Innholdsfortegnelse for March 1992 i Hawaii Fishing News

■ Spring is approaching according to the calendar, but in Hawaii waters wintertype weather can still appear in March. But there will be more good weather days than bad weather days. There is always the possibility of the occurrence of any of the following severe weather events: cold front with strong Kona winds, upper trough with heavy rain, gusty trade winds and high northwest wave and surf. Trade winds should be present on more than half the days in March with the possibility of about eight to 14 days of gusty trades. Northwest swell activity should be noticeably less. There may be about five days of high surf greater than 10 feet along the north shores. There’s still a chance of surf greater than 25 feet high at Sunset Beach,…

■ I want to register my personal disagreement with the view given in the editorial, “Shark attack: targeted hunt is right response” [Honolulu Advertiserl2/11). It was stated that it seems proper “To respond to attacks on humans with a well-targeted hunt in the area where the attack occurred.” But why wait for a tragedy to strike again, before doing something? Why not do some controlled remedial fishing now, at selected sites, like those heavily used for snorkeling, swimming and tourism, such as Olowalu? Why not take reasonable and prudent steps before hand to lessen the risk? The key word here is “control,” not eradication. The last shark control program in Hawai‘i was conducted during the mid-’70s, about 15 years ago. According to a study done at the University of Hawaii,…

■ Shorecasting greetings to all! Shoreline rumors have it that the elusive ulua have finally returned to O‘ahu’s southeast corner after a winter’s rest in K-Bay. Watch for Makapu‘u’s catch reports! Eric Imasaka, O‘ahu’s “Mr. Ulua,” is hot to top his 1991 total weight record of 1,035 lbs, over half a ton. Sources say that makes two years in a row that Eric has caught a seemingly impossible 1,000 lbs of ulua from shore. Congratulations! Continuing with more good fishing in early January on his first outing of 1992, Eric brought to gaff a hefty 75-lb white ulua-aukea. He’s well on his way to another “grand” year! Good fishing! Shorecasting neophyte and Hui O Ulua’s newest club member, Keith Char, alias “Ak-Ak Char,” got himself off the 1992 Club Banana…

A Trip To Remember ■ It was 5:30 a.m. when the BRIGITTE MII left the Wailoa Ramp under the command of Capt. Scot Minemoto. Crew members were Dean Daikawa, Cyril Takeyesu and Clayton Ishida. The game plan for the day was to go after the big ‘ahi outside the G-buoy. After leaving the harbor, they set up five lines and trolled to the buoy. An hour went by, but nothing had taken their lures. Finally they reached the buoy, but the buoy was dead. Nothing was around, not even a bird. Capt. Scot decided to go farther out and see if they could come across the big ‘ahi. Twenty minutes later they came across a big school of porpoise, and inside the school were those big ‘ahi. They gave chase…

Keehi Boat Club ■ The wind blew briskly on many days during the month, and on others there was dead calm. Keehi Boat Club members were out fishing in force, and they didn’t do badly. A 301-lb marlin boated by Capt. Ray Tononaka of the MAZELTOV topped the club’s January tournament. Capt Duane Kerr hasn’t caught many good-sized marlin lately (who has?), so he got pretty excited when a big one hit. After running and tailwalking for the gang, the fish settled down. It didn’t take long for angler Rusty Wright to bring in the fish. But the marlin wasn’t giving up. The fish managed to wrap the leader around the prop. After checking out the problem, Duane knew what had to be done. He hit the water. Never once…

■ “One of these days we should try to get it right!” Craig Tooman remarked sardonically from his perch aboard the transom of the R1ZZUTO MARU. We were trolling with downriggers off the west coast of Hawai‘i, and the conversation had turned to our long history of IGFA fiascoes. This slow fishing day, Craig and I had retold the stories of record-sized catches-kawakawa, barracuda, skipjack tuna, bluefin tre-vally, rainbow runner, to name a few-boated aboard the RIZZUTO MARU but unclaimed because the technicalities had not been observed. “It isn’t as though we don’t know how,” Craig bantered in obvious reference to my status as an IGFA official who claims to know the regulations by heart. Craig is my son-in-law, has endured more fishing trips with me than anyone else over…

