Innholdsfortegnelse for January 1991 i Hawaii Fishing News

In January, the middle of winter, weather can be varied-ranging from very nice to very bad days. More days will be nice, but the month probably will have some severe weather that no one should be caught in. The onset of bad weather is faster than at other times, and the weather is more severe. The severe weather in decreasing events that are likely to occur are, gusty trade winds, high northwest swell and surf, cold front with gusty Kona winds, upper trough and Kona lows. Expect six to 12 days of gusty trades even though January has the lowest number of trade wind days. High northwest swell and surf continue in January. Expect about eight days with surf heights at Sunset Beach, O‘ahu, to be over 10 feet with…

The focus this month is on “staples,” those ingredients you always have on hand because they are basic to your cooking (like sugar, flour, cereal, rice) and well-being (peanut butter cookies, and ice cream!). A well-stocked cupboard can make trips to the supermarket unnecessary and save you money at the same time. After all, how often do you drive to the store just to pick up “one or two ingredients” and end up buying at least a bag of groceries? The basics for fish cooking vary, depending upon what you’re preparing: Oriental, Italian, Mexican, etc. With a bit of planning during your next shopping trip, you can get the staples you need for a multitude of recipes. Besides, most recipes are only variations on a theme, often using identical ingredients…

What Mahimahi? The response to last month’s column about the November mahimahi run was a three-part chorus of outrage. The strongest voices came from a wide range of fishermen, conservationists and others concerned with the report that commercial longliners are catching mahimahi in large numbers. (In the article, I mentioned that a single longliner had weighed in two tons of mahimahi.) “What’s going to happen to the mahimahi population if the longliners keep catching everything that comes here?” a Hilo reader asked. Small-time commercial fishermen protested the substantial drop in the wholesale price. Accustomed to getting as much as $5 a pound for a whole mahimahi, skiff and subsistence fishermen can make ends meet by selling a few mahimahi now and then. “But, I sold three 23-lb mahimahi one day…

Hau ‘oli Makahiki Hou! Tis the season for reflecting and predicting. To help us evaluate what’s up in boating, HFN contacted boatbrokers, boatbuilders and marine equipment suppliers throughout the state. Their response indicates that Hawai‘i’s boaters are looking for products that are affordable and offer a maximum of quality time on the water with a minimum of fuss. Buyers may be reacting to the Gulf Crisis or fear of a (read-my-lips) r-r-r-recession or the decline of yuppiedom. Whatever the case, through advancements in technology and design, the goods are being delivered to satisfy the demand. Fishing and Pleasure Boats One way of providing affordability without sacrificing quality is by reducing size. And that’s exactly what builders are doing. By modifying successful designs into smaller dimensions, they are coming out with…

Huge round boulders littered the ocean bottom and created an almost mysterious setting in which to fish. The large boulders created many hidden caverns and protected living quarters for a variety of fish. In the boulder-strewn bottom lived moana, nukunuku waha nui, ulua and a most prized fish, hapu‘upu‘u, otherwise known as grouper. My main interest was in the blue-spotted grouper, a relative of the hapu‘upu‘u but just a tad different in size and appearance. Both grouper lived in hidden caves and dark caverns and retreated to the dark safety of the caves during the daylight hours. My gear was relatively light for fishing for these stubborn fighters of the deep. I matched a BG13 reel loaded with 6-lb test mono to a 6-foot Fenwick Boron-X Bass rod. The rod…

I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday season. It’s a brand-new year, and all of us are getting ready to break in that new fishing gear we found under our Christmas trees. January brings high expectations and renewed optimism, so let’s start with good news. We begin the year with a longline moratorium. WESPAC adopted a 90-day emergency ruling, an immediate moratorium on the number of longline vessels that can fish within Hawai‘i’s waters. The intent is that at the next council meeting in February the Pelagic Fisheries Management Plan will be amended to approve a three-year moratorium on the number of longline vessels fishing in Hawai‘i’s waters. At that time any longline vessel owner who cannot prove that he or she was longline fishing in Hawai‘i prior…

Fishing in Alaska—so, what else is new? Well, for some of us the Kenai-Kasilof experience was new and certainly different from our trips to New Zealand, Christmas Island and Moloka‘i. The moose, otters, bald eagles and 10d° C lake water quickly made us realize how far away Hawai‘i was. What about the fishing? We caught silver salmon from drift boats that were ably handled in the fast flowing waters and rapids of the Kenai and Kasilof Rivers. Traveling from Honolulu to the Kenai Peninsula required stops in San Francisco, Seattle and Anchorage. Mike Tayama, frequent, annual fisher in Alaska, finally convinced the McCully “Pros” to take the long trip. The Pros included Carl Hamamoto, custom rod builder for McCully Bicycle Shop, and Bob Dang, owner of Your Man Tours. The…

Dear HFN, “On my last trip to your beautiful islands, I picked up a copy of the FISHWIFE cookbook. It is displayed in the reception room of the dental office in which I work, for friends and patients to look at and or copy recipes from. We have so far really enjoyed the cookbook. Enclosed is a check for another cookbook for a friend of mine. I am sure that she will enjoy this cookbook as much as we have.” -Katy Reed Wilson, Phoenix, Arizona Dear HFN, “A friend of mine bought a cookbook called FISHWIFE on her fast trip through Hawaii. Could you please tell me how I might purchase a dozen of these gems?” -Steve Martin, Kwajalein, Marshall Islands Hawai‘i’s Best Selling Cookbook, Over 30,000 Copies … Hawai’i’s…

