11/19/09

bonefishing hawaii:

back in the saddle.

 

got out on the water for the first time in quite some time.  bryce tedford of beulah was in town so on wednesday the nwff crew (e.t., surfa boy craig, and greg “pops” honbo) gathered at ke’ehi to fish with bryce and try out a bunch of beulah rods as well as other rods that everyone brought.  also joining us was jay freis.  the tide was not the best pretty low for ke’ehi and the wind was "howlin’ like a shaolin".  but you'll never know unless you go, so we did.  e.t. and bryce got out of the boat first.  they had not gone more than a fifty feet from the boat and e.t. put bryce on a nice bone.  we all watched in anticipation as bryce casted to the fish picked up casted again.  took a few steps and casted again.  then bam he was on.  the boat erupted with cheers and screams as the fish blazed toward the edge.

 

“put pressure, put presure, go to the edge”, e.t. and i yelled among the cheers from everyone.

 

it was too late.  bryce couldn’t “jump” the fish and it got him on some deep coral or ke’ehi junk.

 

i walked around a little bit but didn’t  see much and got winded and out of breath quickly (remnants from being sick).  so i just went back to the boat to cast the multitude of rods that we had brought along. greg fished for a while and then joined me.  we casted the beulah bluewater 7/8 and 8/9beulah switch 6/7 and 7/8, beulah surf 7/8, the g. loomis cross current glx 8wt., the g. loomis roaring river switch rods 7 and 8wt. along with different lines that we had brought.  the rest of the guys fished different parts of the flat and would periodically come back to the boat,  cast some rods then go back out.  i gave jay a few pointers on casting when he came by.  greg casted a two handed switch rod for the first time and couldn't put it down.  before we knew it, it was four thirty in the afternoon.  the guys were all done fishing and heading back to the boat.  e.t. was e.t. and got a couple of fish and craig caught a nice fatty.  check out the day through jay's eyes on jay's blogthis dude has recently gone bone crazy and is an insane photographer.  he has a profo blog site... unlike others. 

 

the stars of day amongst the crew were definitely the beulah bluewater rods and the loomis roaring river switches.  those rods really impressed.  if you're in the market, i highly recommend taking a look at them.  thanks to bryce and garrett for letting us use those rods.  i’m sure my wallet will be much lighter very soon.

 

today i went out for an afternoon/evening session at hickam with my buddy earl, bryce, and bryce’s father gary.  gary was here on business and was fortunate enough to be able to come out.  earl and bryce walked the inside chasing tails.  i was still a bit beat down from yesterday so i just kept my reef walking to a minimum.  gary joined me for some casual fishing.

 

gary is left handed which worked out great as we could fish side by side and talk as the planes flew overhead and the subs came in and out of the harbor.  the wind had died down significantly from the day before.  as a bonus, i hooked a rat and quickly handed the rod to gary.  the battle was on.  it was gary’s first bonefish so, needless to say, he was quite thrilled.  after that, while gary was asking me questions about what the take was like, his rod doubled over.  this battle was brief though as the fish popped the tippet at the beginning of the run, a pretty common occurrence on the first meeting between fly fisher and bonefish.  gary got one more quick bite from a barracuda that left his tippet bare and we watched the sunset over the horizon. 

 

just another beautiful day ended on the water with some great guys.  as we walked back to the shore in the twilights last gleaming, i couldn’t help thinking of paul newman’s last line in the movie the color of money... i’m back!

 

nothing like the first... just ask gary.  good times.

 

clay.


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