Trigger Happy on Sunday 8/30/2015

I went spinfishing yesterday - chucked squid out and pulled in four humuhumunukunukuapua'as to hand and one big one dove in some rocks and managed to get unhooked. I also tried to catch some o'ama, but after chasing two separate schools, I couldn't get a single one to bite. The water was clearer than Saturday, but it was even warmer than just the day before... I remember Oahu 20 years ago - I'd get cold in the water. Constantly in the 70's. Not anymore.

Flyfishing on Saturday 8/29/2015

The low tide was around 10 am so I decided to get a later start than normal. Sleeping in on the weekends is a luxury that I have forgotten about. I decided to stick to fly fishing for o'io and lined up the Orvis Helios 8wt with a RIO Bonefish Quickshooter 8wt and tied on a lightly weighted "Spam and Eggs" fly. I got two bones to dig for my fly, but I tried to strip set to soon and ended up empty handed. There is nothing like that split second when you've got a big fish trying to eat your fly and you have to determine when to set the hook. I still have the shivers.... After that I tried to see if the papio would take on a yellow on white clouser I tied up. No takers. I called it after that as I had to spend some time at work. On the way in I checked the spots where I've seen the o'ama schooling up. Sure enough they were there in force. The water was not as clear as it usually is - with all the rain and runoff, it had a distinct 'brown' shading to it. That definitely shortened up the sight fishing - I couldn't see the fish so far out, and they couldn't see me up close either. Too bad I couldn't connect the dots... 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!

Sunday Morning Teaser

Went trolling on the offshore boats today. While we were waiting, I checked out the morning party at the marina pier. Several different types of fish were hanging out. I saw the following:
- Threadfin (Moi)
- Bonefish (only one)
- Darts
- Yellowstripe Goatfish
- Flagtails
- Parrotfish (the one that has befuddled me)
- Yellowfin Surgeonfish
- Bluefin Trevally (Omilu)

I should have brought my flyrod...

Schooling

Here are close ups of the Yellowstripe Goatfish school from the previous post.

There were other fish mixed in - a couple of Pompano, some Pinfish, a Bonefish and some Darts.

The entire school would open up and surge when the Bluefin Trevally (three of them) would attack.

If a BFT got one, I still don't see how they would have swallowed one of these YSGs.

We All Have to Eat Sometime...

The big fish in these pictures are Bluefin Trevally.

The small fish in these pictures are Yellowstripe Goatfish.

There were three BFTs chasing down the school of YSG.

Some of the YSGs had some torn skin - damage from ambush attacks they were lucky enough to survive.

I watched these guys go at it for nearly an hour.

I don't know how 'we' as a species got a pass (probably the opposable thumbs and the large frontal lobe), but watching them go back and forth made me completely appreciate being outside of the food chain that the rest of the lifeforms on this rock have to participate in.

Goatfish on the Fly

Since the Sun is up longer now, I left work around 1700, went home to grab my flyrod and rode my bike to a spot that I saw loaded with bonefish yesterday.

They were there again today, but the wind picked up a bit (my luck huh?).

I cast out nevertheless and after a few cycles, I hooked into this fun yellowstripe goatfish. I was using an "absolute flea" fly. It took the line and wrapped me around three different piles!!!! I had to unwrap the line manually but this guy was not able to break off.

Released it to fight another day.

I did see a bunch of bonefish grubbing around the bottom, but they wanted nothing to do with my flies. Seemed like they were going for really small crustaceans.

There is always tomorrow...