I had the pleasure of fishing with Kris and his friends, Nick and Eddie today. They showed me a new spot on the flats, and when the oio and papio started to bite, they graciously called me over. The three of them were dunking with long rods and relatively light spinning reels. I was stubbornly using my bait casting whipping setup.
personal best so far
They could easily out cast me and were getting some strong strikes. They had already caught some oio and good sized papio (omilu, white and barred) while I was struggling to reach the productive area. I finally found a mound to stand on where I could use the wind to get my bait out further. Poaching Eddie’s grounds, I got a solid pickup and screaming run. I was deep into my braid backing before I tightened the drag and stopped the fish. The fish was pulled within 10 yds of me before taking off again. 2 powerful runs later and it was done.
oio on light bait casting gear
Looks like Chester will be getting his oio for taegu after all. The fish was just short of 26 inches (head to tail) and 6 lbs.
Like I did with my previous oio, I had cast and let the bait sit for a while before getting the strike. So I was really dunking with a short rod and a light weight. Dunking with the right equipment was far more productive for the guys today so I will concede defeat. In all 3 outings, the dunking method out fished the whipping method. Click here to see how rounds 1 and 2 went.
The boys humbly declined having their fish photos published.
Nice catch Scott. Look forward to trying to catch an oio in the near future. That oio taegu recipe looks really inviting.
I hope you get one soon, Mike. Make sure you have at least 200 yds of line just in case.
Nice fish Scott!
Thanks Alan. I was super fortunate that the guys are photographers. I ended up with a nice picture for the blog and even have a video clip of the fight.