Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Fly Fishing Again

I grabbed the flyrod and got back out on the flats again. I really don't do this as much as I'd like - family, plants, surfing, ceramics and fishing with spinning gear have all been competing for what little free time I have - but fly fishing really is different. It is slower and forces you to calm down. Calmness that lets you take in the surroundings and assimilate. No movement, just observation of the water, the limestone shelf and the wind. That is until you sight a target. Then your heart starts back up, the adrenaline starts to course through your veins and your eyesight sharpens up to keep the quarry's camouflage from working. That's just the beginning.... I don't play golf at all. I don't like the idea of 'enjoying' the outdoors in a man-made environment, chasing a little ball that you hit around with a club. And that swing... I like my back and hamstrings too much. That said, I do have a source of infinite frustration - casting a flyline with a weighted fly. Form, speed, muscle memory - these factors you can control and at times you can even bring them together to make it even look like you know what you are doing. Don't fool yourself. Mix in wind, the uncanny ability for fish to be on the most unoptimum location, and the seemingly endless types of casts/flylines/leaders and you suddenly have plenty of catching up to do. A challenge. Something to continually strive for. Knowing you are a lifetime student on a quest for ultimate knowledge is the first step towards enlightenment - after that you only know you're finished when you know you're finished. So fiy fishing (and most recently ceramics - more on that in another social media outlet) is my golf. Like I started with, on Saturday I grabbed my equipment and made my way out to the flats. As soon as I cleared the brush and stopped to check out the conditions, I saw a school of finger sized mullet scatter and swim seaward. Though not because I emerged from the bushes - but because a forearm sized, finger sized mullet predator lurked behind them in the ankle deep water. This lone kaku (barracuda) didn't chase them further and stopped - right in casting range. I had tied up a mantis shrimp fly for the oio (bonefish) that would be further out on the flats, but seeing this guy just sitting there I had to try. I cut off the weighted mantis shrimp fly and tied on a 'Kaku Candy' fly and got the little guy's interest. After the third cast, I was able to get the hook set right on the outside of it's lip (where it couldn't bite through the tippet). Even though my rod-reel-line setup was overkill for this kaku, what I really came out for was oio. Out on the flats I had four legitimate head turns-follows-and missed hook sets. It would have been nice to bring one to hand, but at least they paid me some attention. The tradewinds started to fill in and my freetime had dwindled away, but on the way back in I stopped to see if there were any kaku hanging out along the shoreline. Not one but three were in the super shallow water. I tied on another minnow fly and BAM - another kaku blitzed and I was wrestling (thumb wrestling is still wrestlign isn't it???) again!!! I love flyfishing!

Monday, June 20, 2016

A Little Fathers Day Fishing and Fish Nuggets

Big waves pounding the shore + a beach with other guys stringing out their dunking lines = not much fishing for me. I still did manage to catch a couple of wrasses so no skunk this day!!! And for dinner I made some A'u ki (marlin) Nuggets!!! Before and after pictures. I hope you had a good Father's Day!!!

Cool Squid

Mesmerized me while standing in line to check out. On news stands now - go check it out to get mesmerized!!!!

Hawaii Public Library Book Sale

On Saturday, among other errands, we stopped off at the Hawaii State Public Library Book Sale. Walking through all those books felt like going through a time warp back to the mid 80's. Those were the same aquarium books I used to borrow while I was in High School. I did find a cool series of Jacques Cousteau - but flipping through the pages felt like reading a super-out-of-date textbook from elementary school (I passed on the series - in a different place I would have scarfed them up, but with limited space and having purged multiple times, I am much wiser now. WISER - NOT SMART ;) I did find one gem that I took home... this book felt less like elementary school in the days before Al Gore conceived of the internet, and more like a prop straight from Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou". And best of all - it was in great condition and only $2 They also has some cool art (that if money were no object, I would have taken home). Check out your neck of the woods for a Library Purge - for sure there will be some treasure buried in the boxes :)

Corpse Plant at Foster Botanical Gardens

Friday afternoon, La, the kids and I paid a visit to a 48 hour visitor. Amorphophallus titanum is a type of plant that grows in one cycle (vegetative) and then flips over to a second (reproductive) - looks completely different in both phases. So why is this an 'amphibious' post??? This species smelled like rotting fish entrails (to draw in flies - it's primary pollinator).

Monday, June 13, 2016

Stop and Smell the Roses

This weekend was a stop and regroup for us. For watertime, Marlon and I went on the dawn patrol on Friday (King Kamehameha the Great Day - State and Local Holiday so the commute in was as good as it ever gets; gotta make good use of those limited days). But not much else in the water category. Noe and I did do some succulent gardening - mainly rearranging and repotting. Along the way, there were details to be noticed and time to reflect on the changes in the plants we've collected. The way I see it, it's okay to pass up a few waves in life. Looking at other sources of stoke and stress relief can help you appreciate what you do have. This was one of those weeks (and aren't the plants cool????!!!!)

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Through Smith Lenses

About the only time I wear sunglasses now is when I fish the flats. Here's what the view through the Smith Chroma-pop bronze lenses look like compared to a straight shot with the camera. Big difference eh -

Sunday Afternoon Catching - Six Pack

I went fishing this afternoon and ended up catching six. Three papio, a nunu (coronetfish), a moana (goatfish), and a manini (convict tang). FUN DAY CATCHING!!!