Innholdsfortegnelse for September 1981 i Hawaii Fishing News

HAWAIIAN WATERS WEATHER September, a transitional month between summer and winter, is usually the month with the least bad weather. 3t would be the month of lowest bad weather activity if tropical cyclones did not appear ‘n Hawaiian waters. The potential of a tropical cyclone invading our waters is about the only major threat during the month. Trade winds will still prevail but the gusty trades will be at their minimum for the year: only about four days in the month. Northwesterly swell and surf heights are slowly picking up but the very high surf is still a month or more away. Southerly surf-action is decreasing but there’s still a chance of a higher than normal swell from that direction…

Who’s going to manage Hawaii’s billfish? The U.S. State Department feels that it should have the sole right to determine policy affecting American relations with foreign countries. The fishery resources are just pawns in the game of trade offs between powers, according to IGFA president Elwood Harry. How much do you care about the future of billfishing in Hawaii? Do you care enough to do something about it? The first thing you have to do is your homework, and that’s what we want to help you with. We’d like to give you some background on a major billfishing battle shaping up over how to manage Hawaii’s billfish. After that, your job is to make up your mind about what you think is the proper course of action and then make…

A fisherman without a fishing boat is like a duck without a duckpond! Last Sunday, while fishing off Keauhou in Kona, I noticed that my engine was getting alarmingly hot and after a few more minutes the electric buzzer alarm went off, indicating excessive heat. I idled down, cutting down the rise in temperature, and limped into Honokohau Harbor. Something was drastically wrong! The next day, a diesel man, Browny, came down and we took off the head of my Ford diesel. A check of the head indicated that one or more valves had finally given up the ghost after 20,000 hours! However, as one diesel expert said, “Deal, after 20,000 hours this engine doesn’t owe you anything!” After a long conference with Browny, I decided to send the entire…

Two issues ago I included an article on excessive heat and scuba tanks. My information was thirdhand and 1 didn’t want to pass on incorrect information; consequently, the article was very brief. In the interim, there is more information, thanks to Paul Tzimoulis of Skin Diver. Late this spring two Florida divers felt the need to repaint three aluminum scuba tanks. They took their tanks to a powder paint company which specialized in a new process for achieving an extremely durable paint coating. First, the tanks were sandblasted to remove all traces of the original factory paint job. Next, the tanks were magnetized with an electrostatic charge and a metal-type paint powder was sprayed on them evenly. Finally, the three tanks were placed in an oven and baked at 340-to-400°…

During the days when the Islands were still virginous and the sea bountiful, the ulua roamed the shorelines, ruling it like a super dictator, powerfully and forcefully. The ole’ style of capturing these wolves of the shoreline was initially to hang a puhi bait and palu (chum) the shoreline till the brute came in and ravaged the hanging puhi bait. But every so often the ulua would refuse the hanging bait, swim up to it and nudge it—but he’d never take it. For just this type of circumstance, the Hawaiians had a special length of aho (or rope) which had a puhi tail that was turned inside out and a large shark hook hidden carefully inside. With this tail they would literally throw it as far out from the shoreline…

Let’s close the file on the case of the thousands of expired “fuku” (balloon fish) which polluted the shores of Oahu, Kauai and Hawaii last month. Dr. Tom Deardorff, a member of the research faculty at the University of Hawaii, is studying parasites in local marine animals for the Food and Drug Administration. According to Dr. Deardorff, the most probable cause of the mass kill was a low grade bacterial infection which occurred during the process of reproduction when they all grouped together. The stress of the reproduction cycle together with the entrocronoiogy changes of the fish brought out a latent infection of some sort that caused death. Dr. Deardorff noted that of the twenty specimens taken for research, all were fresh, unspent, ripe males, an important factor in determining…

The Kona Mauka Trailers Club recently held their Spring Bonus Tournament on June 6 & 7, 1981. The club was formed in 1958 with 10 members and now has a membership of over 400. Four tournaments are held every year from April-thru-August. The Spring Bonus Tournament points are awarded in the following manner: 1 point per pound for 130-lb. test line. 1.4 points per pound for 80-lb. test line. 2 points per pound for 50-lb. test line. There are four flag fish to qualify for competition: billfish, ahi, mahimahi, and ono. At 5:30am, Team #8, the Sunshine III from Kona, with Capt. Stanley Cantor and crew William Cantor, Carolyn Cobb, and Gail Cantor, left Keauhou Pier to start fishing. They headed straight out with the intention of finding a porpoise…

This story really begins a long time earlier, when as a youth I saw yellowtail boiling on the chummed anchovies off the fog-shrouded Coronado Islands of Baja California. “Yellows! Look at ’em boil,” the deckhand cried, tossing another scoop of baitfish to the swirling predators. The gulls shrieked and dove, as the new 20-lb. test monofilament on my Penn 155 paid out rapidly. I counted to ten while the sleek jack, cousin to the ulua and kahala, ran with my bait. Then, with a yell befitting a karate expert, I set the hook on my first gamefish, and myself. For brevity’s sake, however, I’ll skip ahead some twenty years and begin on the last day of the 2nd Annual Chuck Machado Jackpot Tournament. In 19791 had a good start in…

Most fishermen think that carp are a mud grubbing, garbage sucking, filthy tasting, bone-filled lump of trash. I agree. So why, you may ask, am I writing about carp? I’m glad you asked. Herman Melville once said: “In order to write a mighty story you must have a mighty theme.” He was lucky. He had Moby Dick. Fortunately, my friend Glenn Ikemoto always says: “In order to write a lowly story one must have a lowly theme.” What could be more lowly than a carp? (Actually, Glenn was going to do this story. After all, it’s his saying. But at the last minute he came down with a case of terminal graphospasm, so he begged me to do it for him, saying that I wrote better than him anyway.) How…

