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08/04/13

fly fishing hawaii:

echo geckos, abel creeks, and more.

 

fished the lake on wednesday with matt.  as mentioned in the last blog, i picked up an echo gecko (on the advise of deano) to check out and was jonesing to get it out on the water.  right at a hundred bucks the echo gecko is designed as a rod for the upcoming fly fishers of the next gen, the 7’9” 4/5 wt. rod screams fun with its bright yellow blank and multi colored foam grip.  the foam grip is slim to fit kids hands.  i had no problem with the grip but it may be too small for the monster handed.  i just so happened to have the perfect reel for that rod, an older scientific anglers system one 456 reel.  the result was a sweet little combo that was a hundred percent pure fun.  matt wanted to break in an abel creek 2 that he just bought.  like all abel reels the creek is, in my opinion, one of the best reels out there.  light weight, large diameter, narrow width, and super stylish.  the abel creek is a perfect blend of old school and new and right up there among my all time favorite reels.  matt was able (no pun intended) to obtain the best by working some late weekend nights at zippys this summer.  i’m proud of the boy.  it reminded me of when i started fly fishing.  i would literally skip meals to save money to buy fly gear.  that’s why i take such obsessively good care of all of my rods and reels.  my gear didn’t (and still doesn’t) come easily but nothing worth having ever does.

 

so matt and i were ready to go this week but of course that was all dependant on tropical storm flossie which blew through the islands on monday and tuesday.  fortunately for us, the storm fizzled out pretty good by the time it hit oahu but it still brought quite a bit of rain.  it appeared to certainly be enough rain to blow out the lake.  it was not enough, though, to keep two guys jonesing to use new gear away.  we (somewhat reluctantly) went up there to check it out.  it dumped on us pretty good when we first got up to the lake but surprisingly the lake looked in good shape.  in fact the water level was lower than it was when i fished it last week.  my guess is that flossie scared the state into dropping the water level super low since i was last there and flossies rain filled it back up to the level that we saw it at.  that’s just a guess, the folks that live out there or pound it everyday would have the definitive answer on what went on.

 

sometimes taking a chance works out and the fishing turned out to be quite good for the uninitiated echo gecko and abel creek.  there weren’t tons of devils around in the shallows but enough to keep the sight fishing for them fun.  we also got into a little bit of peacocks and bass busting shad on the surface.  haven’t seen that in a while as i am more of an afternoon lake guy and they don't tend to bust in the afternoon quite as much.  i haven’t fished the morning busting fish in years.  too early... at least for me.  we even took a short break from fly fishing and fished bait for a little while.  matt fished a live crayfish on a spinning rod and i fished a chunk of tohei (white eel) with a hand line.  matt caught a red devil that kept devouring the large crayfish until it got the hook.  i got my beloved lake cat that fell off while i was laughing, yelling  and playfully holding it up high bass master style.  then it was back to fly fishing.

 

the echo gecko proved to be more than just a kids toy.  the rod has a medium to medium fast action, is super light in hand, and casts beautifully (as you would expect with any rod with the rajeff name behind it).  it slaughterhoused devils and stood up well to some decent sized bass and peacocks as well.  best of all the echo gecko was just pure fun to fish and i am all about fun.  the echo gecko gets the big thumbs up from me.  the rod is perfect for kids and “kid like” adults and has taken a permanent place in my rod family.  i’ll see you on the water.

 

mister matt got the stink of his new abel creek with this hefty bluegill.  this fish started the "worth every cent" comment that we would say after every fish we caught that day.

 

the echo gecko with its first blood... worth every cent!

 

i let matt play with the gecko for a while.  he was "johnny on the spot" and yoyed this nice largemouth out of a shad bust.

 

"chased the bust down" to get this peacock.

 

matt's abel creek has got the juj.

 

busting bass-tards.

 

red devil, black devil, and black creek 2.

 

this tuc was crazy fun on the gecko.

 

of course no week would be complete without a little two handed casting.  this weeks two hander of choice for some micro bone fun was the sage 6126-4 one

 

that's all i have to say about that.  good times.

 

clay.


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