waxwing system Archives - Hawaii Nearshore Fishing

Red hot Waxwing action

July 23, 2015 By Scott 1 Comment

Went to check my favorite oama spot yet again, and there were none to be found. Kris was throwing a small plastic curly tail and caught some small omilus and chunky white papio. I started throwing the Baby Waxwing on the Curado 300EJ with fluorocarbon and soon enough was picking out backlashes just like I had been with braid. I was backlashing with all the centrifugal brakes turned on! How is that possible?

(Click here to see why I switched from braid to castable fluorocarbon. )

Out of desperation I set the spool tensioner so tight the lure couldn’t fall in free spool. I cast and the spool spun under control with no backlash. The spool shouldn’t have had to be tensioned so tightly, something must be wrong with the spool tension bearing.

Don’t I look stunned?

The sun was going down, it was time to leave and I didn’t even get a bump. As we walked back on the sand, Kris threw a Crystal Minnow but the water was so shallow he kept snagging limu. I carefully lobbed the Waxwing which swims a few inches below the surface and hooked and lost a kaku in 15 inches of water. My drag was set too light because I was backlashing so much!

My next cast was boiled on so Kris started videoing with his iPhone. Next cast, no backlash and another boil. Usually the fish only follow or hit twice and then wise up. During this pre-dark witching hour it seemed like a pack of hungry predators were looking for Waxwings to swim by. On my next cast, something hit halfway in and ripped drag. Turned out to be a 14 inch white papio (head to tail).

Here’s the video, sorry for the jumpiness.

It was a very impromptu shoot and I edited out the landmarks which shortened the length of the video. When we pau fishing I checked my drag and I had locked it down after missing the first kaku. No wonder the papio didn’t get too far.

very respectable kaku a few feet from shore

Kris captured the cast, strike and fight on video and I wanted him to get in on the red hot action. He took off his Crystal Minnow, put on the same Black/Chrome Baby Waxwing and hooked an angry kaku on the next cast! After releasing it, he got an even bigger boil that didn’t stay hooked. The boils lasted until the sun began to set, then completely shut off.

The Waxwing really performs in shallow water conditions. The red hot action with the large shallow water predators almost made me forget the backlash frustrations I’ve been having and I didn’t backlash once in the dark. I guess the spool tensioner was finally set tight enough.

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

The Waxwing Braid experiment is over

July 20, 2015 By Scott 4 Comments

Shimano recommends tying the Waxwing lure straight to red Powerpro. The lure swims best with the thin, supple line but braid is difficult to manage on a bait caster. Braid cuts through the wet fingers that attempt to pack line tight on the spool, and wind knots seem inevitable on windy days. I tried to fish the 0.5 oz Baby Waxwing in the wind again, and created hangman loops in my line. When I did manage to cast the Waxwing out a ways, nothing bit.

I cut the lure off and asked Kris to try it on his light spinning rig with 20lb Powerpro. He was able to cast in the wind, and after a few practice retrieves he caught a small white papio. I wanted to get a feel for casting the light Waxwing on a spinner so I made a few awkward casts. No wind knots but I didn’t quite like the wobble a spinner makes as the rotor rotates to pick up line. It’ll definitely take some getting used to, to go from the straight retrieving bait casting reel to the rotating spinning reel.

Small papio or baracuda boiled on the Waxwing as I reeled it in, and the boils and hits continued as Kris resumed fishing the Waxwing. Waxwings tied directly to light braid are definitely easier to manage on a spinner than a bait caster. But, before I invest in a spinning rod & reel just to throw small Waxwings, I’ll try a top shot of castable fluorocarbon on the Curado 300EJ. The fluorocarbon won’t cast as well as braid but it won’t cut my fingers or dig deep on itself and produce wind knots as easily.

My Waxwing System has a glitch

July 17, 2015 By Scott 7 Comments

Braided line is so thin and slippery that it digs deep into a loose packed bait casting reel’s spool if you pull hard on the line. To pack the line tight either your lure has to provide enough resistance, or you need to provide tension with your thumb and forefinger when you retrieve. However, I found out yesterday that pinching the line with wet fingers leads to line cuts.

So today, I had Flexi-Wrap tape over my thumb and forefinger and couldn’t feel how tight I was pinching the line. That lead to a loose spool, which lead to a backlash when I cast into the wind. I pulled hard on the backlash and caused the line to bury itself deep down in the spool. Next cast ended about 20 ft in the air.

Every other cast ended in a backlash. And I pulled harder on the line to free it, only to cause deeper line buries. If I were smart I would have stripped off all the loose line and packed it back tightly. I wasn’t smart and eventually quit.

The Waxwing System’s red Powerpro is very unforgiving when things go wrong. It casts and retrieves well under calm conditions but is prone to backlashes when mismanaged. So far I had two windy, backlash days and one calm, backlash-free day with the Waxwing System. I have to figure out how to cast properly in the wind, or go back to fluorocarbon when it’s windy.