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04/26/10

bonefishing hawaii:

the weekend and the tfo pro review.

 

pounded hi kai on saturday with friend of nwff kenny b.  ken fished his beulah switch 7/8 and i fished a meiser 11’ 6” 567 switch with a 480 grain airflo scandi compact.  it was the first time that ken had been out to hi kai.  the south swell pushed the tide hard and we had a bit of a tough time getting on the fish.  we pounded though and in addition to a few trumpets, we managed to score some bones.  ken caught three small rats (shattering his previous record of one small rat).  i got two despite a less than stellar casting day for me (conditions were rough out there).  if you catch fish with a bad cast... does that count?  i’m not exactly sure, i’m still learning what bonefishing in hawaii is all about.

 

the next day we went out to hickam.  i was totally beat down from the day before but i always live by the offspring mantra “the gang says go... “ so away we went.  we decided to sleep in and fish the falling tide instead of the rise.  i borrowed craigy’s tfo pro 12’ 6” 6wt.  i needed something new to try to motivate me to get on the water again.  so i grabbed a bunch of heads and set off to find a line for this rod.  i waded out to a high rock and started casting the rod.

 

the tfo pro 12’ 6”, like its single hand brethren is a very smooth and forgiving rod.  not the fastest action but easy loading with a nice casual feel to it.  i tried the airflo compact scandi heads in 360, 390, 420, and 450 grains.  i ended up liking the 450 grain head the best though the rod cast all of them quite nicely.  despite not really "fishing" the rod, i hooked a microbone and a small omilu which were perfect for this rod and reminded me of how fun it is to catch small fish on light rods.  i also hooked a bigger bonefish and the rod just did not have the backbone at all to control the fish nearly as much as i like to geev'um before they get going.  i don’t know exactly how big the fish was but i gave it all the rod had and couldn’t keep it from wrecking me (and my polyleader) in the gnarly hickam reef.  i didn’t think i’d be able to stop a big bonefish with this rod (i wasn’t even expecting to hook one) but it was confirmed anyway.  all in all the tfo 12’6” 6wt. pro gets the thumbs up.  very fun to fish for the smaller stuff or in places where you can let the fish run like a banshee.  it also comes in at a price that’s hard to beat.

 

brother jose is in town from the ak, so i’ve got a long week and a half ahead.  one of the originals of the nwff crew, jose has been gone for a bunch of years since he transferred.  three kids later, he’s back to fish.  i just hope i can keep up with him... the old grey goose, she ain’t what she used to be.  but as stated before, the gang says go... 

 

kenny b. with number two.

 

...that's my boy.

 

kenny b. and number three gaze toward the west.

 

letting the boney go.

 

hawaiian style microbone.

 

little omilu (bluefin trevally).

 

big, small, fat, tall... i pretty much just love them all...

 

and especially great guys and good times...

 

clay.


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