Springtime found me back on the water with my spinning rod. Inspired by an old article in Sports Illustrated about spin-fishing for bonefish, I have been working on a more consistent method for flats fishing with light tackle here in Hawaii.

The basic set-up is secret, having been taught to me by a friend many years ago. Since then, I have scaled things down and experimented with many different lures. The final step has been finding the right places to fish, which is fun because it’s an excuse to explore. The results have been pretty good. Although I am addicted to the thrill of sight-fishing with a fly rod, this light-tackle method produces more fish, can be used in more spots and is successful in a much, much wider variety of weather and water conditions.

In other news, our inflatable boat has been reborn as a river craft in the Columbia Gorge (hence the title of my last post). We re-purposed a cardboard box from a 55″ flat screen television and made a custom sized box for the boat which we then checked on our Hawaiian Airlines flight to PDX. The weather in Oregon has been cold and wet this Spring but we had some luck and arrived for the first truly nice weather of the year. Clear, sunny skies and a light breeze. The water level was high and the main river was very turbid, but the back waters were clear and there were some carp to be found.