Huck Oama

Description

I designed this fly for the vacationers and locals who DIY fly fish from the shorelines of the Hawaiin Islands.

The Oama is a juvenille goatfish (weke) and a priceless baitfish in hawaii. The Hawaiin Goatfish (weke) are also a cherished food item by the Hawaiin people.  In fact, the oama is one of the few fish that are regulated with restrictions on the allowable methods used to target them by the DNLR (State of Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources).  The Weke spawn is hugely long with schools of Oama roaming the shorelines (and getting assaulted by predators) from June through October.  But, this fly will fish well all year.

I designed this fly to compliment the Huck Huna which imitates a number of reef shrimp and crabs.  The Huck Huna is designed specifically to match the Banded Coral Shrimp (Opea Huna), which is the most common of the reef shrimp in Hawaii.

The architecture of this fly is similar to the clouser minnow with barbell eyes tied on top so that it rides “hook up”.  I use congo hair (instead of the natural materials that bob clouser originally designed the fly with) because congo hair moves so nicely in the water, saturates with bubbles and dries so quickly in the air when casting.  I also use a technique by epoxying a few strands of crystal flash through the middle of the fly for the length of the fly.  This helps in preventing the congo hair from fouling the hook (which is a common problem in saltwater patterns).  Lastly, I tie in a red collar because the oama is a very fragile fish that frequently bleeds from the gills when bumped or captured.

Strip this fly quickly.  I recommend smaller sizes 4 & 6 so that you can catch a myriad of smaller reef fish in the mix.  if solely targeting the larger predators like the bluefin trevally go with a larger size 2.