Innholdsfortegnelse for May 1999 i Hawaii Fishing News

KAKU TACTICS FOR INSHORE ANGLING ■ A friend visiting from Oregon asked to be taught how to fish a live bait from a boat. The rigging part is easy to demonstrate (as we have done in HFN many times), but it’s what comes next that can’t really be shown on demand. Not, that is, unless you have access to a dependable kaku hole. Fortunately, that was the case on the day in question. The opportunity presented itself when we caught a small kawakawa. With some simple directions, friend Fred got through the bridling phase without damaging the bait or keeping it out of the water too long. “Like that?” asked an eager Fred. Indeed, just like that. Fred let out about 35 yards of line, following my directions while I…

Leadering ■ When it comes to leadering fish, there are as many different situations as there are people who fish. There are times when the leaderman’s job is to simply guide a fish alongside the boat and wait for the tagman. But, there are other times when his job is to get a couple of good wraps and not let go until his feet leave the deck. The latter occurs during some pretty extreme situations, such as world-record fishing or tournament fishing. In most cases, the leaderman’s job is to get the fish close enough to the boat so that it can be tagged and released, or boated if it’s going to be dinner that night. Look The first thing I look for when grabbing the leader is the hookset,…

■ Many anglers feel that uku is one of the best-eating snappers that you can hook and land in relatively shallow water. Another is waha-nui, but people have gotten sick from ciguatera (a fish toxin/poison) after eating wahanui, so we always release those unharmed. Uku have been clean of the toxin, and they’ve been known to reach weights of 40 lbs. That’s big and very, very rare. A midwater swimmer, uku love to eat small weke and especially ‘oama. Fishermen have hooked uku by using hahalalu (baby akule) for bait, too. Live ‘oama are best, but hard to get, so live moana are often used instead. Uku don’t hesitate to grab hold of this goatfish and munch it down. One of the simplest leader systems for uku entails using 60-…

■ Florida has many attractions, but the international Game Fish Association’s (1GFA) new World Fishing Center is a must-experience for anyone with an interest in sport fishing who happens to find themselves in the Sunshine State. With everything from a replica of Ernest Hemingway’s beloved game boat PILAR and a superb collection of vintage tackle and sportfishing history, to full-sized mounts of many of the species of game fish that have been recognized as world records and numerous educational displays related to fish and fishing, this wonderful facility just begs to be explored and savored. Built at a cost of $32 million, the modern 63,000-square-foot facility located just off the 1-95 freeway between Fort Lauderdale and Miami houses the offices and library of the IGFA and an extraordinary series of…

Leaving the Islands ■ On Sunday, April 11, 1999, Hawai‘i lost another 10 residents to the mainland due to the “high cost of living.” The usual gathering of friends and well-wishers were there to see them off. Some had tears in their eyes, along with the somber look of having to bid farewell to yet some more casualties of life here in Hawaii. The departees were not relatives of mine. I didn’t even know their names. Yet I, too, was compelled to see them off and bid them farewell. Arriving at the airline terminal at 5 a.m., I expected to see them in their crates, ready to be loaded into the cargo bins of the airplane. However, because they had not yet arrived at the airport, I had a chance…

Death by Snare ■ Jeffery DeRego is president of the Maui Hunter’s and Sportsmen Club, and he is hog wild. Snares are being used in the Maui forests and are catching pigs, dogs and deer. Animals have been found after long painful deaths. Jeffery claims that informants have seen as many as 5,000 snares in a conservation base yard with a presumed intent to snare Maui pigs to extinction. The Nature Conservancy The snaring controversy is not new. Snaring was used on Molokai and was ultimately banned by a coalition of citizens, humane groups and hunters. Conservation groups spearheaded by The Nature Conservancy have resurrected the snare plan on Maui. Jeffery is firm in his resolve. “We’re going to try and make it change. Pictures are popping up of dead…

Instant Swiveling Rod Holder ■ Swiveling rod holders earn their keep in a number of ways. From the safety standpoint, being able to swivel the rod tip into the cockpit reduces the need to stretch out past the transom in order to reach the leader. That long stretch in rough water is a great opportunity to take an unplanned swim. Being able to keep the rod pointed at the fish while it’s still in the rod holder and without maneuvering the boat is another plus. Dragging medium to large lures with the line going through Roller Trailers or similar devices will put nasty little grooves in your rod tips in an amazingly short period of time when the line makes a sharp angle going from the tip to the ’rigger.…

