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Holoholo: Hand-tied flies end the Rubber Hook Curse

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JDM expert and whipping aficionado Thad fills us in on how his last 3 months of fishing has turned around.

Thad: The papio bite at my usual spots had shut down since the start of February, so I tried targeting oio for a while without much success.  Other guys I know that were fishing similar spots were landing nice oio regularly so it kept my hopes up every weekend.  Its not like I wasn’t hooking up though – I’ve been stricken with the “rubber hook” curse, fighting decent sized fish on most trips only to have them spit the hook before I could land them. 

So the weekend before the COVID-19 shutdown, I decided to try the usual spot again, armed with some new flies Matt (IG: hookum_flies) had tied and given to me to test.  For someone that just started tying flies a week or two earlier, they were well made and looked sure to fool a fish into biting.  The morning proved to be slow again, but I managed to hook what felt like a good sized papio on Matt’s Golden Blaze color.  Just as I was bringing the fish to the surface and could see color, the rubber hook curse struck again.  Losing fish is just a part of the fishing experience, but I felt a little disappointed that I couldn’t send Matt some pictures of his creation in a fish’s mouth.   

Skipped fishing the next two weekends after the COVID-19 shutdown.  By the time I felt comfortable enough to get back out there, I had also received some additional flies from Lawaiaflies (IG: lawaiaflies) that I was excited to try.  Armed with the new flies on April 26th, I tried my luck again, expecting it to be another slow day but hopeful I could send some fish pictures to some fly makers.

I decided to start with an orange and white fly from Lawaiaflies, appropriately called the Creamsicle.  Not long after I started whipping, I got a solid strike and landed a scrappy 12.5” omilu.  It felt great finally being able to land something after losing so many to spit hooks.  I quickly tagged it with a PIFG tag and released it to fight another day.  For the next hour and a half, I continued whipping without any action, switching between flies from different makers. 

Walked to another spot I hadn’t fished in a while, to see if anyone was hungry.  I tied the Creamsicle back on and immediately foul hooked a small omilu on the top of its head. 

A short while later, another small omilu decided to take the same fly.  Man, this Creamsicle color was really productive!  Just as I was thinking I may need to order more of this color, I got a big blow up on my big Tough Bubble that immediately cut my mainline.  I’ve caught several big kaku there so that was the likely culprit.

It was time to start heading back in so I put on another bubble and tied on Matt’s Golden Blaze fly.  I tried a slower retrieve this time, working the fly a little deeper in the water column.  It worked and I was able to land a very colorful moana.  I took some pics for Matt and called it a day. Reports I’ve been hearing from friends and the recent papio bites (albeit small ones) seem to indicate that we may be working our way out of the slow season.

Holoholo: Late Season 2019 Whipping Report

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Thad, our JDM expert and shoreline whipping enthusiast, provides this report in early October.

Thad: Like many years before, I wasn’t able to fish this season’s peak summer months for oama, halalū, or papio due to other important things going on at home.  Seeing and hearing of all the action my friends were having made me envious but I knew fishing would always be there and the next summer season would be just around the corner. 

Recently, I’ve been able to venture out to do my regular early morning fishing sessions and was expecting the predator action to be slow so I went oio fishing instead.  My friends were able to catch and release some legal sized papio while we targeted the oio so I wondered if the season had truly slowed down.  It was already the middle of September and the bait schools weren’t as plentiful but it seemed like the papio were still hunting inshore. 

The following weekend, I decided to devote my time whipping some CHL grubs Scott had given me to try.  It was a decent morning with five omilu landed and several more that came off.  Nothing big, but all legal sized ranging from 10 to 12 inches.  Were these the last remaining papio of the season?  Only one way to find out.

Two weeks later I decided to try my luck whipping some papio flies my friend Brandon makes for me, which I’ve had much success with in the past.  The result of this morning session was several more hits and misses, with a 10.75 and 15 inch omilu landed. My fishing partners also landed a 13 and another 15 inch omilu on grubs.  Still some pretty good action for October.

This past weekend I went on a solo mission – which is usually when the big ones bite right?  I noticed a small school of tiny baitfish darting around the shoreline as well as a small pile of oama.  The first cast of the morning with Brandon’s “Sparrow” fly produced a 10.5 inch omilu.  Several casts later, something blew up on the fly only a few yards out and took off.  There was no slowing the fish down on the first run.  Then I felt the fish pop off much to my dismay. 

I continued casting but whatever it was, it wasn’t around anymore so I decided to change it up and try a Mark White oama lure.  One the second cast, another solid hook up and short run before the lure popped out of the fish’s mouth again.  I like to change up my lures often so I went with grubs to see if there were any takers but no luck.  It was nearing the end of my fishing time so I switched back to the trusty Sparrow fly to cast as I worked my way back.  Sure enough, I got a few more tugs here there before I landed an 11.5 inch omilu to end the day.

Since I wasn’t able to fish the peak months of the season, I have no way of comparing the recent action to how it may of have been in June – August.  The recent action has been pretty good though, so I have no complaints.