Untold stories from the flats
/Fly Fishing in Hawaiʻi
The Challenges, Characters, and Adventures of a Fishing Guide
An Unexpected Encounter
As we motored toward our fishing grounds, I began sharing stories about some of the strange things I’d witnessed around Keʻehi Lagoon.
One incident involved a woman I encountered swimming in the middle of the channel, fully clothed.
I was guiding a client at the time when I spotted her in the water. Seeing someone swimming that far from shore, especially fully dressed, immediately caught my attention.
I slowed the boat, pulled alongside her, and asked whether she needed a ride.
She was carrying a basket.
I had no idea where she had come from, where she was going, or why she was swimming through the channel with a basket in her hand.
After a brief exchange, she accepted my offer.
Basket and all.
I asked what she was doing out there. She explained that she was rescuing a laundry basket because it was nice.
We have some serious drugs problems in Hawaii. You have to be on one to be where she was located in the channel. Where did she come from? Who knows. I did take her back to shore.
My client looked just as bewildered as I was. We exchanged glances as she walked away into the crowd of harbor regulars.
Just another day at Keʻehi Lagoon, I told Jim.
He appeared amused.
The First Cast
We finally reached Rat Island and anchored along the southern side of the flats. The tide was rising, and I expected bonefish to begin moving onto the reef to feed.
Stepping off the boat for the first time can feel like stepping onto a field before a competition. There’s a mixture of excitement, anticipation, and nervousness until you settle into the rhythm of fishing.
We grabbed our rods and waded onto the flats.
My plan was to fish the eastern side before working our way around to another section. The trade winds were blowing 20 to 25 knots, typical conditions for Hawaiʻi. With the wind at our backs, I asked Jim to make a 15-yard cast.
“Can you cast?” I asked.
He assured me that he could.
But as every fishing guide eventually discovers, an angler’s confidence doesn’t always match his casting ability.
Jim made his first attempt.
With a roundhouse backcast and an equally forceful forward cast, he drove the fly straight into the water. The line landed in a tangled mess about thirty degrees downshore.
For someone accustomed to casting on lakes and streams, the open flats of Hawaiʻi can be a rude awakening.
Still, at least I knew what I was working with.
“All right, looks pretty good. Let’s go,” I said.
We continued down the flat, searching the water for movement. After covering the eastern side without seeing a fish, we crossed toward the western edge.
That was when I noticed something.
A Story from Las Vegas
As we searched for bonefish, Jim returned to one of his stories from his days as a first responder in Las Vegas.
He recalled responding to an emergency call at an apartment complex. The caller reported that someone needed assistance, although the exact nature of the emergency was unclear.
Jim and his partner arrived before the police and made their way to a second-floor apartment.
The door was wide open.
They stepped inside and encountered one of the most disturbing scenes Jim had ever witnessed.
Standing before them was a young woman, completely naked and soaking wet. At first glance, she appeared physically fit, but her face was severely disfigured. Jim described injuries around her mouth so extensive that her teeth and gums were exposed.
Judging from the scene, he believed she might have been a prostitute.
He tried asking what had happened, but her responses were confused and difficult to understand. She appeared frightened and disoriented, staring at them with enormous eyes.
Jim said it felt like walking into a horror movie.
Unable to get a clear explanation, they turned their attention to someone else inside the apartment.
The Man on the Couch
Sitting on a leather couch was a Black man with an expressionless face.
Jim said the man looked as though he had melted into the cushions. His head seemed fixed in place, and his body was slumped so heavily that he barely appeared capable of moving.
They asked what had happened.
His response made even less sense than the woman’s.
He mumbled something unintelligible, his eyes staring blankly ahead.
Jim noticed what appeared to be a turkey baster near the kitchen area.
He and his partner exchanged confused looks.
Neither knew what to make of the situation.
The woman’s injuries were severe, and she appeared to be in considerable pain. Jim tried to reassure her, but she continued giving strange, incoherent answers.
He later described the incident as one of the craziest calls of his career.
At one point, Jim asked the man to repeat himself.
“Both of them motherfuckers, up the ass!” the man replied.
Jim said the man pointed toward the kitchen, but his condition made it nearly impossible to determine what he meant.
The situation was so bizarre that Jim and his partner struggled to understand what had happened.
Then Jim asked the woman another question.
“Ma’am, can you tell me what happened?”
She stared at him.
After several attempts, Jim finally understood her explanation: she had been out of a job.
He looked at her, still trying to make sense of the entire situation.
“Well,” he said, “I guess if she puts a paper bag over her head, she should be good.”
When Jim finished telling the story, I was speechless.
It sounded so unbelievable that I almost questioned whether it could be true. But having heard enough stories from first responders over the years, I knew that reality can sometimes be stranger than fiction.
