Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2003 i Hawaii Fishing News

■ On a lazy Saturday afternoon, as he has done so many times before, Robert Kikuta flicked his wrist and sent his lure whistling into Manoa Stream. With measured jerks and cranks, he expertly weaved his plug in and out of the grass-lined banks. The ripples and bubbles of his returning decoy were the only signs of life in this quiet tributary of the Ala Wai Canal. Suddenly, as if to avenge the unwelcome disturbance, a fish came from out of nowhere, charged the offending lure and stopped it dead in its tracks. With line hissing from his reel, Robert calmly waited for the excitement to abate before guiding the stubborn fish into his landing net. With utmost care, he gently removed the barbed contraption from the toothy mouth of…

Ka‘ahupahau ■ Eia no ho‘i! Aloha no! Mahalo a nui loa i na heluhelu HFN no ka‘olelo maika’ i a ka mahina ‘e a‘e. E hau‘oli ana au i ka helu a me ka pane mai i kona mau lelo uila. I keia mo‘olelo e pili ana i ka‘aina nani no, i kapa ‘ia, e Pu‘uloa, a me ka‘aumakua, e Ka‘ahupahau, he mano i ke kia‘i o Pu‘uloa. Here we are again! Greetings! A big thanks to HEN readers for their wonderful comments last month. I was overjoyed to read and answer many of your E-mails. This particular story speaks about a beautiful place called Pu‘uloa (Pearl Harbor) and its former guardian, Ka‘ahupahau, the shark god that watched over Pu’ uloa. Pu‘uloa, located in Central o‘ahu, is known throughout the…

■ On May 5, 2003, the U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer SHOUP DDG 86 conducted sonar operations for five hours in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and in Haro Strait near Vancouver Island, creating one of the most obvious displays of marine mammal harassment that experienced observers have ever seen anywhere. The terrorized whales and porpoises in the region could not escape the intense midfrequency (3 kHz) long duration “pings” from the ship’s SQS 53C sonar, and several porpoises are reported to have “coincidentally” stranded and died following the sonar event. The carcasses of these mammals have been collected for forensic examination for acoustic pressure trauma (bleeding in ears and brain). By chance, a pod of 22 killer whales was in Haro Strait at the time of the sonar…

USF&WS Offers Grants ■ The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USF&WS) is making nearly $700,000 in grants available to fund projects that benefit public hunting opportunities and/or endangered plants and animals within the counties of Maui and Hawaii. The goal of this effort is to provide financial resources to local communities to implement a strategy that reconciles the needs of endangered species with the continued presence of suitable game mammal populations. Both sides share important common goals for land management. Solutions address reduction of feral animal pressure on endangered species or reduction of endangered species regulation on hunting activities. Increasing the quality of hunting opportunities (by improving habitat that supports game mammals, opening new areas to hunting, or otherwise increasing the amount of game animals available) should result in reduced…

■ It has been a while since I last submitted a report from Kaua’ i, so I’ll try to make up for it. Late winter is traditionally a slow period. Whatever action we had seemed to come from the FADs. Lots of aku and shibi-ko took up residence at the FADs, which provided excellent fishing for light-tackle enthusiasts. Thirty- to 40-pounders were caught on 30-lb class gear, and that made things very interesting. Besides using bait and trolling, diamond jigs were used to get at the fish that were swimming at the 30- to 40-fathom depth. With all the aku at the FADs, Capts. Scott Akana and Howard Singer successfully dragged bridled aku around the buoys. There were very few bird piles to be found during the last couple of…

OFFSHORE TOURNMENTS WORLD CUP BLUE MARLIN CHAMPIONSHIP July 4, 2003 Jim Hardie—Miami (305) 559-y8485 P.O. Box 2476, Miami, FL 33159 FIREGRACKER OPEN July 5 & 6, 2003 Tropidilla—Kona (808) 327-1440 P.O. Box 2158, Kailua-Kona, Hl 96745 <info@konatournaments.com> SKINS MARLIN DERBY July 11, 12 & 13, 2003 Tropidilla—Kona (808) 327-1440 P.O. Box 2158, Kailua-Kona, HI 96745 <info@konatournaments.com> THE CHARTER DESK’S SUMMER SLAM July 16, 17 & 18, 2003 Kona (808) 329-5735 or (888) 566-2487 E-Mail <ihunui@aloha.net> LAHAINA WAHINE TOURNAMENT July 22, 2003 Lahaina Yacht Club—(808) 661-0191 Donnell Tate at <tatemaui@aol.com> LAHAINA JACKPOT July 25, 26 & 27, 2003 Lahaina Yacht Club—(808) 661-0191 Donnell Tate at <tatemaui@aol.com> 2ND ANNUAL KBC PURE JACKPOT July 26, 2003 Keehi Boat Club—O’ahu (808) 841-7271 4 Sand Island Access Road, Box 44, Honolulu, Hi 96819 WORLD BILLFISH…

