One more time.
The trip to the islands was winding down but SteveT, Eric and I decided to pound the flats one more time. The falling tide was less than optimal but when you don't live here 24/7, you fish whatever is handed to you and smile when you do it. Based on our knowledge of the area, we decided to start off closer to shore than normal thinking that the fish would be closer in, feeding in the higher water. We were correct.
We weren't fishing for more than five minutes when SteveT hooked into an o'io. Talk about picking up where you left off. We landed seven fish in three hours yesterday and it looked like today would be a repeat but this time I wanted to get my licks in. I thought my luck would change since I forgot the net in the truck, so we had to land fish by hand and use Steve's Boga Grip to control the bone.
The fish Steve caught was a nice chunky bonefish that weighed a bit over 4 pounds. It was quickly released an we returned to fishing but a short while later he had another on the line that was landed and released. Then Eric added to the tally with another fish. I swore this was the last time I fished between both of them so I dropped back and circled around to again fish the deep pocket we had just left. But still no bites for me.
Eric had to leave so Steve and I continued down the coast. The action slowed down a bit and Steve suggested we fish a cut in the reef that usually holds a few fish. We only had 30 minutes left so we quickly hit the beach, walked down to the spot and waded out.
The area was fairly deep but there was a finger of reef that allowed you to stand in front of the channel and cast. I was about to move out to the tip of the reef but Steve, who had fished here before, suggested I fish a little closer in and he walked out to the point. We both began casting.
The action was slow for the first ten minutes but then Steve's reel began to sing. He had ANOTHER fish on his line and it was a cookie cutter of the previous bones he landed that day. A few minutes after releasing that one he hooked ANOTHER fish. He said a school of bonefish were probably in the area feeding. After helping him land this one he suggested we switch positions. I told him if he hooks a fish where I was standing I was going to walk over and cut his line.
Before we went back to fishing we compared flies to see if there were any differences in what we were using. Although the flies we were using wer very similar in shape, size and color the one major difference was my fly had bead chain eyes and Steve was using lead dumbbell eyes. His fly got down deeper and much quicker than my fly did. I swapped out my fly and went back to fishing.
Two casts later it was fish on for me. The drag screamed as the fish took off for the outer reef. This fish was not like the others Steve had caught and it quickly took all my fly line and a good portion of backing off the reel. It pulled and shook its head as we fought it out but finally I had it close enough for SteveT to grab the fish. Then I pulled a bonehead move while fighting the bonefish. Instead of backing up and cranking down on the reel to get the fish's head up, I pulled back on the rod and high-sticked it. The fish saw Steve coming in and gave one quick flick of its tail to get away and my four-piece rod quickly became a five-piece rod. The tip snapped off three guides down from the tip top. Dumb, dumb move. But Steve grabbed the fish and it weighed out ton the Boga to a bit over 4 pounds.
SteveT was kind. He said at least if you're going to end the trip and break a rod, might as well end it by catching a decent fish. It was time for us to reel up and go home.
EQUIPMENT: Eric and I used fast action 10 and 9 weight rods. SteveT used a 7 weight switch rod.