Innholdsfortegnelse for September 1999 i Hawaii Fishing News

World’s Largest T&R Payout ■ Participants in the inaugural Hawai‘i World Billfish Challenge-especially the major purse winners-would rate the event a 15+ on a scale of 1 to 10. The following article contains contributions and excerpts from articles written about the World Billfish Challenge by Carol Hogan for Total Sports, Mike House of Sportfish Hawaii, <http://www.sportfishhawaii.com> in addition to comments by staff and sponsors. Complete day-by-day tournament recaps and pictures are available on the Internet at <http://www.worldbillfishseries.com> under “Total Cast” for the 1999 World Billfish Challenge. On behalf all of us at Ocean Sports Productions, a big mahalo to the people of the Big Island and especially Kona, the charterboat captains and the many merchants who supported our efforts and shared their aloha with our participants. We sincerely appreciate everyone’s…

■ In last month’s article, I stated that this past legislative session was unpredictable but I didn’t think the governor would veto any of the boating and fishing bills. Wrong again. The only two bills that had any kind of public support and that legislators and staff had put many hours of work into were vetoed. HB 1296 Relating to Kane’ohe Bay (rules) and HB 1711 Relating to Kane’ohe Bay (piers) bit the dust. I hope the reasons were legitimate and that it was not a case of political “get even.” That could turn into a popular and nonproductive game. With the demise of these two bills, the only people who made out were the bureaucrats. Not one bill was passed this session that economically benefits or lowers costs to…

■ The strong winds of July made for another record for the Transpacific Yacht Race (the biannual sailing event that starts in Long Beach, California, and ends in Honolulu, Hawai‘i). Those same winds, however, kicked up the seas and made it a little difficult on some days to get on the water in the exposed areas. Nonetheless, South Shore anglers made the most of their time using the more protected areas and venturing out when they could, making July one of the most productive months this year. A lot of marlin,, ‘ahi, mahimahi and even quite a few ono came to the docks, and there were a whole bunch of smiles and stories to go along with those fish. Holoholo Fleet Mel Miyasaki and Keith Fujii took a little time…

■ Summer is coming to an end, but the fishing is picking up. The Hale’iwa fleet has been leaving very, very early in the morning and returning very, very late at night to go to Wai’anae to look for ‘ahi. Some boats have been lucky, and some have not. Due to the long run home, some commercial boats came in so late at night that there was no way they could make it to the auction block before closing time, so they called Haleiwa Fish-n-lce to meet them at the harbor to pick up the fish and take them to the block before it closed. Don’t forget to give them a call at 637-3541 or 375-2457 if you need ice or help transporting your catch. The way it looks right…

■ Here’s a preview of what host Mike Sakamoto has in store for you. August 31 to September 5-Bottom Fishing and Trolling on the ICHIBAN Capt. Steve Tarbill invites Todd Kuwaye of O’ahu and Mike to do some fishing off of Kona. They start off bottom fishing and then move on to hooking ‘ahi, aku and amberjack in South Kona. September 7 to 12-Offshore Action on the EAGLE’S NEST: Capt. Sandy Contessa and his son Chad go out deep-sea fishing with Mike on board their boat, named the EAGLE’S NEST. The waters outside of Kona are producing fish, so Mike and the Contessas do some trolling. They come up with mahimahi, aku, shortbill spearfish and some wild action. September 14 to 19-Shore Fishing and Diving at Ka‘awaioa In this shore…

■ North Shore residents may see changes over the next year in the management of the popular Pupukea Marine Life Conservation District (MLCD) and adjacent county beach park. Rules governing the marine reserve are now being reviewed by state and county officials to increase public safety, protect the near-shore environment and minimize user conflicts in the area. Increased use of the area coupled with negative impacts to the shoreline have spurred community members, area legislators and the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to seek changes to the way the area is managed and cared for. Pupukea MLCD is a designated marine protected area on O’ahu’s North Shore. Established in 1983, this MLCD includes two major swimming areas, Shark’s Cove and Three Tables, as well as the near-shore region…

■ On an extended working holiday, I had a chance to compare how we do things in Hawai‘i to how things are done elsewhere. We always hear about how things are in California, but we hardly ever hear about the East Coast or Europe. Therefore, a few comparisons are in order. We have seen that California boaters seem to have more money to spend on boating than Hawai‘i’s boaters, but is this common elsewhere? How much of the success of a boating program is related to the success of the overall economy? Nevada has more boats than Hawai‘i and seems to have good boating facilities and programs. Nevada has a sound economy with little or no taxes. Florida has a very advanced boating and fishing program, along with a very…

■ When the marlin refused to show on the first day of the 13th Annual Big Island Invitational Marlin Tournament (BIIMT), it looked like there might be a repeat of last year’s disappointing performance. Fortunately, several big ones appeared over the next two days to spread out the purse of $139,230 among five of the 33 boats entered in this annual event. The highlight of this year’s tournament actually came during the final hours of the last day. In keeping with the old adage of “saving the best for last,” the veteran crew of Capt. Jeff Fay and Capt. Henry “Butch” Chee on board the HUMDINGER, a 37-foot Rybovich that consistently places in the top of virtually every Hawai‘i sportfishing tournament, managed to land a 634-lb marlin that proved to…

