waxwing Archives - Hawaii Nearshore Fishing

Here’s how good the shoreline whipping was in 2015. 14 inch white papio in 15 inches of water on a Waxwing. (video)

May 30, 2023 By Scott 5 Comments

I had discovered Shimano Waxwings (unique zigzagging swimming lure) in the Spring of 2015 and everything seemed to wanna crush them. I even hooked an oio from my surfboard in the white wash on one!

In July 2015, I was casting literally from the sand while my friend Kris’ Yozuri Crystal Minnow was snagging limu in the very shallow water. The upturned double hook of the Waxwing proved snag proof and the bite really turned on for both of us as the sun went down.

You can read about the action here.

I haven’t whipped from shore in years since I’ve been doing the kayak thing but during Tiger Shark season, maybe my feet should be on the sand.

How many of you guys still throw the Waxwing?

Sharp hooks make a difference!

August 1, 2016 By Scott 1 Comment

After missing fish the last few times out, I sharpened the replacement double hook I run on the Waxwing Baby. One of the two hooks had been sliding off my thumb nail. Now it can pierce my nail, ouch.

Jason, the recent fly fishing convert, joined me on this outing as I continued the JDM lure testing. He waded out onto the shallow flat targeting the papio and kaku I was hoping to hook from shore. Normally he targets oio but wanted to add those species to his fly caught list.

Almost immediately he had a kaku on that battled for a while before cutting his fluoro leader. Ugh! It took his streamer fly (I dunno what it’s called) but that gave us hope.

I started with the black/chrome WW, and had a small white follow the lure onto the sand. A little while later I caught this undersized white with the hook that I had just sharpened. Hmm… could it have been the dull hook that was causing all those misses? Too small to tag, it was released.

A few yards down the beach a kaku stopped the WW and hooked up. My first fish I tagged solo. Hmm, I didn’t miss this fish either…

With a fish tagged, I put away my go-to WW and put on a JDM top water lure I’m still getting used to. I tried to “walk the dog” but there was no interest. Dang, and the lure finish looked so realistic.

Next lure up was the top-secret JDM top-water lure that hasn’t failed yet, either inshore or offshore. On the first retrieve something boiled on it but missed. Then I went through a bit of inactivity until I decided to sweep the rod hard to make it gurgle. Slurp… POP! A slightly smaller kaku jumped on and I tagged it. Man, that lure is really magical.

I walked over to small channel and walked-the-dog. Nothing. I was expecting something to rocket out of the water with the secret lure in its mouth. Thinking the predators couldn’t see well in the waning light I made the lure gurgle and pop. A white papio lunged twice but missed the secret lure’s hooks. Hmm… good test for the previous top-water lure now that I know there’s a hungry fish around. I put on the previous lure, gurgled hard and sure enough a white boiled but missed the lure. Maybe it was just too dark to see? It was raining so was a good time to head back.

I caught up with Jason and he said he had hits and misses but hadn’t stuck anything solid after the first kaku. We started heading back but saw some bait near the shore so we gave it a parting shot. Jason hooked something on his popper fly and this one stayed on. Turned out to be a legal white papio, his first on a fly rod! It had a smushed jaw as if it had run into a wall when it was young. Other than that it looked healthy so I tagged it and Jason set it free.

Not a bad first attempt for Jason to target papio and kaku near the shoreline. And the Waxwing’s catch ratio is back up now that it has sticky sharp hooks. I gotta work on that other JDM lure that has yet to catch a fish.

Gear shake out

July 12, 2016 By Scott 2 Comments

Finally, after a month of gusty days, the wind slowed enough to kayak fish. During that time off the water I had repurposed two reels I hadn’t been using, purchased a light, sensitive jig rod, and assembled some eye catching micro jigs from Japan. With so many things to try out I left the frozen oama at home.

