Innholdsfortegnelse for October 1985 i Hawaii Fishing News

■ It all started back in November of ‘84 with a small group of dedicated ulua fishermen who just wanted to get together to trade off some true to life fishing tales. But before you could yell “Hana pa‘a,” the group, which at the time only consisted of a small handful, organized themselves into a fishing club and neatly named themselves the Kona Coast Casting Club (KCCC). Next, they elected their executive committee with Jeff Lorance as president, Cedric Matsuoka as treasurer and Kelvin Miki as secretary. Other members that were active at the weigh-in were Chester Nishida, Calvin Kadooka, Rory Murata (weighmaster), Wayne Brunmaghin, Eddie Nakachi and Casey Kirihari. Totaling 21 paid members, the club proved to be one of the hardest working bunches you’ll ever witness in action.…

■ Aggressive and unpredictable, Hawaii’s Pacific blue marlin are a formidable adversary for many anglers from around the world. The mere sight of a “big blue” cruising in and busting bait is enough to leave a young man with a lifetime of happy memories. But when your older brother is actually battling one of these monsters while you’re standing there watching, well, that’s another matter entirely. Especially when you’re 11 years old and you’re the one who convinced him and Dad to go sport fishing in the first place. To top it all off, big brother’s fish weighs more than the awesome bass that you caught and have been carrying a picture of in your wallet ever since! Enough was enough for Shanon McGuire, now 12 years old. He had…

■ As during every month of the year, many big fish were brought into Kona during August. The largest marlin for the month was caught on the charter boat MAKA IWA with Capt. Butch Kelley. It was a Pacific blue marlin, and the super sized fish weighed 912 lbs. The angler was Don Mangano from California. There were many tourists at the Kailua Pier to see that giant marlin at the weigh-in and to congratulate the fishermen. It was a great day for the angler, captain and crew. That same day, August 20, the charter boat LONG RANGER with Capt. Lance Gelman came to the pier with another big marlin, a 679-pounder. The angler was Hank Lambert from Hawaii. There were 18 marlin over the 500-lb size brought to the…

OCT 11 Friday NIGHT REEF WALK This fall, get a glimpse of Waikiki’s real “night life.” Visit the night shift of crustaceans, fish and other nocturnal creatures on an Aquarium reef walk. Enrollment in this popular activity is already filled, but call for information on future classes. OCT 19 Saturday SEALIFE DESIGNS FOR YOUNGSTERS10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Youngsters can make sea creature Halloween masks, Christmas ornaments or unique, one-of-a-kind gifts. The Aquarium supplies materials including patterns, paints, dyes and paper. Bring your own T-shirt(s) to decorate, and create a designer original! Registration fee: $10,8.-15 years. OCT 20 Sunday GYOTAKU WORKSHOP10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Give something special for the holidays this year. The Aquarium’s art workshops introduce you to easy and rewarding marine crafts. Capture fish on paper or…

■ It appears that we are in the midst of a year that will be remembered for quality and not quantity of tournament catches. Few want to remember how long it has been since such desultory catch numbers have come out of Hawaii’s major fishing events; yet who can complain about a year that sees potential world-record fish like Nancy Fann’s 530½ pounder caught in the Chuck Machado Light Tackle Tournament and state-record fish like Susie Norwood’s 827½-lb winner caught during the Kona A’Lure. And who can complain about a year when the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament boats bring in fish with an awesome average weight topping 350 lbs. Where the vast numbers of fish have gone, of course, is the big question. The answer is certainly not a simple…

■ On Saturday August 17, members of the North Shore Catamaran and Sailboard Club sharpened up fishhooks and outfitted their respective vessels for the Fourth Annual North Shore Catamaran and Sailboard Trolling Tournament. Thirty competitors participated, and any wind- or man-powered small craft was eligible. Four years ago, Rusty Spencer, fisherman and accomplished waterman, along with Chuck Johnston, publisher of HAWAII FISHING NEWS, inaugurated a catamaran fishing contest. For two years the event slowly matured. Last year, Steve Sharichi, an avid sailboard fisherman joined Rusty to expand the tournament to include sailboards. Fishing from a sailboard is a new concept and, as suspected, a difficult procedure. This method combines the ability to ride a windsurfer and troll for fish—most commonly for small game fish. This year Steve Villiger, owner of…

