The last few outings in the deep have been slow so we decided to mix it up.  tides4fishing.com said the major bite period was during the afternoon on a day forecast to have winds under 10 mph so Frank and I gave the afternoon a try.  Turns out was very slow, with only one shark interested in our bait, and the east winds cranked up over 15 mph as we struggled to get in.  Then we had to rush to rack our yaks before dark. Never again.

3 days later, the winds were supposed to be light again so Frank, Kelly and I fished separately on the morning falling tide. tides4fishing.com said there wouldn’t be a bite in the morning, yet we all caught our target fish.  So much for the solar / lunar activity predictions.

Kelly: I fished the early morning top of falling tide, past the surf break on my SUP and landed 2 omilu. Released a nunu (trumpetfish).  Lost another estimated 2-3lb papio.  Had many small nibbles.  Was action.

Frank: Fished for a few hours in the morning.  2 baits were stolen, got rocked once. Caught one omilu along the reef edge and caught two on the outer reef.  Action picked up on middle of falling tide.

Scott:  Tried to catch opelu over a medium sized bait school. Only managed a baby moana.  Tried hard for uku at the depth I’ve found them before and finally got one to end my 3 trip uku bolo.  Wind blew me off the spot as I was securing the fish and I couldn’t safely return to fish it. Landed 3 out of 4 aha on the back single hook on the way in.  Action was on middle of falling tide.

So on this comparison of two separate days, morning with a moving tide trumped the afternoon “major” bite period.  Having hours of daylight to clean up was a nice bonus.  The omilu seem to be just outside the surf break since there isn’t any bait to lead them inshore.