What To Expect From A Guided Experience

[jasonvilly]

Hey

 

So I am headed to Oahu at the end of March and thought I would do a day of guided fly fishing and possibly some beach casting.

 

Seeing as I have never used a guide before or fished in the ocean (I have only been fly fishing for a year on the bow) I am a little worried about the experience.

 

I bought a new rod and reel (9ft ticr and reddington delta reel) and have been out practicing casting. I am hoping that I can put a fly in the right spot to get a chance at some bones or other fish.

 

Anyhow I have some questions

 

1) How good at casting should I be before I go. I think that I am okay on the bow, but being on the ocean with the wind and distances has me nervous now.

2) I did not purchase flies or tippet because I thought that he will be the expert in this area so I would wait to see. Will they provide this or should I go to a shop early and pick up some stuff?

3) Do you pay before or after the day? Do you tip? How much and why? Seems like $450 is a lot for a full day already but I don't want to be cheap.

4) Should I only expect that we will target 1 type of fish (bones) or if bone fishing isn't so good is it fair to ask to target some other species.

5) I realize that guiding is very different from teaching, but I imagine I am going to have a ton of questions since I have never done this before. Is it out of the question to expect that he be as good as a teacher as he is a guide?

 

I guess that is it for now, but I am sure more questions might come up.

[tgo]

I don't think you need to be an expert caster, but you do need more skill than what it takes to nymph the Bow. A buddy's brother just got back from Ascension Bay and he wasn't that experienced and only landed one bone. But he can't cast past 25 feet. There are times he needed a 40 ft cast at least. Then there's the wind. What line weight is the rod?

[cheeler]

Those questions would best be directed towards potential guides - you'll be able to tell how good they are just from their responses (or lack thereof).

[jasonvilly]

9 weight Ticr

[ggp]

I have fished Hawaii before but it was deep sea fishing not beach fishing and it was many years ago (paid in advance, tip at the end of the day if you felt it was worth one). Seems to me it was quite pricy when I went, and I shared the boat with two other clients. Everything that was caught was killed, and at the end of the day I had to demand some of the meat from the fish that were caught. (Yellow Fin Tuna)....At the time I went I had not heard of any decent fly fishing for bones off the beaches, but that certainly doesn't mean there isn't....There is one island, I believe it is Kauai that has Peacock Bass in one of its lakes, they certainly could be fun on a fly rod. When I beach fish off of Vancouver Island, it's not so much the wind that bothers me but the surf. It can be awful hard to stand up when the surf is trying to knock you down or the waves break right in front of you and fill your waders. If your fishing in secluded bays, you probably won't have to worry about the surf. (you won't need waders in Hawaii ) But hay if it wasn't fun I wouldn't keep doing it. In my opinion a good guide should also be a good teacher....Keep practicing your casting as the more proficient you get, the greater your odds become, and don't let anyone tell you that if you can't cast at least X amount of distance, you shouldn't go, that is just plain nonsense....Just remember, the more proficient you become the more you increase your odds, and you don't get proficient without practice....Good luck and have a great trip!

[LeeAB]

Don't want to pop your bubble but the fly fishing on Oahu is less than stellar and there aren't any flats for Bones, etc. The only island with any type of flats is Molokai and the Bone fishing is not flats fishing like the Bahamas, etc.

 

Yes you can cast into the surf around structures and pick off some reef fish with small Deceiver patterns, etc but it's a lot of blind casting for little results.

 

Your best bet is to go for the pelagics and if you are lucky enough to run into schooly Mah Mahi, keep the Cow/Bull on the line near the boat and fly cast to the followers who will hang around.

 

Sorry to rain on your vacation plans but thought you would be wanting to hear how to maximize time/money/fishing on those ever so valuable holidays.

[BBBrownie]

Don't want to pop your bubble but the fly fishing on Oahu is less than stellar and there aren't any flats for Bones, etc. The only island with any type of flats is Molokai and the Bone fishing is not flats fishing like the Bahamas, etc.

 

Yes you can cast into the surf around structures and pick off some reef fish with small Deceiver patterns, etc but it's a lot of blind casting for little results.

 

Your best bet is to go for the pelagics and if you are lucky enough to run into schooly Mah Mahi, keep the Cow/Bull on the line near the boat and fly cast to the followers who will hang around.

 

Sorry to rain on your vacation plans but thought you would be wanting to hear how to maximize time/money/fishing on those ever so valuable holidays.

 

Interesting...Sure a pile of bonefish specific guide operations based out of Oahu for an island with no bonefish opportunities? Looks to me like there are flats as well, albeit slighlty non-conventional.

[EveretteD]

im going to hawaii too in september, however i'm going to maui, in the kaanapali area. I was thinking about bring my fly rod down and casting a few, but i'm not sure if the fishing is any good around there.. i was going to go on a guided trip but the price is a little much when i want to go golfing too..

if anyone knows anything about the area, input would be greatly appreciated..

 

 

i haven't ever seen the ocean so its going to be one hell of an experience.

 

I hope you have as much fun as i do jason. It should be a whale of a time..

