Innholdsfortegnelse for January 1996 i Hawaii Fishing News

■ The final public hearings for the Hawaiian Island Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary were held in late November and early December on all islands. The turnout was good, and the opposition voiced was strong. In Kona, nearly 100 boaters, fishermen and concerned ocean users turned out, and a show of hands “for the record” showed that the substantial majority (about 90 percent) of those present were opposed to the expansion of the sanctuary into the waters around the Big Island. No one testified in favor of the sanctuary, although one teacher did say he felt more marine education was needed. People Opposed to the Whale Sanctuary (POWS), Hawaiian rights activist Curtis Tyler and marine mammal expert Dan McSweeney offered compelling testimony against the sanctuary. In Hilo, 75 percent of…

■ The hottest fishing spot in the state of Hawai‘i seems to be an area around the K-buoy located off the southwest corner of Lana‘i. No one can remember an area that has produced so many blue marlin for such a consistent length of time. During a 30-day period, the Lahaina charterboats caught over 120 billfish in the area, with 90 of those fish being blue marlin between 125 and 250 lbs. Half of those small blue marlin were tagged and released. During November, the charterboats captured 63 blue marlin, 28 striped marlin, four spearfish and one sailfish for a total of 96 billfish brought to the scales. Another 38 blue marlin and 14 striped marlin were tagged and released, bringing the fleet’s total to 148 billfish for the month.…

■ At the risk of being called a liar (but I fish, so that’s OK) and at the larger risk of being call a blatant liar (but I’m a writer, so that’s OK) and even at the risk of being called a B.S.er, I’m going to open myself up to all criticism and tell you that I had within 30 feet of the transom of my boat, the state-record mahimaHTand quite possibly even the world record. I have caught some large mahimahi in my time and I have seen a lot of larger mahimahi than mine, but I have never seen a dorado this big ever. Not even in the Ande Fishing Tackle ads. Bill and Coral Popejoy live in Palmdale, California. Coral’s family lives here, she grew up here,…

■ Sinking live akule or ‘opelu in 50 to 80 fathoms of water can be a real kick, especially when it’s done on light conventional tackle in the 15- to 20-lb test size. On my last trip outside of Kailua-Kona, we broke out the waku (Japanese word for frame), a wooden, framelike handline holder. Onto this waku, I had placed 110-lb test Du Pont Kevlar line, which is incredibly sensitive to a bite, and added standard lengths of black Mason monofilament leaders and tiny flies. Once the sun set, we dropped the string of eight flies and worked hard at bringing up about 30 pieces of live akule or ‘opelu. We got lucky and landed both types, some pretty good-sized ones. When the sun began to rise at 5:30 a.m.,…

‘Ula‘ula Koa‘e ■ Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope you folks got plenty, plenty gifts. My sweetheart got me Keali‘i Reichel’s new CD, “Ka Lei Haifa.” Big mahalo for that! Puakea Nogelmeier, my former Hawaiian language teacher composed several songs on this recording. You ought to buy this great CD. Anyway, I wish you an awesome year and good fishing in the forthcoming months. My story this month is about the ‘ula‘ula (red snapper), or more specifically ‘ula‘ula koa‘e (long tail resembling the wing of a koa‘e, or tropic bird), a fish popularly known locally as onaga. As the New Year rings in, islanders will be feasting on the delicacies of the sea. Traditional customs of local cultures have always looked to the bounties of the sea…

■ Archers have never had it so good. Along with toplevel professional coaching, Hawai‘i’s newest pro shop, Archery Hawaii, has all the high-tech assistance you need. Larry Paglinawan is a certified Easton Archery University Arrowsmith, an authorized PSE (Precision Shooting Equipment) dealer, a Class IV Olympic coach and a hunter certified to hunt dangerous game. Larry can fit you with a bow, show you several different shooting styles, tune your bow so it shoots perfectly straight, adjust the weight you pull, set the length of your bow’s pull and match your arrows to your bow. He can chronograph (tell how fast your arrows are flying) your bow and perform a bow flight simulator analysis. A bow flight simulator analysis is a computer program that computes a number of vital statistics…

Dear Chuck, Any money spent is too much, no matter how minuscule. It would only add to the debts that are already out of control, and the payers (you and me) don’t need it. America needs to quit spending (especially in the matter of creating unnecessary jobs). The whales have been caring for themselves for centuries and have had no problem existing and coexisting with nature. Granted, for a brief period in their history on earth, whales were killed by man nearly to the point of extinction. However, that is past. Left alone, the whales will continue to revive themselves, by themselves. I am wholeheartedly against a marine whale sanctuary in Hawaii’s waters. As with everything else, one law seems to lead to another and another, most of which are…

Bottomfish Management ■ At the recent Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WESPAC) meetings, the council heard from a number of people regarding the proposed bottomfish regulations being considered by the state’s Bottom Fish Task Force. The fishermen supported the concept of a comprehensive plan, which includes area closures instead of the alternative of a closed season, which was the council’s original position. The HFF was told that the closed areas were supported by not only the fishermen, but also the Coast Guard and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Enforcement Branch. We hope that those council members who may have been misinformed when they voted on bottomfish regulations and their preferred alternative of closed seasons may now see why they should have looked at all of the options more closely.…