(L to R) Calcutta 200TE, Calcutta 300TE w/Trevala rod

I started by whipping the black/chrome Waxwing Baby with an upgraded Calcutta 200TE. The level wind reel was great for fishing bait but too slow for retrieving Waxwings, so it hadn’t seen use in months. I came across a 200TE main gear upgrade sold on a Japanese Domestic Model (JDM) website that increased the line retrieval from 25 inches to 32 inches per crank. The downside of that retrieval increase is a proportional decrease in torque and drag (level wind reel have drag washers on the gear stack and are affected by gear ratio). Sure enough the Waxwing was zig zagging like it does on the high speed Shimano Curado 300EJ, but on the discontinued Calcutta 200TE that sports a stronger frame and better centrifugal brakes. I did feel one bump and a miss.

I put the whipping rod down and picked up the new lightweight jig setup: A Shimano Trevala S rod so thin and light that it made the compact Calcutta 300TE reel look big. The 300TE, one size up from the 200TE, was gathering dust in a box since I stopped using it as a small trolling reel. I added a longer power handle to replace the two-knobbed paddle handle and could immediately feel the increase in cranking efficiency.

(top to bottom) Live Deception, After Burner Japanese jig, Jigpara Japanese jig

I lobbed the shiny, nehu looking Jigpara jig (bottom lure in the photo) from Japan and lifted and fluttered it back. Not a single bump. Odd. So much activity on the fish finder and so little interest in the lures. In the distance, 2 guys on a boat were whooping it up like they landed an ulua, so that made me fish harder.

Switching back to the WW whipping setup, I cast onto the shallow reef top, hoping I wouldn’t backlash and get my lure stuck. A long fish lunged for the WW and missed the hooks. On the next cast, the lure was sucked down and a fish swam through the shallow crevices in the reef. I was relieved to see omilu blue instead of aha gray. The omilu ran line out against the drag and I had to tighten it further. The drag really was diminished by the higher gear ratio, and didn’t feel as smooth as it normally did. Because I was “practicing” tagging papio, I had planned to take a photo while the fish was still in the water, measure the fish against the markings on my kayak, and let it go. The fish wasn’t aware of my good intentions and literally spit the lure at me. It missed me by about a foot to the right. The freed omilu, which I got a good look at, was at least 2lbs, maybe even 3lb.

Nothing else was on that reef top so I paddled out a bit and cast over another reef edge. A pretty big aha grey hounded across the water like it’s nickname “poor man’s marlin” and also spit the hook. I was relieved my lure was still attached and I didn’t have to release that toothy demon. To give the jigs an equal chance, I switched back to the jig setup, changed to the Live Deception jig and bounced it off the shallow bottom. Still no interest. Back to the Waxwing and I got another hit and drop of either an aha or kaku.

It was about time to see if the white papio were gonna swarm at dusk like they did the last time they hit every micro jig dropped in the water. The fish finder picked up breezing fish gathering close to shore, but they didn’t take the Waxwing or the Live Deception jig. Maybe it was too early? I waited for the sun to drop lower and then “poof” they were gone. No fish on the fish finder. I paddled around not believing that they would suddenly pick up and leave but appeared to be what they did. The whites must’ve gotten bigger and headed somewhere else to attack bait.

Look at what 3 fish did to this lure! (zoom in)

Maybe I had missed other fish and didn’t realize it?

No fish landed but I was glad my confidence in the Waxwing was restored. It had recently been outfished by surface poppers and heavy jigs, but proved once again that in shallow spots holding bait, there is no equal to a well-retrieved Waxwing. And the Calcutta 200TE with higher gear ratio was fast enough to make the Waxwing look enticing.

The Trevala S light jig rod could cast jigs well despite it’s short 6’3″ length due to its soft tip. I guess I’ll have to see how well it holds up to a fish some other time.

Note: Charley’s is running a jig combo special, which includes the Trevala S jig rod and the Shimano Curado 300EJ reel I used on that Big Island jigging trip of a lifetime. Trust me, it’s a deal you don’t want to miss out on.

