"Amateur Maneuver"

[Stan Wright]

I first met Dean Shirota on a trip to Christmas Island. He's always willing to share his knowledge and love of fly fishing. I learned a lot. The following is an email I got this week from Dean telling me about all the fun I missed by passing up a morning bonefish trip here on Oahu.

"There was a slight tide coming in and I was thinking the fish would start to tail pretty soon. In about 15 minutes the tails started popping out of the water. We stalked tails for a while but the sun was in a weird angle so was hard to see. I decided to head out towards the deeper channel. At this one spot I made one blind cast and hooked into a huge fish. Man this thing took off and eventually cut me off in the breakers. It must have ripped off over 150 yards of line. After that I decided to go back into the shallows and try to sight fish again. On the way in I saw a tail pop out nearby and made a cast. I stripped once and the fish grabbed the fly. The fish took off and as I was clearing my line the last section looped around the reel. Not wanting to cut the fish off I started running in the water and tried to take the loop off. Somehow I dropped my rod and reel and the fish was taking it out water skiing. I ran to catch up to the rod, picked it up, untangled the loop, fought the fish and eventually landed the 30 inch 10 lb+ fish. Man talk about a major "amateur maneuver"."

As you can see, fishing with Dean is always an "adventure". You should see the picture of the two 8 pound octopus that....... well, that's another story for another day.

Aloha,
Stan

[BigCliff]

Sounds like there's lots of fishing fun to be had in Hawaii that we're all missing out on. Glad to hear that he managed to get his rod back, hope the reel still works.

[Salmo Nella]

Originally Posted by Stan Wright

well, that's another story for another day.Aloha,Stan

Stan
Let us hear that one some time.
I visit Kona every other year for a couple of weeks and have always wondered if there were some light tackle fishing opportunities there (the trolling for huge ones just doesn't interest me).
My next trip to Kona will be in 2007 but I am wondering if you know of any spots Kona side or any guide contacts for some fly fishing there. I am starting to dream and make some long term arrangements. I will need to get my casting practice in before then.

thanks for any info.