The Windward side was rained out so I decided to check one of my South Shore spot’s Spring recruitment of baby fish. I brought some palu and my Waxwing rig. It felt good to go minimalistic and not have to shlep all the kayak gear.
I hadn’t thrown the Waxwing in 9 months and it took a while to tune the Curado 300EJ baitcaster properly, and crank with the right tempo. The optimal swimming speed occurs when you crank fast enough to feel the resistance of each kick. Too fast and the lure’s zig zag tightens up. Throwing in a hard crank every 3rd or 4th turn makes the lure swing out.
As I was try
ing to figure this all out, a small kaku hit the black/chrome Waxwing Baby in a foot of water but shook off before I could get my camera out. It felt rewarding to hook something on a piece of plastic after trolling live oama for miles and miles with few takers. A very confident lizardfish was more than happy to pose for a photo soon after.
The iao and nehu weren’t in but I did see large oama / small weke in a deep channel. They snubbed the palu so I’m thinking they were the nocturnal weke ula (red weke) variety that sleeps in suspended schools during the day and disperses to feed at night. Enlarge this photo and try to make out the slender, slightly curved fish shapes.
Bait surveillance over, I put on the bone Waxwing I marked up as an oama and walked the shoreline back to the car. Small kaku struck and missed the hook until I finally landed one for the camera. I had added a light green top and a yellow lateral line but the kakus managed to scrape most of the markings off.
Here’s what it looked like at the end of the day.
Well, it looks like predator-drawing-baitfish aren’t in yet but it was sure fun to make those Waxwing swim.
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