Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2007 i Hawaii Fishing News

■ In a previous HFN article, I shared a story of a fishing trip with a couple of new friends, which produced an 85-lb ulua. At that time, the fish was my biggest to date. I stated that I couldn’t wait to share my next story. Little did I know that the opportunity would come so soon. Sit back, relax, and let me tell you about my latest adventure. I got calls from Leighton and Garrick, who both stated they were free to go fishing during the weekend. It was a rainy Friday afternoon, but the weather forecast for Saturday was better. We planned to head out early Saturday morning in hopes of finding a vacant deepwater fishing spot. I had a bunch of frozen tako, given to me by…

PIFG Statewide Ulua Tagging Challenge ■ We would like to thank the Pacific Islands Fisheries Group (PIFG) for supporting and promoting tagging throughout the islands. This year they formed a partnership with various shoreline tournaments statewide to sponsor a tagging category. The reason for sponsoring this category was to reward tournament anglers for their tag-and-release efforts, especially for those papio or ulua caught during a tournament that might not qualify for prizes. This, and to promote tagging project awareness. The PIFG and tournament sponsors felt this would encourage anglers to conserve our resources. If your tournament is interested in getting involved, please feel free to contact the PIFG at 265-4962. It is a win-win situation for everyone! At each tournament, anglers were allowed to submit tagging data for up to…

Dear HFN, My name is Billy Batson. I am the son of the late Bob Batson. I grew up on Maui on ‘Ulupalakua Ranch. My father was a cowboy for the ranch, and I also worked for the ranch in the summers. We lived a very simple paniolo life style. Money was tight but we always made ends meet. We hunted on the ranch for pheasants, pigs, goat and doves. We also did a lot of fishing at Ranch Beach. We slid bait for ulua at night and whipped during the days. I would also dive a lot for lobster and fish. I would be the bait guy, fishing for mamo (the best bait for that area). I would also fish for menpachi and aholehole at night. Some of my…

Ethanol Problems Continue ■ Concerned Hilo boaters attended a public meeting on problems with Hawaii’s E10 ethanol fuel blend. The ethanol fuel meeting, held at the University Hawaii Hilo campus, was hosted by Big Island politicians Rep. Dwight Takamine, Rep. Clift Tsuji and Rep. Faye Hanohano. The legislators heard numerous boater complaints of fouled engines, poor ignition, costly engine overhauls and offshore engine maydays caused by ethanol fuel blends. The resolve of the meeting was that a public safety warning needs to be issued on the dangers of ethanol fuel blends in Hawai‘i. Ethanol Working Group Maria L. Tome, an engineer with the Alternate Energy Engineer Strategic Industries Division, Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, state of Hawai‘i, talked on ethanol’s background. She explained that during the record fuel…

Dear Chuck, My name is Troy Souza, and I am an 11-year-old, 6th-grader at Pearl Ridge Elementary. My adventure began the weekend before the Fourth of July. I was at my Uncle Darren’s house, helping him smoke some marlin. Uncle Tracy was there helping, too, and telling me I was old enough to go fishing on the boat with them. It was decided then that my brother Ryan and I would fish with dad and my two uncles that coming Tuesday. Uncle Tracy kept teasing Ryan and me, telling Us he couldn’t wait to hear the dinosaur noises we would be making when we got seasick. I was already up by the time Dad came to wake us at 3:30 a.m. I wasn’t able to sleep because I was too…

For letters, with photos, received during January we’ll send you HFN’s 30th Anniversary embroidered cap, KAPU STICK-Fish Regulations Sticker…our way of saying thanks for sharing your catch!…Hana pa‘a, Chuck Send to: P.O. Box 25488, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96825 or email: <fishnews@hawaii.rr.com> Aloha Chuck, Here is a picture of this summer’s fishing trip to Lake Roosevelt in Washington State. We caught these whopper-sized rainbow trout while trolling on the BIG DEAL with Capt. Boswell. These trout would strike like ‘ahi and fight like marlin, taking line while jumping and doing flips. A few times we thought we were hooked into a salmon. But even though they weren’t salmon, they sure did taste like one. Mahalo,K.J. RobinsonKona, Hawai‘i Good Morning Chuck, My wife and I went for a eight-day vacation to Hawai‘i. We…

■ Pat Vietorino, the famed ulua hunter of Kaua‘i (see “Kaua‘i’s Master Caster,” HFN, August 2001) recently visited Indonesia and fished near the island of Komodo, home of the notorious Komodo dragon. The following is a transcript of my conversation with Pat. Tell me how you got there? It’s pretty far isn’t it? Pretty far. I flew from Hawai‘i to Narita (Japan), from there to Bali, or Denpasar, which is basically the Ngurah Rai International Airport. From there we took a small plane to Waingapu Airport on the island of Sumba near east end of Indonesia. (The waters of Komodo are just north of Waingapu.) There I met my two fishing buddies from Australia, Malcolm Crane and Chris Harrison. So it took you a couple of days to get there?…

