Innholdsfortegnelse for August 1997 i Hawaii Fishing News

August Calendar of Events August, Pacific Whale Foundation Fish Count Volunteers around Maui will survey reef fish populations. For more information contact Eric Brown at (808) 879-8860. August 27-31, Second Annual Earth Maui Nature Summit Na ‘lewe Moku o Kakou, (Our Island Home Lands) is the theme of the second annual nature summit being presented by the Kapalua Nature Society. The goal of this four-day event is to foster an appreciation of Maui’s natural environment and to encourage prudent use and protection of our islands’ natural resources. During the Earth summit, the public will learn to practice wise stewardship of the land through unique educational field experiences, seminars, exhibits, islandwide eco-tours and more. Our unique ecosystems and the businesses dedicated to preserving the Hawaiian Islands’ natural treasures are showcased. For…

■ This year’s tournament was once again a rousing success, with only one major glitch. Half of the second day of fishing was canceled because of the weather conditions. Because this closure carried with it the possibility of having a gross effect on the final outcome as to the winners, quite a bit of discussion, speculation and assumption, not to mention grumbling, grousing and moaning, took place-mostly from the contestants, and rightfully so. Maybe it was their turn, that day, to catch the big one and walk home with all of the marbles. Maybe not. We’ll never know. What we do know is that someone, somewhere and for whatever reason they deem viable can completely shut down a major fishing tournament. Where is this going to lead? Will this have…

■ Sitting out on a bouncing skiff in the pitch dark and trying to get thousands of akule that are congregated around your boat light to bite your fly or little plastic lure can be absolutely frustrating. But some of the simplest things can help you bring home fish for the dinner table. The way that I like to hook akule is only one of many; but it works for me, and maybe it 11 work for you. too. I use ultralight spinning tackle, which means 5-foot 6-inch rods rated for 1- to 6-lb test line. My reel is a Penn 4200SS and is loaded with 5- or 10-lb test Spiderwire, which adds sensitivity to the equation. Because filling my spinning reel full of Spiderwire can be expensive, I normally…

Ocean Planet/Ocean People A special Monday evening program series hosted by Bishop Museum allows you to share in the wonder and excitement of our underwater world. Ka po‘e o ke kai (people of the sea) teach you about ocean exploration, share rich cultural stories and explore Hawaii’s deep connection to the sea. Each program begins at 7 p.m. in the Ocean Planet exhibit gallery (doors open at 6 p.m. so you can view the exhibit before the program). When attending the evening programs, viewing the Ocean Planet exhibit is free. Monday, August 18—The Hawaiian Fishpond: Past, Present, Future Have a rare experience with expert Jan Hanohano Dill of Oceanic Institute as he shares his lifetime of international experience in aquaculture. Discover the rich, cultural heritage of fishponds used by native…

Nui Na I‘a Hawai‘i (Part I) “Ano‘ai, i keia mo‘olelo e pili ana i ka waiwai o na i‘a Hawai‘i. Mamake au ia kakou e maopopo i ka waiwai o keia mau i‘a no na kanaka Hawai‘i. No ka mea, pinepine kakou e lawai‘a wale not ka i‘a a poina i ka waiwai a e maopopo ‘ole i ka waiwai. Pela no, mai ko‘u mau mo‘olele i hala me ka mea nuhou, e a‘o kakou. ‘O ia ho‘i, i ka ‘o‘io a me ka moi i keia manawa. Eia nei, e ‘olu‘olu, kokua i ka malama o keia mau i‘a no keia mua aku. ■ Greetings, this story is about the importance of the Hawaiian fish species. I wanted you folks to understand their importance to Hawaiians. Often, we fish…

■ Did you know that the landlocked state of Colorado has more International Game Fish Association (IGFA) members than all the Hawaiian Islands? It’s a fact! Hawai‘i only has 153 current members of the IGFA, despite an active game fishing population of well over 200,000 anglers! Since 1939, the IGFA has been the international world-record agency for fishing, establishing rules, keeping track of over 4,000 sportfishing records in fresh water, salt water, on conventional tackle and on fly tackle, by men, women and, just recently, by junior anglers in two age groups. The organization is also active in local, national and international sportfishing conservation and management issues, and maintains an immense information resource with the largest library of gamefish information in the world at its Florida headquarters. Some 300 IGFA…

■ Something went bump. It could have been a whale, a sunken cargo container, a rogue wave that blew out a faulty seam, or a failed prop shaft. The 48-foot steel-hulled, double-masted motor sailer LADY AUD, returning to Honolulu from a bottomfishing trip to the Northwest Hawaiian Islands with an injured crewman aboard, was suddenly taking on water. Capt. Richard Enslow Jr. brutally cranked the wheel to course. The bilge alarm sirened. The pump started. Water ripped into the boat like a bad special effect in a disaster film. It was seconds after the big bang, and already the batteries were underwater. The bilge pump and radio were dead. There was no “May Day” call. It was December 9, 1996, and the LADY AUD was dying somewhere northwest of the…

