After I last left off, I was moaning about the weather...well...now you can see why!!

Hmmmm...somewhere down there swim some bonefish...goodluck seeing them!





But we did have some decent weather at times...the following pics are taken of the Korean Wreck area (my favorite area of the Island...much differant enviroment then that of the Lagoon flats which are shown in the previous two photos).





The Korean Wreck will always be a special place to me but not just because it is swarming with the biggest baddest bonefish on the Island...or because the bones there actually 'tail' in the surf and will actually beach themselves in their feeding frenzies...or because it is just a beautiful place BUT because it is where I tied into the fish of a lifetime-a 60# Giant Trevally.

George, my guide for the day and a favorite of many, was walking me along the beach pointing out bones. Out of the corner of my eye however, I started to see him strip line of my trevally rod (CND 11' #11). I asked "Trevally?" (most guides just yell Trevally and get very excited and thus induce a serious case of Buck Fever).

George pointed 2/3rds of the way out to the breakers and about 100 feet down the beach...the GT stood out like a sore thumb as he was a massive blue mass lazily swimming our direction.

I threw my bonefish rod down, grabbed my trevally rod, started stripping line and running out onto the coral to head him off. With about 70' of line stripped out, I was within about 60' of the fish with him just a few feet from being in a perfect postion to make cast.

I tossed a few water loaded casts to get the fishes attention and to get everything set...I then popped a perfect cast 5 feet in front of him. I took two slow even strips...saw him turn, look at him...grab the fly...and turn away.

I looked down to make sure my line was clear and let him him...I ran back to the sandy beach to the highest point I could find and held the rod high and locked my drag down on my Abel. He just wandered off into the breakers with power I have never experienced...

...it is known, that a 20# Trevally is difficult to land at the Korean Wreck because the sheer power of the fish allows it to swim out to the breakers and down into the edge of the coral. Flylines, backing and #80 shock tippet are no match for the coral. Pop went the leader as the fish ran it against the edge of the coral...as I reeled in the 150 yds or so of backing...I just hoped that I would still have my flyline.

The following picture is George retooling my leader and showing me how the guides like to do it (he didn't care for my fancy biminis and wimpy #20 Maxima class tipper)



...and if you look in the 2nd picture of the Korean Wreck, look for the last set of breakers...the fish was beyond those as I was standing up on the sandy beach trying to keep as much line up and out of the water as possible.

The Giant Trevally were not our main target however. We did spend some time focusing on known trevally spots and any chance we had at one, we would take it but bonefish were our main target.

The first picture is nothing more then your average sized bone but hopes of getting a picture snapped with my first ever bone were dashed when the fished jumped out of my hands before the pciture could be snapped.

So I (as well as you) have to settle for a picture of my second ever bonefish.



The following couple of pictures were taken on a little fished spot on the Island. We started hammering big ocean side bonefish right of the bat but the clouds came in and made it very difficult to spot the fish.

But back to the trevally!

The next picture was taken on a random beach in the Bay of Wrecks. One afternoon at low tide, we we made our way to some cuts to chum and tease up some trevally. Brett hooked up with a 70# Giant Trevally in a fight that was much shorter then mine and much more costly (the fish used the coral to cut through his flyline and swim off with 25' of it).



I was lucky enough to hook up and land 3 golden trevally on the trip with this fish being the largest. The Golden Trevally is much more rare then the Giant and Bluefin Trevally. This species is officially the Black Sportstripe Trevally but pretty much any trevally that has a sucker-like mouth is referred to as a Golden Trevally (the true Golden Trevally are found in the lagoon and are VERY VERY prized by sportsmen because they are so rare).



And the following was one of the largest Bluefin Trevally I caught on the trip. I had shots at much larger fish but the big bluefins are very weary fish that do not pounce on flies like the GT's.

This fish was actually caught on a #7 Winston BL5 (a noodle) as I was casting towards a school of much smaller bluefins as we did not actually see this larger fish in the group.

The small bluefins (6"-12") are very aggresive and a nuisance at times as they will steal your flies from bonefish, larger bluefins and GT's. Even a bluefin no larger then your hand will CORK a #7 rod...the following fish was about the largest you can land on a #7 and took about 15 minutes to land.

BTW-As you can see from the photo, the guides down there are not the best picture takers.



Once I get the pictures back from some others in my group, I will post them as well. There is one photo that I can not wait to see as I am soaked from head to toe holding a decent sized bluefin trevally. At low tide, I waded out to the breakers to cast my two-hander into the edge of the blue water (where the GT's, larger bluefin and the occasional Yellowfin roam. It was not the most relaxing fishing I have done as I was constalty taking breakers into the chest and occasionly would take one to the face-the force of which nearly knocked me flat on my ass a couple times.

