08/25/10
fly fishing hawaii:
the g loomis nrx.
had a chance to sling the new g. loomis nrx around on the flat the other day. the rod i fished was the nrx 1089-4 fly. the look of these rods scream “hey i’m different!”. the nrx has very “non g loomis” look about it with it’s bright blue and green wraps over a grey blank. the reel seat is a funky screw the fighting butt over the reel foot type which is designed to cover the threads of the reel seat (i guess for those of you out there who have trouble with exposed reel seat threads). the guides are black rec recoil wire guides (well actually they are aluminum titanium carbonitride physical vapor depositon coated guides... huh?). the cork grip has a darker, almost fake look to it which confused me at first and had me staring at it all day wondering “is this cork... or what the hell is it!” i also personally thought the butt section of the blank has a larger diameter than most of today’s slim profile high end designs. visual sensory overload to be sure and almost enough to send an older fly geezer (we won’t mention any names) running for the safety of their prized original glx’s.
“this is the rod i couldn’t wait to try?” i thought to myself, but i’m a gambling man by nature so i picked the thing up and jumped out onto the flat.
click here for the rest of the scoop.
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08/16/10
fly fishing hawaii:
the weekend’s fishin’
got in quite a decent weekend of fishing. sean was down at christmas for the past week so i was in the shop. when he got back i was beyond jonesing to fish and fish i did. my “weekend” fishing actually started out on thursday (hawaiian style weekend). i fished for a little while out at hi kai. the fishing was good but i had what some would call a bad electronics day. first i got my cell phone filled with saltwater (raise your hand if you’ve done that before a time or two). after catching my first bonefish of the day, i found out that my camera didn’t work (i think i put the battery in the wrong way after charging it... again let’s see a show of hands). the fish were around good and i soon caught another. not having a camera (or cell phone for that matter), i decided that it was better to call it a day and beat the traffic home rather than pound a bunch of fish and pay for it at the rate of 0-5 mph.
friday, e.t. and i took a little bonefish break up at the lake. we got into pods of eaters (peacocks that are not spawning and actually eating stuff) and also saw quite a bit of spawning activity as well (perhaps due to the water level falling). the water levels still going down stupid fast so get your licks in while you can. i have a feeling that soon we will all be land crabs!
on sunday, i joined e.t. and a bunch of merry men for a day out at ke’ehi. there were quite a bit of fish out there too (well quite a bit for this summer anyway). i fished with doug lum who said he’d spot fish for me so he could see how i presented the fly to them (the post cancer eyes are not the eagle specimens they used to be). so we took turns taking shots at fish (and, of course, at each other). it worked out well because i probably got more shots at fish than i normally would fishing on my own and doug learned that after fifteen years of chasing bones with a fly rod here in hawaii, i still don’t know jack about how to catch them and am just as full of sh_t as the next guy. the final tally between the six of us that jumped in e.t.’s boat was eighteen bones. not the ridicubite but pretty good numbers of fish and tons of fun.
...and then there was sunday.
i went back up to the lake with my sister, brother in law, nephew, and forty comets. the three of them wailed on some tucs. they pretty much caught fish from bait one to bait forty. i taught my nephew bennet how to cast a spinner (safely!), he got it quickly, and i just sat back and watched the carnage. it was kind of like that fat kid in "stand by me" when he made that barf fest at the pie eating contest. definite ridicubite... and definitely cool. my sister has been out with me before, but it was her husbands first time. the only time we weren’t catching peacocks was when we had no lines in the water. hopefully that will continue up there until it’s "launchnomore" on the lake.
on saturday back at the ke’ehi boat ramp i ran into duffy and was talking story with him for a bit. duff was sticking it to me about my blog and the number of times lately that i’ve cried that “summer’s here!” and the fishing shut down again soon after. so i won’t say anything about that in this blog... but maybe...
g loomis guide e.t. hooks up on the lake.
a pair of devils.
the loomis streamdance glx 5wt... very sweet rod.
as is the 3wt. sage txl. great for red devils.
mr. bleug.
the next generation of peacock bass.
abel creek 2 (my favorite freshwater reel) and an "eater".
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e.t. and a three and three quarter pounder.
a little largemouth to round out my slam.
the "garfalomew" as i call it is some kind of freshwater gar that "magically" appeared in the lake a number of years ago.
another peacock for the hawaii bonefishing master.
schools in... schools in!
idiots.
there's beginning to be some bigger ones schooling up as well.
and still a some small largemouths in the mix.
saturday out on the flats of ke'ehi...
i have to be honest, this one really doesn't count... i caught it sight fishing... stupid.
e.t. doing what the e.t. does for himself as well as many others.
doug lum and a good ke'ehi bone.
...just another bonefish.
and another... okay lets go home already.
and then there was sunday...
sis-n-fish.
bennet and his largest peacock to date. also the first fish that he tied the rig for, hooked, fought, and landed by himself. way to go fb! on four pound test line, it was an epic battle.
the sister that literally saved my life absolutely destroyed fish on sunday. mama's hot, mama's hot.
peacock just cruising on top of a log.
some of the many doubles (we only had two rods).
i'm not saying that the bites on... all i'm gonna say is that you'll never know unless you go. i gotta get my _ss to the shop. good times.
clay.
08/06/10
fly fishing hawaii:
there's gold in them thar tucs.
fished up at the lake with stan yesterday. just a quickie to see what was what. the lakes fishing pretty good and there are some signs of fish starting to school and beat down on shad on the surface. the massive amounts of little bluegill and bass has diminished quite a bit.
the word on the street is that “they” are going to lower the lake to some serious shallow levels to fix the pumps on the dam. no one (as usual) knows when or how low the lake will be lowered but it is going to happen. when we went yesterday it was at about the 70ft level and dropping fast. it was pretty cloudy but didn’t rain all that much. we fished on top without much success then switched to streamers. stan fished a gold streamer and immediately got bit by a nice peacock. i stuck with my white streamer. stan then hooked a red devil. we rounded blue boat point and stan hooked another peacock and jokingly held his fly box out to me offering his “special” fly. no thanks, i told him. one more fish for stan (a largemouth) was a strong enough case for me. i opened my box and pulled out a gold streamer, tied it on, and cast it out, and hooked a largemouth before stan even released his. soon after i hooked some tucs as well then went on the quest for the red devil (which have been uncharacteristically tough) to complete my slam. with a slam complete for the both of us we called it a day.
i guess the moral of the story is that yes, i do believe that color does sometimes make a difference. but, for those not in the know, be very careful not to place an over importance on color (as i think too many fishermen do). always remember the other much more critical factors to success like casting skills, fly presentation, and, most of all, having fun.
stans first peacock of the day.
stan's "peacock approved" gold fly.
then a lipless (litterally) red devil.
always a good time when you fish with guide chris wright. this peacock bit a white senko.
"yeah, yeah sean... just do whatever. close the shop and go home? yeah... whatever. look, i gotta go. yeah... i gotta go."
stan gets a largemouth.
and clay's not far behind.
a couple of peacocks later...
clay's back in the game.
the devil completes the slam... let's go home.
what do you get when you put two clowns in a boat on a lake? fools gold, lots of laughs, and, of course, good times.
clay.
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