Thursday, September 29, 2011

Fly Hawaiian

Who wants to eat my fly?

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...

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Big Braddah Po'o-Pa'a

We are back in Hawaii and I have dug out one of my favorite books: Hawaii's Fishes.
The yellow tabs sticking out the side mark many of the different species of fish that Tara and I have caught over the years.
Two of our good friends from Nashville came to visit recently and we took them to one of our old fishing spots.
We had good luck, everyone caught at least one fish. Justin caught a nice Stocky Hawkfish, which is one of my favorite reef-dwellers.
Hawkfish are negatively buoyant because they don't have swimbladders like most fish do. Instead of spending their time suspended in the water, hawkfish use their strong pectoral fins to perch on rocky outcrops. When something tasty swims along, the hawkfish swoops down to grab a meal.