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12/01/13

bonefishing hawaii:

fish the way you want to.


so here we are once again, the beginning of the final month of yet another year in the life.  the weather has deteriorated quite a bit from the glorious hawaiian days of summer.  we have settled into a cycle of weekly storm fronts blowing through the island.  this kind of sketchy weather can make the fishing around here pretty tough but so far the fishing has held up really well (knock on wood).  it has been a bit hit and miss out there.  in just the past week i have heard of gangbuster record days on the water and almost total shut downs with no rhyme or reason to it.  you just gotta ante up and see what kind of hand you are dealt.


i played a hand once this past week before the craziness of thanksgiving set in.  the “rod of choice” for the day was sage 691-4 tcx along with my now standard bonefishing reel the abel classic.  this year i have been fishing more six and seven weights than eight or nine weights i have for so many previous years.  i like the lighter weight rods for sight fishing mainly because, well, they are lighter.  they are easier for an old lazy goat like me to lug around especially on those long sight fishing days when there are not a lot of fish around and you do a lot of just carrying the rod more than you do casting the rod.  using such a light rod does have its drawbacks though.  i have lost a lot more fish using the lighter stuff than when using the standard 8wt. or 9wt. especially the bigger fish (over seven pounds or so).  that doesn’t bother me because it has always been about the fishing for me and not the catching.  you are also somewhat limited in the size and weight of the fly that can be cast.  even more limited by what these rods will cast sweetly which is very important to me.


the method and tcx.


i have also gone completely retro and now only fish click pawl reels.  in fact i don’t think i have even used a reel with a drag this whole year (i gotta check the blogs for that but i don’t think i have).  a click and pawl reel, for those not in the know, is one where the maximum “drag” is only enough to keep the reel from overrunning.  any other drag is produced by manually slowing down the spool of the reel with pressure from your hand.  like the rods, i like to use these reels because they are generally lighter than their dragged out counterparts.  just a whole lot less stuff in them.  i like the simplicity of it and the feeling of having total control at any point of the battle with a fish.  using your hand to create drag or “palming the spool” as the fly world calls it allows you do go from zero to lock down and every point in between almost instantly.  here again there are some major tradeoffs to consider.  the most important thing when using a click pawl reel especially for fast, strong fish like bones is that you gotta be ready to engage your “drag” at a moments notice.  click and pawl mechanisms are designed to be just tight enough to keep the spool from overrunning when line is pulled out but not at speeds and revolutions that most bonefish will put it through.  if you are not on top of your game at all times you can end up with a busted leader and a tangled, back lashed, mess of a reel that would rival any poorly cast bait casting reel.  yes fly line, although large in diameter, can backlash pretty seriously on a hot fish like bones.  i speak from somewhat hilarious experience.  anyway that’s what i’ve been using for the past year or so around here and i’ve loved every minute of it.


not a whole lot in there except fun. 


most recently i have been using the sage 691-4 method since i just got it not too long ago.  it would have been easy for me to grab that stick and have at it again.  it is such an awesome rod.  but what fun would that be.  so the other day i took out the predecessor to the method, the tcx, which is also a super rod in my collection that needed to be shown some love.  just like the flies i choose to use, i like to fish different rods every time out on the water.  it is a large part of what makes all this chasing fish with a fly madness fun to me. there are so many great rods out there and each one has its own unique story, characteristics, and personalities.  the industry does do a good job of keeping gear junkies like myself happy (and broke).  the next new drug is not always better than the ones they replace (often times they are a lot worse), but they all make you want to take a hit.  it can be hard to keep up though and choosing which rod to spend my hard (or hardly) earned money on is often tough for me because i love them all.  the megabucks gods willing, though, things will work out and i will one day have my warehouse containing every fly rod ever made and a giant casting pond to play with all of them in.




meanwhile back in the real world...



so the day i fished started off nice with lots of sun but by the time i got out on the water, the weather went rogue pretty quick.  the threat of rain, clouds, and glare made for some tough sight fishing.  that is beginning to sound like a familiar story, but i guess it is winter.  this type of conditions would likely find me carpet bombing some fishy area with a two handed rod, but lately i have been content to just slow my roll with a light rod in hand, chillax with some tunes, and take my best shots at whatever the gods put before me.  i enjoy fishing the way i feel like fishing with the gear i want to use regardless of the tide, conditions, or what i should do to catch fish.  it is just so much more fun that way and i think everyone should do that too.  after all isn’t that why we all got into this whole fly fishing thing to begin with?  while i may not always be optimizing my chances for success on any given day, when i am out there doing what i want to with the gear i want to do it with... it is already a successful day.  that is the secret.  i’ll see you on the water.

 

there are still good numbers of bones lurking just beneath the glare. 


the first fish of the day shredded my scientific anglers saltwater textured line on the reef and reminded me of another draw back of using the light rod.  you can go through fly lines pretty quick.


there is no doubt that doug always fishes the way he wants. 


rats like this are more the six weight's speed.  look at the power tail on this guy.


with a little luck bigger bones can be caught too.  i got this guy while i was leaving at the twilights last gleaming. 



always fishing the way i want to... my secret to good times.



clay.


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