Innholdsfortegnelse for April 1986 i Hawaii Fishing News

■ April, weather-wise, is a transitional month between our winter and summer. This means that the surface cold front of winter and the upper trough of summer can “meet” over the islands in April. The result is a few days of bad weather with heavy rain and gusty winds. Bad weather doesn’t occur every April over Hawai‘i waters, but it happens often enough, or the potential is there, to warrant being aware of its possibility. Trade wind days continue to increase—about 75 percent of the time we’ll have trades. Expect eight to 15 days of gusty trades. High northwest swell and surf action is tapering down. Expect only about two days of surf 10 to 15 feet high at Sunset Beach, O‘ahu.…

■ What’s wrong here? The illustration is our artist’s version of a photo that appeared recently in a national fishing magazine. Look at it carefully and see if you agree with out opinion about what’s wrong. This mistake is a classic because it appears in so many of the posed pictures you see in outdoor magazines. In the picture there is a problem that could lead to very serious injury Unfortunately, if you accepted the advice implicit in the way (he fish is being handled and you were injured, you wouldn’t be able to sue for poor coaching there are just loo many magazines portraying this error, and you couldn’t just blame any one publication. Note the bend in the rod. What will happen if the hook pulls out of…

■ Several years ago my son Derek and I went fishing at Christmas Island. We arrived in the afternoon, and in the evening we drove a Toyota wagon on a dirt track west to the beach, off the main road to London. After rigging our poles, we walked out on the fingers of the reef to cast beyond the shallow swell that broke all along the coral. On my first cast, a bluefin trevally (‘omilu) over 15 lbs struck, ran my lure around a coral head and was gone. I had to wade back in, run to the vehicle, dig out another lure, rig it and get back to my spot. Another cast and another lure was gone. Meanwhile, Derek caught a snapper of around 2 lbs. We walked back…

■ A discussion about the implications of a fishing treaty between the Soviet Union and the small Pacific nation of Kiribati drew a full house at the East-West Center in Honolulu on January 17. The chief speakers at the meeting were Roniti Teiwaki, director of the University of the South Pacific in Kiribati and a former member of Kiribati’s national Cabinet, and Stuart Inder, a fellow of the East-West Center’s Institute of Culture and Communication. Teiwaki, who is spending this year as a professional associate with the East-West Center as part of the Pacific Islands Develoment Program, handled most of the discussion, beginning with an explanation of the economic and political events that led to the Kiribati-Soviet Union fishing treaty. As Teiwaki explained, Kiribati has no commodity that it can…

■ At least once each boating season we are treated to the sight of the same mishap. A boat is launched from its trailer at a launching ramp and immediately starts sinking. The “captain” has forgotten to secure the drain plug. If he’s alert and catches his error in time, he can insert the plug and switch on the bilge pump before any major damage occurs. If, on the other hand, he’s driven off to park his trailer, he may find half the harbor sloshing around inside his hull when he returns. In order to dramatize the need for careful boating procedures, the Attwood company has invented “Captain Klutz.” Attwood is a leading manufacturer of boating accessories, and Captain Klutz—well, you’ve met him, I’m sure. Captain Klutz is the fellow…

Pokai Bay Boat Club The club has been getting terrific response from the general public about the jackpot tournament to be held in July. Don’t forget, this is a no-frills tournament for fishermen. The deadline for applications and entry fees is June 25, 1986. So, mark your calendars and save your money. See you all there! Harbor Happinings Too many of us get so used to doing what we want, when we want, that we end up taking chances by ignoring the warnings that Mother Nature sends out. The sea can be a dangerous adversary, as three fishermen from Kailua who launched from the Wai‘anae Small Boat Harbor on February 6 found out. Joe Sonoda, his brother-in-law, Seichi, and his fatherin-law, Stanley, went out while high surf and small craft…

