First trip of 2010 to Hawaii and what a doozie. First, weather was all over the place, super high winds one day to absolute glass the next, rain in between and intermittent clouds and sun. For Hawaii, a real pain in the butt sometimes.
However, on other fronts, while there to finish up some photos for an upcoming article, I did get to actually fish without remorse, meaning my family was not along, so I could FOCUS!
While I snapped off a few fish and had a handful of refusals, I also had simply put, a life changing experience in the world of bonefish. There will always be questions regarding what I am about to say. We didn't land it or even get a good shot at it but this bonefish we saw was pushing well into the mid to high 40 inch range. First spotting it, I was convinced in the mottled water that is was multiple fish shadowing each other.
To my surprise and utter speechlessness, it was a single fish and at 40 feet, I have to imagine this fish was mid 20 pounds as every other fish we saw for the next couple days were mere dwarfs to this monstrosity and many of them were over 10 pounds. This fish was every bit of twice plus some of those 10+ pounders.
I am forever a different angler on the flats knowing bones that big really do exist and knowing I may never see one of that stature again in my life.
As we watched it elegantly slither away some 150 yards, he/she finally lost our sights when the sun disappeared behind a cloud, temporarily blanketing the water with an impenetrable glare.
The 3 of us Coach, Doug and myself sat and all we could come up with is, well, we did get that blowfish...Sometimes, all you get is a blowfish...
First trip of 2010 to Hawaii and what a doozie. First, weather was all over the place, super high winds one day to absolute glass the next, rain in between and intermittent clouds and sun. For Hawaii, a real pain in the butt sometimes.
However, on other fronts, while there to finish up some photos for an upcoming article, I did get to actually fish without remorse, meaning my family was not along, so I could FOCUS!
While I snapped off a few fish and had a handful of refusals, I also had simply put, a life changing experience in the world of bonefish. There will always be questions regarding what I am about to say. We didn't land it or even get a good shot at it but this bonefish we saw was pushing well into the mid to high 40 inch range. First spotting it, I was convinced in the mottled water that is was multiple fish shadowing each other.
To my surprise and utter speechlessness, it was a single fish and at 40 feet, I have to imagine this fish was mid 20 pounds as every other fish we saw for the next couple days were mere dwarfs to this monstrosity and many of them were over 10 pounds. This fish was every bit of twice plus some of those 10+ pounders.
I am forever a different angler on the flats knowing bones that big really do exist and knowing I may never see one of that stature again in my life.
As we watched it elegantly slither away some 150 yards, he/she finally lost our sights when the sun disappeared behind a cloud, temporarily blanketing the water with an impenetrable glare.
The 3 of us Coach, Doug and myself sat and all we could come up with is, well, we did get that blowfish...
