Spawning Red Devils

[Stan Wright]

Spawning Red Devils

Hawaii's winter weather has been cloudy and cold. (Don't laugh, 68 degrees is cold for us)
Those tropical fish go into hibernation till the water temperature climbs back up over 75. Enjoying a few days of sunshine, we took our 3 and 4 wt fly rods in search of red devils.


The Red Devils were every where. You just cruise the shoreline and spot them in the shallow water right next to the bank. It's easy to see a 3/4 to 1 pound bright red fish. The male fish has a huge hump on it's head and guards it's territory aggressively.



I don't know if the small flashy streamers and nymph flys make it angry or hungry... I'm just glad they bite them.

An added bonus is the bluegill. They like small flys and are also fun on a light flyrod.



Then there are the peacock bass that appear out of nowhere and smash your fly. You get a 2 pound peacock on a 3wt flyrod and you have your hands full.



All this practice on the "small" fish will have us ready for the 3 to 5 pound peacock bass that will get really aggressive when the water temperature hits 80 degrees. Now that's exciting.
Aloha,
Stan

[Beaver]

Hi Stan,

Didn't know you had peacock bass on the islands. Are the on all the islands or just Oahu? What family of fish are the Red Devils? Great pics by the way. Thanks

Beaver

[Stan Wright]

The Peacock bass are only on Oahu and Kauai. Ours average a little over 2 pounds with a 3 to 5 pounder not that uncommon. The state record is 9.4. Peacock bass feed on fish exclusively so any lure or fly that looks or acts like a fish works just fine.

Live bait is good... Big Bait, Big Fish. Spring, Summer and fall are the best times to fish. Peacock bass like warm water. We've had great catches every month of the year... Fall is fun because they are schooling and chasing shad on the surface.... wild action.

There are times when I use live bait (Mollies, the feeder fish from the pet store) You want to catch 100 fish? Bring 100 baits. 200 fish...200 baits.

I tagged over 50 peacock bass in less than an hour one afternoon. Three guys catching and two of us tagging, measuring and recording.

I have no idea about the red devils. They are aquairum fish that someone dumped into the lake. Lots of fun to catch. The only bad thing is they won't take a popping bug.

[Beaver]

Stan,

Thanks for the information. I'll have to keep that in mind the next time I visit the islands.

Beaver

[Wingsdlc]

Red Devils are also part of the cichlid family as is the peacock bass. From keeping cichlids in the aquarium my guess would be that the Red Devils angry as most cichlids are very aggressive and protective parents.

[Stan Wright]

The Red Devils don't make good aquairum pets... especially the large ones. My son caught one that would be the new state record, brought it home and put it into his 50 gallon tank.
It killed all the other fish and ate all the vegitation. It's favorite hobby was to pile all of the 2 inches of gravel from the bottom of the tank up against one end.