Winter nearshore doldrums continue

April 4, 2016 By Scott 4 Comments

In the last couple of weeks I have paddled further in the harbors and bays only to experience slower fishing. It finally sunk in that predators aren’t looking for oama right now. To reverse field I took the longboard into a South Shore reel channel today and threw the Waxwing Boy on the new Shimano Terez rod and Tranx bait casting reel. The equipment performed well but nothing bit to test the Tranx’s drag system. Doesn’t the Spring seem slower than it usually is? Or was last Spring especially good because of the El Nino effect?

I have heard of oio coming up in the last month, and a few ulua being caught at night in the deep spots. Other than that, there doesn’t seem to be a lot going on in the shallows.

This 30lb plus ulua was caught by my good friend, Lauren, last week. Despite this being his second ulua ever, he released it after the photo was taken. What a great example for the younger generation.

Waxwing Baby works right out of the box

September 30, 2015 By Scott Leave a Comment

Charles contacted me to let me know that he purchased a black and chrome Waxwing Baby from Charley’s Fishing Supply when he found out they were in, drove straight to his Westside sandy beach spot, and threw the lure in the wind and waves for half an hour. Bam, he felt a solid strike and the fish went air borne trying to throw the lure. After a very exciting fight he subdued the awa awa.

Here’s his son verifying the length of 27″ before Charles’ wife made oishii Japanese fishcake dumplings with it. I’d say Charles got his money’s worth with that Waxwing.

Waxwing Baby lures now at Charley’s Fishing Supply

September 25, 2015 By Scott 2 Comments

Charley’s Fishing Supply in Kakaako now has the smallest size Waxwing, called the “Baby”.

They have the 2.68″, 1/2oz lures in the Black/Chrome, Blue Sardine and Ghost Blue Shad colors. I’ve had success with all three colors in the shallows around bait schools and the Blue Sardine worked well at the surf break. I hadn’t tried the other two colors at the surf break yet.

I like throwing the Black/Chrome Baby from shore partly because it works so well and partly because the silver paint shows the teeth marks of the fish I miss. I just had a couple mins to cast on the way back from looking for oama yesterday and had two stops (lure felt like it hit a snag but nothing was snagged) and then a big kaku boiled on the Black/Chrome Baby before coming unhooked. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to hook it well.

When you get your Waxwings from Charley’s tell them you heard about them from this blog! They brought that small size in per Lawai’a magazine and my request. Great guys there…

Lazy fish on a hot & sticky day

August 7, 2015 By Scott Leave a Comment

Tropical Storm Guillermo passed to the north of us but made for a hot, sticky, drizzly morning. The wind was relatively light so I took the board out to the break where I hooked the oio on the Waxwing Boy last week. Using the same lure, I hoped lightning would strike twice. Instead I didn’t have a follow or bite for 75 mins. I eventually reached a deep channel and cast the Waxwing across to the west edge. A 1 lb white papio hit the lure and flipped on the surface but didn’t hook up. I was stunned after going so long without a hint of life, and watched as it hit two more times. Somehow it missed the rear double hook, focusing on the underneath belly of the lure.

Zoom in to the photos to see what it did to the previously unmarked lure. It was smart enough not to try again and I couldn’t get anything else to hit the Boy.

Disheartened, I switched to the smaller Waxwing Baby and fished another hour and missed two weak strikes. Meanwhile friends waded out a mile up the coast and caught a few papio on cut bait. They said the bite was slow but fairly steady.

I blame the lethargic Waxwing bite on the drop in barometric pressure. Just like we feel lazy when the weather turns unbearable warm and humid, so do the fish. A still bait can coax the lazy predators into slowly feeding but they don’t have the energy to chase an aggressive lure.

Off day or were the fish lackadaisical?

August 4, 2015 By Scott 1 Comment

Fished with Kris at two of our on shore Waxwing testing grounds. The tide was at a good height and we could see a lot of bait in the water at the first sandy/muddy beach we fished. Kris caught 3 small white papio on the Waxwing Baby and 5 on the bubble and grub. I couldn’t buy a solid bite. The most action I got were some follows and weak bumps on my Waxwing Baby. When your fishing partner is having an outstanding day and you can’t even hook a single fish, it messes with your confidence! I asked Kris how he was retrieving and he said he was retrieving slower because the water was so murky. Even with that valuable info I couldn’t adjust my retrieve to entice the fish.

