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10/29/11

bonefishing hawaii:

words to live by.

randall, one of my best friends in high school, used to always say, “if at first you don’t succeed, keep on sucking until you do succeed”.  yeah, that’s the kind of life wisdom i grew up with.  oddly enough, this week i found myself calling upon this and another (wise?) saying that another buddy ty used to always say.

i spent two days on the water with doug, e.t., and my alaskan bros jarod and mike.  jarod has developed into somewhat of a mad bomber himself so he and i went out on a little bombing raid this week leaving doug, e.t., and mike up to their own devices.  it’s around the time when tako (octopus) start showing up on the flat and we have been noticing their holes while fishing.  so the plan (for me anyway) was to spend some time looking for tako in addition to catching bones.  the first day, wednesday i think, i started the day looking for tako (octopus).  i found a bunch of holes but they were all either vacated or already taken by another tako hunter.  i let jarod fish one of my normal haunts, and i headed out to an old nemesis of mine, a grumpy old gnarly coral bowl (as old and grumpy as the author), that i haven’t fished in a couple of years and never with a two handed rod.  this spot is among my top five hardest spots on the island to land a fish.  it’s number three to be exact.  i’d say the average catch rate in this gnarly bowl is about one fish out of every eight to ten hooked and even less if you are counting fish hooked and landed without some kind of destroyed gear.  over the past eighteen years, this bad boy has chewed up and spit out dozens of fly lines and claimed hundreds of leaders and flies.  add to that the sketchy coral perches to stand on, and the knocks from swells and breaking waves and you’ve got yourself quite a little bonefishing predicament.  i fished my sage 7126-4 tcx deathstar, with a 550gr. rio skagit flight, .30 rio powerflex core shooting line, a 10ft. rio intermediate tip and 20lb fluorocarbon thinking that this would be enough... i was wrong.  i hooked four fish that day and lost them all without even coming close to landing one.  what did randall used to always say? thinking that exact thought, i retreated with my tail between my legs to regroup.  i was rudely reminded of why i haven't fished there for so long.

yesterday, undaunted by wednesday’s lickin’s, i pulled out all the stops and broke out the big gun.  i fished the sage 8129-4 z axis, the deathstar was definitely a stout enough rod, but i didn’t want to take any chances.  it also gave me a chance to dust off one of my many “just give me a reason to fish it” rods.  i rigged the rod with a 625gr. rio skagit flight, airflo 50lb. extreme tropical running line, a 12ft. rio clear intermediate tip and a 52lb. mono leader with a short 16lb. “in case of emergency breakaway section” between the intermediate tip and the “tippet”.  unorthodox for sure but far from the first time i’ve had to use something so egregious around here.  a 625gr. skagit head is so thick that you would think that the line itself could beat just about anything that swims.  knowing that bowl so intimately, though, i still had my doubts.

i started off just wandering around toward the bowl once again looking for tako and remembering another saying that my buddy ty always said about tako hunting.  “no one man can find them all.”  i found a few empty holes again and then... oh?  who is this?  the simms wading staff is not the best for coaxing octopi out of their safe havens.  it is a little too thick and blunt especially for the ones in the “complex” holes.  with a little work though, the tako finally came out.  not big but perfect for a little popcorn tako.  i grabbed it , it inked me and all was beginning to feel right in the world again.  i decided that was enough tako hunting for me.

now covered with “war paint” i headed out to do battle with the gnarly bowl.  the tide was much lower than two days ago and a bit lower than i like it there but i unleashed the 8129-4 z axis on it anyway.  after bombing it for a while i got the feeling that either there weren’t many fish around or the 52lb. mono i was using was impairing the presentation of the fly.  it was probably a combination of both, but i just kept casting (and singing and dancing).  somewhere in the middle of 99 luftballoons i hooked up.  the fish took off and i fought it for every inch of the running line in my basket.  this guy was hot and kept going even after it wrestled all of my running line from me.  i did my best to keep it swimming at an upward angle and steer it away from the many coral patches that littered the bowl.  i got it under control (somewhat) and brought it in until the intermediate tip was just outside of the guides.  that left about twenty feet between me and the fish.  a few more nervous moments as the fish made some bursts over some really shallow coral and i was close to getting it.  i noticed that it wasn’t hooked very well so i knew i couldn’t just grab the leader and yoy him in (my preferred method of landing them).  instead, i had to be patient and wait for him to swim toward me.  it circled me a few times then made that fatal direction change toward me and i tailed it... nice.

i did my best to get a photo in between waves (not easy with a twelve foot nine inch rod, waves breaking on a shallow reef, unstable footing, a still very strong and fresh bonefish, and a crappy photographer who doesn’t like to take pictures anyway).  i released the fish and it bolted away as if it didn’t even get hooked and was just spooked.  i worked my line out again but then saw doug walking toward me so i reeled up and headed home having sucked just enough to have succeeded.

in gnarly sketch reef conditions, sometimes you gotta "jump" them to have a chance.

words to live by... good times.