Opelu Fishing at Waimea Bay – July/August 2012

Similar to Akule (Big-eye Scad, Adult Halalu), Opelu (Mackeral Scad) are popular fish to eat and to use as bait for bigger game fish in Hawaii, as well as other places in the world. However, they are not commonly caught from shore locally, or at least in shallow water. The first “Opelu run” that I have been to, fishing for the juvenile Opelu (like Halalu) was quite exciting, especially from a popular location such as Waimea Bay… I have fished here a number of times for Halalu, where small schools of Opelu are mixed in, but never fished when the school was predominantly Opelu, like today… Fortunate to get word of the run from climbing and fishing friend, Eric Aoyama, we (Eric, Elise and I) tackled the run of juvenile opelu before sunrise on great summer day in July… Oh, and maybe we’ll catch some bigger fishes afterwards, using the Opelu. 😉 haha.

Coming from central Oahu, the drive out to Waimea isn’t too far… it’s just the getting up at 4am that may challenge fishermen/fisherwomen.

The walk from the parking lot to the shoreline can be demanding, especially when hauling supplies for the whole day. A handful of people even bring canopy tents and large coolers out, which probably require multiple trips or grandchild labor exploitation…

Like this unfortunate kid here. lol, j/p…I’m sure he was excited to help carry and fish at 5am.

Many of the early birds bait-fish “shoulder to shoulder” with long hand poles,

…and small, brightly colored floaters,

… palu-ing (chumming) the water in front of them.

There was a variety of baits being used, which include ika (squid) strips, shrimp, and bloodmeat (or the bloodline / dark meat in fish.. likely from aku or ahi in this case). Of those, the most common I interviewed said they were using bloodmeat.

Though most of the opelu school is offshore, some of the nearshore opelu are quickly attracted to the palu.

The other fishermen like myself, who don’t favor to bait-fish for opelu/halalu, wait for the larger school to come inshore.

Large inshore gamefish like, Kamanu (rainbow runner), Kawakawa (small, inshore tuna species), and Ulua (jacks/trevallies), etc. tend to chase the school towards the shoreline into shallow water, where they can feed on them easier. You can see the ripples of one of the large schools a 100 yards offshore, swimming toward us.

…and at this time, the fishermen who use lures to “whip” for opelu/halalu (see write-up on Halalu fishing), get up from their beach chairs and coolers to fish.

Depending on the demeanor of the school, they may or may not bite. Using the green jade “Makata Lures” with silver glitter I received from “Uncle Steve” Miyasato, I picked up quite a few Opelu and even hooked up with a 3/4lb papio in the process. Even though was legal size, had to throw the latter back… Hope to catch ’em when he gets bigger though!

After picking up a good number of young opelu, Eric set up his “Ulua poles” to try and “hook up” with the bigger game fish chasing the school around the bay.

He often hooks the “live opelu” above the eye socket, but also often supplements the rig with a zip-tie or wire to prevent the bait from sliding off the hook. I’ve seen other use small, circular pieces of plastic, below the eye and barb of the hook, for similar purpose.

His rig, at least in this photo, also includes a pyramid lead (often used in sand) and a tuna fishing snap swivel… and a unknown lb test leader. I’ve seem use between 20lb and 300lb test leader, just depending on the pole and distance the live opelu is placed from shore. And yes, the bait is swum out, since the the fishermen (like Eric) want to keep the opelu as lively as possible while on the hook. Attempting to cast live-bait far can damage the bait on impact with the water, or may even fly off while being whipped out. Swimming the bait out may also more easily regulate what distance from shore the opelu is dropped.

Soon after setting some lines out,

…the characteristic ringing of the large fishing bells on the poles alert nearby fishermen, “HANAPA‘A!!!” or “STRIKE!!!”

I’d hate to lie to you, so in truth, these two fish were caught on separate days at Waimea… However, the method to catch them with opelu is straight up legit. Other days I was not around also yielded Kamanu, Kawakawa, and Ulua/Papio for Elise/Eric and other shore fishermen in Waimea these past few weeks.

~4lb Kawakawa and ~3lb Omilu for the dinner table tonight!!!

But Omilu sashimi on the beach for now.

Mahalo nui loa to Eric Aoyama for letting me tag along to document this adventure… and also to do a little fishing too. Thank you to also to Elise Sugioka for being great fishing company at Waimea. Wish you were there to see Eric catch the Kawakawa!!!

Before I posted my full write-up about the event, an anonymous and upset, local fishermen wrote to me about a greedy and and impractical type of fishing that has been going in Waimea (as well as other places). I’ve heard of this happening before and agree with what the take home message was, and since they felt so strongly about it, I felt like it should be a part of the post… though I edited the comment some and summarized it below:

“Every year it’s the same damn thing!!! The opelu and halalu come in ~July/August into the bay, and people gather to fish for fun and to put some food on the table. On Monday, August 6, 2012… local, money hungry commercial fishermen came into the bay with their boats and netted a few tons of opelu… Auwē (kinda like “good grief!”). Pupukea and Waimea is a Marine Life Conservation District (MLCD) designated by the DLNR. WE shoreline fishermen are tired of this CRAP these guys, “Commercial Fishermen” helping themsleves, of because of stupid bureaucratic HRS rules… The state C/O DLNR Fisheries should **Ban ALL NETTING, including one deliberately deliberately herding** the fish out beyond the two points (I think referring to the islets and Kulalua point) off Waimea Bay so they can net it… with SERIOUS PENALTIES for violators. The fact is, it’s a waste flooding the fish markets and throw the rest away after two days because of spoilage. Damn these commercial pirates who rip-off our oceans and do it mindlessly for money. There’s so much ocean, WHY IS IT ALWAYS WAIMEA BAY every year that is hit by the same greedy commercial fish pirates. AND WE ALL KNOW WHO THEY ARE!!! Again, the State should ban all “Fence” netting around the island of Oahu 300 yards our from any shoreline… Lets all join in and preserve what we have left. I also think that it should be a conflict of interest that any DLNR enforcement officer, to notify any commercial fishermen to when it is a good time to go and net these fish that migrate into Waimea bay. Auwē to you “Officer __” for communicating with these known commercial fishing poachers. Aloha, J M O“

Although it is not illegal to net Opelu here (See DLNR website), there should be some serious enforcement and regulation concerning the above matter, particularly about “how much” one person can take. 2 tons seems moderately excessive.

To view this location on a Google Map also known as my “Adventure Map“, Click Here. For more adventures of the Lost Trailblazers, either look at my other blogposts and “Adventures with the Lost Trailblazers” photo gallery. Thanks for visiting and come back again soon!

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