[megalops]

Some thoughts on your questions from someone that spends a few weeks a year being guided in the salt:

 

1) How good at casting should I be before I go. I think that I am okay on the bow, but being on the ocean with the wind and distances has me nervous now.

 

For bonefish, you should be able to cast 40 to 50 feet into the wind and be able to hit a dinner plate fairly consistently. Pick a windy day here and practice casting into it. If you do not know how to double haul, learn. That is probably the one thing you need to know if you don't already.

 

2) I did not purchase flies or tippet because I thought that he will be the expert in this area so I would wait to see. Will they provide this or should I go to a shop early and pick up some stuff?

 

Bring some. The guide will have some go to patterns if you don't have any. A standard bonefish leader (probably something in the 12 foot, 12 - 16 lb test will do). Bring a few leaders as from what I have heard from friends who have fished the area the bonefish flats are not traditional and there is a lot of coral that will ruin your leaders. Mike at Country Pleasures has fished the area and can probably point you in the right direction for basic stuff to take. Contact your guide and he will point you in the direction of a few basic patterns to bring.

 

3) Do you pay before or after the day? Do you tip? How much and why? Seems like $450 is a lot for a full day already but I don't want to be cheap.

 

You pay at the end of the day. Tipping is customary, but up to you. I typically tip $100 - $150 per boat. Guides incur a lot of overhead and while the price may seem steep, they sure aren't getting rich from it. Another thing to ask before you go is whether the guide provides lunch. Some do, but it varies regionally. In Florida for instance, the guide does not provide lunch and you bring his lunch as well.

 

 

4) Should I only expect that we will target 1 type of fish (bones) or if bone fishing isn't so good is it fair to ask to target some other species.

 

If the bonefish don't show up, your guide will have a back up plan. There is lots of stuff in the ocean that will eat flies. There are a lot of different trevally species around hawaii.

 

5) I realize that guiding is very different from teaching, but I imagine I am going to have a ton of questions since I have never done this before. Is it out of the question to expect that he be as good as a teacher as he is a guide?

 

A good guide will be a better teacher than a guide. They generally prefer clients who ask questions and want to learn.

 

Contrary to what was said before, there are bonefish in Oahu. The numbers aren't great, but they are big.

[reevesr1]

Don't want to pop your bubble but the fly fishing on Oahu is less than stellar and there aren't any flats for Bones, etc. The only island with any type of flats is Molokai and the Bone fishing is not flats fishing like the Bahamas, etc.

 

Yes you can cast into the surf around structures and pick off some reef fish with small Deceiver patterns, etc but it's a lot of blind casting for little results.

 

Your best bet is to go for the pelagics and if you are lucky enough to run into schooly Mah Mahi, keep the Cow/Bull on the line near the boat and fly cast to the followers who will hang around.

 

Sorry to rain on your vacation plans but thought you would be wanting to hear how to maximize time/money/fishing on those ever so valuable holidays.

I would like to start with a disclaimer that I never fished the 3 yrs I lived in Hawaii. I was too interested in other forms of catch and release at the time. That said, my cousin was stationed there a few years after I was and used to catch tons of bones on the flats near Hickham AFB. Don't know how accessible those flats are to civilians, but I can't imagine there aren't more flats to fish on Oahu. My cousin said the biggest issue he had while fishing there was stopping the big bones from running him off the reef into deep water and breaking him off. He was spin fishing but the way. Said he wished he had learned to fly fish while he was there!

 

 

 

 

[ggp]

Some thoughts on your questions from someone that spends a few weeks a year being guided in the salt:

 

1) How good at casting should I be before I go. I think that I am okay on the bow, but being on the ocean with the wind and distances has me nervous now.

 

For bonefish, you should be able to cast 40 to 50 feet into the wind and be able to hit a dinner plate fairly consistently. Pick a windy day here and practice casting into it. If you do not know how to double haul, learn. That is probably the one thing you need to know if you don't already.

 

What ever you do don't let distance scare you off, 40 or 50 ft. is not very far and if you can do that on the Bow, I'm sure you can do it out on the flats. Leave the double haul until you get comfortable just getting the line out a reasonable distance, with reasonable accuracy.....Once you feel good about your casting then by all means learn to double haul (it is not hard, it is just a different technique) and it will definitely give you a much better advantage....Learning to cast takes time, so don't rush into some thing you're not yet ready for, it will just add to frustration! Practice as much as you can, I know when I learned I was out every day on the Bow....This is not competitive casting, you are just looking to give yourself the best chance to catch a fish that you can, and all you will need is to be reasonably accurate, not necessarily deadly accurate (although the more you practice the better you will get)....Good presentation so as not to scare the fish are in my opinion far more important than putting your cast right on a plate, although that will come with time.

 

 

[tgo]

I didn't mean to imply you shouldn't go on a guided trip if you can't cast x distance, but I just wanted you to know what to expect and you can decide to spend your money based on that. If money is tight it may be worth do a little fishing around coral heads and other structure with decievers and clousers.

 

 

[tgo]

.

[tgo]

Oh and I usually tip around 70-$80 for a trip that cost, but it depends on the experience and whether the guide tried hard to get me to the fish.

[Weedy1]

The guides pay me at the end of the trip.

I'm that good.