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10/25/09

bonefishing in hawaii:

bonefishing with e.t. and nao.

 

spent the day out at ke’ehi with e.t. and long time nervous water client nao from japan.  i guided nao the first time he had ever been to hawaii back in 2000 or so.  since then nao has fished with every nwff guide over the years.  needless to say he has become quite good at the hawaii bonefish game although he will never admit it.  i hadn’t been out on the water with him since guiding him myself so it was a treat for me to spend time on the water with him again.

 

the day was beautiful and we all managed to get a few small bones.  i lost a heart breaker to a nice whitey (trevally).  i had the fish beat but in a last ditch effort it hung me up around a tiny coral head right at my feet.  the guy didn’t just pop my twenty pound leader and take off.  the fish broke free and suspended motionless in the water a couple of feet in front of me as if to show me up, before casually swimming away.

 

as the tide bottomed out the three of us were horsing around together, slowly making our way toward deeper water, when we spotted three big fish cruising toward us.  the fish were in so skinny that the tail dorsal fins and part of their backs were sticking out of the water.

 

“go nao, go.” ed and i said in unison.

 

nao looked at us with a perplexed look.

 

“me?” he asked.

 

“yeah, yeah, go.  hurry up!” we said urgently.

 

i quickly slid around nao to give him the shot.  one of the fish stopped and rooted around a bit slowing up the other two.  nao made a perfect shot that landed the fly with hardly a splash in front of the trio (which was key as there was no wind at all and the water was like glass).  it was a face off of epic proportions.  the three of us staring down the three of them.

 

ed and i watched the instantaneous events unfold in front of us and commented simultaneously.

 

”there, there, there, they’re comming!”

 

”yup,yup,yup.”

 

“strip,strip,strip.”

 

”you got’em, you got’em.”

 

nao strip set and the water erupted in three chaotic explosions followed by mounds of water pushing toward the nearby edge of the flat.

 

”run to the edge, run to the edge”, ed and i pleaded in unity.

 

nao took off, but it was too late and the fins got the best of poor nao. e.t. and i laughed as we approached nao who looked back at us with his mouth wide open and a stunned demeanor as if he had just seen a ghost (a double digit ghost).

 

“big fish,” i quietly told nao.

 

”ah, yes...big fish.”

 

nao is as comfortable fly fishing the flats on oahu as he is making soba in japan.<

 

nervous water guide e.t. in his element.

 

nao with one of the guys.

 

e.t. with another guy.

 

great guys = good times.

 

clay.

 

 

 

10/17/09

bonefish and fly fishing hawaii:

pretty much the same as last week.

 

...and so the fall goes on, for me at least, with another week of fishing which turned out to be almost a carbon copy of last week.  one day with lots of fish the next with nothing and the lady of the lake being one tough gal.

 

went out with e.t. to ke’ehi on wednesday.  lots of fish around and we did okay for the fast rising tide that we were dealt.  ran into jay at the launch, who also reported that he had decent bonefishing.  we pressed our luck and checked out the early morning rise the next day at hi kai.  bad maneuver.  we ended up seeing very little and coming up empty.  just the wrong day.  so the bonefishing is still hit or miss.  everyday is different.  i just got off the phone with e.t. who reported that he got four fish with his clients yesterday and got a nice double digit fish this morning out at hi kai.  so you just never know what to expect these days.  i do have a sneaky suspicion that the return of the trades may stabilize things a bit out there in the great wide open.

 

checked out the lake with the kirksta on friday and the lake was also off.  the water had come down quite a bit from the last time i was out, still not much of anything going on.  in the later afternoon the peacocks turned on a little but it was still tough.  kirk caught a bunch of tucs on a swimming plug.  i hooked two on the fly but managed to lose both of them in the woods (just had to work off a little bad karma i think... it happens sometimes).  gonna take a couple of days off from pounding and get back to it sometime next week.

 

e.t. in his normal pose on the flat... hooked up!

 

kirk's friday tucs. 

 

there's fall fish out there just waiting... so go get them and, as always, good times.

 

clay.<

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10/13/09

bonefish and fly fishing hawaii:

the october scoop.

 

so far it’s been a really busy month for this home boy.  so i apologize to loyal peeps who regularly check out my rant.  i’ll do my best to catch up in this post.

 

so far fall has not been bad.  a little bit spotty due to some shifty weather patterns and some rain here and there.  on the bonefish front the reports from the crew have been good.  all the “popular” spots are still producing good numbers of fish as well as some fall fatties in the mix.  there is a bit more day to day fluctuations as is always the case as we hurl unyieldingly toward winter 2009.  i personally have been out twice since my last blog posting.  hooked fish both times on polar opposite days.  one day was full of fish all over the flat and the other was like walking around a ghost town.  that seems to be the way now though.  overall, all the spots have been fishing pretty well.  if you go just be prepared for whatever the gods may throw at you.  don’t rely on the “last time” theory (which is never a good thing to rely on anyway).