Looks killer down there Sparkey, nice pics! Rallly niiice!

I do, however, have to comment on that fricken getup you are sporting there El Sparkito. What is up with that yuppie azz outfit, dude? Just because you flyfish don't mean ya gotsta be lookin like a freakin' Orvis calendar dude. You are way to young to sellout like that, you yutz. I mean, c'mon, yo'. One would think you worked at a flyshop or somethin'

Just kidding, man, way cool pics....thanks for sharing.

Oh yeah, the fish are nice and the beaches look cool, but where are the chic pix?

Im jealous. very nice .
I say you look more like a Exofficio Bone fisherman. Whats up with the sun gloves. lol

...oi'o and ulua rock!!!! that's fun stuff.....

I have two questions for ya... 1st is serious...

If I was to take my wife there for a 2 week vacation, how much would it cost?

2nd, not so serious......

As young as you obviously are Sparkey, HOW THE HELL DO YOU AFFORD A TRIP LIKE THAT?
Yo' Momma and Dadda rich or sumptin?

Please say yes to that, cause I am 43 and in the medical profession and have NEVER been able to afford going anywhere like that....

Great story and pics.....

MC

First of all, you can make fun of my clothing all you want but when you are spending 8+ hours in an enviroment were the sunburn scale is 15 (15 minutes til you are fried), I know you -like I did- will take all precautions necassary to protect yourself.

The shirts and pants all have SPF 30 built into them plus they are made with fast drying/water wicking fabric to stay dry even when you are sweating heavily.

The goofy hat has SPF 30 built into it as well and is designed to protect your very vulnerable ears.

And like the hat, shirt and pants, the gloves have sun protection built into theml...and the now infamous bandana...I wore it to protect my neck.

On one of the days it poured, I rolled up my sleeves because I was beyond soaked. I hopped out of the boat, began fishing a flat under heavily overcast skies and within a hour I was sunburned on my forearm.

And on the last day I ended up with the worst sunburn of my life. I was frustrated with the weather so when we reached the flat we were going to fish and the skies were overcast and there were rain showers around, I threw my sunhat and sungloves in the truck and mumbled "I wont need these things today!!" Well...the sun came out, we started catching fish and after 4 hours of sun exposure I ended up with two nasty sunburned hands, one ear was pretty red and worst of all, my left ear was blistered and oozing whatever it is that blisters ooze. After a couple days, the pain began to subside and some nice scabs formed. Anyways, I learned my lesson!

Secondly...

MasterCaster-

The standard Christmas Is. package runs $2800 which includes the 7 night stay at the Captain Cook Hotel and 6 1/2 days of guided fishing. The package also includes all your meals on the Island, thus when you are on the Island, your expenses are limited to your beverage bill and tips (and 65$/day if you want to reduce the guide to angler ratio from 1:2 to 1:1). Most importantly, the package also includes your roundtrip airfare from Honolulu to the Island.

If you would like to spend two weeks on the Island which a good numer of people do (you can not even begin to experience what the Island has to offer in just one week), you will be looking at $2800 + $2000 (standard package minus the roundtrip airefare).

There are also non-fishing and dive packages offered as well (Christmas offers world-class diving).

Also many of our clients spend a week on Christmas Is. and meet up with their significant other in Hawaii and spend the week there.

But if your wife fishes, you can not find a better saltwater destination to take her to because the Island offers the most densely populated bonefish flats in the World, top-notch guides plus it is just a cool place (I spent alot of the time, especially when we were driving around the Island just thinking to myself what really cool and unique place the Island was).

...and how do I get the oppurtunity to make such a trip?? I work for a wonderful little flyshop (Kaufmann's) that also books travel destinations all over the World.

Because many people that save up for a trip of a lifetime want to be sure they are given the prime dates with the prime guides and have the best time possible time on their trip, they feel best going on a hosted trip.

Well, I am the host! I am there to communicate your fishing wishes to the lodge and the guides, to provide you with any extra tackle, flies, leaders you may need etc. etc....all in all, I am there to be sure your trip goes as smoothly as possible.

Ahhhh yes...that over-used phrase would be perfect right now...it is tough job but someone's gotta do it!

Anyways...if you like to know more, just let me know. I am sure I can answer any questions you may have...

Plus, I will be back, most likely sometime in 2005 if I do not decide to go to Los Roques instead...or Hell, maybe I will try to do both!

Next stop...Tsiu River, Alaska!...50 12-15+ silvers on the fly a day...I can handle that for a week!

The only other thing I'd like to know is whether Kaufmann's is taking applications.