■ I still remember the first time I saw a kahala. It was the summer of 1978 during the seasonal run of hahalalu at Kahe Power Plant on the island of O‘ahu. During those days, massive schools of hahalalu would come in close to shore, and following them would be schools of hungry white ulua, ‘omilu, kawakawa, lai, uku and kahala. Currently, Kahe Power Plant’s water intake is situated between the two parallel breakwalls built adjacent to shore. It was between these two walls that the hahalalu would seek food and hide from large predators. In the earlier days of Kahe, that same intake was reversed and was used as the plant’s water outlet. Everyone had to evacuate the area before the flood gates were opened because a turbulent rush…

Too Far West of the Keys ■ An advertisement for fishing in the Florida Keys contained a surprise for Hawai‘i resident Cherie Waroquiers. Under the headline, “Records are made to be broken,” the advertisement listed nine Florida records, including a “swordfish, 199 lb on 20 lb line off Key West by Cherie Waroquiers.” Cherie does, indeed, hold a world record for swordfish, but it was a 267-lb broadbill caught on 30-lb test off Keauhou, Kona, while fishing aboard the ILLUSION with Capt. Juan Waroquiers, Cherie’s husband. The ad was carried in December issues of national fishing magazines. Sharp-eyed Kona fishing writer/photographer Rick Gaffney spotted it in Salt Water Sportsman. Rick noted that the details are actually accurate; the error is the anglerette. The copywriter tangled the line holding Cherie’s fish…

■ The winner of the 1991 Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament (HIBT) Richard Boone Award is MEDUSA, captained by Steve Kaiser, who finished second in the 1990 competition. NORTHERN LIGHTS with skipper Dom Fagundas was second and also finished in the top three charter boat point winners for fish caught in the 1991 HIBA Pro-Am. Three-time first place finisher of the Boone Awards, Capt. Juan Waroquiers finished third aboard his new boat ILLUSIONS. The award was named after actor and Kona charter boat owner Richard Boone. It was established in 1982 after his death. Arriving in the early 50s, Boone took up part-time residency in what was then a sleepy Kona which was just becoming home to the HIBT. He quickly became a worldwide ambassador, promoting both Kona fishing and the…

Lahaina Town’s Top 10 Blue Marlin for 1991 Lahaina Town’s Top ‘Ahi (Yellowfin) for 1991 ■ The 37-foot Merritt FINEST KIND has been Lahaina’s top charterboat for the past four years. In 1991 it landed 126 billfish, one short of tying its 1989 state record of 127 billfish. Seventy-one were blues, 13 were stripers and 17 were spearfish, all with a total weight of 15,434 lbs. Twenty-five billfish were tagged and released. The FINEST KIND’s 71 blues were the most blue marlin caught by any one charterboat during the year; their total weight was 13,988 lbs. The boat’s top blue, weighing 452 lbs, placed ninth for the year. A 438-pounder was 12th, and a 420- and a 418-pounder placed 16th and 17th. The FINEST KIND’s best month was June, during…

■ Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to all of you Irish and Irish-at-heart fishermen out there. They say that the color green is a good color to run during this time of the year. Do you think that there could be some kind of connection there? Many fishermen on larger boats were green with envy recently when Robert Ballinger returned to the harbor towing a massive marlin behind his 14-foot McKee craft named the KEIKI. A small crowd of curious fishermen gathered at the loading dock to observe his huge marlin being hoisted from the water. A few tourists couldn’t believe that the big marlin had been caught on such a small boat. Bobby, as he is known around the harbor, set out earlier that day for CO-buoy in the hope…

