Further information ...

02/26/12

bonefishing hawaii:

everything on it. (part 1)

 

so much going on since the last blog (well the last last blog i mean). because of this, i titled this blog after the late shel silverstein’s most recent book.  silverstein was, in my opinion, one of the greatest poets of our time and has had quite an influence on my life and just the way i am.  i took a week off from fishing to (hehe) get some work done and reconnect with some “non fishing” friends.  kind of a new years resolution of mine.  these people are extremely important to me but often get left out of my abnormally imbalanced and hermetic lifestyle.  so i actually spent time instant messaging and talking on the phone with some of them (no really... the phoneaphobic actually called people).  as most of my little hiatuses from being on the water go, that internal spring steadily compressed until it exploded resulting in a four day fishing bender that just ended yesterday.  between sight fishing with fiberglass and two handed bombing, bones, trevally, and golden photos and video and even a poem, this blog has (just about) “everything on it”.

 

over the years, the one fish that has eluded me and my fly has been the pa'opa'o or golden trevally.  the pa'opa'o is pretty rare on the fly here, but they do inhabit the bays and harbors that we all fly fish and do eat flies when they encounter them.  i have seen and heard of a number of them caught on a fly by friends and others over the years.  i always take quite a bit of ribbing from the crew everytime someone catches one (especially from deano the master of pa'opa'o on the fly).  as those, who have fly fished these waters many fewer years than i have, caught their first goldens, deano was always sure to remind me that i hadn’t caught one yet.  it was all in fun and it didn’t bother me at all because if the roles were reversed, i’d do the same to him... after all, what are friends for.  my response to him was always the same, “don’t worry, if i keep pounding i’ll get mine one day”.  turns out wednesday was the day.

 

 

i took out craig’s “new” old lamiglas 8wt. fiberglass rod and my new abel switch reel with an 8wt. airflo ridge bonefish/redfish floating line to do a little sight fishing.  over the years, i have taken the stink off of many of craig’s new rods.  for some reason his new gear always brings me luck.  the list is so extensive that i told craig that i would stop buying rods and just use all of his new stuff.  the 8wt. was a bit sluggish compared to the seven weights that we have (i had a hunch it would be) but it was okay.  doug and i started the day off with some bones.  nothing big just the usual rats which are super fun on a fiberglass rod especially with the click pawl abel switch reel.  during the cloudy times i’d take a few bombing shots because, you know, sweet setup in my hand in my hand i just gotta cast.  hooked a couple of nice whiteys (trevally) doing that and then got the pa'opa'o.  that was more than enough for me for the day. so i spent the rest of the time just walking around waiting for doug to get his fill, listening to music and enjoying just being.  good day.

 

 

on thursday my spey bro (and two handed mentor) harold came in to town to take a crack at some bones himself, so we headed back out into the fracus.  the crew did their sight fishing thang while i went out for a little solo two handed bombarama.  used the sage 7119-4 tcx switch rod, abel switch reel (of course), s.a. .030 int. running line, airflo skagit switch 450gr. and rio skagit flight 425gr. heads, and a rio 10ft. intermediate tip.  there was a bit of a south swell that day.  add to that some decent east/south east winds, and it gets pretty rough out there.  i took my licks, did what had to be done to get bit.  i put a few more bonefish screams on the abel switch and also caught a paki'i (flounder) which i haven't caught in a while.  doug hooked a few more bones sight fishing that day too but lost them all... so he says.

 

 

friday rolls around and it was back to fishing fiberglass for me.  went back to the lamiglas 7wt. and a s.a. mastery bonefish 7wt. line an absolute perfect combination.  with the approaching cold front and from what i had “sensed” out there the day before, i had a feeling it was going to be tough sledding.  before getting started i told the crew that the day was going to be all about whose ass the sun would shine on because it wasn’t going to be everyone’s.  there was, to my surprise, some fish around but for whatever reason they wanted nothing to do with kooks throwing flies at them.  i made what i would call good presentations to fish.  but, who the hell knows what that is when you don’t get bit.  i know bonefish don’t have hands, but i could have sworn i saw more than a few give me the finger that day as well as others that didn’t care enough to even do that. oh well, that’s the game.  it is not the first time that has happened and certainly won’t be the last.  i did somehow get one fish to eat... maybe the “biggest ass” has the most chance of the sun shining on it.  now there’s a theory to look into!

 

 

click here for part 2

 


Top of page

"Nervous Water Fly Fishers- your guide to fly fishing in Hawaii"