07/11/09
bonefishing hawaii:
the orange bombing pepper a.k.a. firetail
okay, the brown charlie blog got some good feedback and since i was riding the ole nor-vise (www.nor-vise.com) today... here we go again. the slight increase in clouds this week along with the humanga-ganga tides made me think of the orange bombing pepper. it is also known as “firetail” to the little rat that often bounces around my vise (my nephew) while i’m tying.
the orange bombing pepper is a hybrid fly taking parts from a crazy charlie, gotcha, christmas island special, and chili pepper. well, not so much from a chili pepper. i guess the overall look to it is sort of chili pepperesque. anyway the point is it just combines different aspects of different flies.
the orange bombing pepper is a large, bright fly. i like throwing big bright stuff like this on overcast days or low light times of the day. also on the super high tides which accompany the new and full moon. i always feel more confident that a fish will be able to find it better in the murky, featureless, sea of the two foot plus tides in hawaii.
a big bright fly can also trigger the reaction bite from the bigger bones in shallow water (if you can present the fly without spooking the fish first... a big if). sometimes they just can’t pass up an easy meal of such proportions. i’ve had big fish spook, swirl around and clobberhouse flies like this. if you spook a bonefish and it is running away it’s pretty much game over, however a fly like the orange bombing pepper is one of the few things that can make them change their minds about taking off... or at least make them think about it.