We use Corrosion Block on everything: tool boxes, casters, hydraulic motor stands, our dyno, lifts, as a preservative when engines are disassembled, our test tank and valves. Outboard engines treated on the outside with Corrosion Block have less salt caking under the covers than with other products we’ve tried. What’s really good is that the surface isn’t covered with a sticky, greasy coating. You hardly know it’s there. People who pass through the shop comment that 1985 engines have new powerheads from their appearance. Our 12-year-old Toyota truck had a lot of surface rust on the suspension and undercarriage; once applied, the rust has ceased to progress. Our customers are using it on engines, electrical connections, trailer hubs, rims and springs as well as their fishing gear. Because Corrosion Block…

■ Numerous calls made to the National Marine Fisheries Service Honolulu office were received about humpback whales tangled in fishing gear off of the Puna Coast on the Big Island. U.S. Coast Guard cutter KISKA was patched to assist the whale and was successful in freeing a cow and calf humpback. The Fishing gear was re-trieved and is being held by the National Marine Fisheries pending further investigation. ing to eyewitnesses the gear was approximately ½ mile in length and made up of yellow poly rope with plastic one-gallon juice jugs for floaters. There were approximately nine ulua hooks baited with humuhumu-nukunukuapua‘a hanging from the line. Agents from the endangered species unit of the National Marine Fisheries Service will talk to the person responsible for setting the gear. …April Romero…

Reducing Short-Sighted Decision Making ■ These are the words that were burned into my memory recently when I attended the Regional Fishery Management Council Chairmen’s Meeting in Kona. The meeting was hosted by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WESPAC) and its new chairman, Dr. Paul Stevenson from American Samoa. Dr. Stevenson chaired the meeting and was in some very good company. Chairpersons and vice chairpersons from around the country along with their executive directors attended. The meeting was a giant “think tank,” a chance for all the councils to get together and hear the good, the bad and the ugly of fisheries management and policies. I, for one, learned a great deal and hope to draw from the people I was able to meet. The problems we thought…

The Fearless Ulua ■ Last fall around midday on a beautiful Saturday, I jumped in the calm blue water off the North Shore of Moloka‘i with my buddy Devon Merrifield. After a fast descent to approximately 100 feet, we moved in formation along the top of a dramatic ledge and slowly followed the steep contour, which overlooked a sandy bottom about 50 feet below. When hunting, a sixth sense alerts you when something is about to happen. Devon had disappeared around an overhanging finger of lava, and suddenly the thud of his gun firing shattered the silence. I wondered what he had encountered and passed under the overhang. There I saw a large school of ulua, the two largest ones circling the entrance of a nearby rocky grotto, and Devon…

■ The laws of the state of Hawai‘i have a provision allowing for the creation of Marine Life Conservation Districts (MLCDs) in island waters. MLCDs have been in the news again lately thanks to efforts to see two new protected areas created, one off Waikiki on O‘ahu and the other off the Old Kona Airport State Park on the Big Island. For the most part, MLCDs in Hawai‘i have been the product of public requests for protection of unique areas, although the creation of MLCDs has not always met public expectations of preservation. Hanauma Bay on O‘ahu and Molokini Shoals off the Wai-Lea coast of Maui are two examples of areas that may have suffered as a result of MLCD “protection.” When a local community group, often a local dive…

This month’s prize is a “Tony Accetta” Pet Spoon by Luhr-Jensen featured in this month’s Fishing Lines column by Jim Rizzuto. We will send a “Pet Spoon” for Holoholo letters and photos received during] the month of march…our way or saying thanks for sharing your catch!…Hana pa a, CHUCK Send to; P.O. Box 25413, Honolulu, Hawaii 96825 Luhr-Jensen 2 1/4 oz. “Tony Accetta” PET Spoon with wounded fish action Dear Chuck, Early Sunday morning I was awakened by my dog who insisted on licking my face to get me out of bed. The sun was not up yet, but I could tell it was going to be a beautiful morning. Without a second thought, I grabbed my pole and headed for the water. I arrived at the cliffs of Kapoho…