■ Welcome, stripers! We are in striped marlin heaven. Large-sized fish have been coming in, especially during the end of the month, and we expect the trend to last well into the new year. The largest to date weighed in at our scales here at Honokohau was a 122-pounder caught by Allen Potts of Columbus, Ohio, while fishing aboard the SHEER PLEASURE with Capt. Mike Fairfield. As always, we have had the “one day off, one day on,” yet abundant supply of Pacific blue marlin with weights of over 700 lbs. Capt. Bruce Evans on the LAYLA landed a 757-lb blue marlin, shark bite excluded, angled by Neal Patmore of Boise, Idaho. This was also Honokohau’s largest fish of the month. The second largest fish reported was angled by Lisa…

■ Dozens of lava fingers littered the shoreline. The tide slowly began to rise and cover them one by one. The water was deep-very deep. The steep coral bottom disappeared into a dark blue abyss just 10 yards from shore. It was prime deep-water whipping territory, and Lance Higa and I were going to work the deep-water zones for papio, moana, weke-‘ula, nukunuku waha-nui and moana-kali. Lance and I figured the ½-OZ egg sinkers that we were using were too light for the deep water and switched to ¾ ounce sinkers. We were using 4-lb test monofilament that was a bit light for the deep water, but we were after sport and losing fish wasn’t a concern. The small lines would produce many strikes and test our angling techniques. We…

Capt. Bobby Brown, born and raised on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, is skipper of one of the hottest sportfishing yachts in the world. ■ Every deep-sea fishing captain I have ever known has yearned for the day when he could design and build his “dream boat.” It would be outfitted with the finest equipment and set up with the best fishing gear. It would be accomplished with cost as a second consideration. Bobby Brown, born and raised on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, got to do exactly that-help design, build and outfit the sportfishing yacht of his dreams. The result is a world-class sportfishing yacht named the MISS GUIDED, 65 feet of beauty and power built at the world-renowned Merritt Boat Works in Pompano Beach, Florida. The proud (and…

Bird Season ■ The 1995 bird season has busted out of the bush. Ample rain last spring during breeding season promised to make this, if not a great year, at least a good one. the promise was unfulfilled, and the season has proved to be a disappointment. Parker Ranch closed their $4,000 fee private bird hunting season early. Kurt Naffziger, a Big Island German shorthair breeder and avid bird hunter, called the season very slow. Kurt blamed the drought on the poor bird take. Gene Ramos of Hawaii Hunting Tours, who has been guiding out of Pauillo for 27 years, said, “It’s been dry. Kalij population is up in numbers. Turkeys are holding their own. There are wild oats on the public hunting lands, and that has been good cover.…

Ms. Trudy Coxe, Director Office of Coastal and Ocean Resource Management National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration January 27, 1992 Dear Ms. Coxe: Thank you for your letter of January 8, 1992 informing us that you would not be able to attend our “summit meeting” on the Kaho‘olawe National Marine Sanctuary Feasibility Study which was scheduled for January 20 here in Honolulu. As such, we followed-up on your suggestion that we discuss summit agenda issues with Ralph Lopez and Jacqueline Rousseau of your staff following our review of your study. We met with Ralph and Jacqueline on January 17, and had what I thought to be both a frank and fruitful discussion. As a result of our conversation, the State of Hawai‘i will be pursuing three courses of action which are…

■ It was a nightmare! Imagine this: you’re an “amateur” cook who somehow ended up as the author of a cookbook. You never went to cooking school or worked in a restaurant. Your culinary “expertise” was developed over years in your own kitchen playing around with this and that to create a new recipe. Somehow, you find yourself considered an expert. You give cooking demonstrations at kitchen stores and tackle expositions, and it’s fun-until one day you realize Sam Choy is watching you from a chair in the audience. How would you feel? Even though Sam was smiling as he watched me, I was nervous and distracted as I began to make a mahimahi chowder. I began to make mistakes. When it became more and more difficult to stir in…

Dear Chuck, How’s the fishing been lately? It’s been pretty slow for us. We felt pretty lucky to have caught some aku recently. I wish I were writing this letter about the fishing action, but, unfortunately, this is about two government regulations that will affect the small local fisherman. I need your help in writing an article or helping me get this information to other fishermen so we can do something about it before it’s too late. The restrictions are 1. the temperature of the fish when they are brought down to the block, and 2. the closure or restrictions on bottom fishing. As for the temperature issue, the federal government is responsible for this one. As you probably have read in the paper, they want stricter temperature regulations, which…

Expect the Unexpected, and Communicate ■ As this month’s report shows, often unexpected injuries can result from fishing for big game. I don’t believe that the injury portrayed in this month’s article could have been prevented. Both captain and deckhand were well-aware that a double-hook rig was coming up with the fish. Certainly, everyone involved was thoroughly experienced and stayed cool and calm, even when the accident did happen. But those involved were experienced professionals who are on the water every day. What can and does happen frequently is that more inexperienced or novice fishermen get hurt due to lack of communication and/or oversight on the part of a more experienced fisherman on the boat. For instance, if double hooks are being used in the lure pattern, all the persons…