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11/22/10
bonefishing hawaii:
back to the boneyard.
so apparently whilst daddy was away, the boneys around here have been on the bite pretty good if you’re willing to do what it takes to get them. reports are that although the sight fishing has been on par or maybe just a tad tougher for this time of the year, blindcasting has been producing quite a number of fish (even for blindcasting).
despite the mountain of work i’ve accumulated for myself while on my little steelhead adventure, i couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get back into the salt when the boyz came a calling. besides, my buddy jarod from alaska had been here for a few weeks while i was in oregon and saturday was my last chance to see him... that’s my story anyway and i’m sticking to it.
my two handers hadn’t arrived from oregon yet and i really wanted to get out and practice some of my newly learned skagit casting skills so i grabbed the only two hander i had (a g loomis roaring river 8wt. switch) a couple of rio skagit flight heads (the 525 and 550 grain). i made my own mow tip of sorts by cutting a ten foot section of intermediate line for a tip and headed out to hi kai with craig.
when we got to the water and began rigging up we realized that neither of us had brought any tippet. we dug around craig’s car but, amazingly, came up empty. craig had the leader on his reel from the last time he was out but i had nothing. we could see guys out on the water and we knew some of the boyz were out there we just couldn’t tell which guys were them. i decided that i would just walk up to the closest guy and try and bum my way into some tippet. i approached the first guy out there and it fortunately turned out to be my buddy nao from japan. we just chatted for quite a while and he hooked me up with some much needed tippet.
i ended up using the 550 skagit flight (although i think that the rio skagit short may be better... i didn't have any) and had a pretty good casting day, about 80 percent decent to good casts and about 20 percent complete wrecks. the important thing was that it was better than the last time and a huge improvement over my skagit casting prior to my trip (thanks skagitmasters!).
anyway it turned out to be a great day. the guys out there doug, jarod, nao, and craigy all got fish. there was plenty of sun to sight fish which some of the guys did. i managed to get some bones with double speys, circle casts, and perry pokes modified to the standing water salt conditions. what else can i say here, it really just doesn’t get any better than that.
deano checked in with this glorious hickam sunset.
and a couple of bones he got with his new spey company river switch reel. sorry tim, i'm still not able to subject your beautiful works of art to the harsh salt environment, but apparently they handle it quite well.
jrod brought a switch rod for the first time on his trip to hawaii last year and has never looked back.
he and his ak crew conked a bunch of bones with two handers on this years trip.
craigy got this awesome underwater shot of one of his fish.
the "noon" (nunu or cornet fish). i always like to see this guy make an appearance. if it wasn't for this fish no one would be fly fishing in hawaii today, but that's a story for another day.
whether single hand or double hand, sight fishing or blind casting, there's nothing like catching fish with what you want, the way you want to do it. if you do that, it's guaranteed good times.
clay.
11/17/10
fly fishing oregon:
o trip 2010... i’m back.
just got back from my break from the hi fly scene. got my two handed fishing on in oregon with some of the hawaii spey bros. we mainly fished the deschutes and grande ronde but i also fished a bit on the kilchis and the willamette rivers.
thanks to grant brown, herb burton (from the trinity fly shop), clayton foster, jerry french, amy hazel (from the deschutes angler), lance kaufmann from kaufmanns streamborn, joel la follette (from royal treatment fly fishing), sean niesz (for letting me go), scott o’donell, tim pantzlaff (for making our wicked spey company< reels), john sherman (for the sound simms gear advice), deano shirota, harold young, hayley young (for putting up with us all those days), and ben “the wombat” young (for being able to outcast all of us at fifteen). these people made this trip one of my all time best. we learned a ton about two handed casting and fishing, had a great time, and got some steel as a bonus. i just got back yesterday but i already can’t wait to go again. yeah, i'm pretty hooked on this stuff. for now, however, it’s back to business as usual. enjoy the pics from the trip and i’ll be checkin’ in again soon with what all’s going on around here as well as more o trip 2010 pics as they come trickling in from others.
o trip 2010. the cast of characters...
surfa boy craig of the hawaii spey bros. and his twin brother colin from los angeles.
harold young from tigard, oregon and some vagrant the guys picked up on the side of the road.
views from the road:
"land stretchin' out so far and wide."
first day of the trip, first steelhead ever. there's nothing like the first time. deschutes river oregon.
this trip was all about swinging for steel... no nymphs or thingabobbers were harmed in the making of this blog.
following the "explorer inn" to the town of troy and the grande ronde.
the promise land. the grande ronde on the washington, oregon, idaho border.
jerry french keeps a close eye on colin as he swings through the run.
"skagitmaster" scott o'donell in his natural habitat.
clayton foster, always excited to get us on fish.
the spey company snake roll summer spey reel. sweet.
grande ronde bull trout... we all got a number of these vicious critters.
scott o'donell shows off craig's first steelhead.
clayton foster begins another days drift right from the lodge.
each morning we were greeted by some pretty eerie alien looking cows.
harold gets big grande ronde steel.
another very ambitious little bull.
clayton foster, harold young, and a chinook jack.
scott o'donell and yet another nice grande ronde steel.
some kind of mountain sheep. throughout the trip we were treated to many wildlife sightings, bald eagles, spawning king salmon, blue herons (spey crows), and tons of deer.
on the last day on the grande ronde, jerry french was cool enough give us an intruder tying demo.
intruder alert... intruder alert!
after the grande ronde craig and colin had to bail. harold and i took what we learned from the skagitmasters back to the deschutes river and...
it worked!
another deschutes summer run steelhead for clay.
we tried to fish the kilchis and the trask for chum and chinook salmon. we didn't get any but i did fall into the kilchis and floated down river about twenty yards before i was able to get out. i haven't fallen in a river in a long time... not recommended.
this cow wanted to be on the blog so badly it blocked the road to the water and wouldn't let us pass.
for better or worse this is where the lives of many steelhead and salmon begin.
then it was back to the deschutes.
one more grab and miss on the willamette and it was time to return to the hi. this trip was for me all about learning and getting better with two hand rods. as the lifelong quest for fly fishing perfection goes on, great guides and great friends along the way make sure the journey filled with... good times.
clay.
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