A strong wind was blowing from the south as the morning sun peeked over the rim of the extinct volcano, bringing light to miles of shallow reef flats. The tide was low but rising fast as the angler moved slowly through the water, dropping a size 4 orange Crazy Charlie into areas he knew might hold what the locals call 'oio' and what others call bonefish.
As the sun rose higher he stopped casting when he spotted a disturbance on the water moving slowly left to right. As he quickly stripped more line off his reel he estimated that the target was at least 80 feet out. After two false casts and a double-haul, the line flew towards the horizon where it smoothly unrolled, dropping the fly gently onto the water with a tiny splash 15 feet from the rapidly closing fish.
Short strips. Slowly. Slowly. Slowly. He concentrated on the approaching wake as it passed the spot where he estimated his fly hit the water. In mid-strip the line suddenly went tight in his hand. Suddenly ninety feet of WF-8-F line unspooled from his Lamson reel followed by the rapid clicking sound of the line-to-backing knot shooting through the rod guides as a 100 yards of backing followed his main fly line across the flats. Fish on!
How it really happened: Steve brought his new 8 weight rod out to the flats to test-cast it and after making a few casts he noticed that the line was puddling on the water in front of him and it looked like it was about to tangle. He stopped stripping in the fly and attended to the line. While doing this a bonefish rushed in and ate the fly, which was just laying on the reef. After a short fight he landed a nice four pound bonefish. Which at this point was the first one caught and landed by anyone, bait or fly, in the past two days of fishing!
I was in Hawaii on vacation with my family and fishing the flats on the South Shore of the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Jin was also in the islands with his family so along with my brother Eric and my friends Steve L. and Steve T., we fished for big 'oio' (oh ee oh) or bonefish. However Hurricane Flossie threw a wrench into our plans. Flossie was a Category 3 storm and it was passing to the south-southwest of the island chain heading north, bringing rain and high winds. For the first week, casting was a challenge. Normally, the mornings are calm with little or no wind but the storm brought winds of 25-35 mph with gusts close to 35-40 mph. I watched Jin backcast with his 9 weight during a bad day and the line just piled up behind him.
The normal daily routine was picking Jin up in Waikiki at 5am and we'd be on the water by 5:20am and fish until 8:30am so I could get him back in time for both of us to do stuff with our families. We'd wade out to some of the good spots and begin casting. Because of surface chop you can't see the bonefish approach but in the areas we fish there are corridors that are zones that the bones use for feeding or transit so we'll stand in one spot and work the area. On some days it's normal to see fish tailing 10 feet or closer and on several occasions I watched as bonefish swam by right in front of me. But the high winds were murder on casting and the fish just didn't seem interested in biting. We had some strikes and short runs and we caught a few reef flats species but not the one we were after.
To get a break from the wind we fished a deep channel that was blasted out of the reef to create boating access for a community development in the 60's. My brother and I have caught numerous bonefish in this sand-bottomed channel and also a fair number of hammerhead sharks. Steve L. joined us that morning and we caught a variety of reef critters but not the money fish we were after. The best catch was a three pound jack (papio) that Steve L. caught while dunking live bait (oama) at the mouth of the channel.
Later in the week Steve T. joined us from California as we continued to fish several spots on the flats that are normally good fish-producing areas. However due to the storm, tide, moon phase or anger of the fish gods we had no luck. Even when Eric and his friend showed up to dunk bait for bonefish there were no bites at all. When we spoke to other fishermen all we got was the old "you should have been here last week" story. We also wanted to try flyfishing at Rat Island or the big flats on the Windward side of the island but you had to access these areas by kayak or small boat and with the hurricane blowing in, fishing these spots was out.
After a frustrating week of fighting the wind Jin and his family left the islands. I felt bad about not getting him a decent bonefish but I was determined to get one for him. Naturally, the day Jin was leaving the islands was the day the hurricane's effects was due to decline. For the next two days the winds diminished until conditions were back to normal.
I got up early to gear up. Steve T. was picking me up and we were heading to the flats but there was something missing that had always been there for the past week. The wind. There wasn't any.
When we hit the flats it was like a sheet of glass was on the water. And there were tailing fish. Lots of tailing fish. Steve T. had several hookups and several break-offs and caught a couple of jacks. I had a strong take that was on for a moment then pulled off. The wind was gone and the fish were back.
Over the next week I caught a fish a day and missed numerous others. Not bad when you consider I only fished from 5:30am to 9:00am (had family stuff to do). All the spots that were unproductive the previous week were coughing up nice bonefish in the 5 to 7 pound range. And one morning I had a huge hit that bent the 8 weight like no other fish had. This one had all the line off the reel and a good part of my backing when it pulled off. I checked the hook. The bend of the hook had been straightened (see photo below). You won't see lots of bonefish like in the Caribbean or Christmas Island, but you will see, and hopefully catch, a really big one like Steve L did earlier this year.
Tips: The fish loved orange, red and pink. For bonefish I tied a bunch of flies from size 2 to 6 using orange as the main body color as per the suggestion from Steve T. The bonefish especially loved the size 6, which was a Charlie tied sparse. Other sizes produced, but not as good as this one particular size and type. If I were doing it again I'd use a heavier (stronger) size 6 hook, something in the stainless steel. I was using nickel plated hooks on the assumption that if the fish broke off, the hook would rust out quickly.
Leaders: Use short leaders when the wind is high. Lengthen out for normal conditions but for these particular flats the fish are not leader shy and you can go down to five feet. I've caught fish here using five feet of straight 30 lb. flourocarbon while the bait fisherguys are using 40 to 60 pound leaders and 3/0 to 5/0 circle hooks baited with half a squid. Yeah, the bones get that big.
Eating: You need a good meal after a hard day of fishing. Try Zippy's or L&L Hawaiian BBQ Drive-In or Gina's BBQ.
Equipment: We used eight and nine weight rods with floating line for the flats and full sink line for fishing the channel. Reels must hold at least 100 yards of backing. More is better. Flourocarbon leaders and an assortment of flies in size 2 to 6. Long-nosed pliers to remove deep-set hooks (debarb all hooks). A pair of good wading shoes is a must. A waterproof hip sack is useful to keep your stuff organized. Don't forget a hat and sunscreen. If you forget something you can go to Nervous Waters Hawaii for fly fishing stuff or McCully Bike or Hanapa'a Fishing Supply for everything from light spinning supplies to heavy offshore rigs.