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01/22/13

fly fishing hawaii:

the lake report.

 

it’s cold up there in wahiawa!  matt and i went up to the lake on friday.  winters can be tough on the lake as most fish that hail from south america and africa aren’t very comfortable in cooler temps.  also the word on the street included a disproportionate amount of largemouths in the catch mix which usually occurs when the peacocks and red devils are off.  but i do like to fish the lake and as frozen as they may be, fish still gotta eat so we went to see what was what.

 

the water was back up due to the rains we had a couple weeks ago.  as expected fishing was pretty slow.  we looked for red devils for a while and found absolutely none along the shore.  the devils were probably all balled up somewhere deep thinking “why is it so freakin’ cold!”  we worked some shoreline with flies, then horsed around with baitcasters and crankbaits.  stan wright joined us and fished his tenkara rod.  stan caught a little bass and we found one red devil which matt hooked with his fly rod.  turns out the red devil was a “sick devil”  and ate matt’s fly in a kind of last ditch effort to survive.  the lake just wasn’t happening.

 

after the “almost dead devil” incident we continued fishing crankbaits until i hung mine in some wood and broke it off.  since the fishing was so slow i figured i’d try to hook the branch and get my lure back.  turns out it wasn’t that easy of a task.  we tried for about an hour while stan parked his boat in the shade, sat back, and watched our antics.  we hooked a few smaller branches but none of them were the culprit.  finally matt hooked a heavy branch and started pulling it up.  as it rose toward the surface from the murky depths, we were surprised to see how big the tree limb was.  even more surprising, there was my crankbait hanging on the limb like the ornament on charlie brown’s christmas tree.  on a slow day on the water like this, any success can be a turning point.  i felt matt getting that branch was the turning point for this day.  i was stoked!  we revived the branch, released it, and watched it swim slowly back into the depths.

 

 

now that we had a little momentum on our side, i wanted to keep it rolling so we fished a little live bait.  we caught about four peacocks on bait but it took us awhile to do that.  stan had enough fun for one day so he left.  matt and i began fly fishing again, what we went up there to do in the first place.  we pounded the “good woods” without any signs of life.  it didn’t look like it was going to happen, but we just kept on pounding.  out of nowhere (as it tends to happen a lot with peacocks) matt hooked up and caught a small peacock.  for the second time the boy turned things around in the darkest hour.  seeing matt's fish, being “on” and of schoolie size, i immediately got my fly into the same wood and soon hooked one too.  once again we found some life in this lifeless lake.

 

we pounded until dusk and although it remained tough we picked up a half dozen or so more peacocks.  nothing big, but we got some fun size "eaters".  all things considered, not too bad for a winter day on the lake.  like i always say, you gotta pound and you’ll never know unless you go.  i’ll see you on the water.

 

the closet "master baiter" at work.  although i don't do very often these days, i grew up doing it and did it a lot when i was a kid.  hah!

 

matt, 5wt. tfo bvk, and a "sick devil" but a devil none the less.

 

immitating small baitfish is always the call on the lake.  a small crazy charlie does a good job of that, just ask matt.

 

the sage bass II rod (bluegill or smallmouth) and an abel classic reel.  perfect peacock slayer.

 

matt lips another "eater" that fell for his charlie.

 

the lady of the lake can sometimes be a stingy girl when it comes to fish, but she's always willing to give up some good times.

 

clay.


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