We moved on to another sandy/muddy beach that could handle a higher tide and the water level looked perfect as well. With a slightly slower speed I got some boils and hooked a very small kaku. Man did it feel good to land that fish. I think Kris purposely introduced wind knots in his spinning reel to give me time to catch a few fish and get my confidence back. I had a few more boils and chases, and hooked another kaku but overall the action was slow.

Was it just an off day for me? I’m now thinking that the fish were lackadaisical due to the large moon messing with their feeding pattern. White papio and kaku can easily locate prey under a bright moon, so maybe they were just full? Kris’ slower retrieve and use of a small curl tail grub provided an easier meal for the fish. I hadn’t fished the first testing ground with my high speed Curado 300EJ before, and I probably didn’t slow down enough to present the Waxwing properly.

The conditions and result made for a very valuable fishing log entry.

Oio on a Waxwing, are you serious?

July 28, 2015 By Scott 9 Comments

If you weren’t a believer before, this may convince you. I fished a Blue Sardine Boy Waxwing at the surf break in hopes of catching something worthy of the Waxwing Lure Review I’m writing for Lawai’a magazine. Prior to this I was using the smaller Baby size. The Boy is 3.5″ long and weighs 7/8 oz. With a tail wind, it casts really far; with a side wind it curves more than the Baby because of its larger profile.

It’s the perfect lure for me to throw seated on my board at water level. I only need a few inches of line past the tip of my rod to cast, and the lure swims so well because my rod tip is so close to the water.

For reference, I’m wearing size 9 surf booties

I didn’t get a bump for 20 mins and was wondering if it was too large a lure to use. In comparison, the Boy is 2.7″. Then I got a hard strike and a strong run. I fish my drag really tight to set the swinging, upward facing hook, and the fish pulled line in hard spurts. It swung me around, toward shore, instead of into the waves and took all my fluorocarbon top shot. Not sure how much line that is though, maybe 70 yds? I was convinced it was the biggest papio I hooked on my surfboard and when I finally had the fish at color I saw a long thick shape and thought it was a kaku on steroids. It was a 5lb plus oio and was foul hooked behind its eyes. Oio have very tough skin, luckily, and both hooks were embedded. I took some pics and let the fish go.

An oio on a subsurface lure right in front of the white wash. Oio normally feed on the bottom and are rarely hooked on fast moving subsurface lures. I’m working with some Lawai’a supporting tackle shops to put a promotional Waxwing package together. There were a few mods to the lure system I had to make to improve my catch ratio. Stay tuned.

Waxwing shines again

July 24, 2015 By Scott 6 Comments

I went back to a shallow, rocky area with a sandy pond to look for oama. A few weeks ago the oama weren’t in and I had some follows on my Waxwing Boy in the Chrome pattern, but no hookups. Today there were mid-sized mullet and micro aholehole in the protection of the rocky shoreline, and the kaku and small white papio were nailing the Waxwing just 15 feet from shore.

caught on the Waxwing Boy size

I missed a couple larger kaku and landed a kaku and 3 small whites. There were even some very small oama running back and forth in the pond

The bite shut down an hr before sundown, right before Kris arrived. Just before dark Kris hooked a small moi on the sandy beach. Such a drastic change from the slow action I experienced the last time I visited. The summer action is definitely heating up.

All the fish were released unharmed.

Official Waxwing review will commence

July 21, 2015 By Scott 2 Comments

How cool is this? Lawai’a magazine provided me with some Waxwings so I could write an in-depth review about them!

POP Fishing and Marine, at Pier 38, had the full complement of sizes and patterns. I chose from the Baby size (2.68″, 1/2 oz) and the Boy size (3.5″, 7/8 oz). The finish on these lures is amazing. Even up close they look lifelike.

