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04/15/12
bonefishing hawaii:
friday the 13th.
as we make our way toward the summer season, we here at nwff start thinking about trevally and possibly catching some on the fly in the up coming “gettin’s good” months. i caught a few of them off season and it’s had me thinking that this may be a good year for trevally. i hooked another nice whitey earlier this week but it popped off just as i grabbed the leader. that was wednesday (i think). then on friday, which happened to be the thirteenth, i went out for another crack at the elusive trevally.
i fished the g loomis roaring river switch 7wt. and abel switch reel (can you tell i like this reel). i brought out a bunch of scandi heads to “play with” and ended up using a 28 ft. vision ace 360gr. scandi head that the good folks at the deschutes angler cut for me few years ago. although i have used these rods quite a bit and caught numerous fish on the roaring river switches they were never my favorite rods in the arsenal. i could never find the right line to dial them in to my liking, which is extremely important with two handed rods. the problem, i found out, was that i was always hovering around the rods rated 450 grain weight for lines and that just didn’t do it for me. on friday i dropped down (quite a bit) to 360 grains and, like magic, the rod became every bit as sweet as it is touted to be. i think i could go even lighter and can’t wait to try that out this coming week. anyway the point to all of this is that, especially with two handed rods, you need to find the right line that makes the rod "sweet" for you. it does take some time (sometimes a lot of time) trying out different heads and weights and can be frustrating especially when just starting out (you should see how many lines and heads i have). to me, that’s just part of the journey and the fun that keeps me so into doing this stuff.
i did get one trevally. it was about the size of my hand and i thought it was a lizard fish until i saw it. it seems the gods had other plans for this day. from the moment we got out right up until we left there were bonefish everywhere... tons of them. it was borderline ridiculous and a sight i have not seen in a while. for a couple hours, i watched fish after fish tailing, cruising by me, and spooking while i tried to catch a trevally. later, i spent some time dian fosseying them “gorillas in the mist" style as they went on with their business as close as two or three feet away from where i was crouched down motionless. if you have not done this with bones before, i highly recommend it... super super cool. i take time out from fishing to get up close and personal with them whenever the opportunity arises. finally, i couldn’t resist. the water was super shallow and even though i had a less than ideal set up for shallow water sight fishing, i gave it a shot. there were just too many of them. as expected with bones in ridiculous shallow water on a sunny day, most encounters ended in giant wakes racing toward deeper water. i managed to get three fish which is just right for me when it comes to bonefish. enough to justify paying myself for the blog and after catching two or three bones i start to lose interest in catching any more anyway. long gone are the double digit fish days where i had the need or drive to hook every fish on the flat... but that’s just me.
so friday the thirteenth didn’t end up as bad as, i guess, it could or maybe should have been. by using the tactic of “playing the hand you’re dealt” that i often preach about, friday the 13th 2012 went in the books as another great day in the life of clay. just doing what he does always in his own way. i’ll see you on the water.
fish like this little rat had their backs out of the water at times... it was ridiculous.
another "skinny water" bone.
got a little vid to remember the day by as well.
you'll never know unless you go. friday the 13th... good times.
clay.
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