What does it look like when someone grows up on a remote Hawaiian island, learns to read the ocean the way most of us read a map,

and then turns that lifetime of knowledge into one of the most unique cast and blast experiences anywhere in the world?

Today's guest has done just that.

Born and raised on Molokai, Josiah Chang grew up in a subsistence fishing family, learning

tides, reefs, and the rhythms of the ocean long before he ever picked up a fly rod.

After serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq and returning home, fly fishing didn't just become a passion.

It became therapy, connection, and eventually his calling.

This is the Wet Fly Swing podcast where I show you the best places to travel to for fly fishing,

how to find the best resources and tools to prepare for that big trip,

and what you can do to give back to fish species we all love.

Josiah Ching runs Buck and Bones offering something few places on Earth can match,

site fishing for trophy Hawaiian bonefish in the morning

and spot and stock Axis deer hunting in the evening, all while sharing the cultural

protocols, ecological history, and traditional knowledge that make Molokai more than just

another island. In this episode, you're going to hear how bonefish moved through the islands

like ghosts,

why local knowledge is everything, how conservation and Hawaiian culture shape every day on the water,

and what it takes to build a high-quality, low-impact guiding program that the local community actually supports.

All right, let's get into it. Here he is, Josiah Ching.

You can find him at Bucks and Bones.com. How's it going, Josiah? Good, good. Thanks for having me. Yeah, this is going to be a fun one today. I'm excited because we hear a lot about, I mean, I've been to Hawaii, you know, a few times. And we hear a lot about a lot of people in our audience who are going to Hawaii and they want to go fish for bone fish or, you know, whatever. And some people don't even realize that, you know, there's actually opportunities. So I think today we're going to talk about that where you are because you're on a specific island as well, not Maui, you know, not Oahu, but a kind of unique area. And then also you have hunting. You actually have deer hunting. So you've got this cast and blast, which I think is unique. So we're going to get into that today, help people get going on this.

But maybe take us back first on fly fishing.

Let's hear how you got into it.

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