A Shark Named Iselle

I went fishing on the heels of Hurricanes Iselle and Julio, two storms which didn't seem to affect our neighbourhood even slightly.  The water was murky with run-off from rain in the mountains and there was quite a bit of debris washed up on the sand.  I spent about an hour casting for bonefish along the flat without a bite, or even seeing any signs of fish.  Strolling through the shallows back to shore I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and spotted a black-tipped shark fin in the water.  I have spent some quality time with blacktip reef sharks, enough to say with confidence that this was a big fish!  The gap between fin and tail definitely put it in the 6 foot plus range.  The shark was cruising very slowly away from shore, no more than 40 feet from me.  Now, I should probably have gone for my camera but instead I did what any self-respecting flats fisherman would do.  I made a cast!  I dropped my 3/16 ounce shrimp jig about six feet in front of the shark and gave it a couple of quick jerks but the shark showed absolutely no response and continued placidly into deeper water until it's fin finally disappeared under the surface.

Two days later I got up at dawn and went out to the same area.  After about 15 minutes I found a dozen tails in thigh deep water and hooked a nice bonefish.  It made three long runs and I got it within about 15 feet of me before it came unhooked and swam to freedom.  I fished for another hour or so until the sun was away from the horizon and called it a day.  Just as I turned around I glimpsed, not more than 200 feet from me, a black tipped fin followed by a black tipped tail slip under the surface.  I waited for a few minutes but the shark had gone.  Though I didn't get a good look, it may have been the same one I spotted two days earlier ... is Iselle here to stay?

Black-Ops

I met up with Kirk sometime before sunrise on an unspecified date and headed off to do some top-secret fishing. Our mission was to attempt to make contact with a very large, very elusive Hawaiian bonefish: The O'io.
After a supply stop for coffee we went in search of a shady character known as "Mr. Crabs" who would we were hoping would help us locate The O'io. We cast a wide net and soon flushed Mr. Crabs from his hiding place. Our plan was to lure The O'io in with a trusted intermediary. Mr. Crabs initially balked at being used as bait but our methods were very persuasive.
From the staging area we headed warily into to AO. Conditions seemed favorable and right away we saw signs that The O'io was in the area. I was bringing Mr. Crabs back in for a status update when the ambush hit. Mr. Crabs never had a chance. The battle was furious and at one point I was certain we weren't going to make it but somehow we did.

Our best sources indicate that The O'io weighs in around 20 pounds. Intelligence analysts estimate that this fish might be somewhere north of 10 but that The O'io is still out there.

Fly Hawaiian

Who wants to eat my fly?

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I've been fly fishing for bonefish the past couple of weeks, with no success. I have gotten much better at spotting fish. I've had a few fish stop to investigate, but for the most part they either spook or seem to ignore my fly all together. 

To be fair, I have been strictly sight-fishing, which is tough in Hawaii. Blind-casting is definitely the most effective method of hooking bonefish but it's just not as thrilling to me. Besides, if I'm going to stand around and throw a fly as far as I can (and that's not even very far) over and over I may as well save my rotator cuff and fish with bait.

In fact, I might just do that tomorrow...

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!