Update 9/25/15: Charley’s Fishing Supply in Kakaako has the Baby size also in the Black/Chrome, Blue Sardine and Ghost Blue Shad.

Been hearing that the bait fish are finally beginning to show, and the papio have been more aggressive lately. Let the review begin!

P.S. If you’ve been using Waxwings I’d love to hear how they’ve worked for you.

Pfft… oama, who needs you?

July 16, 2015 By Scott 8 Comments

I went out looking for oama again and the school of about 8 scattered when I threw chum at it. Waited for more to show up, and waited and waited. Went home demoralized.

The conditions were still good with moderate wind and a steeply rising tide so I took the fishing board out in the afternoon for some exercise. The Waxwing System performed well in the trade winds, much better than it did casting into the wind from shore. Sitting at water level, the lure tracked well and I got a bump before I made it out to the break.

I always seem to do best fishing in front of where the surfers surf so I did just that and probably annoyed the SUPers. Bam! My first real fish on the Wing! The rear double hook held and the Curado 300EJ’s drag didn’t feel as strong as the Calcutta’s but did it’s job. I finally caught a legitimate papio. I couldn’t unlock my phone through the waterproof case so I couldn’t take an on the water shot. The fish taped out at 15 inches, head to tail.

Paddling parallel to the break, I whipped some fishy water for a couple hits and misses and when I got back to the main surf break smaller omilus slammed the Wing. The Curado 300EJ’s fast retrieve definitely made the Wing more enticing. My left thumb started to sting and it turns out that the Powerpro was slicing into my skin as I pinched the line to provide tension for the bait caster. Ouch. I’ve never used braid as my main line before. Gonna have to change the way I fish the reel.

Maybe I don’t need oama after all. It’s much easier to throw a lure into the waves than to troll a live oama as close to the waves as possible. Pfft, oama, who needs you?

Note: The omilu was skinny for its length because it wasn’t gorging on oama. It did have a small bait fish in its stomach.

Curly tail grubs trounce Waxwing

July 14, 2015 By Scott 2 Comments

Kris and I whipped a new spot on the East side of Oahu which faced directly East. Kris was throwing a curly tail grub on a 9ft spinning rod with a pretty heavy egg sinker and masterfully punched through the 15mph on-shore wind. My 1/2 oz Waxwing, in contrast, got caught up in the wind and I eventually had a backlash so bad I had to remove some of my red PowerPro.

Kris started with this malu (sidespot goatfish), and caught numerous omilus and even a 1.5lb yellow spot papio. When I was able to cast my Waxwing out it just didn’t swim right with the tail wind and waves blowing it back to shore. Either that or the fish didn’t want to chase something larger than a 1 inch grub.

Smaller lures swimming deeper often get more bites than larger subsurface lures when the conditions are bumpy on the surface.

Bought into the Shimano Waxwing System!

July 7, 2015 By Scott 10 Comments

Shimano recommends that their Waxwing lures be paired with Shimano Terez rods and Shimano high speed spinning and bait casting reels, loaded with red Power Pro braided line. The skeptics sneered, saying it was a poorly masked marketing campaign to sell their lures, rods, reels and PowerPro, which Shimano also owns. Well, I started using a G Loomis swimbait casting rod and an old Shimano Calcutta 200 GT TE bait casting reel. G Loomis is also owned by Shimano so I was staying in the “family”. I had fluorocarbon on the Calcutta TE which didn’t cast as far as braid. I had to crank as fast as the little reel’s handle could spin but had too many follows and no bites so I moved up to the newer Calcutta 200D. It had a slightly faster retrieve but wasn’t really geared to rip small lures.

Curado 300EJ with red PowerPro

I finally broke down and purchased the recommended Shimano Curado 300EJ with a smoking 32 inches of line retrieved per turn, 7 more inches than the Calcutta TE I started with. I spooled the Curado with the red Power Pro and boy does it cast better. Fluorocarbon has a lot of line coil memory which cuts down on casting distance. The Curado retrieves line so fast I was popping the Waxwing out of the water and I had to slow down and let the lure sink a bit.

looks like it worked

On the second cast I caught a small kaku that was hooked in the mouth because it couldn’t overrun the lure and hit it in the middle.