■ May signals better weather for Hawaii waters-there is less chance of severe weather, like strong Kona winds, thunderstorms or heavy rain. There is still a small chance of bad weather in May, but normally it is a well-behaved month. Trade winds will blow about 86 percent of the time, and one should expect about four to 10 days of gusty trades. Northwest swell activity will continue to decrease. Surf at Sunset Beach, O‘ahu, will not rise above five feet on most days, but there is a chance that 10- to 15-foot surf can occur. Higher than normal swell and surf on the southern shores will be increasing through the month as storms in the Southern Hemisphere become stronger. Tropical cyclones do not normally occur in Hawaii waters in May.…

■ I mentioned in the akule/halalu article published in the December 1998 HFN issue, that ‘oama, or baby weke, has a pelagic life cycle similar to halalu. I guess I opened up a subject that many readers are not too familiar with, and I owe ‘oama anglers some information I have from my past exposure to this resource. From a recreational fishery viewpoint, the ‘oama fishery is probably Hawaii’s most important inshore fishery. Unfortunately, the scientific community, especially my former organization, which is suppose to provide the fishing public a fishery management plan based on scientific information, is again trying to mislead the public by using unfounded rationale. If you recall, there was an article in the local newspaper during the latter part of last year that mentioned the state…

Dear Chuck, My Christmas vacation was one that I will never forget. Before my Christmas break started, I’d made plans with my Uncle Curtis Otsuka to go bottom fishing on his boat. When I reached home, we finalized our plans. We decided that we would go the following Saturday. Finally, the day to go came around. I had been waiting a whole four months for this. That day, we decided to fish the La Perouse area. While getting to our fishing destination, we dragged lures in hopes of maybe hooking up to an ono or some kind of pelagic fish. Finally, we reached the general area in which we were going to bottom fish. That day, we were going to try our luck using damashi. We drifted along, all the…

■ ‘Ahi was the word this month. Yellowfin, bigeye and albacore made their appearance. Mark Wildman aboard his AIGLE DE MER was touring the recently redeployed T-buoy when he took a great double strike. The reels were screaming for the very calm Mark, who also surfs a lot when not fishing out of Makani Kai Harbor. He caught two bigeye ‘ahi that day weighing 86 and 118 lbs. Tombo, or albacore tuna, is the white-meat tuna in the can. Tombo bite like crazy when they get close to a lure-any lure. Just ask Matt Kailio, Momi Smith, Sista Uehara and Uncle Al Lentz, who were fishing aboard the CELIA K ’way out north where the tombo were last seen. They went into the pile and on every pass had multiple…

SILVER EAGLE Il-Dav Six ■ We woke early and walked to the local bakery for a fresh hot cinnamon roll and cup of coffee. Tenakee Springs is very small with all the houses built along the one trail going through town. The town seemed like a cross between towns of the 1800s and the present day. The main street was an unpaved wagon trail. Every house had a bicycle or two parked in front (like cars in Hawai‘i) next to the occasional ATV. John headed us back out to sea for our last day of fishing. We stopped at several halibut spots en route to Cross Sound, but the fishing was slow. At the last spot we fished on the way to Hoonah. Matt nailed a fat coho weighing about…

For letters, with photos, received during the month of May we’ll send you an HFN Holoholo Style Koolzie, HFN Cap and two Official HFN RV or Boat Window Stickers…our way of saying thanks for sharing your catch!…Hana pa‘a, Chuck Send to: P.O. Box 25040, Honolulu, HI 96825 Dear Chuck, How’s this catch for a small, 15-foot boat? My fishing buddy, Owen Kobayashi, and I were fishing outside of Nanakuli early one October morning. We launched at 7 a.m. and no more than an hour had gone by when this marlin took our long outrigger and started screaming line out of our 80TW. We were able to land the marlin and get back to the washdown by 9:30 a.m. What a short day of fishing, but a great one! The marlin…

■ This report was developed for the Hawaii Ocean Industry and U.S. Coast Guard to use as an aid in making risk management decisions. The intent was to collect information, identify problem areas so that boaters could take proactive measures to prevent fishing vessel related casualties and incidents, and for the U.S. Coast Guard to disseminate risk information to the maritime community. The information will serve to heighten the maritime and ocean user community’s awareness of casualty risks and ultimately reduce fishing vessel casualties. The report was also compiled to determine if present U.S. Coast Guard activities are assisting the fishing community. U.S. Coast Guard resources should be used to reduce the number of casualties. Fishing Vessel Casualties by Year Overall Casualties In total, the number of casualties decreased 17…

