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...

Double Uni's Out - Albright In

Rigging up the Sea Striker Standup Rod - 30 to 80 pound class rod. 5'9" fully rollered all the way up. Hooked up the Penn GT345 level wind - tweaked the mounting screws and balanced the pressure of the bolt on bracket.

As I suspected, the double uni that I used to tie backing to mono on the conventional reel wasn't going to make it through the rollers on the standup rod.

I cut it out and retied the lines with an albright.

The albright fits smoothly through the rollers and is pretty streamlined.

I can't wait to get this rig on a boat!!!

Sunday Fishing - Back and Forth

Went fishing with Mark -

The water was super shallow with the morning low tide.

Started out flyfishing - I caught a medium sized Yellow Spot Trevally (and let it go).

There was a slow moving cloud that made it hard to see the bonefish.

Switched to pitching lures - Mark landed a couple of Bluefin Trevally - I didn't get the time of day.

Switched back to flyfishing for bones - I saw more than a few but they wanted nothing to do with the flies - there were a bunch of sharks in the water (because of a dead turtle).

Really peaceful just taking in all the scenery (especially the awesome surf breaking in the background - reminds me of Daystar on Oahu....)

Nice day!

New Hanko

For signing my gyotaku.

The lettering is kanji for "Fisherman" and hiragana for "Be-Ra-Su-Ko"

Update and Better Paper Gyotaku

Ok - a lot of things on this post.

First, I think I'm going to have to re-tie the uni-uni knots I last posted about. I think it will be too thick for the rod guides. I am going to use an Albright (now I just have to unwind 185 yards of 80 pound monofilament).

Next - my office threw it's Christmas Party yesterday. After the fun, games and food, there was fishing to be done. I caught a papio (caught and released) and lost a damn good lure. You win some, you lose some.

Today - no hits on the lures (even at the sure fire spots). I used the flyrod too and had slightly better luck - one of those tiny grouper (caught and released of course), and pretty much at the end of the outting, a nice sized bonefish. I cast the fly from the beach, saw the fish turn and WHACK! I had a slight backlash episode, but straightened all that out. This fish did some great running - and actually took me down to the backing (and ran with half of it)! It is lumpia sized so I kept it.

Not only did I keep it, but here it is being gyotaku'ed. I have shoji paper so now the images are coming out much better. The paper is pretty absorbent.

I also carved out a new honko stamp, but that for the next post.

"Loaded for Bear"

Is a term for a state of readiness in preparation for the worst.

Imagine if you had the time to figure out how you were going to take down a bear. You'd bring big versions of everything.

I do not recall a term used to describe a similar event in fishing...

I say we use "Spooled for Leviathan" or "Lined up for Moby"?

Today I didn't go fishing or sailing or snorkeling. I cleaned up my room - deep cleaned.

I also spent a little time knocking out some projects that have been staring me in the face for a while.

This was one of them - loading my conventional reel with line.

I used 200 yards of 100 lb dacron braid, tied a double uni and finished off with 180 yards of 80 lb monofilament.

Now I'm "Spooled for Moby!!!!"

Working Late

My office has a biologist in town to help with crustacean density counts.

I went on one of the runs tonight to check out the health of the environment.

There were several of these healthy specimens.

Pretty BIG -

Fishing on Sunday

Wahoo, Bluefin Trevally, Snapper, Bonito, Barracuda - Oh My!

Rodney and Mike showing off their big catches -

I only caught one fish - this 21 pound Wahoo - Quality not Quantity has always been my motto!

Question for the masses - does this life jacket make me look fat and short??? Or is it the massive size of this fish that is distorting the picture!!!!????!!!!

Snorkeling Saturday

Among other things, I went snorkeling.

Sponges, Bluefin Trevally, Coral, a Titan Triggerfish and others were everywhere.

Nice way to enjoy some time.

More Flats

This is down South.

If you look closely, you can see a nice sized Bonefish in the first picture.

Bonefishing paradise... (I wish you were here Marlon so I can teach you how to catch one of these awesome fish!!!)

You want some hands??? I got your hands right here!!!

"So there I was - just walking along the beach minding my own business and here comes this brown human. He gets all in my personal space and then shoves this sliver box in my face!!! The nerve of that guy!!! He didn't get the hint so I said 'You want a piece of me? Well come get it, or get the heck outta here!!!' What's this atoll coming to these days???"

This crab has hands.

Look Ma - No Hands!!!

I'm not sure how this guy eats - talk about stuffing your face, or playing with your food.

If you aren't sure what I'm talking about, look where the crab's claws should be. He's got replacements budding out, but it'll be a couple of molts before they are functional.

Life's a b!tc4 ain't it????

Deja Vu Bluefin Trevally

Hit two spots today -

Tried flyfishing down South but didn't see anything - I didn't even get a hook up with one of the pesky juvee groupers...

I switched to pitching a big popper and I did get a young Bluefin Trevally. It is amazing the size lures a fish will try to take. Looking at proportions, it would be like an average sized human trying to eat a whole baby pig in two gulps.

The tide was coming up fast so we moved to spot number two.

Big waves breaking in the background BUT

I nailed these two BFTs -

The second one was the other BFT that was following the one I caught last Saturday - same weight, same length, same spot, similar lure - deja vu...

Weighed in at the Marina at 14 pounds (although it seemed like a 20 pounder to me).

And I didn't break the rod today!