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01/08/12

bonefishing hawaii:

first fish and fiberglass.

 

the holiday craziness is pretty much over and it’s back to “business” as usual.  thanks goes out to all those who made it another good year for nwff and fly fishing in hawaii.  been out only a few times fishin’ with the crew since the new year started.  i went out to ke’ehi a couple times with doug and craig (yes craig, who has been mia for a number of months now).  i got wrecked by one on the first day sight fishing with a sage 890-4 one.  i was pretty happy with that because it was the only fish i saw that day and i hooked it, i guess that would have been my first fish of the year.  the next time out doug got his first bone of the year and an off season omilu (bluefin trevally) to boot.  both craig and i lost our fish.  i was bombing the “coral bowl” with my sage 8119-4 tcx switch with an airflo 480gr skagit switch and assorted intermediate and floating tips.  i hooked two nice fish, but in a spot where on average you’ll land one out of every five, hooking two just doesn’t cut it.  craig, who is somewhat of a gear addict like myself, brought out a lamiglass 8’6” 7 wt. fiberglass rod.  these days fiberglass rods are a bit hard to find especially in higher line weights.  i think the lamiglass was the last production fiberglass rods in weights 7 and up and even these have been discontinued in recent years.  i gave the rod a few casts and it casted well and had that sweet fiberglass feel about it.  a nice progressive slow action i guess you’d call it though i am not a rod building expert.  craig hooked a fish with it but his hook bent bent out... it happens.

 

casting that rod got me to thinking about using a fiberglass rod for sight fishing because i have always thought that today’s fast action rods were not ideal for most of the sight fishing we do here on foot.  let’s be honest, when we sight fish here on foot how far away do we really spot most the bonefish we cast to.  yes, i two have spotted fish eighty to a hundred feet away on those shallow or sunny summer days when the hogs are roaming about.   aside from fishing from one of the increasing number of flats boats patrolling our waters these days, though, i’d say most shots on foot are in the less than fifty foot range and i think that number is skewed toward the “less” and “much less” part of the scale.  i have always been an advocate of slow or medium action rods for sight fishing here.  unfortunately, the manufacturers and the fly fishing public in general doesn't agree opting for fast action rods that can be “tip casted”.  some of these are nice and do a good job in close, but many just do not have that loving feeling (or even any feeling for that matter) when cast at close range.  even the best ones are nothing like fishing a slower action rod a feel that is hard to describe especially for a descriptively challenged guy like myself. 

 

these days, i don’t sight fish as much as i used to simply because around here effective sight fishing entails a lot of standing or walking around looking for fish.  this is due to the numbers of fish in this hard pounded fishery being generally less than other bonefish locales and, being an island with mountains, clouds in some degree are a daily occurrence.   sight fishing here is fun in it’s own way, but whenever i have a fly rod (of any kind) in my hand i just gotta cast it.  when i say cast it, i mean real casts not the five or ten feet of fly line flip that many a sight fished bone is caught with especially by those who advocate use of a long 12ft plus leader (which i also don’t particularly agree with but that’s a story for another day).

 

so yesterday we went out to hickam and craig, being the cool guy that he is, let me fish the lamiglass rod.  i committed myself to sight fishing although i did throw more casts and longer casts than if i were just sight fishing.  the rod was straight up fun and did everything sight fishing around here requires well.  in addition the casts were made with a sweetness that i have felt with very few (if any) faster fly rods in close.  the winds weren't that strong ten to twelve knots. the rod cast straight into it with no problem.  infact,  the area i was fishing all of the shots were into the wind.  remember, it is line speed and a tight loop that makes casts into the wind not rod action or blank material.  the rod threw 80 or 90 feet well but was in it’s zone at 50ft and less (hmm... where did i hear that before).

 

the sight fishing was poor as cloud cover made it hard to impossible to see much of the day.  i did manage to get one out of the few shots i had and though i had to put the wood to it the rod handled beautifully (and this isn’t even considered one of the best fiberglass rods).  i landed the fish, snapped some photos, took some video (still very lacking in those departments), and the first bone to hand of 2012 was in the books.  it was just another bonefish, but catching it the somewhat old skool way made it so much more and got me a little more excited about sight fishing again.  i went home and bought the other lamiglass rod from the guy craig bought his from.  i don't know if fiberglass will become my go to choice for sight fishing the hallowed flats of hawaii, but it is sure going to be fun finding out.  after all... isn't that what all of this is really all about?

 

first bone crappy video

 

doug started off 2012 with this guy.

 

the orange and tan charlie a favorite of doug.

 

first omilu (bluefin trevally) the boy's off to a good start this year.

 

first fish and fiberglass... don't know how good this year will be but for sure it will be full of good times.

 

clay.


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