Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2019 i Hawaii Fishing News

A recent fun fishing trip with my friend Myles was a last minute thing. I had asked him to go a few days before and he thought he had to work. He called me that morning and said if we came in by 2 o’clock, he could go, so I threw my stuff in the boat and headed to the harbor. Five minutes into the troll we got this guy. The wind picked up soon after, so we headed in. Last ones out, first ones in with fish in the box... can’t complain! Last month, I went fishing with my daughter Aria while she was here on Fall break. We planned a trip to one of the buoys that takes four hours to get there. We get there and the…

 Before I tell my big-fish story, I’d like to thank the people I’ve fished with, met and talked story with over the last 35-plus years. Because there are so many–hundreds–I can’t mention them all by name, but I appreciate the positive interactions we’ve shared.  I would like to mention a few people integral to my fishing endeavors. Of course, I have to mention Chuck Johnston and HAWAII FISHING NEWS. Without HFN, I never would have read about hundreds of hardcore and legendary ulua fishermen and other fishing people who over the years inspired me. I also probably never would have moved to the Big Island in ’84 with an obsession to fish, dive and camp, and I never would have made the 50,000-plus handmade hardwood lures that I’ve made over…

The waters off Kane‘ohe are notoriously rough. Sometimes the trade winds do not abate for weeks at a time. Big currents dip in toward the coastline and carry schools of fish and rubbish lines close enough for the right boat to reach them. Although all pelagic species are present off Kane‘ohe, one fish is synonymous with its waters: mahimahi. Those willing to fish these waters are a special breed of skilled mariners who have designed their fishing machines to slice through the swells. They have developed techniques to rapidly make staggering catches of mahimahi and possess the endurance to make back-to-back trips when the bite is on. Like the waters, tradition runs deep in Kane‘ohe, and those who fish its waters are a small but elite group. I turned to…

Publisher’s Note: By reader request, HFN will be reprinting all three of Todd Hayashi’s Tech Talk series over the few months. The technique of slide-bait fishing for ulua (giant trevally) has evolved over many decades into a sport of its own having very specific equipment needs and angler skills and habits. In this series of articles, we will be looking into some of the factors that play a significant role in determining the likelihood of an ulua striking your bait. This is the necessary first step toward success, because a fish may only be caught on a rod and reel after the fish has been coaxed into placing a hook into its mouth. There are an infinite number of variables that can be considered when trying to determine how best…

Every year, the U.S. Coast Guard is forced to spend millions of dollars in taxpayer money on search-and-rescue jobs that don’t need to happen. When a kayak or surfboard is found drifting in the ocean, the U.S. Coast Guard leaps into action and begins searching for the owner, who might be lost at sea. Sometimes someone who’s in trouble gets the help they need, and sometimes someone has just lost their surfboard. Either way, U.S. Coast Guard helicopters, airplanes and boats head out to search. HOST has partnered with the U.S. Coast Guard to promote the free U.S. Coast Guard orange “If Found” sticker program. The stickers help first responders identify the owner of the watercraft and verify that the owner is safe in the event that their craft is…

Monster Tilapia Threat Aquatic Biologist Troy Sakihara is dealing with tilapia a lot these days. After Troy was featured in news reports about an "invasion" of Nile tilapia in the Wailoa and Waiakea waterways on Hawai'i island, a local man brought his recently deceased tilapia to Troy. It was a whopper, to say the least. Weighing in at a hefty 16 lbs and measuring 24.4 inches in length, the tilapia was the biggest of this species Troy has ever encountered. Brian Neilson, the administrator of the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR), said, "I was amazed as a fisherman myself, but also a little freaked out by how big these fish can actually get. Especially when you think about how devastating tilapia can be…

FISHING THE NATATORIUM The Waikiki Natatorium was one of my favorite destinations while growing up in the late 1940s. The war memorial structure, built in 1927, was a 100-meter saltwater swimming pool with a diving platform 10 meters high, with four levels and a water slide for the youngsters. It was a great gathering place to go swimming and a challenge for a youngster “graduating” from the sandy beaches, where you could stand and feel the bottom. Here, you could not see the bottom. The depth of the pool varied with the tide as the lower portions of the pool’s concrete walls opened to the ocean through grated openings. The shallow ends of the pool were maybe 8 feet, and the center portion, where the jumpers and divers using the…