■ We have had tremendous growth this year thanks to the support of Hawaii’s fishermen. This has been a year of huge growth for our project with more recruits, recoveries and tagged fish. Currently, we have more than 600 volunteer taggers who have tagged about 6,200 fish. The project has distributed more than 12,000 tags and has recorded at least 800 recoveries. Statewide within the last three months anglers have tagged 1,100 fish alone, which averages out to about 366 a month! We hope this is a good indicator for the upcoming summer run of papio. Fishing Club Support We would like to thank some of the fishing clubs that recently have shown their support for our project. Last month the Island Shorecasters Fishing Club voted to mandate that 100…

The ‘Ahi Fever Tournament Returns to the Wai‘anae Coast with 200 Teams and $65,000 ■ The Waianae Boat Fishing Club is proud to announce the winners of the 2003 Sixth Ahi Fever Fishing Tournament. Two hundred teams participated in the tournament held this past June 14 and 15 at the Wai’ anae Boat Harbor. The fishing began each morning with a bang with the starting flare being fired by Sen. Colleen Hanabusa and Rep. Maile S. Shimabukuro. Cash prizes totaling $65,000 were divided among 28 teams. The grand prize for the largest ‘ahi of the tournament went to Capt. Henry Makasobe and his crew aboard the FLYING HAW’N. Capt. Makasobe won $6,250 and will have his name placed on the world’s largest perpetual trophy. Capt. Makasobe also won the $5,000…

Marlin Regulation Talks ■ The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WESPAC) is meeting in Honolulu to discuss marlin fishing regulations. According to WESPAC’s Paul Dalzell, a recent two-year stock assessment by the Honolulu Lab using U.S. and international data indicates that Pacific blue marlin stocks are at their sustainable Pacificwide harvest level. Currently, there are no marlin laws limiting catches in Hawai‘i. Though the marlin population is not overfished, WESPAC is looking at a variety of options that could reduce the marlin catch in federal waters from 3 to 200 nautical miles. One of these options is a marlin quota. Other marlin measures for discussion include gear, circle hooks, time closures, area closures and marlin education. Sport fishing for marlin is very much a part of the equation and…

■ The word was that a herd of wild pigs were coming down from the Waiakea watershed above my friend’s garden and digging up all of his plants, especially the sweet potatoes and tomatoes that grew so well in the dark soil of Hilo. Haru Takamine’s garden was his retirement hobby, and he was astonished by the amount of digging a herd of 10 pigs had done in his 50-foot garden. It looked as if a construction firm had brought their backhoe in and worked over the garden for a couple of hours. The pigs had dug down about a foot and a half, and half of the plants he had tended so lovingly were dead or dying. Obviously the big fat worms that kept his soil rich were the…

■ The 2003 Keehi Boat Club Pure Jackpot Tournament was held on April 5, 2003, at Ke‘ehi Small Boat Harbor. Thirty-five teams entered the tournament with the hopes of catching a big marlin to win the event. Although 25 teams reported catching fish, it didn’t take a large fish to win. In fact, third and fourth places were won with fish weighing less than 100 lbs. The KBC Pure Jackpot Tournament is an annual event in its fifth year and is one of the first tournaments of the year. Cash prizes are awarded for the four largest fish of the tournament. The next KBC tournament will be the KBC Pure Jackpot Team Challenge on July 19, 2003. This is a fun event where up to three boats fish together as…

■ Surf’s up! That was the call of the day as large swells from both the northwest and south pounded our shores and made navigating the harbor entrance challenging, to say the least. Once outside the harbor, anglers were treated to action at the buoys. The three inside buoys held some small shibi in the 5- to 15-lb range, while the outer buoys like CO-buoy held some larger tuna in the 15- to 30-lb range. The big secret last month was HH-buoy. It was “going off.” Some of the Wai’ anae charterboats made the long journey up there, fished for only an hour or two and returned with 300 or 400 lbs of yellowfin tuna in the 8- to 50-lb range. A few Wai‘anae commercial fishermen who had faster boats…

