Man, damashi fishing can be really effective with those 6 fish skin flies flitting around like tasty little critters. Second cast, another sardine hit but shook off. I kept it, not knowing if I’d catch anything else, and cast out again. I felt the frantic pulses of life on the line and reeled in my first…sardine. He made room for me and I cast my 6 hook damashi rig just past the dark pile and lifted, dropped and cranked my way through. Not exactly uncrowded but the school spread out enough where we could have our own lane to fish.

When I found Matt at the beach, he was fishing with guys whipping strips, jigging halalu flies and even bait fishing with long poles. It still had the 4lb mono I spooled on last year and assumed it was still good. I wiped down my corroded 6’6″ Daiwa spinning rod from the 80s and put on my dad’s old Stradic 1000 FH. Since the halalu were still small, and mixed in with sardines, Matt suggested using the smallest damashi set possible and casting past the school, then slow jigging through it. The idea of fumbling around without too many people watching appealed to me. Last month, the early season halalu came into an area that wasn’t being fished too hard so Matthew, starting 7th grade this year, insisted I try halalu fishing again. Search for “halalu” on this website and you can relive my struggles. I gave up after 3 trips, and on my best day, only caught 5 halalu. Last year was my indoctrination into halalu fishing, casting long leaders of 3lb fluoro in cramped quarters.

Halala season 2 dailymotion