FOR LETTERS RECEIVED DURING APRIL 1986, WE WILL SEND SOU ONE OF REX FIELD’S FAMOUS BUZZ-BOMB LURES. SEND A PHOTO AND LETTER ABOUT SOUR CATCH, AND WE WILL MAIL SOU A FREE GIFT…OUR WAS OF SAYING THANKS FOR SHARING SOUR CATCH? …CHUCK SEND TO: P.O. BOX 25413 HONOLULU HAWAII 96825 Hello again, Chuck! This is a shot of lovely Lekeli with just two of the six ‘ahi she caught. She picked them up using a home-tied red and white feather laced with lai skin out at K-buoy. Mahalo to Cap’n Fred Rush for letting Lekeli come along for her best fishing thrill yet! Aloha,Randy NiiLahaina, Maui Dear Chuck, The surf was pounding on the North Shore, the southwest wind was creating small craft warnings all over the South Shore, and…

Fishing Forecast is compiled from catch statistics gathered over the last 30 years. (Data sources include both commeroal and recreational catches.) Therefore, the forecast shows general trends that have occurred over many years. From year to year, however, fishing success can vary a great deal for the same month. Changes in sea conditions here, and elsewhere, can mean poor fishing in a traditionally excellent month or great fishing in what is normally the off-season. Furthermore, the catch statistics are also influenced by fishing effort. During the summer months, for example, surface fishing is good and few anglers fish the bottom. As a result, the poundage of snapper caught during the summer is far less than throughout the winter. Yet, on some grounds summer bottom fishing is often just as good…

■ A critical piece of equipment on a fishing surfboard is a fishing box. It can hold bait, lures, safety flares, fishing rigs, poles, extra gas for the motor, spare sparkplugs, a hook sharpener, octopus lures, earplugs, a watch and every other item needed to catch fish. A fishbox should be personalized to your style of fishing. Before constructing your box, think about what articles you will be carrying on your surfboard. Consider the width of the board and whether you may be carrying diving equipment or fish nets. Try to keep the dimensions reasonable so that the box does not become cumbersome on the surfboard. Most surfboard fishing involves trolling within a mile offshore, bottom fishing or cruising over the water looking for tako. Quickness and readiness are important…

■ The bulky coolers required to preserve Hawaii’s game fish take up an unbelievable amount of space on most fishing vessels. Even built-in fishboxes always seem to get in the way. Hanapa‘a Fishing Products designed the ultimate solution—their tough, new insulated fishbags. Built of 18-ounce Herculite vinyl material, the bags are virtually indestructible. Insulation consisting of ½-inch polyethylene closed-cell foam, a chill-preserving material that will not absorb moisture, surrounds the contents of the bag. The bags are opened and closed via a rugged chain-linked YKK zipper with dual heads. Both the zipper track and the zipper heads are non-corrosive to ensure long life and utility. The Hanapa‘a Fishing Products bags come in a variety of sizes to hold a variety of Hawai‘i game fish, and custom bags are available from…

Dear Chuck, Well, old pal, it’s been a long time. How are you and the old rag doing? I’m doing as well as can be expected. As you’ve heard, I went overseas to learn how to become a woodworker. My mother sent me. She said, “Every day I come home from work you stay lying on the couch, sawing logs. You might as well learn how fo’ make furniture from all that wood. An’ while I think about it, you better learn how fo’ make chairs, since you always sitting on your okole, bladdy keed.” Great sense of humor, yeah? That’s where I get mine from. Living in any foreign country is rough, and some are rougher than others, but California was the worst. Some of your older readers know…

■ Ocean operators will become masters, “six-pack” operators will be able to operate anywhere, and everyone will face stiffer requirements and testing under a Coast Guard proposal to change the current licensing system for mariners. Pat White, director of the Hawaii Exam-Prep Center, is cautiously optimistic about the Coast Guard proposal. “Professional mariners will have a more logical, reasonable path of advancement leading to licenses with greater scope and authority than under the current system,” said White, “but applicants will have to earn their increased opportunities by meeting tougher testing and training requirements.” New Routes for “Six-Pack” Holders Under the existing rules, for example, a prospective charter boat captain must document 360 days of experience on small vessels to qualify for a license allowing him to carry six or less…

■ Evidence of a persistent winter showed on Big Island mountains in February. It was as if the night skies had cried for astronaut Lt. Col. Ellison Onizuka and his companions on the eve of Ellison’s hometown memorial service and Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa caught the crystal tears and supported a full cape of snow to mourn with the rest of Hawaii. Other weather extremes brought large crowds to Honokohau Harbor several times this winter. People gathered on the south point adjacent to the mouth of the harbor to watch one of Mother Nature’s more spectacular shows—big surf. In late February, the ocean point resembled a used-car lot filled with spectators there to see the mammoth waves pounding the West Side. These conditions created danger for boaters choosing to…