Author and columnist Commissioner for Hawaiian International Billfish Association Head of Lower and Middle Schools, Hawaii Preparatory Academy 1. Joe Yee has been making plastic trolling plugs professionally for 25 years, and his lures have churned up lots of big fish. Capt. Del Cannon of the ANNETTA won the HIBT skipper’s award with Joe’s lures, and Joe’s own team finished fifth with a 476-pounder caught on a large “plunger” style lure of Joe’s creation. Joe cranks out about a hundred lures a week and pours a gallon of resin a day in the process. And his basic procedure employs the same kinds of rubber molds used by most home craftsmen. If you make your own lures in rubber molds, Joe offers a few tips. Don’t overwork the mold. Give it…

■ Summer’s over, and let’s pray that we’ll have a great winter for tourists and fishing. Lahaina Harbor saw some action during the month of August. The AERIAL II, with Capt. Craig Forrest, brought in a 35-lb spearfish for angler Harold Dixon and a nice 201b ono for Harold’s 9-year-old son, James. Other ono (20 to 40 lbs) were caught during the month. Capt. Craig was assisted during the month by Co-capt. Al Price and new crewman Pat Zois. Capt. Gary Bingham and Capt. Bill Jenkins have taken over command of the AERIAL III. They landed a few mahi and several ono weighing 30 to 40 lbs each. The BALI HAl, with Capt. Rich Newcomb filling in for Capt. Dave Luckey while he was on vacation, landed a 27-lb spearfish,…

■ Honokohau Harbor rumbled with activity throughout the month of August as many charter boats and holoholo fishermen alike utilized the Ocean Basin entrance to Kona’s great sportfishing grounds. Fish counts were unusually low throughout the summer, but they rose noticeably during the second half of August. The season was a late one in 1985. ‘Ahi were visible for months in island waters, but they frustrated fishermen by showing disinterest in anything attached to a hook. They began biting in late July and early August. Large marlin appeared in substantial numbers, especially during the HIBT. Records from that tournament verify that some big fish were lost to pulled hooks and broken lines. Groups of smaller male marlin arrived later in the month. For example, a triple double-catch of marlin was…

Bad Press for Beginners ■ “Outdoor writers are making fishing sound too complicated. As a result, they are scaring away beginners.” That challenging observation comes from lengendary freshwater fisherman Dick Kotis. He says he hears it all the time as he talks with outdoor writers and other fishermen. Dick says some beginners figure they’ll never be able to get good at fishing unless they’ve got a computer. reel, a surface and depth thermometer, a pH meter and a whole bunch of other sophisticated junk. Let’s add three thoughts of our own to the pile for Dick. We know some folks who have all that junk and still aren’t good fishermen. We also know that the simplest, tried and true methods work just as well now as they did when grandpa…

■ An official August press release from the Hawaiian International Billfish Association (published in the June issue of HFN, page 13) dubbed the world-renowned Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament (HIBT) a “catch and eat tournament,” While this concept is certainly acceptable here in Hawai‘i, it has raised the ire of more than one sport fishing aficionado in the rest of the world. A concept with a growing following throughout the world of big game fishing is that of “catch and release.” The growth of this trend is the probable reason the HIBA decided to label and justify itself as “a catch and eat tournament” in an era when killing fish is becoming less and less acceptable. The gist of the “catch and eat” justification, according to the press release, is that…

