Showing posts with label Sea Cucumber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sea Cucumber. Show all posts

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Bad Traffic Fishing and the Missing Mangroves

On the way home Friday evening, I decided to walk the flats instead of sitting in pretty bad traffic (the rest of the week traffic was super light - this commute made up for all that with a vengeance). I also remembered the Hickam Flats area was supposed to open up from the environmental project. The fish didn't seem to mind the mangroves missing. They used the bathymetry for shelter more than the mangrove root structure. At high tide, the remaining structure will act more like a coral head with fingers and voids to provide even more places to hide. And without the mangroves there, I don't have to cuss when my backcast is sloppier than it should be. Some animals didn't blink an eye at the missing trees. Maybe because they don't have eye lids. But they do have annular orifices, and this cucumber's orifice works. And perhaps the best thing about the project - it ended the rampant running of dogs off leash at the beach as well as the removal of the invasive mangroves - is the return of the Hawaiian seabirds to the flats. So nice to hear bird calls instead of dogs barking (and trying to make sure I'm not stepping on dog crap on the way out). I didn't catch anything, but sometimes that's really not the point of fishing. I did get to walk through one of my favorite spots on the island and the commute home after was a walk in the park.

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Second Day - First Time Fishing with the Epic 686 (that I built)

I went to Hickam Flats to try casting the Epic 686 I had built up back in Florida. I didn't see any bonefish/o'io - but I did see some schooling finger mullet (or something like that), a lizard fish and I even managed to catch this crab. I also saw the following: A mantis shrimp Several sea cucumbers A few pin cushion sea urchins This guy... I wonder if it is the same one (snowflake eel) I saw a couple of years back... and whole colonies of polyps (checkout the ones that were exposed to the air - this was a pretty low tide). So I didn't catch a single fish - but I did see a lot of what life uses this flat. I did drive out to check another spot - and I did see evidence of a larger predatory fish attacking the schooled up smaller ones (big splashes and lots of jumping fish). You don't have to twist my arm to make me go back.... Oh - and the rod casts wonderfully - this is going to be a workhorse for sure (in lighter wind conditions).