The awa awa measured 32″ and weighed 5 lbs. All fish were released except for my awa awa and Kris’ 2lb white papio. Soon after, we ran out of oama and made our way in. Eddy followed that up by catching this beautiful awa awa on a frozen oama. Somehow those guys can catch the larger whites when I’m stuck with the 9 inch ones that steal my precious oama baits. That was released and when I caught up with them, they both were battling 2lb whites that bit fresh dead oama. Once again, they were out of ear shot when I landed a smaller awa awa on another live oama. The guys pedaled off to the white papio hot spot as I replaced the line that the awa awa shredded with its sandpaper mouth. I paddled back to the guys and Kris took this pic. I decided to keep it since I heard of other yak fishers recently catching awa awa in the general area, and had only kept two others ever. The fish was too tired to put up much resistance. I tired the fish out to grab it by the mouth, largemouth bass style, since I didn’t have a net or gaff with me. Awa awa! The previous awa awas have always jumped out of the water, but those were hooked in relatively shallow water. Then I saw the top lobe of a very large tail sticking out of the water. Click here to read about that surprise catch. Oio on a live oama? I guess it was possible since I was fishing deep and had hooked an oio on a subsurface lure in the surf before. It spun my kayak a few times before I could make out a long, slim, silvery shape. When I brought the fish close it powered straight down, bending my 7’6″ rod into the water. I could feel head shakes and tail pumps and was hoping I finally hooked a large papio. I tightened the drag when 1/3 of the spool was gone, and the fish slowed. I had made the cardinal mistake of leaving my partner kayak without telling them where I was going, so they were out of ear shot. Then it got mad and powered away, taking at least 75 yds of line with it. I pulled the rod out of the rod holder and started reeling, and the fish shook its head like a very small omilu. As I crossed a deep channel, my rachet went off, slowly. The guys began catching small, feisty whites on frozen, year old oama. I put on a live oama and immediately hooked a small white papio. I started with fresh, dead oama and two were taken off the tandem hooks without much sound coming out of my non-levelwind Calcutta 400’s ratchet. The fish could see the difference between lures and real bait, and ignored the fake stuff except for Kris’ small lures fished deep. With so many fish around it was a good day to try various baits and lures. My fish finder was marking fish throughout the water column and we could peer down and see omilu and white papio through the sheet glass surface. The light wind conditions made for a beautiful day to be out on the water. Ah yes… awa.Eddy and Kris pedaled out on Eddy’s Hobie tandem and I tried my best to keep up with them on my oldie but goodie Aquaterra Swing sit-on-top.
He would slip into reverie and contentment, and all of his pains would be forgotten as he lit up his inner lamp of contemplation and summoned the evening breeze that sighed through island forests primeval and the chambers of his heart.
The candlenut lamp would glow as he listened to the inner sounds of whistling shells and chirping crickets, and of wind flowing in the trees. He gulped down the awa, then followed it with a mouthful of fish, a piece of banana, a section of sugar cane to chew, a bite of sweet potato, the fatty eyeball of the fish, perhaps some pork in taro leaf. He thanked the gods for their generosity. If the farmer had bartered poi for some fish that day, he took from the underground oven the head of the jack fish, the bundle of mullet flesh wrapped in ti, a hand of ripe bananas, and a deep red sweet potato. Awa answered to the needs of the ancients for respite from the cares of the world… and earned a modern following among those who know.Īt the end of the day, the reward and release of kings and commoners alike was their draught of awa.
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