Dec, 2015: Travels to Christmas Island from most of the United States require an overnight stay in Honolulu. We encourage our clients booking a trip to Christmas to allocate at least an extra day prior to the trip in HI. The reason for this recommendation is two-fold. A. There is just one flight a week to Christmas Island and lodges there have no gear for use or rent. Should your luggage and fishing gear get lost en route to Hawaii and you don’t allow ample time for it to catch up with you, the prospect of going to the remote island of Kiritimati gearless is a decision no angler wants to make. B. There are some REALLY BIG BONEFISH on the island of Oahu and in close proximity to Honolulu. Any angler headed to Christmas Island needs to sample the bones of Oahu at least once.
Captain Rick Lee is head guide and proprietor of Bonefish Hawaii, based in Honolulu. Rick and Frontiers have had a long standing friendship dating back to his days as one of the first fly fishing guides on Russia’s famed Ponoi River. Since then, Rick’s guiding experience is wide-ranging from Hawaiian saltwater flats to remote Pacific atolls, trout waters of the America West, Chile, Argentina, Patagonia and steelhead destinations in the Pacific Northwest. It’s an understatement to say that his guide resume is impressive. I started managing the Christmas Island program for Frontiers in February of 2014. Rick has been touting the great bonefishing that Oahu has to offer since meeting him while returning from Christmas Island in 2011. It seems every conversation the two of us had either by phone or email ended with, “next time you’re headed to Christmas Island, set aside a day before or after and fish with me here.” At last a return trip to Christmas Island (more on that in a future blog) was set in motion and coordinating a day on the water with Rick was crafted.
My American Airlines flights from Pittsburgh and connecting through Phoenix were both on schedule and I arrived at HNL early evening. Per his instruction, Rick asked me to call him when I got settled at the hotel and we’d coordinate the next day’s plan. “I’d like to get an early start if you’re up for it. How about I have my taxi guy Mark pick you up outside the lobby at 5:15 am?” Not certain I heard him correctly from a lengthy travel day, I asked him to repeat the time. Yep, 5:15 am it was. Naturally I replied, “you bet; see you soon.” Now, I’ve bonefished the Florida Keys, Mexico all over the Bahamas, Christmas Island and the Turks and Caicos. Out of all of these trips my previous earliest start was 7:30 am. I assumed we must have a lengthy drive to leave at that hour. I envisioned stalking bones wearing a headlamp! Rick said, “good…the tide is right to catch some early morning tailers in skinny water.”
Taxi man, Mark, was punctual and waiting for me at 5:15. It was pouring rain as I handed off my gear bag and rods to him while trying not to get soaked in the process. Rick and I would be fishing a flat which is relatively close to Rick’s residence so from a logistical standpoint it’s easier on Rick having me meet him along the way. After being dropped off, Rick stopped to grab some lunch goodness and in no time we were at the boat ramp. Total drive time from the hotel to the ramp was all of 25 minutes. Pretty cool to think that 25 minutes from the airport area, you can be fishing for some of the biggest bonefish found anywhere. A quick launch of Rick’s Maverick 18’ Bonefisher and we were underway. Fortunately by then, night was giving way to day light and the rain showers, which are common, were waning too. An easy 5-minute run to the flats and rod rigging was underway. My go-to bonefish outfit these days is a 9’ 8 wt. Orvis Helios 2, 4 piece rod paired with a Hatch Finatic 7 Plus reel. The fly line is a RIO Bonefish, floater and I was using a 10’ fluorocarbon leader tapered to a very light 8 lbs. Fly of choice was Rick’s own version of a Bonefish Bitter.
The ensuing 11 – 12 hours turned out to be some of the most challenging yet rewarding bonefishing I have ever experienced. The fish were big and they were tailing and they were really smart. They accepted no flaws in my game and as the day played out, I realized there were many! I made bad casts, okay casts and good casts. I stripped the fly too soon, too fast, too long and too often. I tailed loops, tangled flies and leaders and hooked myself…twice. It was one of those days…but the fish kept showing up and Rick’s patience never wavered. I had known about the big bones of HI, but I had no idea they had this many of them. These fish average a legitimate 6 lbs. and a number of double-digit size fish were seen. For most of the morning on the incoming tide, if I wasn’t casting to a bonefish, I was maneuvering to get into position to cast to them. When the tide got a bit too high and the fish stopped tailing, we then fished from the skiff. I had more difficulty spotting fish in the deeper water, but Rick certainly didn’t. Seems he was constantly calling out bonefish to all hands on the clock “bonefish 11:00, 3:00, 8:00… cast!” It was an absolute BLAST. It’ll go down as one of the most memorable days of bonefishing I’ve ever had even though the final tally was 3 fish hooked and zero brought to hand. I only wished I’d signed up to do it all over again the next day but that wasn’t going to work. Christmas Island was calling.
I’d like to thank Captain Rick Lee once again for showing me an amazing day on the water. His knowledge of the fishery is vast as is his knowledge of Hawaii’s culture, community and conservation. He’s the real deal and I’d encourage anyone traveling to or through Honolulu to contact Frontiers and arrange a trip with Rick. It won’t be easy but you will have a legitimate shot at landing the biggest bonefish of your life.
By: Joe Linscott