At 4 a.m. one Friday morning, I woke up to my alarm. My truck was loaded, so I quickly and quietly gathered a few last-minute things and headed for the beach. I was hoping to fish with someone, but everybody was busy so I was on a solo mission. I arrived at the beach by 4:45 a.m. Mist was heavy in the air. I knew there was a swell coming in, but I wasn’t sure how big it would be. When I saw the mist, I could tell it was going to be big. I got down to the launch spot. High waves were washing up, and some people were hanging out in the dark. I watched the seas for a while and didn’t feel comfortable going out. I aborted…

My two partners, Kalei and Dustin, and I got an early start from Kihei Harbor, Maui. We were planning to jet-ski out to the two buoys behind the mountain. The water is rarely as calm as it was that day, so we were very enthusiastic to head out there to try our luck. At about 8 a.m., we were about a mile from the first buoy and my 80-class reel started screaming. I cleared my other lines, and the fight was on. About three-quarters of the way through the fight, my reel locked up on me. I knew I had to think of something fast, so I grabbed the mainline, killed the ski’s engine and started to handline the fish. I got the fish to leader several times before I…

Hawai‘i has a diverse commercial fishery sector including shallow- and deep-set longline, main Hawaiian Islands troll and handline, offshore handline, and the aku boat (pole-and-line) fisheries. The Hawai‘i longline fishery is by far the most important economically, accounting in 2018 for about 86 percent of the estimated value of the total commercial fish landings in the state. In 2018, the pelagic fishery performance was highly variable but improved compared to recent years. Hawai‘i did not exceed the annual catch limits for striped marlin or bigeye tuna, and the fish stocks were not overfished or experiencing overfishing, with the exception of striped marlin due to international fisheries. In addition, none of the federally managed nonpelagic species (Deep Seven bottom fish, non-Deep Seven bottom fish, coral reef fish, crustaceans, mollusks, or limu)…

Ala Wai Harbor Proposals Bomb A DLNR Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) request for proposals (RFP) to develop four parcels at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor bombed out with all bidders rejected. The RFP was a second attempt to redeem a previously failed RFP redevelopment award to Honey Bee USA, a Japanese company, which went bankrupt in 2016, still owing the state $500,000. DOBOR has refused to release the details of the four rejected RFP bidders in a process that saw 27 parties showing interest. One of the parties wanted to put a 350-foot tall Ferris wheel and movie theater on the property. The DOBOR development process is controversial among boaters who want the parcels to be used for boating support facilities like a fuel depot, haul-out,…

A fishing boat drives into a cave. No, this isn’t the start of a groan-worthy joke. It really happened, and TowBoatUS was on scene to help! “There are not many times I can say it after 30 years as a towboat captain, but this was a first,” said Capt. Rob Butler, owner of the TowBoatUS San Diego. The story began with two men fishing 30 miles offshore. Heading back on calm seas at night under a bright moon, the owner went below to get some sleep while his crewmate put the boat on autopilot for San Diego’s Shelter Island Boat Launch. Then he fell asleep. The men were awakened by the sound of surf as their boat cruised into a 15-foot-high cave, literally threading the needle. “If they missed by…

The largest and most popular public hunting area on the island of Hawai‘i lies on the slopes of Mauna Kea. Vehicular access is provided on the west at Kilohana and on the east at Hale Pohaku. The two entry points are 17 miles apart along Saddle Road. A 35-mile long rudimentary four-wheel-drive dirt road connects the two vehicular access points, circumscribing the mountain to the north at elevations between 6,000 and 9,000 feet. Round-trip travel between the two access points is a day-long venture insofar as the road remains passable in its entirety. Hale Pohaku mountain road entry is gained from the Mauna Kea Access Road, 8 miles upward from its Saddle Road terminus. The summit access road, which is paved to Hale Pohaku, is state-maintained and normally open to…

 Send to: P.O. Box 25488, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96825 or E-mail: <hawaiifishingnews@gmail.com>  Hello, Carrie,  This is my daughter’s college friend Arlene from Wappingers Falls, NY. This is the first time she ever went fishing. Talk about beginner’s luck. She enjoyed steamed fish as did the entire family. She can fish with us anytime.  Aloha, Glenn Kosaki Honolulu, O‘ahu  Aloha, HFN,  My friend Benjie Busto caught this whopper lingcod near Ketchikan, Alaska.  Damian Baptiste Hawai‘i  Aloha, Carrie,  I went fishing with my good friend Eric Nishioka yesterday out of Hilo. With calm winds and flat seas we got lucky with this big bull mahi on the way in from “E” buoy. We did some bottom fishing and got some nice pakas. Here’s Eric with a beauty. Thanks for the great fishing magazine.…

