Normally oama come in before halalu, and it’s the second week of August yet the halalu reports have been better than the oama reports. I checked one of my oama spots that was barren a month ago and there was a small school of newly arrived, pinkie-sized oama. They weren’t acclimated to people yet and didn’t eat well initially. I was geared for moose oama anyway, with a size 14 Owner mosquito hook, so I palu’d some oily baits in the hopes of bringing in bigger oama.
The pinkie oama tentatively bit the big hook and I had a few in the live bucket when I spotted a school of about 6 moose oama breezing on the outskirts. It took more palu to hold them and the first moose pulled off the hook, causing the others to scatter. I located the moose herd again and hooked a 9 inch one that stretched my 3lb leader but was landed. Yee-hah! The herd scattered and came back, and I tried lifting a 10 inch mega-moose off the bottom. Kerrr-pack! The leader snapped above the hook.
I had to walk back to shore to get another pre-tied oama pole. I couldn’t find the moose herd so I fished the pinkie oama pile with another guy. A very small school of nehu got chased through the oama school and then I hooked a 5 inch halalu! Maybe that halalu was part of a school chasing the nehu?
The pinkie oama bite didn’t really pick up so I quit and the other fisherman gave me his two oama he caught since it wasn’t enough to warrant an dunking trip. Nice guy!
Seems like the oama season is barely getting off the ground.
Here’s all the moose and pinkies in one tub before I moved the pinkies out to give the moose more room to stretch out. The halalu thrashed around in the halalu tub so much it had rubbed its tail off to a nub and was dying the next day and had to be euthanized.
Nice catch Scott! Always wanted to brave the oama and halalu frenzy but never did it. Too many people! I’m just wondering how you rig your oama when you use them. I enjoy all the pics and stories. Have a great weekend!
Hi Jeff,
The oama crowd is a lot mellower than the halalu crowd since they aren’t casting to the pile. If you can find your own small pile of oama off away from the main group of fishers, you can take your time and hone your skills.
I troll the oama, preferable alive, off the kayak. I use the double hook method with a hook in its nostrils and if alive, a free swinging hook near its butt hole. If dead, I insert the rear hook in its side in a way where it doesn’t spin too much when trolled. I use a light sliding weight above the first hook. Weight size is dependent on how deep the water will be.
-scott
coming back in 2 weeks. hope they start trickling in soon. good to hear your reports. thanks.
Hey Dean,
Hope the oama are going full force by then. Maybe I’ll see you on the water.
-scott