■ Two hours after the fish had taken the lure, Amos Deacon and Steve Jenkins still thought they had a big ‘ahi at the end of their rapidly fraying monofilament line. Steve and Amos were entered in the Bayfest ’99 Fishing Tournament, sponsored by Marine Corps Base Hawai‘i. This year, there were 19 entries, from big boats to small 18-footers like the KOLEA, in which Steve and Amos were fishing. Amos hails from Orange County, California, where he works in the computer business, but his real love is fishing. Steve takes care of Amos’ boat, and they go fishing whenever he’s in town. Steve is a sixth-grade teacher at ‘Ahuimanu Elementary, hence the boat name, KOLEA, which is the mascot of the school. Kolea is the Hawaiian name for the…

■ Y2K came early to the boating world-four months and 10 days early, to be exact. On August 21, just before midnight Greenwich Mean Time, all of the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites rolled over to a new calendar. With a few exceptions, the change did not affect owners of GPS receivers made after 1994. The majority of these units had been programmed to roll over without a problem. Older GPS receivers, however, may require reinitializing, give inaccurate date or time information, or quit working altogether. The roll-over did not affect LORAN units, which rely on land-based radio towers and calculate time differently. “BOAT/U.S. has contacted all the major marine GPS manufacturers. We’ve found that almost all GPS units made from 1994 on should work just fine after August 21,”…

Tag and Release Report Due to the limited space available and the large number of fish caught, catch reports are limited to tuna over 100 lbs and billfish of any size, any species: (S)=Striped Marlin, (B)=Black Marlin. Charter Desk Report…

Dear Chuck, I have been sharing portions of my fish catches with my cats for many years. All the while, they have seemed to appreciate it immensely and none has ever shown any ill effects. Now, to my great surprise, Scott Martin has labeled this an “unethical, abusive and in most states illegal act.” Never mind that I am feeding them a delicacy; there might be a one-in-a-million chance they’ll get sick. According to the ciguatera fish poisoning case reports you publish in each issue, out of all the hundreds of thousands of fish (possibly millions) landed during the last year in the whole state, there have only been 18 reported cases of poisoning. While I have only caught one of the species involved in all of the cases (trevally,…

■ This was my first outing with the Atlapac Fishing Club, and I had been looking forward to it for weeks. Friday finally came, and I loaded all my fishing gear in my truck, grabbed my wife, Jane, and we headed for He’eia Kea Boat Harbor. There, we met and headed out to Kapapa Island with Shelton Sugai, driving his Boston Whaler, and Chuck Johnston, manning an Avon inflatable provided by Joe Adams of Windward Boats. We weire met on the island by Eddy Villaruel and Dan Meheula, who already had caught fish and been diving for octopus for our bait. They really have the “squid eye”! No one was ever short on fresh bait. Thanks, guys. Everyone off-loaded the boats and went about seating up their windbreaks. Jane and…

■ Whether you’re whipping surface plugs along the Lana‘i coastline or casting Blue Fox Vibrax spinning lures to silver salmon, it’s critical that your hooks be razor sharp at all times. The most important tool that you can carry is a good file or a sharpening stone. My preference is a “feather-shaped” file, which you can pick up at just about any tackle shop in Hawai‘i. You can purchase either the bare file or get one with a yellow plastic handle. I usually buy a bare file due to the lower cost and install it into a homemade handle carved out of deer antler, which I can use over and over. My file fits in a homemade leather scabbard that I wear on my belt. This keeps it easily accessible…

Dear Chuck: The statement about management of akule, ‘opelu and “all other inshore resources” made by Henry Okamoto and published on page 23 of the August 1999 HAWAII FISHING NEWS is incorrect. Akule and ‘opelu are not species currently managed by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. The council did recently support a study on akule and ‘opelu stocks in Hawai‘i, stemming from advisory panel concerns about commercial akule fishing. The completed report, which indicates that akule and ‘opelu stocks in Hawai‘i are healthy, was presented to the council at its June meeting. The council is authorized to manage fishery resources in the federal waters surrounding the U.S. Pacific islands, normally from 3 to 200 miles offshore. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1996, with provisions for…

■ At its June meeting, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WESPAC) approved the appointment of Richard Shiroma to chair its Recreational Fisheries Data Task Force. Richard, a Pelagics Advisory Panel member and a keen recreational fisher, is a recently retired GTE Hawaiian Tel senior executive. The task force will hold its first meeting on September 21 at the council office in Honolulu. Many fishers may query why there is a need to have accurate, up-to-date information on recreational fisheries production in Hawai‘i. The simple answer is allocation. Hawai‘i and other U.S. Pacific islands will shortly be included in the largest management arrangement on Earth designed to conserve and regulate tuna and other highly migratory fish stocks (HMS) in the Central and Western Pacific. This management arrangement has been…

