Innholdsfortegnelse for December 1993 i Hawaii Fishing News

■ Weather in Hawaii waters will play a more important role in any marine activity during winter. Mariners are advised that the change from good to bad weather can be fast. The severe weather events that can occur, in decreasing order of frequency, are: gusty trade winds, high northwest swell and surf, cold front with Kona winds, and Kona low. The strongest trade winds are the winter-type trades that can occur in December. The number of trade wind days will be low-only about half of the days of the month-but gusty trades can occur on about a fourth to a third of the days in December. High northwest swell and surf will be frequent along the exposed northern shores. Expect about 20 days with surf greater than 6 feet high,…

■ When Gov. John Waihee and Sen. Dan Inouye crammed the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary down Hawaii’s throat in November of 1992 by encouraging the legislation signed into law by President Bush as one of his last official acts, many of Hawaii’s fishermen despaired. (See below the reprint of state policy on the sanctuary published in the Sept. 92 issue of HFN.) It seemed then that regardless of what anyone here thought about it, despite the fact that no public hearings on the matter had been held in Hawai‘i, that no planning for the new protected area had been accomplished, and that no one could show that this form of protection would benefit the whales, the sanctuary was a done deal. Apparently, that is not the case,…

■ I remember when I was a small kid, I often found myself immersed in a book at the Pearl City Public Library or my school library. The book was more than likely one about fishing. Back then I lived, ate, slept and dreamed fishing. My whole life revolved around going fishing on the weekends with my dad and fishing buddies-some of whom also, joined me at the library. When I wasn’t physically fishing, I was thinking about it. Life was simpler then. Among my early childhood memories are strong images of pages and photographs from favorite books on fishing that I read and reread dozens, if not hundreds, of times during many a visit to the library. I wonder if I am alone in my ability even till today…

Hawa‘i’s game bird hunting season opened on Saturday, November 6, 1993, and continues through Sunday, January 16, 1994. Legal hunting days will be Saturdays, Sundays and state holidays. Each island has specific provisions related to open hunting periods, species, bag limits and public hunting area boundaries. Copies of Rules Regulating Game Bird Hunting are available at all Division of Forestry and Wildlife offices. The Department of Land and Natural Resources offers free Hunter Education Classes that must be completed before purchasing a license. Maui and Lana‘i Changes Lanai: Legal hunting days have been changed from Sundays and holidays to Saturdays, Sundays and state holidays Wild turkeys in Hunting Units 1 and 2 may now be hunted on legal hunting days throughout the hunting season instead of on the first three…

■ The Maui Casting Club would like to thank all who participated in the All Maui Casting Club Tournament. Congratulations to all the winners. I apologize for not having pictures and weights of the winning catches; they were lost in the shuffle. We would like to thank all of those who donated to the club. Without good people like you, our tournament could not work. As for ulua fishing on Maui, our catch report says it all. The nights are longer, and weather changes quickly. It’s almost time to service the reels and patch up the damage to the poles. But the die-hards out there like me still believe that as long as you have bait in the water, you can catch an ulua. Be safe, think about each other,…

■ Totally stoked! And totally humbled. That’s how I felt at the Sixth Annual Long Distance Casting Tournament, hosted jointly by the Hui O Ulua Shorecasters and the Atlapac Fishing Club. “Top guns” of the big-game shoreline fishing community gathered at Ke‘ehi Lagoon Park on O‘ahu on Sunday, November 14, to compete, unselfishly share discoveries and solidify old and new friendships. This was truly a “bruddah, bruddah” kind of event with the “howzits” flying as frequently as the 10-oz weights. It just felt like family. Superstar “Fishing Tales®” Mike Sakamoto was on hand for an autograph and picture-taking session. If you had a knot you wanted to learn, Mike was eager to teach. Though the. atmosphere was really relaxed and friendly, the competitors didn’t pull any slack when it came…

■ Since the completion of the North Shore Spearfishing Competition (NSSC) I was (and still am) asked the question, “What happened to all the fish?” Good question. One might assume all of it was sold to cover the costs of putting on such an event. But that’s not the answer. It was donated to the senior citizens on the North Shore. How it was shared is what inspired me to write this article. Actually the divers did the easy work. The difficult tasks of picking up the fish from the contest site, cleaning it and preparing it went to the nutrition site manager at St. Michael’s Church in Waialua. Her name is JuJu Hirayama. We see her every year at the awards banquet where she usually says a few words…

■ Tom Lum of Hunter Education in Waimea gave us the low-down on upcoming hunter’s education classes. The Hilo classes are all full until 1994. The only way to get into a class is to get a group of 20 interested hunters and arrange for a special class. Hunters without a valid previous year’s hunting license must take and pass the 11- to 12-hour hunter education course. For more information about the courses, call 587-0200 on O‘ahu, and 885-0335 on the Big Island. On Kaua’l, call the operator and ask for Enterprise 5212; on Maui, call the operator and ask for Enterprise 5209. HAWA‘I O‘AHU…

