SHALLOW WATER REEF JIGGING Months later I had a chance to go shallow water jigging (40 – 100 ft) with Erik Parubrub, one of our newest Lawai‘a feature writers. I hadn’t shallow water jigged before, nor been on a boat in 15 years but was looking forward to testing the few jigs. My intention was to fish the 80 gm (2.8 oz) Shimano Flat Fall jig, which made a splash when Shimano introduced them 3 yrs ago, so I brought the 1 oz Live Deception jig more as an afterthought. My gear was a Shimano Trevala casting rod and Shimano Curado 300 EJ bait casting reel, the recommended light-medium Shimano Flat Fall jigging system. Erik put us on the spot, 70 ft deep and drifting toward shore. His 30 gm (1 oz) Asian made “micro jig” (small, slow falling jig) started getting hit as he cranked it off the bottom, and he brought moana and brown hage up from the depths. My 80 gm flat fall hadn’t registered a bite and I struggled to mimic the way Erik popped his rod tip upward, followed by a lift and crank sequence. Erik used a fast tempo, speed jigging technique after reaching the bottom and hooked something that bent his light action spinning rod into an upside down “U.” The fish tried to make it back to the bottom but Erik cupped the reel’s spool and kept the fish out of the rocks. After a number of strong runs, he had it at color and it looked like a bright omilu with yellow spots. It turned out to be a 6lb yellow spot papio, or Island Jack. At this point I was really impressed with how effective micro jigging had been for Erik. This was his 4th fish and I had yet to hook anything on the 80 gm flat fall, so I replaced it with the only small jig I had, the 1 oz Green Mackerel Live Deception. I flipped it over the side and on the second drop I felt something small jump on. Up came a legal moana on the rear treble hook, my first micro jig fish ever. Boy did it feel good to actually hook something. 36
LAWAI‘A MAGAZINE
I had read about “slow pitch” jigging. With jigs designed to fall slowly, this type of retrieve was supposed to impart a slow falling, zig zag action. I tried the slow pitch retrieve near the bottom, then tried to emulate Erik’s speed jigging technique he used to catch the yellow spot papio. Something hit a third of the way up and took a little line. I couldn’t believe I was now catching fish! I could feel the twists and turns of the fish as I coaxed it to the surface. It turned out to be a small kawakawa, my first ever. The next two drops yielded a juvenile weke ula followed by a baby ta‘ape. Meanwhile Erik brought up some scrappy brown hage. I was surprised hage would be able to latch on to his fairly large assist hooks. Seems like everything wanted to eat the micro jigs dancing above the reef. I dropped down with anticipation and felt a tug, and then… nothing. My new, magic lure was gone. Erik caught the offender on his micro jig – a kawale‘a (Heller’s barracuda). Our short window to fish ended and we headed back with the yellow spot papio and invasive ta‘ape. The other fish were released. BIG ISLAND NEARSHORE JIGGING Then in June, I was invited by Neil Kanemoto, President of Pacific Islands Fisheries Group, to boat fish the Big Island the day before the Tokunaga Challenge weigh-in. His childhood buddy Wes, and his crewman Braiden, would be taking us out. I had to pack light so I brought an inexpensive Cabelas 3-piece travel casting rod, the Shimano Curado 300EJ bait casting reel with 15lb fluorocarbon top shot and some jigs. We were hoping for papio, goat fish and maybe even a small uku. I figured that light gear could handle. We started by trolling frozen oama only to be harassed by hage. The guys hadn’t shallow water jigged with small lures before but wanted to try after hearing my overly enthusiastic jigging reports.
Captain Wes had some productive reefs in mind so we started at a spot in about 120 ft of water. I figured that was too shallow to drop the 80 gm Flat Fall so Neil started with a well-known 1.5 oz “knife style” jig designed to cast and also fish vertically. I selected a 2 oz green mackerel Live Deception and added an assist hook on the top eye to complement the lure’s treble hook. My brief instructions to Neil were to cast upwind of our drift, try to fish the jig up and down, not at an angle away from the boat, and start jigging as soon as he hit the bottom. I told him I liked the slow pitch technique but he started with medium sweeps. I guess people who have seen others jig before think speed jigging is the way to go! He got hit right away, and something pulled line and unbuttoned. Neil looked at Captain Wes and nodded. I dropped the Live Deception jig down, did an exaggerated slow lift and crank with the stiff travel rod and line spurted out when the jig was 15 ft off the bottom. It felt like a good-size papio, making smooth runs, shaking its head and resisting being pulled up. After about 5 mins we could see what looked like a big omilu making deep circles under the boat. As it got closer we couldn’t believe our eyes – 11lb Kagami Ulua (African Pompano), a relatively rare and delicious catch. Kagami on the first drop of the Live Deception! My first ulua ever. Neil and Wes looked at each other in disbelief, then Neil quickly dropped his jig back down. Neil got picked up and the fish fought stubbornly but didn’t shake its head. Uh oh, hage action! That was his introduction to micro jigging. Next drop of the Live Deception and about 20 ft off the bottom, it got hit. Good headshakes and a 3 lb omilu eventually came up. Meanwhile Neil’s “popular brand” jig was attracting trumpetfish, moana and hage. We moved to a new spot; I dropped the Live Deception down and before it hit the bottom the jig felt like it got picked up in a strong current. I engaged the reel to check and line peeled off the drag. Seventy-five yds of 15lb fluoro top shot was out and the fish wasn’t slowing. Captain Wes quietly said “This is a big fish,” telling the others to clear their lines. I tightened the drag carefully and the fish still kept going. Finally, I tightened it to the point the line started pinging and there was maybe 25 yds of 50 lb PowerPro left on the spool. The guys were coaching me but we all figured the fight would end in a few seconds. Miraculously the fish slowed and I started making very small pumps, gaining one or two turns of the handle at a time. Halfway up, the guys decided to resume jigging because they figured it would either be awhile before the fish was landed, or the line would pop soon. At around the 8-minute mark the uni-to-uni splice was on the reel and I had the 75 yds of 15lb fluoro left to go. The big fish saw the boat and tried to make it down to its home but only took about 30 yds of line. That was the last big run it made. The rest of
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Pictured are 1st and 2nd quarter winners Derrick Kameoka and Tina Fukumoto with an Aloha Chillr (one of three winners each quarter!)
1ST QUARTER WINNERS:
Dr. John Kuwahara Lanndon Quijano Derrick Kameoka 2ND QUARTER WINNERS:
Bruce Watanabe Tina Fukumoto Carol Noland
ISSUE TWENTY TWO 2016
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