Taking It To a Higher Power! ■ The Western Pacific Fisheries Coalition, a unique collaboration between conservationists and fishermen, has asked the secretary of commerce to step in to manage sharks here in the Western Pacific as a result of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s (WESPAC’s) actions. It is clear that the council has had adequate time to address this problem, and we at the Hawaii Fishermen’s Foundation (HFF) are in agreement with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the state of Hawai‘i that finning must be stopped immediately. We petitioned Secretary of Commerce William Daly to act under Administrative Procedure Act 5 USC s 553 (e) and the Magnuson-Stevenson Fisheries Conservation and Management Act to vacate the council’s position on shark finning and proceed with rule…

■ The Kaneohe Yacht Club held a great and exciting tournament! The VALERIE JEAN with Capt. Brett Solomon was the last boat to weigh in. They had called in a 45-lb mahimahi, and the current mahimahi division leader, the KUMUKAHI V run by Capt. Lionel Hailii, had weighed in a 46.3-lb fish. As the VALERIE JEAN’s fish came out of the box, many thought it would be close. Only the scales would decide the winner. Weighmistresses Iwalani Stone and Diane Schmucker had been weighing fish with the new digital scale all day, and it had been working great. It read out 38.8 lbs-not enough to take the lead, but enough to put the VALERIE JEAN in second and in the money. A new prize format this year allowed for three…

■ I recently returned from more tagging near Midway Atoll, 1,250 miles northwest of the main Hawaiian islands. In previous years, July has been a peak month for large yellowfin with calm seas and an abundance of natural bait in the area. This trip was very disappointing with the opposite conditions existing in the area. Rough seas, steady trade winds and a lack of forage and tuna were noted near the atoll. Surveys of Nero Seamount produced up to 35 yellowfin tagged per day in the size range of 60 to 75 cm FL (fork length) and a single bigeye release. Larger fish were found aggregated to the Ladd Seamount. However, mechanical problems on the tagging vessel limited fishing on the Ladd Seamount to a single day when 48 yellowfin…

■ Tune in to ESPN for all new half-hour episodes of “Inside Big Game Fishing, Hawai‘i” every Saturday morning at 9 a.m. Eastern time. (For those of us in Hawai‘i, that’s 3 a.m. so be sure to set your VCRs!) Join us, and catch all the biggame action on ESPN! September 4-WBC Heavy-Tackle Tournament Big bucks are good motivation for finding big fish in the first annual World Billfish Challenge Heavy-Tackle. Tournament held off Hawai‘i’s Kona Coast. September 11-Lady Angler on Midway Marlin This lady angler is really under the gun do it right with her father being the skipper and her big brother working the deck. Midway Atoll is the setting for this adventure. September 18-World Billfish Series Grand Championship Cabo San Lucas provides the venue for the first…

■ Sixteen teams participated in the Hilo Trollers July Tournament held on July 18. The weather report called for some sun and trade winds of 10 to 20 mph. With only two tournaments left and pressure running high, at 5:30 a.m. the teams headed in all directions in hopes of catching the big one. As the day went by, some boats reported hookups and some lost their fish. By the end of the day, a total of 14 teams brought to the scales 13 ‘ahi, 26 ono and 14 mahimahi. The highlight of the tournament took place aboard the MAILEII with Capt. Leroy Tavares. Angler Elroy Pauline landed a 132-lb ‘ahi. They also had a 35- and a 20-lb ono. Another good-sized catch was taken aboard the MO BETTAH with…

■ The monthly catch at the fish dock was nearly double that of the previous month. Fourteen blue marlin over 500 lbs were weighed, and the only two black marlin caught topped 500 lbs each. Two blues were released by the SEA GENIE II that were estimated at 550 and 625 lbs. Jack Harris of Lake Forest, California, angled both. He chartered the 39-foot Rybovich for 14 days with Capt. Gene Vander Hoek and released a total of 11 blues, one striper and one spearfish. They also boated three ‘ahi weighing 162½, 155½ and 122 lbs. The first monstrous fish was landed on the 1st by the MARLIN MAGIC. Randy Churchill of Pleasanthill, California, is a repeat client of Capt. Marlin Parker. They were trolling the calm waters of Kona…

Top Captains in 1998 ■ It was a close race between the top four captains sport fishing out of Lahaina Harbor. After all the numbers were crunched, looked at and weighed, one captain just nudged out the rest. Capt. Mark Davis won the top captain honors among the 32 captain/co-captains of the Lahaina Harbor charter sportfishing fleet for 1998. Mark caught 37 billfish. As the main captain aboard the 31-foot Bertram EXACT, Mark weighed 21 blue marlin weighing 4,383 lbs, nine striped marlin totaling 455 lbs, and five spearfish totaling 183 lbs. Of the boat’s 47 billfish, Mark brought to the scales 35 billfish weighing a total of 5,021 lbs. Mark also weighed a 78-lb striped marlin while captain aboard the REEL HOOKER and a 154-lb blue marlin while captain…