Someone once wrote that he had to quit his job because it got in the way of his fishing. Work certainly got in the way of my fishing last year as this seldom updated blog indicates.
A good (out of work) friend texted me at regular intervals this past year inviting me to fish for trout over the summer and salmon in the fall. My reply was always some dismal excuse to say no, usually related to work.
Looking back over the blog I managed just one post the whole year, and it was a highlight of the year -- serf perch in Carlsbad. I failed to write about my wonderful, if brief, guided trip on the Roaring Fork near Aspen where I landed a beautiful wild trout about 16 inches and lost a very big one due to the high and fast remainders of snow melt. I also caught a few small trout over the summer in my home waters, but nothing worth reporting.
This Christmas holiday I finally got some time away from work, and with relaxation came fishing. In the month leading up to our vacation, I did two things. First, I booked a guided trip with Brian Edmission of Maui Shore Fishing. Second, I invested in a new saltwater reel to go with my 7 wt. Sage flyrod. Both investments were aimed at catching my first bone-fish or O'io as they are known in Hawaii), which didn't happen, but both paid off with a lot of learning and fun.
There's Brian above throwing you a shocka with one hand and holding Hawaii's state fish, the Humumunukunukuapua'a -- with the other. Ryan snagged that reef fish with a little plastic grub. Ryan also caught some large needle and trumpet fish.
Brian is a knowledgeable and genuinely enthusiastic San Diego surfer dude turned Maui fishing expert. He's been fishing these waters for awhile now and has really learned the terrain and the techniques.
He gave me a good tip on casting to the edge of the reef and then dragging my squid pattern along the sandy bottom. "Imagine a little worm making itself along the bottom. That's what you're trying to imitate."
He was right. I caught a small Bluefin Trevally as well as this beautiful Leatherback Jack.
Brian tipped me off on a good place to find bone-fish in the flats not too far from where we were staying in Wailea. I headed there at sunrise before the Hawaiian trade winds kicked in, and found a healthy population of bones dimpling the surface and generally swimming about. It was exciting to sight-cast to bone-fish but alas I got no takes. Next time.
The pleasure of fishing stayed with me, and a few days later back at home in Bellevue I stumbled across a collection of stories by Ernest Hemingway called Hemingway on Fishing. It's not cheap but it has an interesting little essay by his son and then a series of short stories, book chapters and some journalism in which Papa writes beautifully about fishing.
Last night, New Years Eve, my fishing luck continued when I again found by chance a documentary on television I had not heard of before -- The Rocky Mountain Fly Highway. It is easily the most beautifully filmed and romantically written film I've seen about fly fishing.
All of this -- Hawaii, Hemingway and Fly Highway -- have restored my love and excitement for fishing.
Happy New Year!