For Holoholo letters, with photos, received during the month of December, we’ll send you a pair of “Vicious Fishes” milk caps (new design) from Sian Pac-Canada. Plus an HFN Koolzie drink muff…our way of saying thanks for sharing your catchi …Hana pa‘a, Chuck Send to: P.O. Box 25413, Honolulu, Hawaii 96825 Dear Chuck, I drove to my fishing spot on August 5, 1993. At 8:30 a.m., I got a strike while free-swimming an ‘oama as bait. The rod that I was using was a 7-foot Berkley medium action with an old Penn 722 reel containing Stren 14-lb test line. I fought the fish for about 10 minutes. While bringing it up after it was exhausted, I noticed that it was a large golden trevally. My adrenaline started pumping until it…

We congratulate all the below anglers, captains and crew who made these outstanding catches possible. They all represent “once in a lifetime” angling feats and we are proud they all had Ande on their reels. • 1166 lb. Pacific Blue Marlin on Ande 50 Premium. Caught by Ray Hawkes during the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament Pending 50 lb. IGFA World Record. Boat was the ‘Sea Strike” with Capt Dale Leverone. • Estimated 1635 lb. Atlantic Blue Martin on Ande 125 Premium. Caught by Michael Dallas aboard the “Rascasso” with Capt Rick Fuller out of Vilamoura Marina, Algare, Portugal. • Estimated 1000 lb. Black Martin, the largest ever caught off the coast of Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Mexico was taken aboard the “R. Marias II” with Capt Miguel Alvarez. The nine hour fight…

Bahama Bluefin ■ Six thousand miles from home, Kona Capt. Kevin Nakamaru braced against the transom of a Bimini fishing boat, grabbed a leader and pulled. Pulling back was a half-ton bluefin tuna, maybe the largest ever boated in the Bahamas. The leader broke. But not before another deckhand sank a gaff into the giant. Angler Bill Tweedie, who had fought the fish for 40 minutes said later, “When the leader broke, I didn’t know whether I had lost it or not. When we got another one [gaff] in, I knew we had it.” What they had was a 10-foot 4-inch, 971-lb bluefin tuna and the largest of the species ever reported from the Bahamas. The annual tuna migration past Bimini and Cat Cay has been a big-game fishing target…

■ Sport fishermen the world around are voicing concern about the threat of the increased longline fishing effort on the famed Hawai‘i sport fishery. Is our state government actually contributing through the promotion of the sale of Hawai‘i’s billfish? The international perception, and that of many here at home, is that increased longline effort (since the late 1980s) will have a significant impact on Hawai‘i’s renown Pacific blue-marlin fishery. Locally based National Marine Fisheries Service scientists participating in a Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council blue-marlin workshop reported that they were unable to detect any decline in the catch per unit effort (CPUE) of commercially caught Pacific blue marlin since 1970. Their research suggested that the “total Hawai‘i catch has increased in rough proportion to the estimated equivalent Hawai‘i fishing…

Weighmaster’s Classic V Shoreline Fishing Tournament ■ The annual Weighmaster’s Classic held earlier this year came to a pounding finish. The tournament winner, Wayne Miyashiro, and the “Renegade Bunch” waited until the very last minute to let the “big one” out of the bag! A whopping 90.9-lb white ulua caught from O‘ahu‘s North Shore pounded the tournament scale for the climatic finish. Surrounded by teammates, Brian Katahira, “Nobu” and Shu Iwamoto, Wayne modestly beamed with pride and satisfaction. The oohs and aahs of the day were enviously shared by Glenn Omoto and Randy Lopez. Glenn, an Atlapac and Hui O’ Ulua member, landed the second-place ulua, weighing 56.9 lbs. Randy’s third-place ulua weighed 48.1 lbs. Bill Shigematsu iced down fourth place with a 32.4-lb trevally, and fifth-place and total-weight honors…

■ A mild beeping sound in the cockpit announced our arrival. “We’re there,” confirmed Capt. Luke Stamm as he poked at the overhead keypad on his GPS. I looked at Prince of Wales Island’s darkly forested shore a stone’s throw away and imagined I could see glowing eyes peering out at us from its depths. I shuddered, more from the chill of the morning and the brisk boat ride from Ketchikan than from fear of unknown creatures lurking in the nearby pines. With one long step, Luke left the cabin for the stern where he opened a bag of herring and sliced off the heads of two at a sharp angle. HFN Publisher/Editor Chuck Johnston, his son, Matt, and I craned our necks to watch as Luke skillfully rigged our…

Leilehua Annual Off-Island Outing ■ Once again the Leilehua Casting Club returned to the Big Island for their annual fishing trip. The O‘ahu anglers arrived at 6:15 a.m. in Hilo on September 20 and were greeted by me and Scot Minemoto. Participating in this year’s club fishing trip were Junichi (Kawa) Kawamoto, Richard Boner, Norman Terura and Ralph Marushige. We arrived at our fishing spot at 12:20 p.m. We had to repair portions of the road because it had been badly torn up by high seas. Then we set up camp, and by 2 p.m. the guys were fishing for some live bait. Scot was also fishing, and he got two good strikes. One hookup was a nice-sized sea bass, but the fish won the battle. The other strike we…