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11/18/12

fly fishing and not so fly fishing hawaii:

the wintery week.

 

got a check in from my buddy colin (craig’s brother). he did a little steel swinging in b.c. on some pretty wintery looking rivers.  back here in the homewaters we had our first taste of winter this past week.  cool temperatures, blustery winds, some clouds, and showers, made it feel like christmas already.  with the winter weather came a bit of a shut down on the fishing front.  hawaii is a year round fishery but there are definitely seasonal changes.  the changes may not be drastic and we can have summer like weather in the winter as well as winter like weather in the summer.  winds will blow just a little differently, air temperatures vary, and the suns position can make the whole scene just feel different.  i don’t know any other way to describe it except for “wintery”.  these changes don’t appear like much to those from other places where there are big changes in seasons.  these subtle changes can greatly impact the species that inhabit our local waters (like myself).  i spent two relatively tough days on the water this week one up on the lake and the other in the salt.  on both days i got on the water and felt like i didn’t really want to be there and, as it turns out, the fish kind of felt the same way too.

 

i went up to the lake with kirk and after being out there for a short while it was apparent to the both of us that the lady of the lake was not in the giving mood.  we saw very few red devils along the banks and most of the ones we did manage to find were of the “scared devil” variety.  not a lot of busting fish either and woods that seemed devoid of life.  i think the busting we saw were bass by their half hearted kind of popping bust.  not a lot of anything really going on.  we pounded it hard and kirk got a couple of largemouth bass with his spinner and lures.  i was preparing myself for my first lake bolo (not catching anything) in a long, long time.  i fished the sage one five weight and abel creek 2 hard and after covering a ton of water we managed to eek out a few small peacocks.  then when we were almost out of time (and trolling motor battery power), kirk spotted a rare red devil in the woods.  i casted and it, rather reluctantly ate my fly.  we got fish but it was far from gangbusters.

 

the second day out was a somewhat of a spur of the moment trip.   went out for a few hours of bonefishing with doug and his cousins phil, and stan.  i slid out of bed (wintery weather is good for staying in bed all day), grabed the first rod i could find, which happened to be an 8wt. sage rplxi, and headed out.  there were some fish around but not that much.  it was also pretty tough to see in the deeper area we were fishing with the low afternoon sun.  again after a little while on the water i just didn’t have that lovin’ feeling.  i could tell that doug didn’t feel it either.  the normal flats nomad, who usually walks every inch of a flat spent most of the time about thirty feet away from me.  i am the flats sloth, fixture, who rarely moves in any conditions.  staying in one place is not doug's style.  anyway, as it often happens at some point in the tide, the few fish we were seeing suddenly began eating.  doug hooked a couple and i got my "blog" fish.  then, just like that, it shut down and the fish disappeared.  doug started to walk around and i tied on a popper and fruitlessly banged that thing around for the hell of it until it was time to go.

 

winter can be a trying time for both fish and fishermen.  here in hawaii, we gotta be thankful that we can fish (relatively comfortably) throughout the winter.  it may be tough sledding at times, but there undoubtedly will be good days sprinkled throughout.  during these times you just gotta go out hoping for the best but expecting the worse.  is winter 2012-2013 going to be a good one?  i thought it was going to be but this week has cast some doubt on my forecast.  i'll let you know for sure in march.  until then, i’ll see you on the water.

 

 

now that looks a little wintery.

 

colin with a kalum hen.

 

after a couple of hours of tough pounding kirk got the stink off the day with this bass.

 

then a "man hand"  size peacock.

 

the peacocks were small but on days like the ones this week... i'll take it.

 

devils have been hard to come by lately, i was lucky to get this one in the closing moments.

 

then kirk got this bass and the cry went out... let's go home!

 

a couple days later, doug broke in his brand new bling (purple?) nautilus reel.  from now on he will be announcing his presence on the flat with authority.

 

that's all i have to say about that.  enjoy the upcoming wintery good times.

 

clay.


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