Ramen and More

Late post - seems as if the ramen shop in the Mall area outside of SEATAC has become our default place to eat when flying in or out of the area. Here are some pictures from the Nov 20 ramen run.

Drive By Flies

On our way up to see my sister and her family, we stopped off at Emerald Water Anglers. Nice shop with awesome flies. These guys should catch papio.

Hanging in Seattle

Hanging out with my sister and her family before I take back off for da aina.

Air Mobile

I can catch some fish with this setup...

All Packed Out

Gomen nasai for the lack of posts. I've been busy - I flew back to help with the final pack out and clean up of the house we've been renting in DuPont.

With a bunch of help from friends and family, we got the second of two PODS all loaded up, all the items we are leaving with family out of the house, and the shipment on its way to Hawaii.

And as I'm writing this, we are just finishing off the final cleaning.  This place is cleaner than when we moved in.

Seuss-ish Fish in Downtown Tacoma

Saw these while walking around Downtown Tacoma.

Look Who's in Town!

Stan "the Man" Wiles! I took him fishing, but the "Curse of Stan" prevented us from catching any fish (even though I went out to the same spot the day before - last post - to make sure the fish were there). Always great to catch up with this guy!

The Cycle Starts Over (Rats are Back!!!)

I went fishing Saturday afternoon. Since I hadn't been out in a while, I decided to use bait. Cut squid strips and the better solunar time frame and I got some willing participants. The smaller class of blue fin trevally are back on the flats! When I got out here nearly a year ago, these small BFTs (papio) were the fish I would consistently catch. I watched (and if you read this blog, you saw it too) these fish grow to nearly double this size and weight. It's good to see the new group of young papio show up! I caught one of these humuhumunukunukuapua'a also. Three papio and a humu - not a bad take for a Saturday afternoon bait session.

Third Time Out

I brought the new board out for the third time on Saturday morning. I like it more each time! It is definitely a board for making turns and not a noserider (but I knew that making the purchase). With some good waves, I can see carving bottom and top turns. With care on the takeoffs, my back isn't screaming bloody murder right now. Hopefully as I get my paddling muscles back into shape, my lower back gets stronger and the pain goes away completely. I've been stretching the heck out of my back - enhanced flexibility is another goal I have. Small bumps make the best traction surface. Put the time in to get a good wax job on your board and your surfing won't suffer for it. It's been a while since I've prone surfed, but it is good to mix things up to keep everything fresh! Now I just have to figure out how to use the gopro on this (I am not sticking on a mount to the tail or the nose).

Surf Spots

I didn't even know there were this many breaks in this area...

New Surfboard

Thank you kids and La for my birthday present!!!! Firewire Timbertek TJPro I surfed it on Saturday - man I am out of shape.... looking forward to catching the dawn patrol with this board (so I can whittle away my belly fat). I'm going to have to figure out a way to use the gopro while using this board - I don't like the typical deck mounted pictures (can't see anything but you - no background at all).

Beautiful Lures

Mark White Trolling Lures - functional art!

Local Fish and Crabs Not from Around Here

I stopped off at Pacific Market in Waipahu to pick up a cutting board. They had a bunch of local fish for sale (but they weren't really fresh...) They also had blue crabs for sale - and most were still alive! Hmmmmmmm.....

New Commuter at the End of the Road

Our new house is 22.7 miles doorstep to parking garage from work. And it is through some of the most congested traffic known to mankind. I talked it over with La and to get through the commute, I got a new bike. I picked it up on Saturday afternoon and took it for a long ride to get the feel for it. This is the end of the paved road below Kaena Point. There is an unpaved road that keeps going and even at the start it is muddy and full of ruts. I figured I should at least break in the bike properly before hitting a road like this ;) What a wonderful bike!!! With the speed limit on island being no more than 55mph, you really don't need more bike than this. The seat is a little stiff, but that should change after some break in. I know this isn't amphibious, but there is a beach in the first picture. I made the commute in to work on the bike this morning and it is way nicer riding in the HOV zipper lane than fighting traffic in the main lanes. I'll be varying the times I come in this week to see what works best. I left at 5 am this morning because I had some work that needed to get done and the surface roads feeding into the freeway were jammed. It'll be fun figuring out the commute patterns - especially on an upright, standard bike.

Cool Stuff at the Local Pawn Shop

No fishing or surfing for me this weekend. I was too busy moving into the new home, cleaning up the old studio and other stuff (like picking up my new daily ride - more on that in the next post). In between all that, I did have a few minutes to burn and Charlie and I checked out Ewa Beach Buy and Sell. They are a pawn shop, but they carry a bunch of fishing supplies. This item wasn't for sale, but it just goes to show what cool stuff is hiding in your local pawn shop.