BobW releases one of his two o'io (bonefish) he caught and tagged on the south shore.___________ All photos by SteveL for mikescatchreport.com
A synopsis of various reports from SteveL, SteveT and BobW for mikescatchreport.com
TWO ACORNS
SteveT and SteveL joined BobW to fly fish for o'io (bonefish) on the south shore and according to SteveL, Bob did really well.
"We have an expression back in Virginia that 'even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while' and this blind squirrel was overdue," said BobW. "SteveL and SteveT met me at the Hale Koa Hotel parking garage at 5:30am. I had fished with SteveL before and was looking forward to meeting and fishing with SteveT. I follow their bone fishing adventures on mikescatchreport.com and now had the opportunity to fish with two of the local experts."
Bob was in Hawaii for two weeks with his wife and his fishing window was limited to just a few hours in the morning--unfortunately when the tides were at their worst stages. On this day they decided to fly fish on a semi-secluded flat on the southwestern side of Oahu. Bob explained that, "The water was a smooth as a mill pond and I saw tailing bones soon after I entered the water."
"I continued using the fly SteveL had given me and had been successful for me a few days earlier. I cast in the vicinity of a tailing bone and for once did not spook him and all the other fish on the flats," said Bob. "I followed the advice Steve had given me earlier and let the fly sit completely still for what seemed to be an eternity. I then began a slow retrieve and a bonefish nailed the fly. After two long runs, I was finally able to get the fish close at hand and SteveL came over to net the fish. Steve took my picture then he weighed, measured and tagged the fish. I had only caught three bonefish on previous trips to the island and up till now had no pictures to substantiate my claims."
A great catch. BobW with his Hawaiian bonefish.
A little while later Bob hooked and landed his second 'acorn'.
"Even though the tide was dropping, Bobby caught two--one was 4 pounds 13 ounces and the other weighed 2.5 pounds. He said that he would frame the picture of his fish along with the fly that caught it," said SteveL.
They left the flat at 10am and headed back to the Hale Koa Hotel in Waikiki where Bob and his wife later celebrated his successful adventure with a pork saimin lunch at Zippy’s.
MORE FISHING
"I've been fishing with SteveT. the last few days," said SteveL. "We are trying to squeeze in as much fishing as possible because bad weather will be rolling in on Sunday."
"The fishing's been tough," added SteveT, "with wind gusts up to 30 mph" blowing across the flats. However, despite the wind, SteveT "managed to get one 4 pounder after a million cast."
The two Steves and BobW spread out over the flats as they try to spot schools of tailing bonefish.
"I fished with SteveT yesterday (Saturday). I got out (on the flats) early," said SteveT. "While I was out there fishing I saw a this guy zooming across the beach and then plowing through the water. I thought to myself that can only be Steve L. No one move that fast, especially through the water."
SteveL explained that both of them "went out in the mid-afternoon to catch the rising tide" at their favorite south shore spot.
"SteveT said he tried everything today and finally put my fly on and caught his four pounder," said SteveL. "In fact, it's the same pattern fly that BobW used to catch all three of his fish this past week."
SteveT's 4 pound bonefish he caught using SteveL's Go-To Fly.
SteveT also had success with his special fly and managed to get the end of his line attached to a couple of hot fish but he could not land them. Too big.
"I hooked a couple of huge fish on that fly this week but could not bring them in. It's become the 'Go-To Fly'. It's been great for blind casting into those deeper pockets as well as sight casting on skinny water. I've been trying a variety of fly patterns and this is by far the best and I haven't seen anything quite like it out here. I just gave SteveT two more since he may have a couple more days of fishing, weather permitting."
"He keeps coming up with new flies," moaned SteveT. "I take home samples and reproducing them and sticking them in my fly box. Now my fly box is getting too full. I'm sure by August he'll have another hot fly!"
EQUIPMENT: Fast-action 7-9 weight fly rods and clear floating weight forward lines with heavy fluorocarbon leaders and various flies from size 2 to 6, although everyone seems to be using only Steve's Go-To Fly to catch their bonefish.
A bonefish feeding crater on the flats. The fish will blow water into the soft, sandy flats hoping to pull up shrimp and crabs.