The month of July started off with a bang on the northshore, as many big fish came in the first week. The ahi popped up outside Kaena Point and for once there were plenty of birds with them. All four boats fishing out of Haleiwa on the first of the month scored ahi. The first boat to score was the SEA JAY VEE. Cory and Tona Vellalos found the fish 8 miles off the Haleiwa side of Kaena Point. Their first pass through the birds produced a quadruple strike. It was at this point that he alerted the other boats to his location. Captain Cory managed to bring up three of the four fish and elected to go home to preserve his catch. Also scoring that day was Ben Shaw…

The 1981 National Spearfishing Championship, sponsored by the Underwater Society of America, was held in mid-Juiy at Clearwater, Florida. There were eight free diving teams entered in the championship meet, including a team from the Virgin Islands. Each’ diving council member of US of A was allowed to enter two teams. Only the Florida West Coast Council did so and they placed first and second ending the eight-year reign of the team representing Hawaii. The diving area chosen by the host Florida council was ten miles offshore and comprised 42 square miles of sand bottom with isolated areas of small rock piles and ledges. The meet period was four hours in length. The depth was 3040 feet and the visibility was decent for a change. The barren area chosen provided…

Hawaii’s only truly light tackle trolling tournament was held from July 13th through the 17th out of the new Waianae Boat Harbor on the leeward side of Oahu. For the first time in HIATT’s history, anglers competed on 20-pound test line. Only 20, 30, 50 and 80-pound were allowed in the tournament, but anglers soon discovered that if they weren’t fishing on the lighter tackle, they might as well forget about winning any prizes. Although no ahi were landed on 20-pound, three billfish were. It was a real challenge for sporting fishermen. The first ever to be landed on this tackle in HIATT was a 107-pound Pacific blue which was picked up by John Castanha of California’s Blue Water Specialties team fishing aboard the RUTH T. out of Kihei. Another…

“The tournament was first conducted in 1980 as a memorial to Mike Leasure, who died from cancer. Mike was a well-liked fisherman who was a member of several clubs and even while being treated for cancer, he was still active in. sport fishing. He would often visit small boat harbors and launching ramps to see what catches were being made by his friends when he himself could not go out fishing. Throughout his illness, he never expressed his despair or showed any depression to his friends … never a word of dejection. Cancer may have taken his body, but it never broke his spirit. In 1979, Mike was posthumously presented the Pokai Bay Club annual award for the largest marlin and also received the award from other clubs. Today, the…

The Allison yellowfin tuna have been very picky and particular about lures along the coast this year. One day the ahi might be up and many catches made, and the following day they are down. Those tremendous schools of busting white water ahi that we have seen in the past have been virtually non-existent. Although anglers report seeing single tuna pop up around their boats, rarely have the tremendous schools been up on the surface. Blind strikes are the order of the day. The areas around Oahu’s Kaena Point have been better for the yellowfin beauties, but those fiesty billfish have really invaded our leeward shores in good numbers. Marlin of all sizes, even close to the 1000-pound mark, have been coming in with great regularity. Capt. Ken Brunst of…

Ever since the August issue of Hawaii Fishing News hit the street my telephone hasn’t stopped ringing. In addition, I have been getting stopped by fellow fishermen on the street. It’s a good thing I didn’t go fishing last weekend or the CB sure would have been busy. It seems that a prejudiced and exaggerated story written by the well-known Kani Evans has offended the fishermen of the Windward Coast. We find it necessary to refute some of the allegations Kani Evans made in his article. The comments which follow are intended to do just that and not to offend the Leeward Trolling Club. First of all, we always welcome newcomers to our windward waters. The only time we get upset is when we start losing lures to some discourteous…

The dark black shoreline of Kaimu along the Kalapana coast is gnarled and crusty with miles and miles of beautiful lava. Where the lava meets the sea, Pele, Goddess of Fire, has left enormous cliffs, towering pinnacles and dreamlike black sand beaches. Some of these cliffs drop off very abruptly into the sea and leave tremendously deep pockets and huge outcrops of boulders that seem to be ideal for fish habitation. The new lava flows have also left abundant lava tubes that enter the sea and leave caves that are ideal for the night prowling ulua. Within some of these caverns you may find dozens of fifty-pounders circling and pacing, seemingly waiting for night to fall and. the feasting to begin. During these dark night hours, the ulua come out…

SHARE YOUR CATCH, SEND PHOTO + COPY TO HFN HOLOHOLO P.O. BOX 25413 HONOLULU, HAWAII 96825. Here’s a photo of our first ahi of size worth mentioning. It weighed in at 92 lbs. It was brought up after a 30-minute battle on 40-Ib. test on a Penn 6/0, about a quarter-mile outside of Shipman Bay on the Big Isle. Angler: Grayson Inouye. The rest of the catch included two ono, 30 and 20 lbs., and a pair of aku. All of this was taken on the SEABEE, with Jay Haraga as captain-for-the-day and Michael Inouye and myself as crew. Curt Haraga, Hilo, Hawaii Dew Mr. Johnston, Here is a picture of a 10-lb. awaawa caught by Chris Demarke. It was caught on a 6-ft. Kunan rod with an ABO levelwind…