I’ll have to do a lot more testing but I like what I’m experiencing. Far casts and relaxed, fast retrieves. I added a Gamakatsu assist hook which doesn’t tangle like the DIY assist hook I was using. Now if only there were bigger fish to play with. My oama spots are still barren so the predators aren’t inside the reef yet.

Waxwing training

June 23, 2015 By Scott 3 Comments

caught with both hooks

My fishing buddy Chester had purchased some Waxwings but hadn’t gotten the chance to try them until today. We went to one of the test grounds and as I was demonstrating how I like to retrieve the lure, this white papio hammered it on cue. This was the first time a fish was stuck by both hooks. Because I had smashed down the barbs, I was able to shake the fish loose, unharmed.

Chester had papio bump his Waxwing and landed a white papio. I had 3 papio hit and shake off the hook. Hopefully when the larger papio come into the shallows, they’ll inhale the lure and get hooked well. Still waiting for the oama school to seek shelter inside, bringing the larger predators with them.

Tough fishing on a new moon day

June 16, 2015 By Scott 6 Comments

one lonely fish for me

The tide was coming up fast today (New Moon) and we had high hopes for the dark moon conditions. The tide had already reached 1 foot by the time Kris and I started fishing and as the water got murkier, and the bait fish grew scarcer, it appeared that we missed the prime period to fish. Kris took turns throwing a Campania grub and a piece of cut bait, and I threw the trusty black/chrome Waxwing. It was very slow going until Kris caught an obake weke on the bait. I was still looking for my first follow when I cast near Kris’ bait and immediately hooked a small white papio. I suspect Kris’ bait had drawn the papio to the area

moi on the Campania

The lull continued until Kris got a hit on the Campania grub and caught a small moi on the next cast. Sadly, that was all we had to show for a few hours of fishing. We talked to a bait fisherman going for oio, and he said that he had fished for most of the day without getting a decent strike. Slow day indeed.

maybe my shirt scared the fish?!

As a consolation prize, Kris took this photo so I could check my casting form. Always good to fish with a professional photog!

All fish were released unharmed.

Full moon, high solunar Waxwing whipping

June 2, 2015 By Scott Leave a Comment

low tide, big surf

I fished the high solunar activity period on the Waxwing test grounds I fished last week. The tide was rising fast but the bite was slow. Even though there were schools of aholehole and mullet fingerlings in the muddy shallows, the black/chrome Waxwing just got a few follows and bumps from the small white papio.

omilu like the Waxwing also

I saw 10 inch kaku, and even saw the same oio rooting in the sand 5 feet from shore that I saw last week, but nothing attacked with vigor until I hooked a small omilu. That omilu hit the lure just as it landed in the water, and was hooked on its bottom jaw.

nice oio on a slow day

A regular at the spot, Brian walked out 5 ika baits and fished through the high solunar activity also. He was rewarded with a nice 5 lb oio and called it a day as the tide hit 2 feet.

I’ve joined the solunar activity non-believers. Low visibility conditions, rising tide and small moon seem to cause the fish to bite better than these high solunar activity periods.

Oio seem to consistently bite during these slow periods. Too bad they don’t eat Waxwings on a regular basis.

More Waxwing testing on the high solunar activity

June 1, 2015 By Scott Leave a Comment

See the bite marks near the back of the tail?

While Kris and the boys dunked shrimp on the deeper part of the mud flat, I threw a new black and chrome Waxwing Baby around that I was hoping would look like a baby mullet. The tide was rising and the solunar activity was high, but there were overhead waves on the outer edge of the reef.

The papio bite for the boys was slow but they were able to catch 4 oio between 4lb and 6lbs. They usually catch more oio than that so it was a slow day in general for them.

I had some small papio follow my Waxwing and saw a larger omilu dart out behind a boulder and ambush the lure. It came off while I was fumbling to get my camera phone out. It looked to be around 10 inches. Not too impressive but the largest papio I’ve caught so far. I ended the day with a small white that stayed on for the photo.