Bragging may not bring happiness, but no man having caught a large fish goes home through an alley. —Anonymous ■ A 340-lb Pacific blue marlin brought plenty of happiness to angler Rex Williams! Rex and wife Sheila were fishing with Capt. Wally Talbot aboard the ALII KAI. Despite the fact that it was his first try at sport fishing, Reg wasn’t without confidence. He kissed his hand, slapped the back of the fighting chair and bellowed, “Watch this for luck!” Fifteen minutes later, Reg had his first strike and his first marlin on the line! Dee Dee Hochberg pulled in her second marlin while aboard the MAGGIE JOE for the second time. Last year, Dee Dee angled a 145-lb Pacific blue marlin during her uncle’s birthday celebration. This year, Dee…

This month, we’ll take a look at how much of a whole fish you can utilize in fish cookery. I picked the hapu‘upu‘u as an example because it has so much head compared to body and most of it is usable. A novice fish cook (or fish cleaner) who is given a whole fish may throw out all but the fillets, which means wasting more than half the fish. My resident fisherman started with a 10-lb hapu‘apu‘u, and here is what we ended up with after cleaning: head, 3 lbs; fillets, 4 lbs; backbone and bellybone, 2 lbs; unusable parts, 1 lb. This translates to a total of 5 lbs, or half the weight of the whole fish, usable for soup trimmings (head, backbone and bellybone) and 4 lbs of…

■ On December 13. 1985, the Hawaii Fisheries Coordinating Council, which is the fisheries advisory to the Department of Land and Natural Resources, met and discussed, among other things, the Spiny Lobster Fishery Management Plan amendment recently voted on by the Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council, a federal entity created to manage the federal 200mile fishery conservation zone in the Western Pacific. The HFC wrote a letter to the assistant administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service against the recommended reduction to a 4.8 cm (approximately ¾ lb or less) tailwidth measurement and has been criticized by the WESPAC Council chairman for voicing feelings that the reduction would be detrimental to the fishermen of Hawai‘i. The HFC’s philosophy is conservation and the preservation of our fishing heritage, and with that…

■ It has been an excellent year so far for super-sized Marlin here in Kona. The weigh-ins at Kailua-Kona Town Pier have attracted large crowds wanting to see those giant fish being weighed and photographed. During each of the first two months of 1986, there was a Pacific blue marlin over the 1,000-lb mark weighed in here at the Kailua Town Pier. Early on January 1, the charter boat SUMMER RAIN weighed in a 1,229-lb Pacific blue marlin. The angler was Richard Hartom. The captain of the SUMMER RAIN is Jack Prettyman. Then on February 28, the charter boat SHACKLES brought in a 1,016-lb Pacific blue. The angler was John Davis from California. The captain of the SHACKLES is Dave Humphreys. The second largest fish for the month of February…

■ Unlike in previous months, fishing in February seemed to have changed for the better. Many boats reported large catches of aku and small ‘ahi. Some of these catches were taken outside of town near the HH-buoy. Thinking back, it has been a long time since I have heard of anyone coming up with good catches on that side of the island. Maybe this is a sign of a good year of fishing. Carrol Lee notified me that his boat, the ETSUKO-TOO, on completion of maintenance, has been tested and is ready to go. Carroll has been fishing the bottom area around Barber’s Point and has been having good success. He showed me some of his catch reports, which had a lot of different kinds of fish, some I’ve never…

■ Aloha from Maui. Well gang, spring is here and it looks like Maui offshore fishermen made it through the winter without too much hardship. The bottom fishermen, especially those equipped to go deep for onaga, had an exceptional season. The trolling has also been pretty good considering it is supposed to be the off-season. January and February produced lots of 30- to 40-lb ono, scattered mahi, and tons of shibi-ko, some reaching into the 90-lb range. Unfortunately, the guys without boats were pretty much left out of the action due to large surf on the north side and strong Kona winds on the south side. I was only able to get out once during February. Capt. Nat Padgett invited me along for a holoholo trip on the HUC KS…