Further information ...
	Home NWFF blog clay's blog archives 01/09 happy new year? 01/21 fishing through the slump.

01/21/11

bonefishing hawaii:

fishing through the slumps.

 

on the bright side this winter has held up well and fishing, although a bit spotty, has been very good.  the only down side is that i’ve been fishing through a slump for the last month or so.  it happens.  maybe it was the ducks losing or maybe i’ve just gotten a little lazy.  maybe it’s because i shot my mouth off about how important it is to make every fish count in the winter a couple of blogs ago.  no one knows what cosmic forces cause these slumps to happen but anyone who says they have never gone through one, just straight up hasn’t been fishing that long.  there is a cure for the slump though and it’s a simple one.  just don’t get down, keep having fun, and pound right through it.  the fish gods are not dumb, they know exactly how to push your buttons and every once in a while they try hard to do so.  they can sense when you are getting rattled and that’s when they really go to work.  i say f_’em  don’t give them the pleasure.  once they see that, “hey this guy really doesn’t give a rip what we throw at him.”  they tend to ease up on you big time.  so that’s pretty much what i’ve been up to.  fished with a bunch of different people and watched them all land numerous fish, while i, for reasons unbeknownst to me, managed to lose every fish i hooked... what can one do?  i just enjoyed the company, tried to help those around me get better, and laughed at every fish i hooked and lost, knowing full well that this was far from the first slump i’ve ever been through and certainly not the last.

 

also helping me through was my g loomis classic glx 8wt. which i just got.  the glx was the first fishing rod ever that used a graphite made just for fishing rods.  i have several 4pc. original glx rods that i got when they first came out way back in 1993.  the original glx imho is still the best casting rod ever made period.  i don’t use mine that often because i’m afraid of breaking one as the original glx’s are now only offered in 4,5,6,and 8wt. two piece models.  with the launch of the nrx, who knows how much longer  these rods will be available.  the original glx, i just have to cast this rod and immediately all feels right in the world (i’m smiling now just thinking about it)... an awesome weapon to have in your corner when battling the slumps.

 

the slump is a good time to enjoy the little things that we often miss in our daily quest for fish.  e.t., doug, and i were fortunate enough to find these two sea horses out at ke'ehi just the other day.

 

remember those guys from reno i mentioned in the last blog.  well they took my advice and went out and just pounded maui.  brandon reported back that both he and chris got into some fun little omilu (bluefin trevally) action and chris also managed to get a nice bone as well.  check out the full story on brandon's blog black rock flycasters. way to go guys... that's the way you do it!

 

jon t. took his "new" casting skills out to hickam and scored this nice awa 'aua (lady fish) and bones too.

 

deano (palolo skunkworks, inc.) is out and about doing his thang.  he reported that hickam was "biting up" on MLK day.

 

mitch and i fished a day too right out infront of his pad.  he landed his rat... mine cut me off.

 

dougie scored at ke'ehi, he found a pod of eating rats and pounded them.

 

with the help of the original glx, i finally landed a pair of nice hawaii bones at hi kai yesterday officially ending the slump... until the next one. 

 

what more can i say about slumps except sometimes like that.  just gotta pound through them, all the while enjoying... good times.

 

clay.

so begins another year and things around here are starting to settle in to 2011 normalness.  i had a great local style new years with the family.  unfortunately, it may have been the last as the city and county of honolulu (in their infinite wisdom) passed a total ban on fireworks.  just another law that they are completely unable to enforce.  once again hawaii has found yet another way to punish law abiding citizens and make it that much more lucrative to be a criminal.  as someone told me, “ah, we can still burn fireworks next year, just gotta buy from the cops”.  but that’s a blog for another time on a different site.

got a couple of checkins from brother jose and our recently moved buddy parker.  i haven’t been out much since the last blog. just busy with assorted year end shtuff.  went out once to ke’ehi with jay.  for one reason or another jay and i haven’t fished together in long time so it was good to get back on the water with him.  we caught a good weather day and there were some fish around.  i hooked three and lost them all (sometimes like that), jay hooked five and managed to keep two on the flat.

