Further information ...

08/05/12

bonefishing hawaii:

bombing the featureless sea.

 

i’ve only been on the water once since the last blog.  got some doctor and dentist appointments out of the way this week and made a few more for the upcoming week.  anyway, the summer olympics has made it tough to even leave sight of the t.v.  it’s funny how the worlds greatest athletes can turn shall we say lesser (much, much, much lesser) “athletes” such as myself into dormant inanimate blobs of living matter.  i did get out once after one of my appointments and bombed one of the high tides we’ve been having lately.  this provided the topic of this blog.

 

the new and full moon phases produce the fastest moving tides with the lowest lows and the highest peaks.  during the winter months this high usually occurs at night and in the summer months this peak tends to occur during the day.  tides in hawaii run from the lowest levels of around -.5 ft. to the highest levels of around 2.5 ft.  this may seem like a small difference compared to other parts of the world, but it does make a big difference to both hawaiian fish and fishermen.  usually on these tides, fly guys and girls will fish the fast rise from the low and leave when the tide gets high or, if possible, the other side of the tide as it falls.  any tide over 1.7 or 1.8 feet around here is pretty tough to fish from a fly fishers perspective.  a 2ft. plus tide can render the reef "unfishable" for a good part of the day.  the water depth and clarity (or lack there of) on the reefs during these tides is what makes it tough to fly fish.  tough, but not impossible and certainly not unfishable.  granted it is all but impossible to sight fish so sight fishing “purist” need not read any further.  for the rest of us this tidal situation leaves two choices bomb or stay home.

 

bombing or blind casting through the peaks of the high tides does work but it is not for the weak willed or the shallow wader.  i like to call fishing these high tides "bombing the featureless sea".  when the tides are this high every channel or cut in the reef disappears into a mass of just water.  fish are around and feeding during this time but finding one can be like finding the proverbial needle in a hay stack. there are, however, a few things that i think can aid one in finding that needle if you are crazy enough to try. so here are a few of them:

 

use a bigger brighter fly -  when bombing high tides i like to use flies sz. 2 to 1/0 in bright colors like orange, pink or yellow or flashy gold, silver or white.  i just feel like a fish would be able to find the fly from a greater distance.  i don’t know if this is scientific fact and i know that fish will eat a smaller fly if they come accross it.  fishing a larger brighter fly does make me feel better and that in itself keeps me fishing harder and longer. which are very important to success on these tides.

 

weight em heavy – when the tides are high that once shin deep spot will be waist deep or better and those chest deep channels will now be over your head easy.  also more current comes into play than when it is shallow.  as it is with all bonefishing regardless of tide, you gotta keep your fly in the zone so be sure to weight them appropriately.  lately i’ve been playing with lighter flies and different sink tips.  the verdict is still out on the effectiveness of doing this, but i can say that it is definitely more pleasurable to cast a lighter fly on a skagit/sinktip system than it is to chuck the mini “jigs” i used to heave on single hand rods with floating lines.

 

get that back cast up – speaking of casting.  if a single hand rod is your weapon of choice, being able to cast your backcast up is important to high tide bombing (or any fly fishing for that matter). especially on the high tides, you are standing in waist deep or deeper water and not being able to throw a backcast high will make the entire high tide bombing experience an exercise in futility and (probably) frustration.  one of the most prevalent problems i see is that many casters cannot make a high backcast.  they do fine in shallow water situations where there is enough space between their backcast and the water to allow a slight downward trajectory or the backcast to stop and start falling before the foreword cast is made, but they run into trouble as soon as this space is limited (i.e. wading deep).  also when casting with the wind (as, let’s face it, most like to do) a high backcast can keep your fly in the air even if the wind shortens or stops the backcast and the line begins to fall.

 

the most common thing i see anglers do on the water to try to get their backcast up is to lift their casting arm higher.  this may help a little but it is exhausting to cast like this and many raise their arms and in doing so end up throwing their backcast even more directly toward the water.  remember always keep your elbow below your shoulder and just make your speed up and stop in an upward direction.  trust me, i didn’t make this stuff up physics did.  when i used to fish with my buddy ty, he would get into situations where he would literally have his stripping basket around his neck. of course in this case, he had to lift his elbow above his shoulder (the water was up to his neck) but he could make long casts like this without his backcast hitting the water.  that is a bit on the extreme side but nevertheless it can be done and illustrates that no one should ever be hittling the water on their backcast no matter how deep they are.

 

cover the water – this is the part about bombing that i actually like the most.  covering that water.  maybe it is the emerging steelheader in me or my infactuation with just casting a fly rod.  start off short and work your way to make as long casts as you can.  let the big dog eat!  always fish it carefully all the way in making sure that fly never leaves the zone.  change direction and do it all over again.  in the featureless sea the fish can be anywhere so the goal is to put your fly everywhere.  everything you know about the good places in the reef and the places you haven’t caught fish can be thrown out the window in a featureless sea.  they no longer exist.  everywhere is fair game and i have hooked fish with the fly at my rod tip, a hundred plus feet away and everywhere in between.  i hook fish over areas where i consistently see them.  i also hook just as many, in the featureless sea, in places that i have never seen any except for the ones at the end of my line.

 

walk slow and trust your feet – in many high tide situations, you will not be able to see the bottom or your feet.  walk slowly and use your feet to tell you what’s in front of you before taking that next step.  this will give you some idea of where you are on the reefs that you fish, when it is getting shallower as well as maybe keeping you a little dryer or at least not swimming.

 

learn to read the surface of the water -  often times you can tell what you are getting into by observing the surface of the water.  things like the size of the swells pushing through, how the wind ripples the water, and the chop on the water can tell you if you are approaching a higher shallower (relatively) area or if you need to prepare for a little swim.

 

finally don’t expect too much – this is not an easy undertaking.  the odds are against you like no other bonefishing conditions out here.  many times you will end your session wet and fishless.  that’s the game.  the one phrase i find myself saying to myself throughout these bombing sessions is “c’mon, all i need is one”.

 

so what is the upside of fishing like this?  if you don’t know, then bombing the high tide will probably not be for you.  you should still give it a try though.  if you leave the water, fishless, wet to your neck or more, beat down from relentless cracks from wind swells with more salty gear to wash than you care to have and you think to yourself, “man i should’ve just stayed home”.

 

then you probably should.

 

the next big tides will begin the week of august 12... i'll see you (maybe) on the water.

 

after slaughterhousing g.t.s on christmas island a few weeks ago.  kirk returned to his home waters and, as he put it, ten thousand casts later he got this one.  g.t. fishing is a lot different on christmas than it is here.  i wonder why that is?

 

the high tide bombing set up for this day was the sage 6126-4 z-axis, abel switch reel,  a scientific angler .030 running line, an airflo rage compact 360 gr. head, and an 18ft. tapered mono leader with a heavily weighted large bright fly.

 

rod bent over...

 

needle found...

 

check out thuys video of her first experience with the red devil.  the password to view it is "Wilson".

(apparently the "w" has to be capital)

 

bombing the deep.  not for everyone, but for me all part of good times.

 

clay.

 

 

 

 


Top of page

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