Aloha, My name is Charles Espin, and I am circulating a petition regarding the proposed community-based management of the state’s small boat harbors. The petition is not for or against community-based management, although in its current form, I personally feel it may not be in the best interest for all the oceanusing citizens of our state. The petition is calling on our elected representatives to hold public hearings so all the “community” can be a part of the management plan. I have enclosed a copy of the petition, along with a letter to the editor, that I am sending to all the newspapers in the state of Hawaii. All members of the ocean-using public have a right to be involved in any management plan for our small boat harbors. I…

PART I Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Hawai‘i: SECTION 1. The state’s small boat harbors are important assets that are constructed, maintained and operated for the purposes of recreational boating activities, landing of fish, commercial vessel activities and interisland commerce. They have also been used historically for the interisland ferry. These state small boat harbors are centers of economic activity, and as such, must be managed and operated in a manner to facilitate recreation, commerce and interisland transportation. Partnership with the community and private businesses can enhance successful management and operations of these facilities. This Act is divided into two parts. Part one creates a task force in the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to evaluate the feasibility and make recommendations about establishing…

■ A special muzzleloader hunting season for feral pigs in the Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a Wildlife Sanctuary on the island of Hawai‘i has been scheduled for six consecutive weekends (Saturdays and Sundays only) beginning on Sat-urday, Aug. 2 and ending on Sunday, Sept. 7, 1997. Dogs will not be allowed and there will no bag limit. Deboning will be permitted; however, the unskinned tail must be left attached to the carcass. All muzzleloader hunters must have a valid 1997-1998 state of Hawai‘i hunting license on their person and will be required to sign in and out at the hunter checking station located at the old vulcanite quarry. Hunting hours will be from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. Al! hunters must be checked out by 7 p.m. Access to the Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a Wildlife…

■ Live ‘opae scurried along the bottom of the 5-gallon bucket as I tried to corner one and use it for bait. I finally grabbed one by the tail and quickly slid it onto a #10 AH hook, tailfirst; then I exposed the hook tip through the ‘opae’s underbelly. The ‘opae remained quite alive and flipped and jiggled as I quickly made a cast with my light-tackle outfit. I cranked in the slack 4-lb test and handed the Fenwick HMG graphite rod over to my 6-year-old son, Tyler. The little tyke is into fishing now and completely has disowned his Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. Believe me, I cringed when he told me he “didn’t want a fiberglass fishing pole but a graphite one.” Whatever happened to the days of…

■ Last month, I introduced a new line of graphite rods made by Kona angler and rod manufacturer Jeff Andrews. Interviews with some of my fishing comrades on the Big Island had given me some amount of insight into the strength and durability of the new ulua poles, but no amount of discussion could take the place of first-hand experience with them. During the past month I’ve had an opportunity to fish with one of these terrific pieces, which was custom built by Jeff and expertly wrapped by veteran O‘ahu angler Jimmy Onomura. The rod I’ve been using is a two-piece, 13-foot long, medium-action ulua rod sporting a 26-millimeter diameter reel seat and a #14 rod tip. It’s as light as a feather when compared to the myriad fiberglass ulua…

■ The most important rule of big game fishing is that there are no rules. That’s why the sport is so interesting, maddening and addicting. After all, if you could go to the same spot every day, use the same method and catch a fish every time, would it be so interesting? Would you even do it? Kona’s winter and spring biilfishing seasons provided lots of opportunities for anglers to mull over the oddities and exceptions that enliven offshore fishing. Herewith, some out-of-the-ordinary experiences and some thoughts on what you might learn from them. 1. Fishermen are Superstitious, Live With It. Whatever you feel about black cats, cracked mirrors or walking under ladders, Capt. Bruce Evans knows exactly how he feels about bananas. Ask him why he thinks they bring…

■ Recently, off the record, wildlife officials and environmentalists have said that a small sustainable herd of sheep would be good for Mauna Kea. The sheep help keep the runaway grass problem in check. Predictably, that will not happen. The Sierra Club and Audubon Society have pressured state officials to live up to the literal letter of the law and eliminate all sheep on Mauna Kea. Jon Giffin, from the Hilo Office of Forestry and Wildlife, explained that the sheep herd has been increasing and that they are drafting a sheep reduction plan for environmentalists’ review. Jon said that a plan will likely include translocation of sheep, adding muzzleloading to an archery season and putting transmitters on herds to help hunters locate herds. Hunters at various public meetings have been…

