View Full Version : Cook Island Flies
FrogPond
04-24-2007, 11:16 AM
Heading to the Cook Islands for my Honeymoon (early October). I hope to have a couple minutes to wander the lagoons.
What flies do I need to take?
For Bonefish
For Trevally
For ??
I don't think they have any real monsters down there, at least I hope not...I am only taking my 8wt. Which I should be getting back from Rogue Rods all spiffed up and ready.
Thanks for the help!
For bonefish I would suggest looking at the suggestions on my Ascencion Bay Bonefish Flies thread.
Now trevally I know something about, as I caught them in Guam...
Streamer patterns, poppers, Deceivers, and sliders all work well. I'd have some smaller baitfish patterns and a few bigger ones. I don't know if they have giant trevally there, but if they do, an 8 wt is WAAAYY too light. I would hold off casting to those guys. There is nothing cooler than a 8 pound bulefin trevally whacking your popper on the surface.
Have a good selection of Christmas Isld type flies. Crystal Charlies and Imo Worms top my list. The trevally will strike just about anything. Poppers are the most fun but streamers will result in more hook ups. My biggest trevally hooked on a fly was on a #8 Crystal Charlie. As stated above, an 8wt is SERIOUSLY under gunned for giant trevally. The 85+ lb fish I hooked on the Charley was aone run fish, CYA!
A-Boss
04-28-2007, 05:48 PM
My wife and went to the Cook Islands as part of our Honeymoon (9 years ago). We did our fly fishing on the New Zealand leg of our trip.
It might have changed since we were there, but I don't think the fishing was very good. The locals had pretty much fished everything out except the preserve areas, and you couldn't fish in those.
But good luck and report back.
Orion
05-01-2007, 04:19 PM
I think A-Boss hit the nail on the head. Everything outside of the preserve has been fished out. You might want to do a bit more research before you go out and get all geared up. Unless the conditions have changed, the non-preserve areas were almost fishless.
Good Luck,
Orion
I disagree on the fished out comments. I was in the Cooks a a few years ago, '03, in September and found the fishing very good. Much better on Aitutaki, you should try to get out there if you're not already planning on it. Lots of Trevali. I too was on my honeymoon and was not allowed to fish as much as I would have liked, hopefully your bride is more accomodating. There's a guy named Butch who used to bartend in Bend and in Newport thats now a "guide" on Aitutaki, you may want to look him up.
Have a good time.
No Bail
05-16-2007, 09:48 PM
If you go to Aitutaki for more than a day trip, get a half day trip with Jubilee. He has exclusive rights to a bonefish area. Most fun even if I never caught one. I was trolling his 8 weight as we moved to another island, and a GT took that fly so savagely that it tore the fly line in half. Not even a hint of play, just tore it in half. I was there last April, and tried fishing by wading out to the reef on Rarotonga. It was fun wading out and stripping a big streamer. Every time I would strip that fly, little bait fish would come flying out of the water thinking my fly was chasing them. I'd go with a 12 weight myself if you fish the reef. YMMV.
I also saw bonefish near the beach at late evening so you can play with them as well. I don't know if all the waters are fished out, but I do think it was fun casting at the edge of the reef watching turtles and listening to the surf. After 25 years, my spouse allows me more time to fish now.
FrozenFish
05-16-2007, 11:36 PM
Congratulations!!!!!!
I dont even know where the cook islands are, but this sounds like a wonderful place to celebrate your new life. Good luck, let us know hoe it goes. -FF
Aitutakiflyfish
11-24-2008, 09:48 PM
I tried to post before but it did not pass muster with the powers to be. I know it is a bit late to jump on this thread but I had to do it as I am new to the forum. I live and fly fish the Aitutaki Lagoon almost daily. There are bonefish here and enough to keep anyones interest. I can spot over 2 dozen in a day with at least a dozen real shots at them. We have plenty of trevally also. The bonefish here are big by anyones standard. My personal best is 37 inches and in the last couple of weeks my smallest came in at just over 30 inches and largest at 34 inches with an 18+inch girth. So don't be afraid to try this place out with your fly rod. If you want any more info on the fly fishing here on Aitutaki just get back to me.
FrogPond
11-25-2008, 04:10 PM
Butch-
I was told to find you when we were there on our Honeymoon...unfortunately you were booked by another couple for the 2 days I had to fish. I did catch a nice little Trevally for my efforts though.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/hm2.jpg
Plenty of these little guys
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/hm1.jpg
This little guy was colorful
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/hm3.jpg
We stayed at Etu Moana and I caught them straight out from the lounge chair my wife was sleeping in.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/etu1.jpg
Rarotonga, but you get the idea...
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/water_into_wine.jpg
What a wonderful place!
FrogPond
11-25-2008, 04:18 PM
Since this thread was revived...an Update:
For those of us here in the mid valley, if you want some custom flies tied in a pinch (like I did). Look up Mitch at the fly shop in downtown Albany. Some of the flies he tied for me, he had only seen in books. Some worked better than others, but they all worked. I had the good fortune of sitting next to a couple guys on the plane that were headed to the northern islands and they looked my flies over and said they were good ones. They gave me a couple epoxy crabs to try on Bonefish, but I never had the chance to try them out.
Aitutakiflyfish
11-25-2008, 10:16 PM
Nice little Bluefin trevally. They are electric looking when they first come out of the deep water. The brown fish is a Brown cod. They will pick up a fly that is as long as they are and then dive for the coral. I have lost alot of flys with those little suckers until I learned to just pull the fly away from them. By the way, my go to fly here is a yellow-white clouser on a size 1 or 1/0 hook. This works for both the trevally and the bonefish with the added benefit of not having to change flys everytime between bonefish and the trevs. Also the Queenfish, Snapper, Baracuda and some things I have caught that I have no idea what they are but look pretty cool. Yes it is a pretty spectacular little spot in this crazy world.