‘O‘io on the Fly ■ The previous week had been a page out of my worst nightmare. Constant winds of up to 45 miles an hour had plagued the islands. I managed to get out on the water twice. Although I got in a few hours of good high wind casting practice with my 10-weight rod, the periodic downpours and wind-generated surf made the fishing anything but pleasurable. The following week was a completely different story. The winds died down to less than a whisper and the sky was bright blue. I spent the first three days of the week admiring these perfect flyfishing conditions from inside a classroom with 27 adrenalin-filled sixth-graders. My chance to get out on the water finally came on Thursday when the class’ regular teacher…

■ Finally, the time of year I wait for in earnest is here in all its glory. It’s warming up from the dreary days of 70-degree weather to a much more respectable 78 degrees. The good days are outnumbering the bad, as far as weather, and I can get out- and do the kind of fishing I love best of all-trolling the ledge for ono. I love to eat them, and, on occasion; they love to eat my lures. I have two favorite lures for ono. The first is a 7-inch jumper, and the second is a 9-inch jet. The jumper I run in close on my corner and center rods; on my outriggers, I run the jets. Lately, I have been getting three times more hits on the jets,…

■ “In like a lamb and out like a lion” sure applied to the March weather on O’ahu this year, and the South Shore fish production followed right along with it. The nice wind and sea conditions combined with warm ocean temperatures produced some excellent marlin fishing early in the month, but the fleet’s inability to get out with any regularity toward the end showed in the overall catch. Still, it was an interesting month. Good fishing, a little adventure and a few other odds and ends made our time on the water great. Like Old Man and the Sea The 7th was a great day for James Wall, Mark Powell and Rosalei Norwood. Mark, visiting from Alaska, had gone fishing with James aboard the WAIKIKI a week previous and…

Bank Fishing Is a Sport? ■ You bet it is. But, did you ever wonder why bank fishing is so overwhelmingly popular elsewhere in the world and relatively disdained in the United States? Ask the tackle manufacturers. Bank fishing does not require as much equipment as casting and spinning, and the upkeep of the equipment costs a lot less. A bank angler does not risk the loss of a $7 lure every time the line is cast. As a matter of fact, $7 will buy you a pole, line, hooks and bait! It is my opinion that for leisure fishing, the worst of bait is still better than the best of lures. But, because we are an economy based on use and replacement, the tackle manufacturers naturally put most of…

■ Alaska king salmon are also called Chinook salmon. The king is the largest salmon, averaging 11 to 30 lbs, and has been known to reach 125 lbs. The longest stream migration of Alaska’s salmon is that of the kings that enter the Yukon River in spring, bound for headwater spawning streams in the Yukon Territory more than 2,000 miles away. The fat stored by these fish provides the energy necessary for their long journey. Most king salmon have red flesh, but some have white. The king salmon flesh has a softer texture than other species, and its rich oil content makes it excellent for smoking. Although some is canned, most king salmon is marketed as steaks, fillets, roasts or whole dressed. It is best served either broiled or poached.…

OFFSHORE TOURNAMENTS OFFSHORE HUNTER’S TOURNAMENT May 8 & 9, 1999 Hawaii Yacht Club-Oahu Mike House (808) 396-2607 1739-C Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu, HI 96815 KONA CLASSIC TOURNAMENT May 21, 22 & 23, 1999 Tropidilla-Kona (808) 325-7300 P.O. Box 2158, Kailua-Kona, HI 96745 MWR PEARL HARBOR FISHING TOURNAMENT May 22, 1999 Doug Hasselbring-Oahu (808) 473-0279 57 Arizona Memorial Dr., Slip 101, Honolulu, HI 96818 MEMORIAL DAY TOURNAMENT May 29, 30 & 31, 1999 Hawaii Big Game Fishing Club-Kona (808) 325-7362 P.O. Box 3106, Kailua-Kona, HI 96745 AHI FEVER IN WAIANAE June 12 & 13,1999 Waianae Boat Fishing Club-Oahu (808) 696-3399 P.O. Box 821, Waianae, HI 96792 http://www.stkhi.com/AHI_FEVER BIG ISLAND INVITATIONAL MARLIN TOURNAMENT June 16, 17, 18,19 & 20,1999 Tropidilla-Kona (808) 325-7300 P.O. Box 2158, Kailua-Kona, HI 96745 FIRECRACKER OPEN July 2,…