Yesterday I added Species # 371 to my Lifetime Species Caught list and thought now would be a good time to share some of the tropical diversity that continues to captivate me. Many others have caught way more species than I have, but it gives me great personal satisfaction to catch as wide a variety of fish as possible. I’ve always been a bit of an aquarium junkie and Kona is a great place to tangle with some odd and bizarre specimens. I was that kid with fish tanks in my room and a pond in my backyard. I knew who Dr. Axelrod was and I spent hours prowling the fish tanks at Boyd’s Pet Shop in Portland. Shore fishing here is tough stuff. I’ve shredded flylines, suffered leg, knee, shoulder, foot and back injuries, been too close to tiger sharks for comfort and lost hundreds of fish and flies to rocks, coral and predator fish. And this has all happened in the past ten months! This place isn’t for the faint of heart, but it is fascinating to a fish freak like me. This thread isn’t about big fish or trophy specimens. This is a celebration of the funky, freaky, weird and bizarre. You know, the stuff I love to catch. A few of these pics are a bit older for illustrative purposes, but most are of fish caught in the past couple months by me.

Some may think my time in Kona is mainly focused on catching these…….













or these……



I love bluewater fishing, but in reality, I spend most of my Kona fishing hours chasing reef fish. Yes, much of that Reef Game time is devoted to “standard” species like bonefish and trevally……









A huge portion of my fishing time is spent going for species that many anglers ignore or are considered too bizarre, freaky or just plain too hard to catch on fly/lure/rod- and- reel. Here are some of the crazy species I’ve had fun with here recently on the west side of Hawaii…

Remember Gill, the leader of the Tank Gang in Finding Nemo? (don’t claim you never watched it. You know you did). Gill was a Moorish Idol. I’ve seen hundreds in tide pools and I actually caught one. I’m sure someone else has done it too, but with that mouth and their feeding habits, these are unlikely sport fishing catches. I’ve never known anyone else who has caught one...



I’ve also caught Bloat, another member of the Tank Gang…and many of his buddies. These things have a ravenous hunger for my flies. The first dozen I caught were fun, but when you’re sweating your ass off chasing bonefish, they are a pain in the ass. I present…..Bloat and his buddy Scrote….






Scrawled Filefish, also called broomtails or Loulu, are bona fide freaks of nature. They’re very hard to hook and are sneaky bait stealers of the highest order. I’ve managed only two on fly so far, and this was when I had the fish swarming in a chum slick. The rest I’ve caught using small pieces of bait. They give a strong first run and have technicolor skin with a texture like tanned leather-









they look kinda goofy and silly, but they have piranha teeth that will take your finger off if you give them a chance! -



There is another cool species of filefish called Barred Filefish, or O’oili. I’ve caught a couple dozen of these so far. These have even scarier teeth than their cousins and are even harder to hook…







Parrotfish have quickly become one of my favorite types of fish to chase. I’ve had good success on Stareye parrots using a variety of seaweed patterns and a few have hit small bonefish patterns…











Palenose parrotfish are another favorite, the colors on the super males are insane….





There are several types of triggerfish here; the one most people are familiar with is the picasso trigger, or humuhumunukunukuapua’a. And no, this is not the “state fish of Hawaii” and they are NOT protected. What they are is a lot of fun on the end of a fly rod….



There are many other types of triggers that are fun as hell to catch, like the lagoon trigger -



The Lei trigger -



I use my glass rod a lot for reef duty, it lets these strong little reef thugs give a good account of their abilities and has enough backbone to pull a bigger specimen out of the rocks when needed…..



The pinktail -