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04/07/13

bonefishing hawaii:

the sage 6126-4 one.

 

finally got the chance to sling around the sage 6126-4 one this week.  the sage 6126-4 z axis is one of my favorite two handed rods for dry line summer steel work in oregon so when the one replaced it, i couldn’t help but pony up, get it, and give it a try.  i got the rod  a while back but never had a chance to try it.  around here i like to fish a 12’ 6” 6wt. only in certain areas.  this size of a rod excels in places that are not that sketchy reef wise where multiple long casts are beneficial.  know any places like that?  i know a few but don’t usually fish them all that often anymore.  i usually just stick around home.  but every once in a while you gotta do what you gotta do and for me that happened on tuesday.

 

i fished the sage 6126-4 one and abel spey reel.  i  lined it with a scientific anglers shooting line, 390 grain aiflo rage compact and a 17ft. mono leader that i tied.  on tuesday we were still feeling a bit of the chill that has been lingering around the island the past few weeks.  this made me a little concerned about the shut down that a chill north wind in the afternoon can sometimes bring.  but play the hand you’re dealt right?  as i waded out i spotted a few bones in shallow but not many.  not wanting to sight fish with a twelve and a half foot two handed rod, i just said hi to those fish and left them to their crazy shallow feeding bonefish antics.  i bombed around for a while with nothing.  i got the feeling that there weren’t very many fish around.  maybe it was the cold, maybe others pounded it all day, or maybe just wrong place wrong time.  i don’t spend too much time thinking about the “why’s” as much as i do the “what now’s”.  the “what now” for me in these situations is to hunker down, go full on steel style, and pound it hard.  fortunately for me i was holding the right tool for the job.  i got to work.

 

the sage 6126-4 one is awesome.  it threw the 390gr. rage well and may even be better with a 385gr. rio steelhead scandi or 390gr. airflo scandi compactlight in hand (or hands as the case may be).  like its bigger brother the 7136-4 one (click here for that blog), this rod was crisp, lively, and had the feel.  it tracked extremely well and just felt like a “tightened up” version of its z-axis counterpart that i love.  ba (bad ass) for sure.  easy to sling long bombs repeatedly.  something that is often necessary in hawaiian bombing waters and especially on this day.  the only thing that keeps me from fishing this rod all the time is that being a six weight it just doens’t  have the backbone that i like (and need) for much of my bombing around here.  i think i would be hard pressed to land even a rat size fish with this stick in more reefy areas without some kind of terminal gear getting wrecked.  in easy to land fish places, though, this rod is absolutely perfect and super fun to fish.  i can’t wait to get this rod on some summer steel water where it belongs.

 

as the afternoon wore on into evening it got progressively colder out there.  that day turned out to be about as close to steelheading as it gets in hawaii.  very few fish, pretty damn cold, and covering a ton of water... just the way i like it.  i’ll see you on the water.

 

sometimes it takes patience and persistence when bombing.  having a rod that is a pleasure just to cast helps a lot...

 

as does having the juj.  fortunately my 6126-4 one has got it. 

 

fun with rats... now just gotta put her on some steel.

 

who was it that said they'll eat anything?  caught this little sharp jaw on friday in forty five feet of water while jigging for papio (trevally).  very ambitious indeed!  good times.

 

clay.

 


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