Innholdsfortegnelse for May 1987 i Hawaii Fishing News

■ May signals better weather for Hawai‘i waters—there is less chance of severe weather, like strong Kona winds, thunderstorms or heavy rain. There is still a small chance of bad weather in May, but normally it is a well-behaved month. Trade winds will how about 86 percent of the time and one should expect about four to 10 days of gusty trades. Northwest swell activity will continue to decrease. Surf at Sunset Beach, O’ahu. will not rise above 5 feet on most days, but there is a chance that 10- to 15-toot surf can occur. Higher than normal swell and surf on the’ southern shores will be increasing through the month as storms in the Southern Hemisphere become stronger. Tropical cyclones do not normally occur in Hawai‘i waters in May.…

Hawaii Fishing Coalition ■ The United Sport Fishermen (USF) held its second organizational meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, on February 9 and 10.1 attended this meeting with curiosity and interest in the goals and objectives of this new recreational organization. The two-day meeting was held in an effort to establish a national organization composed of recreational groups, with the key concern being the grass-roots community. In terms of legislation, this nationwide organization would represent the numbers of recreational fishermen concerned with the issues of the sea. United under one umbrella organization, the voices of recreational fishermen will be heard. Parity for the recreational industry was one of the focal points of this meeting. Equal representation in fisheries management and policy through all national advisory boards and councils was. discussed. Currently,…

■ “I don’t think it’s any secret that our (nearshore) ocean resources are being strained to the breaking point,” said William Paty, the newly appointed director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR). In a two-hour meeting held January 22 with members of Malama Na I‘a (a loose-knit organization of fishing and diving clubs), Paty made the following points: • Present enforcement efforts are inadequate. • There is a need to upgrade the background knowledge of the Division of Conservation and Resource Management (DOCARE) agents. • More positions in DOCARE will be created. • Work is presently underway to implement the intent of the kapu (closure) bill passed by the legislature last year. “We’ve got to put some rubber on the road,” said Paty, commenting on the…

■ With the exception of a few blustery days, March was a fair weather month. The marlin action continued to improve, with many marlin weighing more than 300 lbs brought back to the harbor. There were also many stories (some exaggerated, about the big one that got away). The real surprise was the large schools of porpoises that were moving up and down the Wai‘anae Coast. If you were lucky enough to find a school, at the right time, you were surely rewarded with some hot ‘ahi action. A fair share of mahimahi were landed, arid the ono action down on the Ka’ena Point ledge continued to improve. John Lim fished on his boat, the BRIDGETL, and landed a monster ono weighing 59 lbs. Black Marlin Caught on Aku Lure…

■ Aloha from Maui. They’re here! The game fish are here, and in good numbers, too. The spring run is in full swing, and things have never looked better. The mahi bite has been phenomenal for several months now, and recently the billfish showed up, some big ones. Anglers on the Ma’alaea charter boats have been seeing good action, and it’s getting them ready for the coming summer months. The biggest marlin for the charter fleet was caught by “Abe” Abraham on the KAHU O KE KAI. Capt. Abe was out on a holoholo trip with some friends when he connected with the 440-lb blue. I stopped down at the harbor early in the month to see how the guys were doing, and Abe had just come in from a…

Sixteen Mahi in Five Hours ■ Recently, there were a lot more days when you could fish without bailing water—generally a good period—but on the day that the VANESSA ANN set out for the Banks it was windy and choppy. After an uneventful day Mel Shitagi, captain of the VANESSA ANN, was on his way home from the Banks and had only small stuff—a few aku and ‘ahi—in the box. The crew—his son Brandon, Nelson Shigano, and Wayne Norton—was quiet, tired from the long trip and a little discouraged. While they were live baiting at a slow troll about 10 miles off Diamond Head, the first mahimahi struck. The boat came alive, all hands up and ready. “Leave him out, there’s plenty there,” Mel shouted to his crew. It’s always…

