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03/22/14

bonefishing hawaii:

sometimes they just come to you.


apparently the powers that be have decided to skip spring 2014 all together and go straight into summer.  the first day of spring was officially on thursday but this entire week seemed like a week july or august here on oahu.  there’s been nothing but absolutely beautiful summer like weather out here.  the winds have ramped up quite a bit though and have been in the twenties for most of the week.  look at the title photo.  i was taking the picture when a gust of wind blew my cap up and pulled my panty like headwear up over my eyes!  the only difference between the winds we’ve been having and normal summer trades is that they have been a bit more northerly than easterly.  not surprisingly with this nice weather, there’s been fish around.  for whatever reason, though, they seemed to have been on the pickier side.  maybe it’s the tides, the high winds, or maybe it’s too sunny.  who knows?  not me... i just fish here.


everyone’s favorite boy wonder sean checked in.  the boy got the week started off right.  he took his shiny new sage 990-4 method (that some really, really, really cool dude got for him) and matching red nautilus nv 8/9 reel out on monday.  despite some tough fishing sean got a nice fatty to eat.  he said the method nine handled the gusty conditions  and  the fish well.


atta boy sean!  that's how you get the stink off of a new rod.


i on the other hand didn’t fare so well.  i went out on thursday with my g loomis classic glx 8wt.  there were fish around but they were not very bitey.  i think it had a lot to do with it being difficult to make a decent presentation with the wind yowling so hard.  i hooked a couple of fish but both of them did not eat good and both gave me the slip.  the downside of the whole weed guard trade off.  like i always say, the weedguard doesn’t know the difference between a rock and a fishes mouth.  so while a fly with some kind of weed guard on it will definitely hang up less, if you fish one you should expect less solid hookups more frequently.  thursday was especially tough because the fly popped out of the only two fish i hooked.  oh well, that’s the game.  sometimes like that.


so there i was driving home thursday evening, no pictures for the blog and no real desire to actually go fish again on friday.  i just didn’t want to do it.  besides it’s march madness tournament time and, for some reason, bonefish just aren’t that appealing a target to me when the tournament is on (or college football for that matter).  so i thought i’d just write one of those “the one that got away” blogs and use the pictures of the fish sean had sent me... that’s enough.  there was one thing, though, that i did kind of have the jones to do.  my next steelheading trip is coming up in another month or so and from talking to my buddy harold, it looks like this trip is going to involve a ton of tough, unproductive skagit dredging (as steelheading sometimes is).  that’s all good with me, i kind of get off on that kind of stuff.  knowing this, i’ve been wanting to get out and chuck around some heavy sinking tips with a skagit setup.  i wanted to get in some practice so i don’t look like a total moron on the river and disrespect both the river and the fish with shameful casting.  besides, sometimes you gotta give up fish now for fish later.  so before i reached home i made a deal with myself.  i would go and chuck the heavy sink tips for a couple hours on friday.  that would at least tear me away from the basketball tournament and get me on the water where there was a potential for fish.  the deal was, though, that i would not go to fish (i really didn’t want to fish) but just to practice.  i reluctantly agreed to the deal, but only if it was just to practice.


so on friday i got my stuff together, sage 7136-4 one rod, abel spey reel, rio skagit 550gr., and a couple of ten foot t-11 and t-14 tips.  i also took an intermediate tip just in case, for whatever reason, i absolutely couldn’t throw the heavy tips.  i tore myself (kicking and screaming) away from the t.v. and headed for the water.


when i got out there the wind was just ripping.  i got out on the water and realized that to cast into the deep water where it was deep enough to throw a heavy tip and not get hung up all the time, i had to cast in a direction that put the wind on my strong side.  this meant that i would have to cast cack-handed or switch and cast with my left hand on top.  “i guess i gotta practice that too,” i thought.  so i put on a ten foot t-14 tip and a heavily weighted fly and started casting.  go deep or go home.


the tough part about two handed casting in non moving water and howling winds is to get the anchor to land and line up in the right place.  once set in the right place the skagit set up launched the sink tip and fly long and easily.  i worked on my cack-hand and left hand up casting for about an hour and a half.  it was a really good practice session and the tide was beginning to rise quickly.  i hadn’t hooked anything but i wasn’t really fishing.  it did look and feel like there should be some fish around but i wasn’t surprised that i didn’t hook anything with the monstrosity that i was casting.  having had a good practice and being just about ready to leave,  i put on an intermediate tip and thought i’d make some casts into some of the shallower reefy water on my way in.  that way i could practice my strong side casting a bit and maybe get something to take a picture of for the blog.  i made a few casts and hooked a good sized weke (goatfish).  “wow bonus,” i thought having gotten a picture for the blog without even really trying.  a couple more casts and i hooked another weke that came off before i could get a picture.  that was enough for me.


bonus goat!


after releasing the second goat, i launched a circle spey bomb that cleared all the running line in my basket and even pulled a little more off my reel.  i was going to just reel in the line and get back to basketball watching, but the cast felt so good i decided to strip it in and try to chase that "high" one more time (nice casts are addictive that way).  halfway to getting the head back to recast... bammo!  wouldn’t you know it, i hooked a bone.  i laughed at the whole situation, shook my head, then got down to the business of trying to land this thing.  fortunately i had the 13’6” seven weight and i could use the length and power of the rod to steer the fish through the coral head laden mine field that i was casting over.  i landed the fish, took some pics, released it and booked it home, back to the madness of march.  just goes to show, as long as you have a fly in the water... there's always a chance.  i’ll see you on the water.


...and sometimes, they just come to you. good times.

 

clay.


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