You don't see rain on the Ewa Plain like this very often.
Despite the lack of hook ups, it was still great fun. I brought out the Orvis Helios and a WF8F (overlined) - it has been a while since I've cast a carbon fly rod - definitely easier to get more line out in windy conditions. I'm going to have to catch an oio soon though, or my ego is going to say "eh brah - maybe it time you go kitesurfing now - da fish don't like you stink"
Quick fight, but it was struggling to get itself inside the pukas in the pothole and that wrestling match was a ton of fun! Way better than getting skunked for sure. Patience is a virtue and a requirement when trying to get one of these fish to take a fly (they'll trip over themselves to eat bait though).
So now I bet you're asking yourself "what is a pothole doing on a reef flat?" - the pictures above show the potholes. Fish tend to congregate in these depressions, especially the ambush predators. When the sun is up and the water is calm (so all the fish on the flat see you coming from a mile away) these potholes are always worth a shot.
I also saw several of these boxfish swimming around. I've seen a few out towards the section of the flat closest to the Pearl Harbor Channel, but never as many as I saw today. I'll have to tie up a minuscule shrimp fly to try and coax a wrestling match out of one of these guys...
I also noticed the water has been getting a lot warmer - this coral head looks like it is expelling it's zoothanthelle...
Nice day on the flat!
At that point I figured I should change out the tan fly for the Orange Nom Nom - if you ain't catching, you need to change it up. With that fly swap, everything changed.
This first one was hooked out at 35' - I saw it change direction and hover over the place where I thought the fly was, strip set and it took off like a funny car at the gun. This one went back and forth three times well into the backing before calling it quits. The hook was set in it's tongue. Nice fish and I was stoked to the core! After that I went out to the drop off figuring I'd try my luck with this fly on some papio. Nothing - so I started back towards the mangrove stand (I wanted to see if there were any oama - baby goatfish - hanging around). I ended up seeing a bunch more bonefish hanging around drifting with the current, so I thought 'what the heck - might as well keep swinging the fly". I'm glad I did.
I had seen a fish moving towards me, so I cast out 15 degrees over from it a well forward - maybe a 25' cast. I striped in all the slack line and made the fly move just a bit to get the fish to notice it. Before I could do anything else, a second fish I did not see before had pounced on the fly and was wrestling to keep it from the first fish. I did a slight strip set and I felt the weight of the fish. It didn't know it was hooked until I started moving - it saw me and took off. On the third run it had found a rock sticking out of the water and was trying to wrap the line around it to get a leverage point to break off. I managed to get the line out from under the rock and the fish tired out shortly after.
I was close enough to an old piece of debris to place the gopro on for some in fight shots. I saw several more o'io but never lined up nicely for a clean shot. I'll stick with the two solid fish I was privileged to have hooked up with and call it one of the better days I've had out on this side of the flat. Even though I've caught three o'io now in a relatively short period of time, I do not consider myself a guru on the topic. This is just the beginning of the next chapter in trying to better understand this fishery.
I used a mantis shrimp fly I tied a while back and blind casted at another part of the Hickam Flat. The bonefish inhaled the fly - I had to use forceps to pull the fly out! It made three runs - the first two taking me into the backing. This fish totally reminded me that I love catching bonefish on the fly!!!
I can honestly say this was the best day of fishing I've had out here!
I also had a papio, but it shook off the Enrico Puglisi micro crab fly. And I caught a humuhumunukunukuapuaa using the same mantis fly that the oio (bonefish) took.
I have been telling myself that once I caught an oio on the fly, that I would be free to start fishing other spots. I do think I'll still fish Hickam a lot - I need to make sure this was not a fluke. GREAT DAY!!!
The class of papio I have been catching are all roughly the same size - likely because they were all born the same year. I spoke with some fishermen and read some blogs and people are saying last year there were a ton more papio when compared to the several years before. They attributed that to some changes in the offshore currents and that brought more fish back from their larval/planktonic stage. I'm just glad they're here. Since I've been back on Oahu, I've caught so many of these fish and they've just about doubled in size. The weird thing is they are all the same class - I haven't seen the next group of smaller fish coming through, and it's rare to see bigger ones out here because those are the legal size fish that folks can take, but also those fish start to swim and forage in deeper waters. It'll interesting to see what fish are being caught in the January time frame to see if there is a generation coming up behind these current fish.
This fish was the first fish I've caught on the fly out here that took my line all the way out of the stripping basket and I got to bring it in on the reel! Great catch and glad to see it swim off strong! That turned out to be the only fish I caught, but I found myself really trying to cast out well formed loops with more consistency. That's whats awesome about flyfishing - even if you are catching on every cast, you are still casting which in itself can be even more rewarding than bringing in a fish. I won't say I'll only bring out flyrods to go fishing, especially since I do enjoy fishing with spinning gear - but what I will say is everything has it's time and place. Yesterday evening was definitely a fly fishing evening.
