SteveL and I decided to fish another area since we had been throwing line all over our favorite areas but drew little attention from Mr. Bone. As we were gearing up, ET from Nervous Waters Fly Fishers drove up with a client.
This was one of the prime areas where ET brings clients to catch elusive Hawaiian o'io, or bonefish. But living on an island where the concept of catch and release is looked upon as playing with your food, it's a tough place to try to make it as a fly fishing guide. People eat fish and bonefish is just another meal waiting to be caught. And if word gets around that a spot is hot and the fish are large, it will be soon packed with folks slinging bait and lures and NOT tagging and putting them back in the water. The fish will make a very quick trip to the backyard grill. But you can't fault anyone for doing that. I've done that. And in these tough economic times that fish is a meal for a family somewhere. But too many people casting a line in one spot can deplete the fishery.
My brother pointed out that in last month's local fishing publication, a person wrote an article and named names and places where large bonefish reside. So now in a spot where I seldom saw any other anglers there were groups of people staking out the flats with a forrest of surfcasting poles, chumming the water and hoping to catch a large bonefish.
As Steve and I fished this location other well known local fly fishers showed up so obviously we were fishing in the right place. The wind was really up today--blowing around 10-15 mph. As we walked the flats I spotted three bonefish. The first one was way too close--I spotted it just a few feet away and well inside the tip of the fly rod. I had shots at two other fish that were just about 12 to 15 feet away. They were interested in the fly and circled it, but no takes.
EQUIPMENT: I used a fast action 9 weight rod and floating line with a short leader and 25 pound tippet.