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06/14/12

fly fishing and not so fly fishing hawaii:

summer fun for everyone!

 

so since the last blog, sean checked in with monday’s “catch”.  aside from the usual pound, e.t. and i spent a day with greg “pops” getting our summer spin fishing papio (trevally) fix on. yes, summer is here and we are rolling in the thick of it.  epic sunny, trade wind, postcard from hawaii days are the norm.  it just doesn’t get any better than right here right now.

 

as far as bonefishing goes, boneys are lurking around in force on reefs all around the island.  that’s the good news.  the not so good news is that overall the bonefish have been a little on the, shall we say, unhappy side. although there are quite a bit of them around, a large number of the fish you run into these days just will not eat a fly.  lately, the name of the game has become present the fly to as many fish as you can and hopefully run into a happy eater.  needless to say this favors the upper echelon of those who can spot fish as these guys will spot up to five times as many fish in a day compared to us mere mortals.  some fly fishers and guides have resorted to searching out the large schools that bones here sometimes congregate in and present the fly to half a dozen to a hundred fish in one shot.  this is also a very effective way of getting bit.  i don’t actively seek out these schools of fish as i have in the past, but i do employ this tactic whenever the opportunity presents itself.  in essence it is the same as putting the fly in front of fifty fish one at a time, it’s just quicker and you don’t need to be as accurate with your cast.  we call this type of bonefishing “hit the ball and win a prize”.  at the shop we get asked a lot about why a fish didn’t eat.  some of the time we can ask a few questions and come up with different strategies for the angler to try.  lately, it seems, the answer has simply been you just got to weed through the masses and find the one that will eat, as we ourselves have been encountering an increased number of spooky un-eating fish.

 

why is this the case?  some say it is the increased pressure from fly guys as well as conventional gear guys.  others blame legal or illegal netting.  it may be a temporary thing or it may just be how it is from now on. over the past eighteen years, i have seen many changes to the fishery some were temporary "passing phases", others are apparently permanent.  i am somewhat of  a go with the flow kind of guy so i don’t spend to much of my time wondering why things change.  they just do and it is what it is.  i just go out, play the hand that i am dealt, and love every minute of it.  that may or may not make me a better fisherman, but it sure makes me a happy one.  besides change always keeps things interesting out there.

 

whatever the reason for this “closed mouth” trend, there is still a ton of fish out there (some of which can be and are being caught).  add this to the kind of weather we’ve been having and you’ve got yourself a bonefish sight fishers dream (just ask doug).

 

lately, thoughts of fishing the lake has been poking at this bear and the boyz.  i think we gotta break out the five weights and get back to ‘ole wahiawa town and see what all’s going on out there... stay tuned.

 

after a day of chasing around "unhappy bones", lost brian man handles the boy's "day saver" a nice samoan crab (mud crab).

 

spent a day with greg "pops" spin fishing the bay.  landing fish like this was at times a bit tricky with the six to eight foot galapagos sharks around.  with gregs expertise we were able to land quite a few.

 

we also got a few awa aua (ladyfish).

 

pops and his "lady".

 

whiteys... cool.

 

it's good to take a break and do something different every once in a while.  summertime papio fishing with "pops" is one of e.t. and my favorites.

 

doug is one of the best when it comes to applying the "law of averages" to sight fishng for bones.  he is definately in the upper echelon when it comes to seeing fish.  lately he's been averaging about a hundred fish spotted a day and hooking three or four.  that is a pretty low percentage even for hawaii.  lots of them just aren't biting.

 

meanwhile the mere mortals have been averaging around thirty fish spotted these days and hook an average of one (remember the difference between one and none is very very slim).  no one can say when it will happen.  all i can say is that if you spot what you can and keep taking shots at them, it will happen.  i guarantee it.  good times.

 

clay.


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