Also of note, yesterday was the first time I got to use the stripping basket I got to replace the bucket shooter that got stolen with my truck. I got it from the same company that made the bucket shooter - Sea Level Fly Fishing. This one is the Belly Bucket and you can see it is curved to fit the hip. I love the way it kept the line from knotting up. It is a solid piece of gear and the bottom doesn't come out like the bucket shooter's did - so it is a little less portable if you are flying to fishing spots. It does a really great job of helping to manage flyline.
I had the St Croix Tidemaster and the Orvis Helios 8wt out with me. I had specifically gone out trying to find redfish tailing in the flooded grass. I found flooded grass and tons of finger mullet - and tons of bugs (did I mention that already?).
I didn't get any hits on the fly (although I oddly enough saw mud minnows attacking the Waldner Spoon Fly I was casting - they weren't much larger than the fly), but I used the time to practice casting. I am at the point where I can 'feel' mistakes in casting while they are happening, and I can correct them on subsequent casts - the neat thing is this has never become tedious - I'm pretty sure I've found the next thing for my next 40 years (what surfing/windsurfing/kitesurfing was for my first 40).
On the way in I was blind casting a Gulp Shrimp on a 1/4 oz black jig head and I got to see color on a big speckled trout - unfortunately it was just holding onto the bait and when it saw me, it left the game. I stuck around the same spot trying to reengage but it didn't happen. What I did get was a hookup with the first Southern Flounder I've caught in a very long time (if you've been keeping up with this blog, you'll recall I caught a small Peacock Flounder out in the Indian Ocean - but that was then and this was a Southern). I got this guy by the "skin of it's teeth" - literally.
This guy was 13" (legal keeper is 12") - dinner!!!
Here's the fly I tied up for the needlefish around here - I'm calling it the "Blood and Guts" fly. Take a hook (any hook - you aren't using it for conventional warfare, only as a platform to anchor the yarn - and lay down a thread base from the eye back to about halfway down the shank. Next, pick some yarn - the kind with tighter weaves will work better - and make sure it is the color of roadkill - bright reds, some flesh tones and a dark streak of color every now and then. You'll want to take about 10 strands that are 3-5" long and trap them onto the shank facing forward (towards the hook eye). Wind the thread up to the eye and back down to the halfway mark (where you started) - this will help keep the yarn in place (this is not a wind "friendly" fly and the take is not a 'peaceful' interaction - anchor the yarn down well). Now take the yarn and wrap it around the hook (the base of the yarn is now at the eye of the hook if you understood my instructions - if you didn't, get the yarn to the eye and then start wrapping) - keep wrapping until you get just past the halfway point to the shank (your thread should be here too). Make some extra wraps with the thread and whip finish. Use your favorite head forming substance (I like UV epoxy) and cover the head and the thread wraps. This last step will help make sure you can get the fly out of the needlefish teeth easier. That's it!!! I had to do a little searching to find the group of needlefish that stack up at the jetty/beach corner here on Mayport. But once I found them, I made my casts into the center of the group and it looked like a wrestling match - all the fish were trying to chomp down the fly! I got one to take and the yarn fibers got tangled up in its jaws. I didn't bring my gopro to take a picture and I didn't think La had her phone (but she did) so no pictures of the fish (18" - not a record breaker, or even a drag lurcher - but fun nonetheless). Looking at this, I would also think this tie would make a good palolo worm imitation... So there you have it - one of my first species specific saltwater flies! Oh - and one more thing, I brought the Orvis Helios 8wt out - there is a a definite night and day difference to flyrods. The Helios is one hell of a great rod - it makes me look like I know what the heck I'm doing. After specifically casting a number of rods lately, I am convinced that I am going to thin the herd and just keep the really exceptional rods. They make flyfishing that much more enjoyable. I know this may sound elitist, but it's true... if you're looking for some 'good' flyrods, you might want to email me. I also used the Surf Spinning stuff - but no joy. I'll take a sight casted needlefish anyday to ward off the skunk!
Paul and I fished and fished and fished and we didn't catch anything. Except more bait - Paul was throwing the cast net some more.
I went out first with surf casting rod. I didn't get a single hit. I did get hung up on some submerged junk and I let the kids pretend thay had a big one on the line. Then Paul and I both saw a bunch of baitfish - and the big Snook tailing the school...
Time for the flyrod... Orvis Helios 8wt, Orvis - with a Ziegler "style" Schminnow fly. I chased the Snook in vain - and it actually saw me and it would swim just out of view. But I did cast some mighty fine loops in to the wind - double hauling and good timing gained through practice paid off (I remember before I knew that technique - bird's nest). I saw another Snook and we played the same game of hide and go seek - which mostly involved me sprinting just out of spooking distance to get ahead of the fish, setting up the cast and getting laughed at again - good thing I am still in shape and I am humble.
We also found a bunch of cool shells and had a great time.
One last thing - we put the whelk back in the water - you're not allowed to collect shells with live animals in them. Nice specimen though and it gave the kids some hands on with a larger gastropod.
