spent two interesting days on the water this past week.  the first day, wednesday, i went out to ke’ehi with jay.  the second was friday.  it was admissions day (the day hawaii became a state. yes, we are a part of the united states for those not in the know).  doug and i (well more i than doug) decided to go after some barracuda over at k bay.

i’ve known jay since he first learned to fly fish.   back when no one fly fished ke’ehi, kevin and i would be at the rat wondering who the hell is that?  it was jay.  over the years jay has become one of the local “heavy hitters” and one of my favorite guys to fish with.  for whatever reason, i haven’t been out with him for a long time.  it just happens like that especially with independent lone wolf type fishermen as jay and i are.  anyhow, it finally worked out where he called and i could go so we went.  with jay it’s a sight fishing only kind of deal.  knowing this, i busted out the trusty sage 908-4 tcx, abel super 7 (desert sky without the desert, of course), and lined it up with an 8wt. airflo bonefish line. there were a ton of fish that day but it was uber tough to get them to bite.  i took numerous shots at fish that would make the “aggressive maneuver” as i call it then just follow the fly until it either got too close and spooked or just casually lost interest.  there was a good size south swell pushing in that day.  jay fell down on the flat three times. 

from the reactions i was getting, i thought the bones weren't biting because the fly was moving unnaturally in the surge.  so i, very reluctantly, broke the in case of emergency glass and pulled out the ridicuheavy fly.  the one i keep in my box for just such an occasion but oh so hate to use.  i “casted” this ridiculous thing at the next few fish and same thing... no bite.  in retrospect i should have known it wasn’t the current because, now that i think about it, the fish were all tracking the fly straight and not like the “that looks like food but what the hell is it doing” follow that you’ll see sometimes when it is really rough or really windy.  anyway comparing notes at the end of the day i found out that jay had the same experience too.  we got three fish that day but that was a really low percentage of the shots we took.  i’ve always judged sight fishing success by the ratio of fish hooked to the number of fish seen rather than the absolute number of fish caught as many others do.  if i see three fish and hook one of them, to me that’s better than hooking ten fish out of a hundred shots.  that’s why when people tell me how many fish they caught my response is often, ”how many did you see?”

later that evening i spoke with doug.  he went out to hi kai that day and had the same experience too.  he said he saw alot of fish and they would move for the fly, follow, and not bite.  he caught one but had shots at many more.  this makes me think that it was not the location, as it often times is, but perhaps some more universal, cosmic kind of thing that affected the fish around the island.  who the hell knows.  it’s just kinda interesting to fishing dorks like us.

then yesterday, i rigged up a beulah classic 5/6 switch rod, abel 3n (uo ducks green of course), and a beulah 295grain elixir line, spun up a couple of cuda flies and poppers and headed out to the bay (k bay).  i started heading toward the outside cuda spot following doug as he sight fished for bones.  doug’s normal sight fishing speed is about the same as my “charging to a spot” speed (i’m a bit slower, in more ways than one, than most) so it worked out quite well.  i saw doug cast at a couple of fish so i put on a bonefish fly, slowed down my walk a little, and started casually scanning the water (half ass as we say around here).  then, wouldn’t you know it, i spotted one.  i sort of half heartedly just flung a cast in front of it (again half ass).  the fish didn’t make any sudden movement toward the fly like the other day.  instead it just stayed at its same pace and very slowly, almost unnoticeably, veered in the direction of the fly.  i recognized that trick immediately and just kicked back and waited.  eventually, the fish made it to my fly and was right over it.  the whole time from the moment i spotted it.  the bone never changed its slow cruise.  in fact, it may have even slowed down.  now directly over the fly she gave the little bone shiver and the tail broke the surface just a tiny bit.  i made a quick sharp strip set and the fish was tearing toward the horizon, doubling over the little 4/5 switch and leaving nothing but a puff of sand at the scene of the crime.  doug saw me hook up and came over to me.  i told him how i hooked that fish and soon after he was hooked up too (i saw the whole thing doug, never mind micro strips!).  two bones, no barracuda... yet.

doug went on sight fishing for bones.  doug's still got a bit of the bone fever in him, although i think it is coming down a bit.  i pounded the outside with a popper.  i got one hit by an ambitious little papio (trevally) that didn’t hook up.  that was it, so much for the outside cuda spot, so i headed in toward the inside cuda spot.  still two bones, no cudas.  i wasn’t looking for fish while walking in but i did noticed a few bones spooking around me (hard not to notice that) so i took off the popper and again put on a bonefish fly and again slowed down my walk and again spotted a bone casted to it and again it ate and again it took off.  “didn’t we just go through this?” i thought to myself.

i started reeling the fish in which to me is more like spooling a fly reel with backing than actually fighting a fish especially with the bigger fish that make that long run and kind of burn themself out.  suddenly i was startled by an unmistakable loud voice cutting through the the breezy trades.  i turned around and saw coach duff drifting up behind me.  i was so focused on what i was doing (or so out of it, i’m not sure which one) that i didn’t even see him coming.  i got the fish in and duff was nice enough to net it for me and take my picture (thanks duff).  we chatted for a bit and i continued on to the inside cuda spot, now three bones, no cudas.

i started pounding the inside cuda spot with the popper and after a while (a long while) doug joined me.  he said he caught two more bones which brought the total to five bones, no cudas.  we pounded hard for the rest of the day and when we were done, doug had hooked a cuda and lost it and i had two savage cuda blowups on my popper that didn’t get hooked.  the final score five bones... no cudas.  go figure.  i didn't see that many fish that day (i didn't fish for them that much or that hard).  doug said he didn't see that many either yet the ones i saw i caught and no barracuda.  what i went there to catch.  but that’s the way it is.  no matter how long you fish and how good you get, the fish gods always have clever ways of reminding you that you don’t know shit.  as we walked in i told doug, ”you know what this means... next time we gotta go fish for cudas again.”  i don’t think he liked that.

no matter how tough the fishing is, if there is a bone to be caught it's a good bet jay will get it.

this day there were alot of bones that looked like eaters but most just wouldn't eat.  still it's always a good time fishing with jay.

every day is different.  on friday i hooked one while walking out to bomb for cudas.

then doug got one soon after and more later.

and this fatty (the fish, not the dude... well kinda the dude too) and not a cuda to hand.  i guess in the grand scheme of things this was not bad for by catch.  oh well, sometimes like that... good times.

clay.