Author and columnist Commissioner for Hawaiian International Billfish Association Head of Lower and Middle Schools, Hawaii Preparatory Academy Swimmers and Losers ■ Good lookers, poor hookers. That’s one man’s summary of swimming But with the knowledge of a few tricks, you can take advantage of their attractions while minimizing unwanted “extractions.” They look good because they are fish-shaped, they have a very lifelike swimming action, they set up good vibrations and they swim below the surface where they are highly visible. They hook poorly because of the type and position of their hooking arrangement-even though, in most cases, it’s the best hook arrangement possible given the shape and action of the lure. Background on the Lure Style Confused? Here’s some background lor those of you who need catching up. The…

■ We left Kala offering his chant of gratitude at Waimea Bay to the fish god Ku‘ula. He was grateful to Ku‘ula for helping him fill his large coconut basket with a variety of fish. Now, he had to carefully plan how to transport his catch back to Wahiawa so that it wouldn’t spoil. After all, it took Kala a full day to walk down to Waimea Bay, and it would probably take longer to return up to the cool town, of Wahiawa. Kala dipped the entire coconut basket, which had been lined with ti leaves, into a shallow pool nearby before placing it under a shady hau tree. He needed to temporarily keep the fish cool while he searched for pa‘akai (ocean salt) to salt the fish. Kala headed…

■ If the 1985 Golden Marlin Tournament is any indicator, the dream of a miilion-dollar fishing tournament is over. Despite a massive advertising budget and full-color advertising and promotional brochures that blanketed the international fishing community, only 16 teams anted up the required $21,000 to fish George Molholm’s highly touted miilion-dollar fishing tournament in Kona this year. Only four marlin were caught by those hard-fishing teams prowling Kona waters for three full days. The largest weighed in at only 219 lbs—782 lbs short of the weight necessary to drive home the coveted Ferrari 308GTS Molholm wished to part with so badly. HIGH FLIER skipper Tioni Judd, crewman Joe Goold, Australian angler John Austin and teammate Andrew Kent were quite pleased to take home a winner’s purse of $138,000 as a…

■ The day before the Chuck Machado’s Luau Jackpot Fishing Tournament three men quietly lowered the 19-foot skiff KINUE into the water at Honokohau. Nick Greenwell, his cousin Willie Greenwell and fishing partner Bobby Revita had been working on the boat for the past three months, and they were doing a final test before the tournament. “We were really psyched up,” said Revita. “We had worked for three months together on the boat, and we were ready.” When the 110 boats roared off the starting line in front of the tournament headquarters, located at the Keauhou Beach Hotel, on the first day of the event, the KINUE was lost among the sleek 40-footers with their commanding tuna towers and high-speed, turbocharged diesel engines. The Greenwells and Revita did what they…

■ Lots of mahimahi action dominated August’s fishing, and many multiple catches were recorded to end a somewhat slow summer. The lack of ‘ahi and large marlin catches this summer caused most Windward Coast anglers to examine their methods and styles of fishing. Several boats have gone to the “green stick,” but even that did not prove to be a reliable fish-raising device—especially when catches were compared to last year’s results. This reporter has seen some boats with a daisy chain and multiple squid spreader rigs that East Coast bluefin fishermen use to battle 1,000-lb tuna. I imagine other devices are being tried to increase the catch of selected types of fish, and so it will continue to be as long as there is a boat and fish in the…

■ The test-tube marlin experiment is sensational and “neat,” but it is also serious scientific business. So said Dr. Chuck Daxboeck, Scientific Director of the Pacific Gamefish Research Foundation (PGRF), in an interview at PGRF headquarters in the new Honokohau Harbor facility. Dr. Daxboeck also talked about other PGRF projects of interest to scientists and sportsmen. He described early results from efforts to determine the effects of angling stress on billfish, research into “stock structure” for Pacific blue marlin, and a surprising new twist to the ‘ahi “burn” problem. First, let’s look at the experiment that has become known as the “test-tube marlin.” The PGRF hopes to collect and fertilize ripe marlin eggs, hatch them, and raise some fingerlings for observation. What’s the purpose? Clearly, we aren’t ever going to…