Molokai flats action

I'm FB friends with some of you so you guys just ignore this.....don't wanna bore anyone!

I recently had a killer weekend of “fishing firsts” with two awesome friends, but other than a couple of grouper I was totally blanked the first two days while they battled fish after fish. My buddy Nate was on bonefish constantly and my buddy Frank scored bones and trevally on grubs and a rare monster bonefish hookup on a spoon. I felt like Charlie Brown on Halloween, walking around with a bag full of goddamn rocks while everyone else got candy.

Peacock grouper are still pretty damn cool fish though...




On day three I was desperate to shed the “skunk stench” from my body, and I finally scored my first good flyrod GT on the flats. Even cooler was watching it smash a bonefish fly tied by Nate not ten feet from me and Josiah. My Echo 8 wt and bonefish leader were pushed to the max, but we landed it after 400 yards of crazy Nantucket Sleigh Riding across the shallows.....





A couple hours later Clay positioned me well and I scored my first two Molokai bones, going two for three. My first was a solid six pounder and I was super stoked. My second one ran right at me after a couple long blistering runs and shot straight between my legs. I thought it snapped my rod top but luckily only the leader broke. My third hookup was a bruiser. I’ve never had a bonefish take out so much backing or take so long to land. These are unlike any Caribbean bonefish I’ve ever hooked. They’re steroid-fueled speed demons.

My #3 hookup for the day...





Molokai is like Kona in 1930. Very chill. No traffic lights, cool people and a sweet, slow vibe. Aloha.

Killer! Monster bonefish.

What’s up with that brown water? Is it usually like that or just when the wind picks up?

Been too long since you "bored" us - thanks for sharing!! Cool stuff!

Always love it when Mingo drops pixels & prose....

No "Ooooooooo"?

Excellent stuff, didn't mind seeing it on Facebook and here, not one bit!

Fish on...

Todd

Thanks man. Some sections of the giant flats there are murkier than others all the time, but that water was from wind. Every afternoon the wind came up really strong. The good thing is that even though they're harder to spot, they get pretty aggressive in that brownish water. The vis is actually a little better than it seems in the photos.

When you coming to Kona brah?

here you go.....me and my triggerfish doing a double O...

While I have never actually even hooked a fish while fishing in Hawaii I have snorkeled. I dearly love seeing those Peacock Groupers, who really don't like to pose for pictures. On some of them, the blue is amazingly electric.

Obliged.

Triggers have sand and $hit same. Was scuba-doing the coral flats around Green Island, GBR and saw a 3" trigger come out of his coral doghouse and get to the end of his rope, suspended in the water a few feet ahead of me. Knowing they are territorial, I yielded a couple feet away and he calmly returned home and let me pass. My ignorant dive buddy was not so savvy and trespassed. Little blighter lit him up, opening up his kneecap flesh to the bone (thus earning their name) followed by a bout of fisticuffs that my buddy lost after getting nailed in the hands too. I took pity on him after a few seconds, grabbed his tank yoke and pulled him back a couple feet as he made poor attempts at that little speed bag and Fido predictably returned to his doghouse. Flooded my mask as I was laughing so hard.

There's also a big spire named White Rock near Koh Tao off the east coast of Thailand that is/was the home of an internationally known bad ass trigger named Trevor. Had a similar meeting with him a few decades ago and watched him perforate fins on a couple ignorant divers that mistakenly entered his territory. That dude had mad skills and was faster than Pacquiao in his prime. Have some old Kodachrome slides of him humiliating/perforating the trespassing tourists....

Never had problems with fish while diving/snorkeling. But, while in the Galapagos I had a sea lion tug on my flipper twice because I was photographing the other ones and ignoring him.

they're not the cute little mellow critters tourists think they are. more than one snorkeler here has lost the tip of a finger to a humuhumunukunukuapua'a when they poked at it. They're also not the state fish anymore. that expired years ago and the state hasn't formally done anything to renew it. But some people think they're protected, in fact one stupid dickhead got in my face when I took my nieces fishing and they each caught some humuhumu. He said "they're protected, you can't fish for them, you'll get a huge fine blah blah blah." Everything he said was incorrect. When I pointed that out to him, he changed his argument and said I should take them snorkeling instead so they don't impact wildlife. He also said catch and release doesn't work and all saltwater fish die if released

His PETA- scripted line of bulls!t didn't work and he could see I wasn't going to stop fishing with my family, so he skulked away to vape some patchouli-scented estrogen essence.

Must not have gotten my fly close enough to their face. I cast right at them but they just swim off.

they often do that, but if you hit them in the right mood they'll eat. seaweed flies, soft hackles etc will work. they're opportunists and they like small crustaceans.

Awesome thread - awsome photos!

Thanks for the story, Mingo.

Nice pics Mingo!

Hopefully those flats make it through the hurricane without significant corral damage and whatnot. My old Key West and Lower Keys haunts were totally obliterated last year and it'll take a lifetime for it to become what it once was.