Outrigger Hotels Hawaii tested unchartered waters on Veteran’s Day weekend when it joined the Navy to bring hydroplanes to Pearl Harbor. The result? A huge success. Crowds converged on Ford Island and the Pearl City peninsula to witness the world’s fastest racing boats compete on the glassy blue course. The championship final between Bernie Little’s MISS BUDWEISER, driven by Tom D’Eath, and OH BOY! OBERTO, driven by Mark Tate, was extremely close, with MISS BUDWEISER winning. The happiest people of the day, however, were the U.S. Navy’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Department, an organization set up to benefit Navy families. Proceeds from the Outrigger Hotels Top Gun Hydrofest went to MWR, which will use the money to fund a variety of youth and recreational programs. According to Frank DeSilva,…

Mahimahi was the fish of the month, and nobody was complaining because there were some big fish around. Naturally, along with the mahimahi there were some good-sized marlin; but Windward fishermen have not seen a really big marlin in a long time. In the last four years, 500-plus-lb marlin have been really scarce. Before that, one used to get caught every two weeks or so. But last year only six were landed. Other big-game catches, like ‘ahi and aku catches, have been on the decline. Only mahimahi have shown some ability to recover. Our fishing resources must be managed carefully to preserve future stocks. Let’s hope our government officials keep that in mind when they decide the future of fishing in Hawai‘i. David Lindsey, his brother Richard and Richard Sexton…

The state of Hawai‘i’s fishing brings to mind the old saying, “closing the barndoor after the horse is gone.” In Hawai‘i there is now talk of a moratorium, a limit on how many longliners may fish here; but the fishing grounds are already in serious trouble. Why did we wait so long? I suspect because of the big money longliners generate for the state, and because there was not enough action of the part of Hawai‘i’s people in charge of the fisheries. We, the fishermen, didn’t yell loudly enough, and too few of us did more than complain to each other. Even if there is a limit on the number of longliners, will the 115 or so boats that are already out there fishing their hundreds of hooks leave anything…

The fishing continued to get worse. Only four marlin made it to Lahaina Town’s scales during November. After 12 marlinless days, the HINATEA brought to the scales a 295-lb blue marlin angled by Doug Fry. Doug works for Whalers Reality in Lahaina and had some beginner’s luck landing his first marlin during his first sportfishing trip. Capt. Doug Barna and Co-capt. Jeff Honings were 6 miles south of the Lana‘i Lighthouse when they got their strike on the short corner lure. The fish jumped a few times at the strike and then headed straight down. They didn’t see Fry’s marlin again till it came to leader 50 minutes later. The fish came right in as Jeff grabbed the leader. Capt. Barna was right behind him with the gaff. An inside…

If you are a serious fisherman and handy with wood and plastic, then you can also enjoy the thrill of making the world’s best lure of your own design and workmanship. While the process described below is fairly long, the lures that you create may be better than any you can buy. Internal core lures are made with two parts. First there is the urethane core that contains the wire to hold the hooks and line, and second there is a resin casting that gives the lure its distinct shape. The resin is cast in a mold that contains the core. Internal core lures have three distinct advantages. The first is that the lure floats upright and if tilted pops back to its original upright position. This makes it “swim”…

On a dark winter night, the sea on the southeast side of O‘ahu was calm and a cool north breeze worked its way around the point. The conditions were exactly what we were hoping for—perfect for hooking lobster. Earlier 1 had been on the phone with Roy Nakamura, who was a veteran at hooking lobster. He said he would get some fresh aku belly, ready his spinning outfit and meet me and my fishing partner David Sone at the secret spot. 1 agreed with Roy’s plan and called David to tell him what was to take place that evening. When I asked David if he wanted to go fishing that night he was more than eager. David has just purchased his first ulua pole and was ready to practice his…

It’s too bad the recent WESPAC meeting held on December 5 and 6, 1990, at the Dole Cannery couldn’t have been held on December 7 at Pearl Harbor, because the attack on Pearl Harbor and that meeting had a lot in common. They were both surprises, and during both one side suffered a decisive defeat. But let me start at the beginning. The meeting, although it was held at an hour when most are still at work, 2 p.m., had an excellent turnout. No one knew which way the council was going to vote on the longline moratorium, but we were all interested in watching the process. There were people there who 1 never thought I’d see supporting any issue. I guess • the message was clear—there was a serious…

On November 18, Hawai‘i’s cream-of-the-crop paddlers stroked their way to victory in the second annual Central Pacific Bank/Hula Bowl Regatta. The event, patterned after the original ocean sports regattas held by King Kalakaua in the late 1800s, featured open-ocean racing in one-person outrigger canoes with rudders, surf skis, paddleboards and four-and six-person sailing canoes. The participants raced over two different courses of 10 and 15 kilometers from the start off Magic Island at Ala Moana Park, to buoys located off the Kapahulu Groin in Waikiki, then out around the Diamond Head buoy, a turning point in the course, and then to a finish in front of the Hawaii Maritime Center in Honolulu Harbor. Competition in the different divisions began at 11:30 a.m. with staggered starts for each division in one-minute…

In an effort to protect native freshwater fish species and introduced sport fish, the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) is launching a campaign to stop people from releasing unwanted aquarium fish into streams and reservoirs. Posters discouraging the release of aquarium fish into the wild will be displayed at pet stores, schools and other locations. The DLNR Aquatic Resources staff is contacting pet store owners on O‘ahu and the neighbor islands to ask their cooperation. The DLNR also has produced a 30-second TV spot explaining the effects of introducing exotic fish into streams and reservoirs. It was first shown at a press conference on Monday, June 4. After the press conference, DLNR Chairperson William W. Paty led a field trip to Manoa Stream, where “accidentally” introduced armored catfish…