A report from Eric
I caught my first o’io (bonefish, Albula Vulpes) this weekend on the fly rod.
I went out to fish the flats on Saturday around 5:30am. The moon was still out and shining over the shallow reef. I walked down to where I normally start making my way out to my favorite spot.
The sun just started to rise so I started to get my fly line ready for my first cast. I haven’t fly fished for a while so the casts were no so hot. My first cast was just terrible with the line just slapping the water.
After I got the rhythm back the cast got better. At around 6:40am and on my best cast it happened! The fish slammed into the fly and took off running and as you know since this was my first big fish on the fly rod I was in a panic as to what to do. Do I tighten the drag or spool the reel to slow it down or just let it run? Having remembered what you and SteveL did, it all came into place. I started to slow the fish down by palming the reel with my hand.
Then it happened the fish started to come back at me so the line went slack. I started to reel as fast as I could to get the tension
back on the rod and when I did
the fish made another good run. After a few shorter
runs I brought the fish in. l don’t take a net out
with me so luckily the hook was set in the right
place. I tagged it and weight it. The fish
was three pounds and 22-inches long.
I also went out fishing on Sunday but no oio, just a lizard fish.
EQUIPMENT: An 8-weight rod spooled with a weight-forward bonefish line and flourocarbon leader.