■ Another 800-plus-pounder hit the dock, a new largest black marlin of the year was boated, and a new largest ‘ahi of the year was found. June ended with Kona anglers also getting two blue marlin weighing more than 600 lbs each, four marlin weighing more than 500 lbs each and six weighing more than 400 lbs each. Over 300 billfish were brought to the scales here in Honokohau during the month, and they included 292 blues, nine stripers, two blacks, 32 spearfish and one swordfish. Sixty-three ‘ahi weighing more than 100 lbs each as well as ono and mahimahi rounded out the month’s total catch by private boats and charterboats. The Biggest and Best Capt. Robert Battersby and Capt. Dave Adams took Yasushi Niitsu and Ken Takeuchi out for…

■ If you could paint the month of June any color, it would have to be yellow! The ‘ahi were moving all around the Garden Isle, showing up thick at times, and both the daytime and nighttime anglers enjoyed the sweet song of their blistering runs. It seemed like everyone experienced multiple hookups at some time during the month, and I heard lots of stories of as many as seven or eight a day being landed by some boats. The ono and otaru bite was very strong, too, but June will be remembered as the month that definitely cured a lot of ‘ahi fever around here. Some of the confirmed nice-sized catches of the month? I saw an impressive pair in Capt. Bob Kutkowski’s (Anini Fishing Charters) fishbox aboard the…

■ July 5 and 6 were the dates of this year’s Garden Isle Trollers Annual Fishing Tournament, and the turnout was excellent with 47 boats anteing up the $100 entry fee. The weather was on the windy side, but this didn’t deter the large field from bringing in a total of 6,317.6 lbs of fish. A total of seven billfish, 32 ‘ahi over 100 lbs, four ‘ahi over 90 lbs, seven mahi-mahi and 50 aku came to the scales. The overall tournament awards were as follows: A big potluck was held after the tourney at Kapa‘a Harbor, and I heard that everyone had a great time! Thanks to Herman Chong Jr., who went out of his way to get these results to us at HFN quickly. …Mark Koehler…

■ The North Shore Hanapa‘a Fishing Tournament is over, and not without quite a bit of controversy. (That subject is covered in a separate article. See “North Shore Hanapa‘a Fishing Tournament 1997” elsewhere in this issue.) The fishing was good, but the weather left a lot to be desired. Mother Nature still needs a good talking to, maybe even a little slap on the wrist. In all honesty, the weather this summer sucks. Quite a few nice-sized fish have been coming up, but not without a price. Rain, wind and snot-bag sea conditions have been the rule, rather than the exception. It’s enough to make a grown man want to poke his eyes out. Ono are still lingering on the ledges, some ‘ahi are coming up here and there, the…

Hello HAWAII FISHING NEWS! Hi guys, How are you? I’m a staff musician from New York City and you can’t imagine how happy your fishing news makes me every month! Congratulations to Capt. Fuzzy Alboro for being chosen the top captain for Lahaina in 1996. Fuzzy is amazing! He, along with mate Steve Lambert, helped me land Lahaina’s fourth largest ‘ahi (155 lbs) on June 2, 1996! Anyway, the experience was so inspiring that I’ve composed a tune called ‘“Ahi” for my third solo CD which is soon to be out on Iris Records. The tune is a musical story of ‘ahi! I start out calling to ‘ahi and then sudden he answers by taking the bait. We fight a little and ‘ahi disappears. I call out again and he…

© Copyright Hawaii Fishing News 1997 Alt Rights Reserved. OFFSHORE TOURNAMENTS P.O.R.F. ALOHA FRIDAY SHOOTOUT August 1, 1997 HIBA-Kona (808) 329-6155 P. O. Box 4800, Kailua-Kona, HI 96745 HAWAIIAN INTERNATIONAL BILLFISH TOURNAMENT August 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10, 1997 HIBA-Kona (808) 329-6155 P. O. Box 4800, Kailua-Kona, HI 96745 KYC OPEN TOURNAMENT August 9, 1997 Kaneohe Yacht Club-Oahu (808) 247-4121 44-503 Kaneohe Bay Drive, Honolulu, HI 96744 LANAI RENDEZVOUS August 15 & 16, 1997 Martin Bandy-Maui (808) 242-4846 LABOR DAY TOURNAMENT August 30, 31 & September 1, 1997 Hawaii Big Game Fishing Club-Kona (808) 325-7362 P.O. Box 3106, Kailua-Kona, HI 96745 OKOE BAY RENDEZVOUS IX September 4, 5, 6 & 7, 1997 Tropidilla-Kona (808) 325-7300 P.O. Box 2158, Kailua-Kona, HI 96745 COCKEYED MAYOR’S TOURNAMENT September…