Does this mean the solunar activity charts are bogus or did the large swell put the fish off the feed?

The 40 lb fluorocarbon leader I used to ward off kaku cutoffs didn’t seem to scare off the papio.

Waxwing and attractant test during a solunar activity period

May 26, 2015 By Scott 1 Comment

I fished the early solunar activity period today to see if that would improve my catch rate. The high activity period was between 6:18 am and 8:18 am. I started fishing at about 7:20 am which is really early for me.

bottom Waxwing w/stronger, shorter hook (changed the Green Shad’s hook after the photo was taken)

I had on a Green Shad patterned 1/2 oz Waxwing. I was hoping the Green Shad looked close enough to an off-white oama with a greenish topside. I had replaced the stock hook with a shorter, stronger one since I was having too many fish fall off the stock hook. I slathered some Uni Butter attractant, which is made from uni (sea urchin) and cast it out into the murky water lapping on the beach.

white papio – first cast

Hookup on the first cast! A 5 inch white papio nailed it. Maybe there’s some truth to the solunar activity period thing after all! Or maybe it’s just better to fish the early morning rather than mid day.

hungry white

I worked my way down the beach and found another murky cove. The small whites followed the Waxwing in, bumping the side of the lure. On my next cast I sped up my retrieve and caught another one. Since the only hook is at the tail, it’s recommended to retrieve quickly so the fish miss the front of the lure and grab the tail.

The early morning, with no wind and overcast skies was looking very fishy. As I left the murky, muddy water and fished the shallow reef, I spotted a 4 lb oio tailing a few feet off the beach. I worked the Waxwing past it but the oio moved off. It didn’t spook like it would if any other lure or bait ripped past him, but probably realized I was tied to the lure and swam a little deeper to feed.

1st kaku on waxwing

Nothing wanted to bite in the clearer water so I made my way back to the murky cove. The whites chased the Waxwing onto the sand, and I eventually caught another one. The Green Shad pattern slathered with Uni Butter scent seemed to be working. On the next cast I hooked something a little bigger and it turned out to be a small kaku. Cool, I was hoping the Waxwing would fool the kaku also. So far, the tackle test was working.

On the next retrieve all of a sudden there was no weight on the line. Arrghh! Another kaku must’ve hit the line about the knot. There went $15. I put on a gold kastmaster and worked the same area that I was getting follows and bites… nada. I put on a Rainbow Trout patterned Waxwing and got a few more follows. The solunar activity period had passed and the sun was higher. I decided to quit while only down one Waxwing.

Takeaway: The early morning high solunar activity period was pretty fishy. The Waxwings in a sort of oama pattern, slathered in Uni Butter did attract small white papio and kaku, and the replacement hook held much better than the stock hooks.

weke on cut bait

The last time I fished the Waxwings out near the surf break I didn’t get a single hit, and when I started dragging cut bait I immediately caught small omilus and this weke that imitated a small oio. Maybe the omilus are less easily fooled by lures? In hindsight I wasn’t retrieving as fast as I did today.

Is it Papio Season Yet?

May 21, 2015 By Scott Leave a Comment

modified board mount sitting on a bucket

Boaters have serviced their boats in anticipation of Ahi Season. My prep for Papio Season was much easier. I cleaned the old wax off my longboard and modified a board mount I got from boardfisher.com to be more wind resistant. The original milk crate setup was very ergonomic but caught a lot of wind when stuffed with gear. I simply cut off the back 1/3 of the crate, letting the wind blow through, and reinforced it.

I took the mount out yesterday, with my last batch of `opae lolo, to see if the papio started prowling the reef. The lolos got hit by small fish but nothing stayed on the hook. I switched to the blue sardine Waxwing Baby with high hopes after the successful field test and addition of a much stronger, sharper double hook. After flailing the water for more than an hour, all I caught was a small cornetfish.

I guess it’s not papio season yet. No influx of bait fish to draw them. Shucks.