[bigcutt]

Guys,

Does anyone have any recommendations as to where on the Big Island to cast a fly. I will be over there at the beginning of April with the family on the Kona Coast in the Waikoloa area. I did find a handy article on the www.FlyBC.ca web site. In the past I have run in to large bones only 20' off the beach and Bluefin Trevally farther out while snorkeling Anaehoomalu Bay. The fish are definitely around. It's just a matter of getting to them.

I've spent a day a couple of years back with Coach Duff over on Oahu... great time.

Thanks for your input!

Kevin

 

[Bill Dodd]

Shoot a PM over to Mingo, I think he has done a good bit of Fly Fishing on the Big Island.

BD.

 

[100daysayear]

K
O
N
A
!
!
!

 

[MauiJim]

Any chance you can get away for a 1/2 day to a full day? Captain Russ on the Lepika is an excellent fly guide- used to do striped bass in the California Delta, and has been fishing Kona for a number of years now. He has a killer teaser setup for billfish, and can get you into mahi, ono, and all sorts of tuna- we did a full day trip and it was epic. Here's his site, ask for Russ specifically:

http://lepikasportfishing.com/index.php

(not me, but this spearfish would be fun!)

We caught these til our arms hurt:

 

[Justworkintofish]

Hey Kevin,

I'm also heading to the Big Island somewhat soon. I've never fly fished saltwater so any info you could provide from your past trips to Hawaii would be great. I'll plan on sending a report your way when I get back.

Drew

 

[TimHa]

I'm going at the end of February for a long weekend too. A-Bay has bones, as do the fish ponds down by the airport. Pretty much any beach seems to have them, it is just that they are much deeper than normal flats bonefish. There are plenty of milkfish out there too. Last trip I just pretty much walked the beach where we stayed each morning and caught a mixed bag of fish daily including blue trevally, some snappers, coronetfish, ... Had a big trevally grab my fly almost at my feet. Never did figure out how to get a fly to the bones but I'm briniging sink tips this time around. Check out http://www.ucolick.org/~bolte/hawaii.html, there is quite a bit of information in there about the Big Island

 

[Kirk Singleton]

WTF happened to the Coach? He has been mia after the whole "packin" discussion. Just sayin.

 

[JayB]

1)Very useful link here:
http://www.ucolick.org/~bolte/HawaiiWWW/Big_Island_Fly_Fishing.html

2) Bring lightweight, closed-foot wading shoes with a felt sole if you plan on wading on the volcanic rocks. If you don'e already own something like this, most grocery stores sell "Tabis" (I think that's close to the right name) for ~$20. The felt will help keep you from falling on the slippery and sharp rocks, and using footwear that covers your feet instead of sandals will help keep you from getting your toe/ankle/etc punctured by a sea-urchin spine.

3)Tactics - ask for for some advice here before you go

I did a bit of reading before going but I probably would have done quite a bit better if I'd sought out folks here who have logged a bunch of time fishing from shore in Hawaii before I took off.

I fished small comet-like and baitfish streamers through the channels in the coral heads and had a great time, but caught next to nothing considering the number of fish cruising around - so hopefully other folks will chime in with some tactics that worked well for them. FWIW I ran into a couple of other guys fly fishing in A-Bay and they weren't doing much better, but it was the first time any of us had done any tropical fishing from shore.

Anyone ever use a hopper/dropper style approach for fishing between coral heads? When I left I thought that maybe a baitfish popper up top with a small shrimp pattern below would have been a better approach....

 

[Pat Lat]

When I was a kid growing up on the big island my favorite footwear for fishing were the green wading sandals, you can pick them up at longs drug store in the fishing section, they're like 15 bucks, felt sole and they have a seperate big toe. I used to call them ninja turtle shoes.
And it probably goes without saying, but dont step on the coral

Have a great trip!