Highs in the 90's

 Fishing can be addictive. I don't think it is a chemical addiction. Thrilling moments are too short and too few to qualify fishing as an adrenaline rush, and it is simply not aerobic enough to produce a "runner's high." Instead I suspect that the addiction is more cerebral. Like an obsession with golf, catching fish is a physical and mental challenge with many uncontrollable variables. It is the desire to overcome the challenge, to solve the puzzle, that compels us to fish constantly.
A friend of mine, Haichao, has recently experienced the challenge of fishing and I have a feeling that he is now, and forever will be, an addict.

Starting small...

but getting bigger!

You Give Love a Bad Name

Our good friends in Hawaii just got married. Tara was the maid of honor and I agreed to play photographer. Needless to say we were pretty busy but I managed to fit in a few days of fishing between wedding related activities.

I met up with my friend Kirk early one morning and we waded out to fish for white ulua along the edge of the reef. We had some success, a couple of whites, one bluefin ulua and a big cornet fish:

A few days later we went out for o'io (bonefish.) We often fly fish for o'io but Kirk reported that the fish in this particular area are very difficult to hook with a fly rod. Instead we headed out early, at low tide, to catch some crabs:

With our bait in tow we made our way to the edge of the reef. The hope was that the bonefish were waiting in the deeper water for the tide to rise so that they could safely enter the flat in search of a meal, like the delicious crabs we had just caught. We cast our bait along the drop off and waited patiently. Within ten minutes Kirk had a nice fish on his line:

We spent most of the day on the water. Kirk landed one more fish and I hooked one but lost it. We saw many fish though, some quite large. Kirk says that he has seen o'io in the area that are probably bigger than the world record. I can't wait to get back out there!