Keehi Lagoon, HI (Bone Fishing)

Took my buddy Kelly out to show him around the flats and shortly before noon we moved out to the outside flats to look for bones. Saw plenty of fish inside but as the tide drops its good to move outside to get some the right depth. Found this guy towards the end of our walk out. Don't know how I didnt loose him. Wrapped a coral edge but was able to get him free and then he wrapped a rock but was able to get him off that too.

Summary:
Location: Keehi Lagoon
Time: 7am - 2pm
Rod: 7wt with floating line
Fly: Brown shrimp patterns in the lagoon and tan or orange outside of the lagoon
Fish: 1/1
Biggest Fish: 6#
Smallest Fish: N/A
Rating: 8/10
Tide: 12:36am Low - 0.2ft, 5:38am High - 0.8ft, 11:20am Low - 0.0ft, 6:31pm High - 1.7ft

Wahiawa State Recreation Waterway, HI

Passed on Peacock bass when I was in Nicaragua so I was grateful that I was able to try and catch them in Hawaii. Picked up a guide for the friend Terry and I. The guide preferred to fish with a bobber and live bait but I like to fly fish. I can't tell you how many fish I caught. This was incredible because we were still working on coming out of a cold streak for weather on the island. I never changed my fly for the whole day and it looked like a mess by the end of it. The big boy was found sitting next to a nest which is what they are doing this time of the year. The guide at the end of the day said that I had caught more bass on a fly then he had ever seen and close to if not the most amount of fish he had seen caught in a day on the water. Mind you we only fished for half the day. Choosing the afternoon again because of weather. The biggest trick was getting the strip down. Its not a super fast strip but it is a fast one. Gotta cast right up into the sticks/bank too.

Summary:
Location: Wilson Lake
Time: 12:00PM - 6:00PM
Rod: 5 wt w/ sinking tip (guide also had a gear rod out light weight)
Tackle: depending on hook brand because I've tied a few now a size 6 or 8 would work. Fished the red eye clauser with dark green and white.
Fish: 20+
Species: Catfish, Peacock Bass, Red Devil, Perch, and Largemouth Bass
Biggest Fish: 4# Peacock
Smallest Fish: 6" Perch
Rating: 10/10

Keehi Lagoon, HI (Bone Fishing)

Had a friend fly over from the mainland to try for some bone fish (Oio) over here in Hawaii. After having minimal luck catching fish on the flats myself I decided to give a guide a try. I mean we were splitting the cost! Anyways, Ed from Nervous Waters took us out to Keehi flat. He told us that we would likely see less fish as the day was a falling tide all day. This was similar to most the week and since Monday they had been seeing less fish. None the less we remain optimistic and went out for a go. After seeing several fish and getting many refusals the tide dropped to where the inside flat was getting to shallow. So we ventured out to one of the flats out off the runway. Here Ed took me on a walk where I hooked into a bone but having my drap too loose it back spooled me, bird nested, and broke off. I was heart broken. Shortly after we returned back to the inside lagoon because Terry wanted to catch a puffer fish. While her an Ed scouted for puffer fish they spottted and hokked another bone. This one took off over the shelf and got into the rocks. A friendly guide let Terry into his boat but having scrapped the rocks the line broke and the fish was gone. It was a great day and Ed from Nervous waters did a fantastic job guiding us.
Tips: For bones in this area there is a lot of pressure and not a lot of cover for you. Mostly site casting you need to move slow and always have your head up looking for a fish. If you see one don't move your feet, determine the direction of travel and try to cast 20' in front of the fish. Your first strip needs to be a long medium strip (mostly to pic up the slack) and then follow this strip with medium shorter strips about 5" each. If your lucky the fish will bite.
Access: You can take a boat or Kayak from the Keehi Boat harbor and paddle over. You can also Park at Keehi Lagoon Beach Park and to launch a Kayak and paddle over.

Summary:
Location: Keehi Lagoon
Time: All Day
Rod: 7wt with floating line
Fly: Brown shrimp patterns in the lagoon and tan or orange outside of the lagoon
Fish: 0/2
Biggest Fish:N/A
Smallest Fish: N/A
Rating: 6/10
Tide: 1:37am Low - 0.4ft, 6:44am High - 0.9ft, 12:49pm Low - 0.1ft, 8:03pm High - 1.4ft

San Juan River, Nicaragua (Tarpon and Snook)

One thing that I like to do is serve other people. My work gave me the opportunity to volunteer in the building of a foot bridge in Nicaragua. During the rainy season the rivers flood and the villagers cannot get across. Working with Bridges to Prosperity we built on of these bridges in the Estelle region up north. The other thing I like to do on these service trips is take a few extra day to go fishing. While building the bridge I got to go spear gun fishing in the near by river. With weight belts, home made spear guns, and funky goggles we would swim big pools at night with a flashlight looking for resting fish. The locals were crazy good at this but I did get to shoot a couple.