How To Make the Most of Your Lure Pattern: Part 3 ■ The “fifth” lure in the pattern gives a troller the chance to participate actively in exciting a fish to strike. It is the lure the troller can go to when a fish shows up in the pattern but doesn’t seem to want to grab a lure. Capt. Bill “B.C.” Crawford explained how this works on the Kona charterboat CHIRIPA. “We run the stinger on the eighth wave where it is ready to go into action if an uninterested fish shows up in the pattern,” B.C. said. “A lot of times a billfish will be attracted to a lure enough to follow it or maybe even hit it without getting hooked up. If that happens, we put the stinger…

Nu‘uanu Channel Cat Fishing for the Beginner ■ Match the bait to the hook. Recently some anglers have had pretty good results with commercial catfish pastes, and there does not seem to be any particular commercial bait that is any better than the others. The choice of hook does make a difference, though. If an angler uses dough baits, a treble hook with a bait holder spiral is a good choice. A treble is a lot better than a single hook where the least mouthing by a fish makes the bait detach. Aku belly and salmon slivers seem to be the baits of choice for most of the successful anglers, generally found as part of the offerings brought to the venue. Stink baits have been observed to catch channel cats,…

Let’s Give the Birds Their Due! ■ For the second time in 40 years, the Hawai‘i Kai Marina has undertaken action to rid the marina of the endangered Hawaiian stilt. The stilt, an endangered native water bird found only in Hawai‘i, is in danger of losing its regained ancestral nesting grounds in Hawai‘i-kai. When the marina was Kuapa Pond, it was one of the largest wetlands on the leeward coast of o‘ahu. With the development of the 266-acre Hawai‘i Kai Marina in the 1950s, all the wetlands that were the ancestral home for the Hawaiian stilt and other native water birds were lost. During the 1996 time period when the marina was filling Rim Island No. 2 with dredge spoil in the upper marina, a wetland was created within the…

■ In part four we focused on the establishment of Hawaiian Tuna Packers Ltd., the life and death of the BONITO and its owners as well as the life of an aku fisherman and diver, Phil Diez. For the next two months we will examine the lives of aku fishermen and their vessels. Aku Fishing in Hawai‘i So, what was the life of a commercial aku fisherman like? Let’s take a look. Their office was outdoors, and their working hours were right around the clock. Their day usually began before the sun rose and ended for a short time at night while they were waiting for bait to gather around the night light. They didn’t know the meaning of an eight-hour work day or a 40-hour work week. They fished…

Ono, Ono and More Ono! ■ Hale‘iwa trailers had a good time catching ono. Just in time for all the graduation parties, the boats brought in anywhere from two to a dozen ono in one trip. They might not have been ‘ahi or aku, but ono sashimi is just as good-maybe even better! Some of the Hale‘iwa trailers ventured around to the leeward side of the island to find the yellowfin that were swimming with the porpoise schools. They hooked their share of the ‘ahi. With good weather and light variable winds, the fishing was a little more relaxing. We didn’t have to worry about getting pounded by the gusty trade winds. Hopefully, this weather will continue throughout the summer, at least through the North Shore Hana Pa‘a Tournament. The…

To the Editor: The May 2003 issue of HAWAII FISHING NEWS contains an article by Mike Sakamoto, entitled, “West Hawaii Fisheries Council-The Model, the Solution, or the Problem?” Mr. Sakamoto, through his television appearances, has become a “fishing celebrity” in our community, and, as such, people tend to respect his views and opinions. My wife once worked with Mr. Sakamoto on a rather large film project and found him to be intelligent and reasonable. For that reason, we were considerably surprised at the number of false and misleading statements in his article. In the interests of truth and accuracy, I believe HAWAII FISHING NEWS has an obligation to print this rebuttal of Mr. Sakamoto’s opinions. Since Mr. Sakamoto had nothing whatsoever to do with the initial push and eventual passage…

For letters, with photos, received during the month of July we’ll send you HFN’s New Red, White and Blue “Fight For the Right to Fish” Cap…our way of saying thanks for sharing your catch! …Hana pa‘a, Chuck Send to: P.O. Box 25488, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96825 Aloha Chuck, This is a picture of my 5-year-old nephew Baba holding his “prize” papio. This was his first time using a reel and he caught this papio with his first cast. It gave him a good fight and he did it all by himself. He was so proud. After a few more casts, he caught another one. He is now “hooked” on fishing. I’m sure in the future he will join the 100-Plus Club. Happy Fishing, Aunty Chris and Damien Kalani Kaholo Jr. “Baba”…