■First, a big thanks to all who helped out with the cleanup of Hanauma Bay. Saturday. April 25, 1987. There are several people to whom I want to say mahalo. None of it would have been possible without the efforts of John and his staff down at the State Litter Control Office. They provided the banners, the bags and all the extra touches. A big mahalo also goes to Robin of the Department of Parks and Recreation for arranging for the permits and for carting off all the trash at the end of the day. And finally, but not least, a warm thanks to the Pearl Divers for organizing the effort. As for all of you who came out to help out, you have our sincerest appreciation for volunteering your…

■ Please use our Fishing Forecast as a general guide to what is normally available this month. We won’t take the blame if Mother Nature messes up her grand design with poor fishing—nor will we take the credit for unseasonably good catches. Big Game Pacific blue marlin, low average. Last May, the Kona catch report filled three pages of HAWAII FISHING NEWS, but blue marlin weren’t the major reason. Striped marlin were an important part of the billfish catch, and tuna outnumbered all other species put together. A few big blues made news, including one of the most remarkable catches ever brought into Kona. David Murasaki wobbled into Kailua Bay with a 1,050-lb blue draped across his 17‘TRIXY, with most of the fish hanging over one gunwale or the other.…

Take a Kid Fishing June 1-7,1987 ■ If you want a qualified expert on how to have fun, consult your average child. With an intuitive sense of play, fueled by imagination and impulse, a child makes an ideal guide for angling adventure during National Fishing Week (June 1 through 7, 1987). Besides shared fun, your young fishing buddy gains the self-confidence of learning a new sport. A child can learn patience while mastering the clinch knot, learn about the food chain when threading a worm on a hook, and become aware of conservation rules as a smaller-than-legal fish is released. So much for the kid. What do you get? Recognition as a winner, for starters. You’re the expert, the hero and the source of three great gifts—education, enjoyment and yourself.…

■ The illustration is our artist’s rendering of a photo showing a common mistake made by shore and boat fishermen. See if you agree with our comments. 1. Never try to stuff a fish into a landing net tail first. Lead the fish over the net. When you try to sneak up on the fish from behind, you are allowing her (that’s a slope-headed female mahimahi in the picture) the freedom to dart forward, away from the net, when she spots the ominous shape coming after her. Remember that the eyes of a fish are positioned to allow it to see something approaching from the rear, and its muscles are afterburners that can give it jet speed forward. Even if you get the tail half of the fish into the…

Bottomfish Management I feel it is important that someone report to you and your readers on the recently held Western Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting held here in Honolulu at the Ala Moana Hotel on March 10 and 11. It was very fortunate that this meeting was held in Honolulu, because if it was held anywhere else, the limited access plan would have been approved without the knowledge of the bottom fishermen here in Hawai‘i. The council made a report on behalf of the absent chairman of the Bottomfish Advisory Panel, expressing the decision of this group. Since there were no meetings of this group to discuss the issues, this report was given without the consent or knowledge of the chairman’s fellow members. We were very lucky to have a…

■ The month of March was known as Nana in the Hawaiian calendar, and it was a very popular time for the malolo (flyingfish) fisherman to take his hano malolo (flyingfish bag net) out to the ocean deep. In the month of Nana, the malolo filled the ocean surface, making it very attractive for malolo fishermen to head out to sea in search for the malolo. In ancient times, canoe fleets went many miles out to sea to hunt for the flyingfish, hence, this form of fishing became known as lawai’a kaiuli (fishing in the blue sea). The canoe fleet that participated in this type of fishing normally consisted of 20 to 40 canoes. Since it required a large amount of muscle power, on occasion, the women were permitted to…

■ The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ship the TOWNSEND CROMWELL has just completed two months of fish stock surveys in the South Pacific, gathering information on albacore tuna, crab, shrimp and bottom fish. The ship is homeported at Snug Harbor and assigned to support research by the Honolulu Laboratory, a local facility of the Southwest Fisheries Center (SWFC). The SWFC is part of the National Marine Fisheries Service, an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce. The albacore research was a collaborative effort of the CROMWELL, government research vessels from New Zealand and France (New Caledonia), and U.S. commercial albacore boats. Besides U.S. scientists from Honolulu and the SWFC’s laboratory in La Jolla, California, the CROMWELL’s survey crew included biologists from…

