Super Skunk Streak

I went fly fishing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons and got skunked the either weekend. I did force myself to use a different setup than I have been - Epic 888 with a RIO Bonefish WF8F line on the Kraken 4 XLA. By moving to a fiberglass rod and longer belly line, I am practicing casting by 'feel' more. It took a bit, but by the end of the ultra-skunking I felt I could get more line out further than when I first started playing with this combo. Changing the line out especially helped. What didn't help was getting refusals when I know the fish was near the fly. I did see a lot of aquatic life. Multiple snowflake eels, a bunch of humuhumunukunukuapua'a, a spotted eagle ray, a several bonefish. And on Saturday, I did catch something - this plastic jug went floating by and I cast the fly to it - good shooting if I do say so myself! And it did offer a 'fight' as I was trying to pull it through the current. Oddly enough I didn't see any papio being caught. I think the water is actually warmer then the fish like. Maybe they have swam off to deeper water or places with more water exchange on the tides. Among all the 'looking' I did find this tiny crab in some dead coral - acropora crab species. I'm going to tie a few more different flies to see if I can the fish to take - three days is a long time to not play tug-o-war... Good thing I like practicing my casts, or this weekend would have been a bust. Oh - one last thing, I found this at one of the local fishing supply shops (McCully Bike - they offer 10% military discounts so I picked it up). It works great!!! Now I can start fishing even more off the beaten path spots and not have to worry about my OCD and keeping the 4Runner clean! Holds 2 gallons and sprays it out just like the hose at home! Now if it would just wash off the skunk.

Fishing Report 10/26/2014

With the loss of my two workhorse rods (I'll say it again - some bastard stole my Epic 686 and the St Croix Tidemaster from my truck), I'm having to use other rods (which is ok - I needed to use the others) to fish. Even though it was way overkill, I rigged up the TFO Mangrove 9wt. Lots of rod just to fish for needlefish. The cork filler started to crumble - I'll have to get used to the voids left (right where I put my thumb and index fingers... - the old adage "you get what you pay for" proves itself again). I'll still cast this rod - I'm sure it'll grow on me. I think this rod wants a heavier line (like a 10wt). I'll try it again soon with an added sink tip extension to see if that perks up the casting. This fish took the Bloody Guts fly and was jumping a bit - enough to attract an observant osprey. The bird picked up the needlefish while it was entangled in the fly, and started to make off with it. It didn't get far before the line went tight and the needlefish slipped from it's grasp. That doesn't happen everyday.... I also saw a few other fish (maybe slot reds) rolling in the shallow surf, and stepped on a couple of fleshy (and angry) fish - maybe a flounder??? Nice day in the surf flyfishing!