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!

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.

Positive Results on the Rock Resistant Measures

I didn't catch anything with the flies I just tied, but none of them (with the 40# mono twin post weed guards) got hung up on the gravel or the bottom. Weighted with bead chain eyes, the flies did still make a 'plop' when entering the water. The plop was greatly diminished, but still there. It'll be interesting to find out if the reduction is enough to stop spooking the bones. The simple fly without eyes had tons of motion, even when stripped slowly. Crosscut rabbit and marabou... I hope to nail some papio with this fly... Despite the positive results, it still sucks not catching anything. Skunked!!!!

Knocking Off The Bucket List Occupants

This weekend was a low-count, high-impact weekend of fishing. On Saturday, I went out twice. First I went out on Saturday morning with an 8 weight fiberglass flyrod - the Epic 888. I overlined it with a 9 weight RIO Bonefish Quickshooter. Nice casting rod, but I didn't get the chance to wrestle any fish with it (darn finicky bonefish!). I took a break and ran some errands (like laundry). In between cycles I lined up the 888 with an 8 weight RIO Bonefish Quickshooter and that line cast even nicer. I love Epic rods because they make casting more fun. Who doesn't like seeing nicely shaped loops flying through the air and unfurling gently out 60' away??? I went back out in the afternoon, but took a spinning setup instead - the Fenwick 9'0" moderate power, fast action 2-piece rod and the Penn Spinfisher V 3500. I specifically went out to catch a barracuda (maybe 'the' barracuda) that has been taking my lures/flies. I tied on about 2" of "Tyger Wire" as a bite tippet with an albright knot and a 3 turn clinch at the lure (brass 1/12 ounce Kastmaster). I nailed this guy!!! Finally!!!! So I got one of the last two fish off my Hickam bucket list. Then on Sunday morning I went back out with the spinning gear and used a completely different tactic - a bucktail jig - a big one to mimic a fat mantis shrimp. I even thought about tying on an abrasion leader knowing the bonefish get big. I'm glad I did because I did hook solidly into a big bone while blind casting at a point (that was the other chance in tactics - stop sight casting - which goes against the grain I developed flyfishing). As soon as I got a hookup, the fish took off stripping line off the reel for 20 seconds straight! I tightened down on a the drag a bit more and it finally stopped. I reeled it in (heavy bend in the rod the entire time) and I got the fish to a poles length away when the knot holding the jig gave. What a fight!!!! I think I'll up the flurocarbon tippet to 25 pound test to make sure I can get the fish to hand. I didn't get any pictures of the fish but it was a big one. I did take pictures of the flat with the sun out - and some bones cruising the deeper channels - but on second look, I couldn't find the fish in the photos. I had polarized amber lenses on and the camera didn't. So I knocked off the two last fish on my Hickam bucket list - but these were had on spinning gear and I still have to do the same on the fly. But for now I can start exploring other spots without feeling like I got beat by the fish at Hickam.