■ Bishop Museum celebrates the earth’s great blue waters with its latest exhibit, “Ocean Planet.” The interactive exhibit, developed by the Smithsonian Institution, tells the story of the relationship between humans and the ocean using three dimensional displays and hands-on activities for keiki. Ocean Planet travels the globe revealing new ocean discoveries, the traditions of sea people and the dangers facing the ocean. The highlight of the exhibit is an excellent display of Hawai‘i’s ocean artifacts. Bishop Museum’s additions to Ocean Planet gives the traveling exhibit a local and cultural flavor. The addition to the exhibit boasts a large collection of old Hawaiian fishing tools and equipment providing visitors with a crash course in an ancient life style. Shark rattles, bone and stone fish hooks, nets, basket traps and the…

■ Kona could have regained The World Cup bragging rights this year, because the biggest billfish caught on the Fourth of July may have been a 786-lb marlin taken aboard the FOOLISH PLEASURE off the Kona Coast. Unfortunately, the FOOLISH PLEASURE was not entered in The World Cup when the fish was caught, so the $52,000 cash prize was won by the team with a 696-lb blue marlin caught off the Portuguese island of Madeira. The World Cup is a unique one-day big-game fishing competition that is fished around the world each Fourth of July. The $1,000 entry fee goes into a winner-takes-all purse, and until this year, the winner was as likely to come from Kona waters as those of any other fishing grounds. This year’s World Cup winner,…

■ Rick Gaffney told me that the big ulua stayed around the sand flats on Midway Atoll for almost a week after we had gunned them down during a sunny day and a half. Yes, it was like shooting fish in a barrel. Only what a spectacular barrel! Raymond Yu, the California angler who went out with me on the very first afternoon, took a video tape of the afternoon’s action and sent it to me. I realized I hadn’t reported just how clear the water was and how dark the giant trevally stood out against the white sand bottom. The sand flats are bordered by the blue/blue-green lagoon. We approached from the west in a 22-foot Glacier Bay cat, which draws about 2 feet of water. The sand stretches…

28 Days at Sea ■ Aloha. Not too long ago, Chuck Johnston, HFN’s publisher/editor, forwarded to me an E-mail from a concerned reader. The message was as follows: “I have a question that I feel needs to be answered. Recently, two men were lost at sea when their fishing boat sank. They were not found for 28 days. The Coast Guard see[m]s to have given up too early. Why? They also seemed to have been searching in the wrong area. Don’t they have current flow charts of the Hawaiian region? “The main question I want answered is why, with the high-tech surveillance equipment available to the Coast Guard, infrared thermal imaging, satellites that can read a label on a golf ball from miles high, night vision, to name a few…why…

■ Handgun hunting in Hawai‘i is legal when the governor signs HB233. The bill requires the state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to develop hunting rules (their job for all hunting in Hawai‘i) for hunting with pistols and revolvers. It has a sunset clause, a trial period, until July 2000. The DLNR will hold public hearings as required by law on their proposed rule revisions. They are asking hunting clubs to submit advance advice, especially on recommended hunting areas. Send your comments to your club executives, and ask them to respond to the DLNR as soon as possible! Clubs can FAX Game Biologist John Bedish at (808) 587-0160 or write him at DOFAW, 1151 Punchbowl, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96813. Hawaii Rifle Association (HRA) recommendations for hunting rules revisions to…

The 150th ACWSQ Goodwill ‘Ahi Tournament Scores and Incredible 75 ‘Ahi ■ The 17th Annual 150th ACWSQ Goodwill ‘Ahi Tournament was, as usual, a whopping success. The tournament is run to promote good will and camaraderie among all the air squadron members and some special invited guests from the community. There were a total of 25 teams that competed this year. Most were from O‘ahu (eight) and Kaua‘i (16), but one team representing Alaska also showed up. Rough water was a large factor during the three-day event, yet all the anglers seemed undaunted as everyone caught fish, and fish, and then more fish. At the end of the three days, the total weight of all fish caught was an unbelievable 14,175.4 lbs! Fittingly, the most fish caught were ‘ahi, with…

■ Summer has arrived along with some great ‘ahi and ono action, which has been pleasing many of the trollers hoping to land their share of fish. This El Nino summer has been very windy and rainy so far. The trades have been stiff, making it very hard for the smaller boats to get out to the action. Even the bigger boats have had a tough time. The swells are large, close together and breaking, making for wet days. Some good news came from Warren Cortez, who is the man who runs the FAD program in the state. The U-buoy is on-station just in time for the summer when some of the smaller boaters are looking to fish a nearby FAD. Our deepest thanks to Warren for getting the U-buoy…