Future Ulua Fishermen Kalaniana‘ole School held its “Mini-Week” February 23 through 27. During Mini-Week, the students were able to enroll in a special interest class of their choice. Having a great interest in fishing and hunting, school teacher Oran Murakane chose to run a program entitled “Fish and Game.” Oran was pleased that 45 interested students enrolled in the class. Oran remembered that as a child he would walk 4 miles to Kukuihaele and then down into Waipi’o Valley on many fishing trips. The river was abundant with o’opu, mullet, aholehole, catfish, dojo and ‘opae. He also remembered catching a kind of o’opu that had a head the size of his fist. But now he doesn’t see that type in the river anymore. Catfish, dojo and ‘opae are also rare…

■ My ears filled with the sounds of a muffled clapping from off in the distance. I turned to see a dark brown egret slowly rise from the dense vegetation and fly into the waning evening light. Its wings beat broadly and slowly as it clasped the wind with sharp strokes that cut through the air. It sounded like quick, distant thunder. The late evening chill was slowly moving in among us, and the air was dead still. The pond’s surface looked slick and glassy, almost as if it had turned itself into a huge reflecting mirror. Being as small as I was, I snuggled deep into my father’s smelly yellow raincoat. It had his unmistakable odor to it, and the smell filled my head and I took comfort in…

■ The most important news this month is the move by the state to establish a statewide kapu system, a system which could ultimately give the Division of Aquatic Resources the power to close down your favorite shorefishing area for indefinite periods of time. My feeling is that Hawaii definitely needs some form of fisheries resource management, especially on O‘ahu and Maui where fishing pressure from various user groups and pollution caused by agriculture and extensive development have had visible negative effects on fish stocks. There are many possible approaches to re-establish the fishery and ultimately improve catches. These include size and quantity limits, gear restrictions, seasonal closures for certain species, eliminating nearshore sewer discharge and preventing siltation of the reefs from agriculture and development operations. In my opinion, total…

■ Kona recently hosted a new tournament—and a good one at that! After three days of fishing, the winners on MARLIN MAGIC took home $29,000 for capturing a 664½-lb marlin. At first, most people simply called it “Jody’s tournament,” in reference to founder/director Capt. Jody Bright who put the event together. Bright called his new event the Big Island Invitational Marlin Tournament. Modeled after successful events Jody had fished or had witnessed on the Gulf Coast, the Big Island Invitational added some new twists to big-game tournament fishing in the Hawaiian Islands. Most of those twists won prompt approval by the tournament regulars fishing in the fledgling event. Bright was up front about the entry fee ($2,000 per team) and the jackpot breakdown: “three percent off the top for accounting,…

Kailua-Kona Catch Report Due to the limited space available and the large number of fish caught, catch reports are limited to tuna over 100 lbs and billfish of any size, any species. (S) = Striped marlin, (B) = Black marlin and (T) = Tag and Release, weight estimated.…

■ Do you have an interesting fish story? We invite our readers to share those stories that are both humorous and unusual. Stories submitted should be as factual as possible and limited to 500 words. Pertinent photos are more than welcome. As our way of saying thank you for sharing your unusual tale, we’ll send a complimentary HAWAII FISHING NEWS cap to readers whose stories are published in this column. Send your humorous or unusual fish story to HFN/Sounds Fishy to Me, Attn: Jeff Konn, 2474 Kapiolani Boulevard, Suite 1703, Honolulu, Hawaii 96826. □A few months back I reported to you about Donn Fukuda of Honolulu who on a recent night-torching expedition off Kahala Beach Park speared two small ‘ahi on the reef. Well, I received quite a few inquiries…

■ A couple of weeks ago I read in a syndicated newspaper column a blurb about the life expectancy of a naked man on the Alaskan tundra in the summer. He would live for 15 minutes, the paragraph went on to say, because in that time about 250,000 mosquitoes would have snorted enough of his blood to kill him. Furthermore, I was informed, even bloodless corpses of polar bears have been found out there! This was an astonishing piece of information. It shook me to the core of my being. Can you imagine going to the doctor for a blood test and having him stick you with a quarter-million hungry hypodermics? I thought of that lost soul on the tundra and…laughed. He obviously wasn’t a fisherman—we know better. Just what…