True Hogs are Rare Even in Hawaii

Its not everyday that you are party to landing 14-16 lbs. fish. This day I was lucky enough to be taking an experience friend and angler fishing. We were fishing deeper water with faster sinking flies. In this case we spotted the large fish being accompanied by two smaller fish.

Usually fate intervenes in these cases with the smaller fish swimming forward to eat the fly before the larger bone gets a chance.. On this day the opposite happened, Keoni had karma on his side with the larger fish swimming forward to make sure he got the “meal” first. and turned on the fly.

Next challenge with these large fish is landing them. In this particular case we were fishing close to the reef. All larger bones head directly for the reef once they are hooked and I can’t tell you the number of fish lost to leader cuts on coral. Keoni was able to keep his rod tip high and line out of the reef. In the end finagling the fish through the coral and back to the boat where we landed him. There was a lot of luck mixed in with his skills.

We estimated this fish to be in the 14 to 16 pound range. I hope to see him again.