Oama Fishing - Spreckelsville

Saturday morning I took myself and my dogs for a walk on the beach on the North Shore of Maui, near Stable Road, which is just outside of Spreckelsville and Paia. Standing knee deep at the shoreline were groups of anglers fishing for Oama. Oama are juvenile Weke, or Goatfish. The juveniles are under seven inches in length and are caught in late summer and early fall.

The fish are either caught and eaten, or used as bait to catch larger fish, such as Papio, young jackfish or Ulua. Papio come near the shore at this time of year to feed on the Oama. On the other hand, many prefer to eat the juveniles. The young fish are descaled, the entrails removed and eaten salted and raw, or lightly battered and cooked.

The fishing task looked fairly easy. The anglers dip their weighted lines to the bottom and simply wait for the fish to tug on the line. When that happens, they gently pull them up and drop them into their buckets. Goatfish or Oama are bottom feeders. As one guy explained, "Sometimes dey nevah even bite da line, you just feel 'em foraging and hook 'em undah da mout". I counted one man catching 5 fish in about ten minutes.

It was an entertaining morning chatting with some of the folks and to watch and hear them squeal when they caught the little fish. For many participants it was a family affair and seemed like a pleasantly wholesome way to spend a morning at the beach.

Hope you had a great weekend too.
Aloha!