Anyways at the end of the trip I ventured off on my own to San Carlos where I stayed at the "Tarpon Fishing Nicaragua" lodge on the opposite shore of town. An all inclusive fishing trip the food was amazing and the fishing was rememberable. In the morning we would go troll some spots close to shore known for Snook. Catching two each morning was a great way to start the day. We ate some for dinner the first night and gave some of the other meat to the riverside villagers that would make us our mid day lunch. Everyday you we would stop for an hour or two down river from the lodge at a small village, eat, take a nap, and then go back out fishing.

The first morning tarpon fishing we hooked an lost one that was probably around 30 kilos. In the afternoon we hooked and after a 90+ minute battle landed the giant pictured below that was estimated to be at least 80 kilos (200lbs). Met a Bosnian in another boat and together we landed the fish. The second day we hooked an lost one late in the afternoon that was about 40 kilos and overall it was a great trip. The lodge also offers peacock bass fishing but I passed on that opportunity. Talking with the Bosnian the fishing at the mouth of the river is much more productive but almost all the "big" fish are in the 30-40 kilo range. If you want to catch the big fish you want to fish high in the river but your catch rate will go down substantially. A fish a day up here is a good average.

Summary:
Location: Fished down river from head waters of Lake Nicaragua
Time: All Day
Rod: Bait Casting Rod
Gear: Pulled plugs at a troll
Fish: 1/3 Tarpoon 4/4 Snook
Biggest Fish:80 Kilos Tarpoon
Smallest Fish: 4# Snook
Rating: 9/10

Quillayute River, WA

"When Uncle Dan calls and tells you to come fish, you drop what you are doing and go fish." explained my roommate Dustin on a Friday. Unfortunately we still had to work so we came up Saturday instead. Being so low in the system the fish move through this area fast and when the conditions are perfect. Which finding those windows when the nets are out is rare to none. Though this would be the case this weekend. Dan told us that we missed a ridiculous day Friday but there were still plenty of fish to be had. Now I've only really spinner fished for salmon in Alaska so it took me a while to get going. Dustin shot out with a bang catching I think 3 fish before I landed one. However by the end of the day we had caught 8 fish between the three of us and I lost a ninth as we were cleaning up.
Sunday was a little different and really slow. No one was really hooking fish. We moved slowly down river as the tide fell all day until we came to a nice hole that seamed it would hold fish. Using a pink flash and glo Dustin was making smart as remarks about I hooked the first fish and landed about a 18# King. We had caught no kings the previous day. About when we were going to call it quits in the hole I caught the toad pictured below. We were mostly geared for coho so after a good chase and fight we finally got this guy to the boat. Dan had told Dustin not to say anything about how big it was while I was fighting it because he wanted me to remain focused. Picked up a coho as we road the tide back up to the launch.

Summary:
Location: Quillayute River
Time: 8am - 5pm
Rod: 10-20lb spinning rods
Tackle: Orange, Purple, and Chartreuse #5 vibrax spinners and pink flash and glow with pink hoochie skirt at hook.
Fish: 8/9 day 1 and 3/3 day 2
Species: Coho and Chinook Salmon
Biggest Fish: 34# Chinook
Smallest Fish: 8# Coho
Rating: 9.9/10

Satsop River, WA (Steelhead/Coho)

Sometimes you just want to get out and float the river. I don't particularly like floating the lower Nooche and with limited time after work the Satsop is a nice quick float. No luck but hey at least we tried.

Summary:
Location: Satsop River from mouth of Middle Fork to Hwy 12 bridge.
Time: 12pm - 6pm
Rod: Medium Bait Casting Rods
Tackle: Various Kwikfish Plugs
Fish: 0
Species: Searching for whatever!
Biggest Fish: N/A
Smallest Fish: N/A
Rating: 2/10

Pacific Ocean, Westport, WA (Coho/Chinook)

One of the nice things about working on a large project in Aberdeen is someone has to have a boat and that person was my coworker and friend Nik. Having missed an opportunity to go out earlier in the week because of work I was excited to go today. Launching out of Westport we trolled mostly by the casino. I only ended up with the one King although they had killed it a few days earlier. We also found a floating moon fish which was pretty cool.

Summary:

Location: Pacific Ocean near Quanault Casino
Time: 7am - 7pm
Rod: Gear rods
Tackle: flashers and bait
Fish: 1
Species: Coho and Chinook Salmon
Biggest Fish: 18#
Smallest Fish: N/A
Rating: 6/10