A Quick Bonefish Mission on the Flats in Hawaii

It was raining the past few of days so, as soon as it cleared, I decided to go on a quick fly-fishing mission for bonefish. Every time I get out there, I’m pumped!  The tides were perfect for sight fishing for the elusive, giant Hawaiian Bonefish. The winds were southerly, which makes for great fishing in the afternoon, as both the sun and wind are at your back.   

I was so confident about the fly I tied, I was sure I was going to catch the first fish I saw. My phone rings and it’s my wife. I’m thinking it’s an emergency so, I pick up the phone.  The next thing you know, I see two giant bonefish swimming in the front of me from left to right. I abruptly wrap up the conversation and cast, giving the bonefish a good lead.  I wait a few minutes and the bonefish are closer to the fly.  I give a little strip on the line, only to see the bonefish swim around the fly.  I quickly check the fly, and I see it is swimming sideways!

With a quick fly change, I head down the shoreline closer to the beach, and not more than 50 yards a young-women with the revealing bikini starts throwing a coconut into the water for her labradoodle to retrieve. The entire time, I’m thinking to myself, maybe she just doesn’t know I’m fishing.  Maybe she is an environmentalist that doesn’t want anyone catching fish.  Does she know I’m releasing the fish after I catch it?  I speed up my walk until I’m past the swimming dog, the woman in a bikini, and the coconut.  I’m sure there weren’t any fish in the area anyway.  After I pass, I hear the splash of the coconut and a barking dog behind me.   

Farther away, I start to see more fish.  I sighted and casted at about a dozen fish before I hooked this fish in the video.  I had a couple of pulls prior to this bite, but nothing set. I saw this solo fish swimming in a deeper pond and gave it a pretty good lead. As the fly dropped to the bottom, the fish rushed to the area.  The bonefish did not immediately take the fly, so I slowly stripped it in with a couple of long pulls. I felt and saw the fish eat the fly.  I quickly and gently set the hook, but the fish was swimming towards me.  It wasn’t until a couple seconds later that the fish felt the line and took off.  This was a Giant Hawaiian Bonefish!  He took about 200 yards of backing.  Then snapped the main fly line. It looked like it had hit one of the coral heads.   

I looked into the bag and my dental floss was missing. I remember one of my kids walking around with it earlier today.  I tied a quick perfection loop in the main line and tied another leader.  Within a minute of fixing the line, I saw another two bonefish heading my way.  I casted, and the result was this barracuda.  Check it out our YouTube Channel.

If you are interested in booking a trip with Fly Fishing Hawaii, you can visit us at our website www.flyfishinghawaii.fishor give us a call at 808-780-1253.