safe from the big WNW swell and Kona winds/rain
Today’s South Shore forecast called for a head high WNW swell wrapping around, combined with Kona (South) winds and a constant drizzle. Sounded like the perfect day to try the Windward side. Sure enough, once I got past Kaneohe most of the rain cleared and the sun poked out a bit. The waves were small and the Kona winds were light. I was hoping for a spot with a patchy reef near shore, with parking safely off the busy Kamehameha Hwy.
It took half an hour of driving back and forth before I settled on a spot after Kahana Bay and before Hau’ula. The tide was about 0.25 feet and rising which made it too deep to wade out. The sandy shoreline with a few small reef spots looked good but only yielded the occasional 5 inch omilu, something I could get back on the South Shore. It takes a lot of luck to stumble upon a spot and actually catch decent fish the first time out. After 1.5 hrs and a bag of cut bait, I realized that I lucked out with the weather but not with the fish.
I got the last bag of cut bait out of the car. I was too lazy to wash off and drive to another spot so I walked the shore line in the opposite direction I had previously fished. This stretch had more wave action and the sand was more muddy and gravelly. Turns out a stream dumped into the ocean there, so it was like fishing a river mouth. In the muddiest section I got a strike that felt like a bigger omilu, and was surprised to land a 4 inch white papio. I almost never catch white papio whipping so I thought this was a fluke but for the next 10 casts or so, I hooked or missed a white papio. On the 11th cast I caught a small toau in the muddy, churny water.
scrappy white papio
The whites are thicker than omilus for their length and put up a more stubborn battle. I kept hoping that a larger white was in with the small ones, but the biggest I landed was about 6 inches. I was soon out of bait but had learned something new. If you find a stretch of beach where the waves reach higher up the shore, exposing coarser sand and receding into muddy water, fish may be hunting prey in the churn.
All in all, a pretty fun catch and release day considering how unfishable the South Shore was.