Summertime often brings calm conditions to the North facing shores of Hawaii and this weekend was no exception. The ocean was flat and the water was crystal clear. So clear that I could see fish streak out of the depths to attack my lure. This unusually visual aspect to papio fishing was thrilling but after watching several fish, including two big barracudas give chase and fail to bite I started to wonder if the conditions were so clear that the fish were able to recognize my lure as a fraud just in time not to get hooked.
I did fool a few fish, landing one papio each day. In retrospect these fish also supported my theory that the clear conditions were putting the fish off. The first fish I caught in the late afternoon when the light was changing and visibility was poor. The second fish hit along the shallow edge of a submerged reef where there was much more surface disturbance than the surrounding deeper water. The last fish I caught on a south-west facing area where the southerly surf was just big enough to ruin the otherwise great visibility.