Bonefish Hawaii — Attraction in Honolulu

I am an avid, life long fly fisherman and have fished with many guides. I mostly saltwater fly fish and somehow I had never been on a trip targeting bonefish. I was in Honolulu for work and decided to give it a shot. I was a little concerned about making this my first bonefish outing as I had always heard the bonefish in Hawaii were some of the biggest and most challenging bonefish on the planet. Captain Rick Lee was confident that he could put us in front of some fish. We had a lot of wind that day so we went into the lee on the north shore of the island in front of the mountains where they filmed Jurassic Park. It was stunningly beautiful to the point that it was sometimes hard to keep my eyes focused on the water (google China Man's Hat to get an idea). We were also the only boat out there.

I was very surprised by the numbers and size of fish. We had 8 fish on and brought 6 of them into the boat that day. It was a nice day for bonefish but we cast to so many fish that it felt like the numbers could easily have been double. All of the fish were in the 5 pound range but we had some shots at fish that were much bigger. We also had a couple shots at Golden Trevally. Captain Rick was great at spotting fish and coaching me on getting my fly in front of them. I was impressed with his knowledge of the water and understanding of where the fish would show up through out the tides. An additional benefit is that he was born and raised locally and knows so much history about the island. It made for a very enjoyable all-around day. I highly recommend fishing with Captain Rick Lee. I have scheduled more Honolulu trips with him and am planning to join him in Christmas...

I contacted Bonefish Hawaii via their website to book a Bonefishing trip in Maui for early May. Captain Rick called me on my cellphone a few days later and told me that this time of the year and perhaps due to COVID, Bonefish Hawaii operates out of Oahu and are unable to do fishing out of Maui. Most people would just thank you and hang up, but not Captain Rick, he spent well over 10 minutes on the phone with me, giving me exact locations for me to go on my own and which type of flies to use and some great detail about bonefish fishery in general. I was totally impressed by his generosity of time and candor. While in Maui, I tried a couple of the location and unfortunately my fly rod and reel had not been used in a long while and did not cooperate, needless to say I did not catch any fish and maybe the high winds in Maui had something to do with it. I cannot wait to go to Oahu to go on a fishing trip with Bonefish Hawaii and...

Rick Lee is a consummate guide. He is fun to be with and he is smart, thoughtful and an incredible guide for all kinds of fishing... and I should know as I have been a client of his for almost 15 years. We met fishing for steelhead on the extraordinary Ho River on the coast of Washington and in the ensuing years we have fished the world together. - Xmas island, the Massive Skeena drainage, and so many other venues including chasing the giant bones in Hawaii. He has guided extensively in Patagonia, and Russia as well. Rick understands fish biology, he sees the fish in tropical waters as well as any guide.and most importantly he is simply great guy to to fish with.... Big fish, good humor, and a sharing of a lifetime of the skills of fly fishing...If looking for a guide, Rick is your man.... Cheers,...