It was a very generous offer and one that I could not refuse. Stan said he made an error on his appointment book and had some free time so he wanted to know if I wanted to fish Lake Wilson with him again. How can you say no to that.
SteveL and I met Stan at the boat ramp and we soon found ourselves fly fishing in familiar water. We hit some of the spots that produced fish on the last trip and I quickly picked up a Peacock Bass and later a Largemouth bass while Stan and Steve were pounding the Red Devils and Bluegills.
We fished a variety of locations--heavy wood, grassy banks and steep drop-offs. All produced fish and some of the fish we caught were pretty strange looking. But when we slowly trolled down to fish a stack of fallen trees, the action really picked up.
Stan was fishing for Bluegill with a slender 14-foot Tenkara rod and while I was tying on a new fly I heard Stan say, "Oh No!" He had hooked a large Peacock Bass. At this point there were two possible outcomes. Either the line or the rod would break. But Stan moved the boat out to deep water and worked the fish until Steve could net it.
We continued to fish and I pulled out a couple of nice fat Red Devils. There are many of these fish throughout the reservoir and they can be found on points and holding in little burrows they excavate into the steep banks. Stan found two large Peacock Bass holding under a pile of dead wood. We threw big, bushy, flashy flies at them to, in Stan's words, "get them so pissed off that they just take a swipe at the fly." I threw a size 2 JJ Special at them but they'd just swim up to it and blow it off. There was some aggressive moves, but they generally ignored it. But when Steve threw in a flash fly on a sink tip line, one of the fish just exploded on it and it was game on.
Stan moved the boat away from the wood pile and into deeper water where Steve fought the fish in a tug-of-war on his 5 weight rod until he finally brought it to net. Then about 20 minutes later Stan spotted a couple of Peacock Bass hiding under a sunken tree limb. Steve dropped the fly right on top of them, letting it sink below the fish before quickly stripping it towards the surface. This action drew a strike by one of the Peacocks and soon he had boated another nice fish.
We continued to fish and caught a few more Red Devils and Bluegill but soon it was time to call it a day.
EQUIPMENT: I used a fast action 5 weight rod with floating line. SteveL used a variety of setups but the primary Peacock Bass rod was also a 5 weight rod rigged with a sink tip. Stan used the Tenkara rod and switched to a Sage Bluegill rod later in the day.
DIRECTIONS: Take the H-1 freeway going west then the H-2 freeway, Exit 8A going north to Mililani. Take Exit 8, Wahiawa and get into the right lane. After crossing over a bridge turn right at the stop light onto Avocado Street. About 50 yard from this point turn right then enter Wahiawa Freshwater Park. You will see restrooms on your right and just past the restrooms turn right and go downhill to a parking area and boat ramp.