Ala Wai Fishing, Take two

[bsp]

After declining Stans offer due to family I tried the Ala Wai again today where Dave reccomended and WOW! I saw at least 20 barracuda in the hour I managed to fish. Unfortunatley NONE of them decided to commit and attack my red and gold minnow bait. I got some good follows but at the last second they turned away Then when I tried the chartreuse plug they darted off really fast, and those were maybe 5 of them. All the others swam away the minute they saw me I will try again tomorrow and maybe I will hook one. Total fish count: cuda and papio: 0 Tilapia: 5
I have noticed that the cudas are territorial and will always come back after you spook them. These are the larger 2-3 footers. The small ones will often hust be finning on the surface close to shore in random places, where as the larger ones always have a piece of structure nearby like a palm frond or shopping cart.
The water today was much clearer than it was last time and I saw more life. The one thing that I have not seen is a papio. After talking to a local about he said that there used to be bushes in the canal but after the spill they cleared them away. He said hat the papio would hide there but now he said that he hasn't seen one since. I have no idea if this is true, but if it is it makes sense.

[Ken]

bsp, do you slow down your cast at the end of the retrieve (the last second)? Maybe try speeding up your retrieve the last 10 feet if you see one following.

It is a bit hard to do a figure 8 on the wall, but try to point your rod down at the end of the retrieve until it is about 5 feet from you, then sweep the rod toward you and to one side (either left or right) at the same time. This should turn the lure to one side and speed the lure up. It allows a little more time for your lure in the water. In addition, your lure will now be running next to the wall. This makes it look like a baitfish that is now trapped against the wall and has nowhere to go...it is now more vulnerable.

If barracudas are anything like pikes or muskies, these tactics may work to convert some follows into hookups.

Let us know your progress...I'm reading these intently to see what I can learn from them...so it will speed up my learning process when I finally land on Oahu

41 days and counting...I may head to Ala Wai on the first morning of my arrival

[bsp]

Ken I am glad to be helpful but unfortunately I will be leaving Oahu tomorrow. I will try speeding it up as that seems like it will work. I do not slow it down, but keep it at the same pace I was retieving before I saw the follow. I tried to do a figure eight with the rod tip to prevent my lure from skipping across the surface on the last part of the retieve, and as soon as I did that the barracuda swam away really fast. They are some of the wariest fish I have ever seen, even more so than female largemouth bass during the spawn. A piece of advice from what I have discovered, as soon as a cuda sees you, you're rod or reel, or a somebody who walks by and then stares at it, the cuda will either submerge or swim away. I wish you luck and will be posting more reports.

[Stan Wright]

BSP,

I know what you mean about seeing fish and them ignoring you. I had a day like that and then suddenly they just turned on and were very aggressive. Like you flipped a switch. There were suddenly fish where 1/2 hour ago there was nothing. Clay over at Nervous Water fly shop told me that high tide was the best time to fish.
Stan