 

the lake fishing has suffered a bit from rising water levels.  went out to the lake twice since last checking in and registered my first lake (or any kind of fishing for that matter) bolo in a long time.  as greg would say ala alas.  the bait guys have still been catching some peacocks but the bite has definitely slowed.  the water has come up due to the recent rains, i guess. it remains to be seen what all is going to come out of it.  word on the street is that there is a new game warden, i have not met him yet but just make sure to dot your i’s and cross your t’s.  i will check out the lake again this week sometime.

 

in other goings ons.  sean and i did a little tying demo over at the seafood festival at p.o.p. on sunday.  thanks to all the peeps who showed up for that. hope you guys had a good time and picked up a tying tip or two.

 

“busy” is the word to sum up october as i juggle getting my licks in on the water and actually trying to get some work done in between.

 

e.t.’s still out there doing his thang with and without clients.  the day we went out he got four fish (to my one) and experienced the joys of casting the 7wt. sage z axis.

 

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tying demo at the “fourth annual hawaii fishing and seafood festival” sponsored by the pacific islands fisheries group.  special thanks to izuo bros. for the giveaways and for providing the facilities for the tying demo.  also thanks stan for showing up and helping us out and of course all the peeps.

 

undeterred from the donks dished out by the lake the day before, the fly jawa and lost brian relentlessly pounded it again the very next day.  it was tough, but we managed to will out a few tucs and red devils.  lost brian “man hands” a peacock.  brian i'm glad you're not so "lost" anymore bro.

 

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sean solo missioned the rainy windward side and found a few bones on monday.  he fished deep with turds, marabou shrimps and moffo’s crustacean.

 

whether you fly fish freshwater, fly fish saltwater... or just fly, this fall’s still got a little somethin’ somethin’ for you.  get after it and, as always, good times.

 

clay.

 

 

 

 

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10/02/09

fly fishing hawaii:

the lake< report.

wow... october already... so much to fish, so little time.  i had planned to go out with e.t. and his clients jeff and garrett today but had forgotten that i had told the kirksta that we could go check out the lake today.  kirk took a day off from work to go so i had to cancel on e.t. and the guys (sorry guys i wanted to get out with you again... next time).  gettin’ old and forgetful.

 

so kirk and i headed out to the lake to see how the fall goings ons were going on.  we got out about ten thirty and the lake was a complete ghost town, absolutely dead.  no red devils, no peacocks, not even bait rippling the shoreline.  we cruised around and saw all the guides and their clients.  i don’t know how they were doing or how the early morning was... i can only report what we saw...  nottin’.  chris wright was on the water we gave each other the shrug of the shoulder as we passed by.  you can check out how they did at <www.hawaiibassfishing.com i haven’t checked the site as of this posting.  we worked some shoreline without so much as a chase.  the only signs of life were the lake bats (plecostomus) rising for air.  sometimes the lady of the lake can be a cruel mistress.  i kept telling her, “come on... just show me a sign.”

 

the lady of the lake kept silent and we just kept on getting the beat down and hoping for a sign.  i had brought two beulah switch rods the 4/5 and the 5/6.  i wanted to see how a 200 grain scientific angler streamer express line would work on these rods.  so i kept myself busy casting through the long, dead hours.  the line threw well on both rods but seemed to load the 4/5 just a little better imo (in my opinion... i just learned that).  at the end of the rig was a fly that i picked up on my last trip called a floating smelt.

 

i think it was around one thirty or so when we finally saw some signs of life in the form of very sporatic busts in the kemoo island area.  i pounded around deep for a while, still no bites.  i was beginning to prepare myself mentally for the first lake bolo i have had in a long, long, time.  fortunately, as the afternoon wore on the busts began to get a little more consistent.  we were finally able to get some peacocks.  the busting fish were fast and randomly popping up all over the place.  we just drifted the stretch from miki miki flat to the basin over and over. it took preparedness and the utmost patience as we watched fish pop up “over there”.  whenever the fish busted within casting range we would take quick shots at them.

 

we ended up getting about four or five tucs a piece doing this for a couple of hours before the shut down.  it was a pretty tough bust by lake tuc busting standards.  it was tough to get on the bust.  none the less, those couple of hours were filled with excitement, frustration, laughs, and some strong fat peacocks that put quite a bend in the beulah 4/5 that i was fishing.  always good to get out with the kirksta and today was just another example of how you never know unless you go... and sometimes you gotta go and stay too.

 

clay with his "go ducks" abel and peacock.

 

fatty.

 

kirksta leading in one of his fish.

 

no matter how the fishing is the kirksta will fish hard to the bitter end.  hopefully this is only the beginning of a ridicu-fall bite.  good times.

 

clay.


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