It was a good day. The winds were low, but there was a high-surf advisory. I went out west and met some friends for a day of kayaking, diving and fishing. We went to our normal spot for bait and got about eight pieces. We decided to paddle a little farther down the coast. I got about a few hundred feet before my spinner started screaming. I reeled in a kawakawa that had its tail shredded by a shark. I got the fish in the kayak, reset my lines and paddled a couple of hundred feet before my spinner got smashed by a small shibi, again on live bait. I set up the lines again. A couple of hundred feet more, and my conventional rig was hit by one more…

Since 2007, Pacific Islands Fisheries Group (PIFG) has been building the foundation of Tag It as a volunteer-based tagging project, similar to the once-popular statewide Division of Aquatic Resources’ Ulua Tagging Project. The goal is to utilize one tag across a number of species, thereby eliminating confusion caused by multiple projects. The “one-stop tag shop” concept hopes to streamline requests for tags and tag kits, data collection and tag-recovery monitoring. The data will be used by scientists to improve understanding of these species in order to provide the best management options available. History • 2007 through 2015: Deep Seven bottomfish tagging project volunteers tag more than 9,000 Deep Seven bottom fish. • 2012 through 2013: PIFG team members tag 3,000 ‘o‘io. • 2014 to present: ‘Ahi tagging (conventional and PSAT…

Aloha. I live on the Big Island of Hawai‘i and have been kayak fishing for the past eight years. When I go kayak fishing, I like to be out on the water one hour before sunrise to catch akule around the harbor. One day, I headed straight out to where I thought the ‘opelu would be at daybreak. I planned to head to deeper water after I caught enough bait fish. I had looked at the fishing calendar and determined that the moon would be highest from sunrise till high tide during the lunch hour. I picked up a dozen ‘opelu then headed out to deeper waters. It took a while to get my first strike. When my reel started screaming, I knew it was a big fish. It took…

In Remembrance I met Todd Hayashi in 1972 when we were kids attending Kaimuki Intermediate School. We became fast friends and got into all kinds of mischief. During our time at Kalani High School, Todd invited me to do lights and sound for the band Livewire (a disco group in which he played lead trumpet). I probably crashed at his house as often as I slept at mine during those years. We were roommates on weekend gigs to the Kauai Resort during 1976 and 1977 and on the West Coast and Canada in 1978. Todd will be remembered by many who experienced the glory days of the Waikiki music scene as one of the finest solo and high-note specialist trumpeters Hawai‘i has ever produced. I didn’t see much of Todd…

Hilo Trollers Year-End Tournament Awards The Hilo Trollers held their annual banquet and awards ceremony on Saturday, October 19, at Nani Mau Gardens. There was a great turnout, and those who attended enjoyed some really bad fishy jokes and great prizes. The captains and crews that received year-end awards received significant social recognition. Captains and crews compete for awards in the following categories: largest aku; smallest qualifying flag fish; total weight of ‘opala (ocean trash); largest flag fish; total weight for each of the flag fish; and the coveted Fisherman of the Year Award. The last award is based on the combined total weight of each of the largest of the flag fish landed during the season. A boat with all four flag fish will top a boat with three…

The fun and friendly Fifth Annual DeRego Foundation Invasive Competition was a “battle royale” to eradicate roi, ta‘ape and to‘au. The event boundaries extended from South Point to the North Kohala Lighthouse. Participants met to check in between 6 and 6:30 a.m. As soon as check-in was complete, we were free to head to our secret spots. My dive partner, Kortny, and I had two different spots in mind. On the day of the event, the weather was good all-around so we chose a remote spot with a ¾-mile walk in. Because of the walk, we had only four hours to dive and shoot invasive fish. We wanted to do our part in getting rid of these fish that eat our good fish and compete for habitat and resources. Walking…

I see a bowl scraped where quail have been dustingThey’re long gone for now or there’d be some bird bustingA few minutes more, and my tracker is groovingSays my dog is on point and best I get moving Loki’s on point ahead of me nowI work my way up and tap on her browShe doesn’t move forward and soon I see whyAs a covey of quail burst forth for the sky My biggest concern is with brush so darn highThat a wind-driven fire may light up the skyIt now seems quite clear the price that you payBy picking the species that go and that stay We did find some birds on a few of the tripsThat were mostly concealed in some very steep dipsIt’s not like the years that have…