often causes me to snag and lose my lure in the rough surf zones. Rather than losing expensive lures to rocks I can’t see, I use the Rockpop Slim which is only a fraction of what my other lures cost.  I change the stock hooks out to heavier and stronger Shout curve point trebles which also helps to keep the lure from skipping out of the water on the rod sweep.  

We were casting our lures in the dark for a good 15 minutes when I felt it snag something.  Knowing it couldn’t be the rocks since the lure was still a good way out, I immediately yanked back hard to set the hook.  As the fish started its run, I set it several more times to make sure I had a solid hookset.  The fish took a good amount of line on the first run but didn’t run much after that, which led me to prematurely declare to Dino that it felt like a 6-7lb fish. 

As I fought the fish and leaned back on the rod, I realized it wasn’t coming in as easily as I thought. The fish gave me a couple of scares when it found some rocks to rub the line against but was soon in front of me and at the surface.  A shine of the headlamp confirmed what we were hoping for – ulua!  What a great way to kick off the season.  Dino secured the fish for me just before a wave  got there and we hurried back to an area with a calm tidepool to keep the fish in. 

We quickly took a few pics, got a fork length measurement, applied a Pacific Island Fisheries Group tag into its back, and carefully released it back in the ocean. 

Normally we’re used to one and done trips but this wasn’t one of them.  The morning progressed and there was now enough light to see our lures in the water.  Dino decided to switch to the bubble fly and whip in a whitewater area as I continued plugging the same spot, but this time with a 1.5oz Mark White.  About half way into a retrieve, I see an ulua’s head break the surface, trying to hit the lure.  It kept trying, back and forth, water flying everywhere until it finally managed to grab it about 30 yards from the rocks.  I felt its power immediately as it peeled line from my reel at a much faster rate than the ulua I had caught earlier.  And then it popped off.  Nothing was wrong with the hook so I just have to assume the hook wasn’t able to set properly in the ulua’s bony jaw.  I finished out the exciting morning with two more big explosions on topwater lures.  We’ve been trying the past few weekends and have been getting a few big strikes and bent hooks but nothing like that first morning.  A similar tide and moon phase is coming up so we’re hoping to be able to land another one soon.