Dean had commissioned me about a year and a half ago to make him a rod tailor made for his rather unique fishery, and like most of us here Dean chooses to fish cane for. Hawaii is of course a stunning place to fish and the bonefishing there has been described as "Varsity Level" bonefishing. The bones are big, not overly numerous, very spooky and the majority of the fishing is done on the reef rather than the flats where getting cut off on the coral is about a 60% chance if you are lucky enough to hook one of these awesome fish........ oh... and it is ALWAYS windy.... sometime not too bad, but other times it is almost blowing you off balance making accurate and delicate presentations difficult if not impossible for a greenhorn like myself..... that of course if I could even SEE a fish. The Locals have pretty good eyes for the fish but I found myself once again seeing maybe 15% of the fish that Dean-o spotted, even with him pointing out the fish. Like I said, total rookie called up the big show.
My 8wt and my Lei on the sand at first light on day 1...... I was so excited to get on the water when I took this photo.
So, back to the rod I made for Dean. After much discussion and with myself having had the experience of fishing in Hawaii last winter with Dean I figured I had a pretty good handle on the fish and fishing that he does day in and day out on Oahu and together we came up with what we felt would be the best tool for the job. The rod is called the "Salt Companion" tho we have playfully dubbed Dean's rod the "Bonefish Buddy" which I just couldn't bring myself to ink it to the rod shafts. The rod is a 3pc with 2 identical tip sections and 2 butt sections. With one butt section the rod assembles into an 11' 5wt 2 handed rod for windy conditions, blind casting/searching likely water or extremely long casts, with the second shorter butt section in play the rod is an 8'10" 8/9 wt singlehander with a short, fixed fighting butt for use in sight fishing Bonefish, less windy days or stripping streamers for Trevally or Barracuda. The rod is splice jointed, hollowbuilt, impregnated and built out with corrosion resistant hardware. I think that making a rod for another angler is just about the best thing ever..... but having the opportunity to deliver a rod in person, fish together and see the rod christened in it's new home in the hands of it's new partner is a whole other level entirely of awesomeness.
I arrived with an 11' 5/6 3pc two handed rod as well as an 8'9" 3pc 8wt. The 8wt was built out salt safe however the 11'er was not as it is a rod I use for summer steelhead and a few days in the salt, even with religious rinsing reeked havoc on the N/S stripping guides.
A few shots of Dean-o's Rod
And one of my 8wt
On the first day we fished, Dean strung up his new 11'er and I chose my singlehander....... It was one of the windiest days that we fished the whole trip and I was working pretty hard in waist deep water that day. It was pretty tough fishing but we both managed to find a willing taker. If I recall properly Dean's first fish on the new rod was a smallish Papio however it was not long before Dean hooked and skillfully landed a nice bonefish to properly break in the buddy.
Dean and I tagging a bonefish as part of the Hawaiian O'io (Bonefish) tag and release volunteer program in effect.
We fished together for the next 3 days and got together for another morning later in the week. It was a great time. We also fished with a random stranger named Aki that we met on the beach one day who was visiting from Japan. Aki used to live in HI and we were all stoked to fish together, tell stories of our local fishing and have a brew on the tailgate. On another day we also managed to fish together with Craig, another local boy, joker, regular fishing partner of Dean and just a great guy to be on the water with. I had delivered a rod to Craig the year prior, a Salt Special 8'8" 8wt. So that day there were 3 cane rods out on the reef, how cool is that!
3 bamboo rods waiting for 3 friends to hit the water together.
The reef/flats are large in many areas and there are plenty of other fishes cruising around besides the bonefish..... For instance this reef shark..... while Dean assured me that these were not a danger.... I remained somewhat sceptical
occasionally looking over my shoulder to see what else might be swimming up behind me.
On this trip, with some experience behind me from my first time fishing with these guys last year in HI I felt like at least I knew a little bit about where and how to fish the reef and I was rewarded a few times per day with scream of the reel for my efforts. Dean of course managed to generally out fish me by about 2 to 1 as would be expected from a angler with Dean's skill and knowledge.... while I fully relied on luck and some form of cosmic universal pity.
My best fish of the trip, a 25" bright Hawaiian O'io! I think this fish would have gone about 6.5-7lbs.... a good fish by any standard!
One late afternoon on a low tide Dean and I were out toward the edge of the reef and wading deep both driving our best 100'+ hero casts out into the waves in the hopes of enticing the big fish that cruise thru this area. We were getting our chances and the bite seemed "on". I broke off 2 good fish back to back when they struck the fly despite brand new tippet. Dean yells over to my what tippet am I using and I holler back "Maxima", to which he replies "what weight?" so I say "8lb"....... Dean just starts laughing out loud! "8lb????" he says..... "are you crazy or something?" ..... I'm dumbfounded.... So I ask.... "what U using?". Dean says "20lb".... He graciously offers me a spool of 15lb but feeling a little foolish and proud I say that I'm "ok" with my tiny tippet. not one minute later after re-rigging my tippet and fly once again another fish hits my fly and busts me off!.... So I wade over to Dean, tail between my legs and ask to borrow that 15lb
shortly after that, the best "bite" session I had during the trip was over and i blown all my chances. Lesson learned!
Here is a picture of me enjoying all the Hawaii has to offer a fella!
Some bent cane! This fish proved to be not in the cards for me. After about a 200' run he promptly wrapped me around a coral head and cut me off, shredding my leader in the process..... Bonefishing in Hawaii is great for boning up on your knots! hahaha.
And once last shot. this one was about a 3-4lb BarJack Trevally/Papio that took 4 swipes at my fly before I finally got a hook set on him, then it was on and he gave me a great fight! they play very differently from the bonefish with lots of directional changes and head shakes... something I am much more familiar playing. One the very next cast following landing this fish I hooked another slightly smaller Jack and Dean informed me that they sometimes travel in pairs and it is not unusual to catch them back to back like that. Who among us does not like 2 for 1 fishing!
All in, An outstanding trip, with awesome fishing, stellar company and some of the best Sushi I have had ever.
Cheers Dean, Craig and the rest of the clan for a great winter break! Already looking forward to next year!!
Hopefully Dean will chime in here with a few other photos and his side of the story!
Cheers and tight lines.
James