then yesterday e.t. and i, along with a bunch of other regular customers of the shop, went out to hi kai.  the purpose was to get robert, who is new to fly fishing on the right casting track but it turned out to be a mini fly fishing/casting  clave of sorts.  between the eight or so guys that (through the coconut wireless) showed up we had a bunch of different rod/reel/line set ups for everyone there to try.  i even met a couple of really cool guys from reno who were just making their way through the islands fly fishing for whatever.  they were off to maui next and i hope they are finding some action over there.

the day was kind of cold and didn’t feel very fishy so i spent most of the day just casting different rods and helping guys improve their cast.  some of the guys went out to fish and reported that there were few fish around.  e.t. made his usual trek and caught one bonefish about six hundred miles away from where we were horsing around.  there were a bunch of other guys out there and we ran into a few more peeps we knew.  just a fun relaxing day on the water with some great guys... the best part of this day was seeing robert overcome some small kine (mild) frustration and get a solid start casting the fly rod (as many of us know, a potential life changing moment).  another of our customers jon spent the day working on his casting and managed to take it to the next level as well.  for better or worse, the local fly fishing community is growing fast and exponentially here in hawaii.  the same thing happened with surfing in the last forty or so years that i’ve been on this planet... that’s just the way it is. like everything else in life there's good and bad to it.

i just received an e-mail from a friend the subject was "OMGosh the secrets out!!!"  the e-mail was alerting me to yet another “expert guide” going to give some kind of talk to eager ears about hawaii bonefishing on the internet or something like that.  lately, i have been hearing more and more complaints about how crowded it is on the flats (which are really not that crowded yet) and who’s doing what and where.

i wanted to share my response to the e-mail and my take on the whole recent mini explosion of fly fishing here on our little island and the growing pains of this (until recently) relatively unknown fishery.

it's no secret!  i just spent a day out at hi kai yesterday with eight of us (the boyz and some regular customers of the shop) and about ten other guys came and went throughout the day.  the real secret around here is to not get caught up in all the bullshit, talk, bragging, hype, and worry and just go out and have fun.  there's a lot of guys out there now and more everyday and we see many of them come through the shop.  most of them are out there either trying to find the magic short cut to catching fish like their lives depended on it or trying desperately to "get up" as it's known in the graffiti world and become the "known guy" (to feed their bank accounts or their egos, usually the latter).... how much fun can that be?  only a very small percentage of them seem to get what it's really all about.  anyway as far as guys fishing here goes it's gotta get worse before it gets better.  i knew it would happen sooner or later, there's just too many people on the island and not that much water.  i'm always amazed how few people went out and did it before i did and i feel lucky that i was able to spend years on the water all by myself figuring it all out.  no job, flat broke, the first fly fishing bum in hawaii.  those days on the water alone and later with guys like kevin, earl, and ty were some of the best days of my life.  i often feel guilty because i haven't done anything to deserve that.  but as with so many other magazined to death fisheries, it just shows how many people are not willing to just go out and try something new and have to be told it exists and that it can be done before they want to do it too.  the one thing kevin and i vowed never to do in the name of fame and profit (of which neither of us have or will ever have) was to blow up the fishery and we didn't.

to those who are bothered by the recent population growth in shallow hawaiian waters,  sean said it best when he once said, “if it’s not fun, don’t do it”.  simple.  besides, there's still a lot of undiscovered fly fishing opportunities here other than bonefishing at the popular spots.  we just gotta pry them out of deano over at the palolo skunk works.  just remember, as i always say, in the end only the best will survive... and i’m hoping that, at least tomorrow, it will be the university of oregon.  go ducks!

we got lazy this year and just stuck a stick in the rubbish can (trash can for those not from around these here parts) to hold up our fireworks.

as far back as i can remember, pearl city and waipahu never disappoint and the black market willing, next year they won't disappoint either.

brother jose checked in with some alaskan pike,

minnesota smallies,

and texas rock bass and bleugs (bluegill).  hey jose isn't that the secret hickam tailing fish fly from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away?

parker also checked in.  here he is before the move to south carolina...

and after.  don't worry bro spring is right around the corner... well sort of.

jay bein' jay, just the other day.

while working with doug on his casting something chased his fly.  without even thinking i instinctively cast the rod i had in the area and hooked this little cuda in one of the few places it could not cut the tippet.

sometimes a little cuda can go a long way. hope all the peeps out there have as happy a 2011 as i'm sure i'm gonna have... have fun out there, guaranteed good times.

clay.