Hawaiibassfishing Forum

Wanted to see if anyone has had any success lately with bonefish around the island lately. The last few times I've been out I haven't caught any bones, I've hardly seen any at all either. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, I don't know. I guess it just makes it that much more rewarding when I finally do start catching some again.

Alec

Some reports of papio in K-Bay.

awesome.

How do you play the tides when you fish for oio on the flats?

I've heard some people say a rising tide is best. Others say any movement of the tide accross the flats will be OK.

I would think that as the tide comes in and floods the flats, it brings with it the hungry fish...
Stan

Thanks for the info Stan, I would think a flooding tide would bring in the fish also. So far I have only seen a few fish. I guess I would have to try more often to figure out the best time to try.

They don't call it the Grey Ghost of the Flsts for nothing.... I can't even see them when they run between my legs after I hook them.

I know what you mean Stan. I too am new to fishing the flats armed with a fly rod and the bones are extremely hard for me to locate. In fact, a few weeks ago I was hitting Hickam Flats and the only fish I saw were the ones I spooked away. Besides a good pair of polarized sunglasses, what is the secret to spotting them before they spot you??? I haven't been able to see a tail either.

FishingFrenzy,

I also fish at Hickam Flats and I have a few tips for that location. One thing that seems to help a little is, try to keep the sun over your shoulder, it will eliminate some glare off the water, this seems to help me the most for spotting, when the tide is low I can spot the tailing bones quite easily by doing this, but even if I don't spook em by getting to close, I usually do with my cast......so I don't usually try to target those fish because they spook so easily...I"m not that skilled yet But one of the things my buddy who's been fishing there for awhile(Usually catches about 3-4 every time we go) tells me is that, you will just eventually start spotting the fish better the more you fish out there and he doesn't really have any tricks to help besides experience. He also says to use flies with dear hair or yarn(crab looking flies) that land very softly while fishing the shallows. We usually blind cast in the deeper water, there seems to be more fish there and your casts don't have to be perfect, but the longer your cast the better I guess this is because the further away from the fish you are the less likely you are to scare it, all the bones I've caught have been on long casts. Fishing flies with more weight are harder to cast but they stay down towards the bottom where they need to be, I only seem to catch bones when I'm feeling my fly on the bottom regularly. I have a hard time waiting long enough to get the lighter flies to the bottom. Next time I go out I'm gonna try tying some flies that are a little more sparse so they sink faster and I wont have to add lead to them which will make the landing softer. One of the things we do to fish the deeper water effectively is get milk crates to stand on, tie a rope to em and put it around your shoulder(Watch out for sharks theres a bunch out there over at Hickam).

Hope some of this is useful for you!

Ca_Bass thanks for the info. I agree about the sun, it is a lot easier to see them when it's behind you. I haven't been out there for about a month or so but the last time I fished it I had along a spinning rod and was blind casting toward the large pole sticking out. I was surprised when I caught several nice moana on a gold castmaster. I haven't seen any sharks out there yet though.

Not too familiar with all the Hawaiian names....what's a moana? I was gonna go bonefishing today and tomorrow but the tides are way to early.

The other day I was thinking about the tides and brought it up to my buddy, I was timing them wrong. For awhile I was going as soon as it was low tide, then I started thinking about how I'm not really maximizing my time on the flats that way. I asked my buddy who I go with, he said to go and hour or two before low tide, that way you're fishing while the tides are moving and you can fish farther out for longer periods of time. I guess it was just a bonehead mistake Next week, I'll probably be going let you guys know how I do.

Moana is a goatfish. They come in different colors. The ones I were catching were 1/2 maroonish-purple and 1/2 brown-colored. (I think I remembered it right)

Try this website:

Http://www.coralreefnetwork.com/marlife ... atfish.htm

Oh, I used to catch a lot of those with squid and shrimp before I discovered lake wilson