Fishing Partner Swap Out

Yesterday was errand day - grocery shopping (on pay day weekend - uggggghhhhh), haircut so I don't look like an unkempt bum, putting gas in the minivan and others. But since we would be out, I figured some fishing and ceramics could be worked into the schedule.

 I was thinking the fishing and haircut would get Marlon's interest, but it was Noe that volunteered to come along.


   

She caught a hinalea!!!


  I was pitching ika strips and this batch seemed to be coming off the hook way to easily during the cast. On one such occasion I was reeling back the rig as quickly as I could and after a little splashing, I pulled this lai to hand. Bare hook!!! Fun fishing trip with a rare fishing partner (not really - she comes out a lot, but Marlon does go fishing more)!

Look Who I Went Fishing With!!!

One of my former employees from Diego Garcia was in town! Dante was one of the first guys to show me where the good fishing spots were and most notably, he showed me how to prepare bonefish (of which I made lots of fish lumpia). Check out the posts from 2011 to 2012 and he should be in a few of the pictures. So what to do with a person who you've gone fishing with before??? Take him fishing of course!!! I picked up Dante from b=his hotel and we were on the flats within 30 minutes, right around the bottom of the low tide. I hooked up with a decent sized roi (peacock grouper) on one of my first casts. Dante got a good sized papio (talakitok in tagalog) for his first. From there we both caught other fish - saddle wrasses, a snapper, a hawkfish (first one I caught out here I think - chubby guy!!!), papio and Dante caught the Hawaiian State Fish - humuhumunukunukuapua'a While fishing for oama I caught one of the smallest fish I've caught on a hook (size 20 limerick) - another Sergeant Major. When the kids get out here, it'll be fun to raise a few of these in an aquarium. I also got a picture of an oama - I had a great time fishing with an old friend!

Better Luck with Bait on Sunday

I really don't like getting skunked, so I decided to break out the ika strips (cut squid) to make sure I didn't have a repeat of Saturday (even though I totally get it that flyfishing is tough and there will be days upon days when there will be no tug at the end of the line). I ended up catching a wrasse, a red goatfish (that got off the hook before I was able to take a picture), a papio, and a snapper while I was at the channel edge of the flat. For bait, this was actually a slow day. I figured I'd try my luck at the runway side of the flat. I ended up catching a small lizardfish and another snapper. I thought about taking the snapper home to make some prints, but I'm holding out for a bigger one. None of the triggerfish were in the mood to play tug. I've been reading about some heightened activity from predator fish hunting on the flats, it just didn't seem to be at this flat... I'll check the solunar tables and see when the next session will be.

A Really Good Day of Catching - 5 July

I used bait again - started fishing two hours before the low tide and it was four days after the full moon. Whatever factor influenced it, this day was awesome for fishing. I didn't catch any ginormous trevally that smashed my gear just by looking at it, but I did catch the most fish I've caught since I got back, and nearly every species I've seen to date (minus three). I ended up with six papio, two moanas (one was a giant), two nehu (coronetfish - one was giant sized), two species of humuhumunukunukuapuaa, a few saddle wrasses and one large lizardfish (checkout the teeth on this guy). On lightweight gear, all these fish were fun to catch. It's going to be tough to top this day...

Catching on July 4th

I tried fishing a different spot on the 4th. On the opposite side of the flat, there is a ledge that goes on for quite a while that opens up into the bay fronting the runway. Using bait again, I ended up catching six papio, a few snapper, a saddle wrasse and I even had a roi grab my bait and snag my hook onto the ledge (yes I watched the whole thing happen). This is definitely a good place to take folks who would rather not deal with more open water conditions - because of the bay, this place seems to be more mellow (but less variety of fish).