■ Lead poisoning is killing thousands of Laysan albatrosses each year on Midway Atoll, part of the new Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument created by President George Bush in the summer of 2006. Laysan albatrosses, thousands of which are now building their nests on Midway, are globally listed as vulnerable to extinction by the World Conservation Union. The Laysan albatross is a special trust species on the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the newly established national monument. “Laysan chicks raised in nests close to buildings left behind by the Navy are ingesting leadbased paint chips. This is causing shockingly high lead concentrations in their blood, leading to severe neurological disorders, and eventual death,” said George Fenwick, president of the American Bird Conservancy (ABC). “Federal funds are urgently needed…

■ This story is for all you guys out there that fish for ulua from the shoreline. You try for weeks, months and years, but the results are always the same: a big zero, nadda, a whitewash, bolohead. After a while, you begin to think about giving up ulua fishing and selling your huge collection of ulua fishing equipment. You remember all those times fishing in harsh conditions-thunderstorms, high-surf warnings and gale-force winds. Sometimes you think to yourself, maybe I should have stayed home. For one fisherman, after 36 years of his ulua fishing routine, the dreaming, hoping and a whole lot of whitewash trips finally paid off. On November 17, 2006, at 3 p.m., my brother in law Rodney Higashi was blessed with his first white ulua. This story…

■ When I was in Greece, I realized that most of the local families depend on the fishing industry for their income. One family in particular that I met amazed me by their amount of cooperation. My mom and I were walking down a dark alleyway when we saw a little shop with no wall on the street side, all lit up in the night. There were open crates of ice lining the walls and all over the shop, filled with many exotic fresh fish. People hurried in and out of the shop, buying what would soon become their dinner while there was still a selection left. The man in charge of selling the fish was relatively young, with dark skin and bright blue eyes. He spoke only Greek, but…

Snorkeling Taveuni Style ■ The Northern Territory of Fiji has some of the most prolific and dense inshore reef systems in the world. Unlike other renowned reef systems such as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Fiji’s reefs are located within a safe swim from the beach, not an extended boat ride. Recently, Dave Burdick, who is with the NOAA project in Guam, made a week-long side trip to Taveuni before attending the SOPAC meeting in Suva. He specifically came to explore and discover what he hoped to be some of the best diving and snorkeling the world has to offer in relation to tropical reefs. Presently, he is in charge of the project that does the GIS (Geographic Information Sensing from satellite information) mapping of Guam’s reefs. He further goes out…

■ In January, the middle of winter, weather can be varied-ranging from very nice to very bad days. More days will–be nice, but the month probably will have some severe weather that no one should be caught in. The onset of bad weather is faster than at other times, and the weather is more severe. The severe weather in decreasing events that are likely to occur are, gusty trade winds, high northwest swell and surf, cold front with gusty Kona winds, upper trough and Kona lows. Expect six to 12 days of gusty trades even though January has the lowest number of trade wind days. High northwest swell and surf continue in January. Expect about eight days with surf heights at Sunset Beach, O‘ahu, to be over 10 feet with…

Aloha Chuck, Here is the article written by one of the students in the club, Keli‘i K. I edited article to include only the first initial of the students’ last names as I want to avoid any issues with our campus’ legal department. I also included a picture of the students, me, Brillo and Keola. Let me know if you need us to do any further editing of the article and when it might possibly come out in print. ‘O‘wau me ka ha‘aha‘a,Ka‘ulu GaperoManaiakalani Advisor October 3 to 5, 2006 ■ The first trip for Manaiakalani kicked off the school year with a blast. Manaiakalani is the Kamehameha Schools Hawai‘i high school marine resource management club, affectionately called the “fishing club.” It is led by our advisor, who happens to…

■ Moi has always been a highly sought after fish from the days of old Hawai‘i till the present day. Those of you who have had the pleasure of tasting this excellent food fish baked, steamed or fried can truly understand and appreciate why this is so. It’s no wonder that this fish was strictly reserved for the ali‘i. Moi, also known as Pacific threadfin, is a member of the threadfin fish family, of which there are 33 species known from the areas of Hawai‘i and French Polynesia to Mauritius, the Seychelles. Kenya and many islands of the northern Indian Ocean. Only one species, Polydactylus sexfilis, is found in Hawaii’s waters. Moi are unique in that the lower rays of their pectoral fins are separated and developed into six long…

1. Have fish weighed and measured in the presence of a witness who signs the official entry blank or other acceptable weight slip. 2. How to weigh: Fish must be weighed on an accurate scale which is subject to verification. 3. How to measure: Measure from the tip of the jaw to middle of fork of tail (this is length). Measure around the fish where it is thickest (this is girth). 4. Entry should include clear side-view photograph of your fish. 5. You will be notified upon acceptance and verification. For an application, contact HFN at P.O. Box 25488, Honolulu, Hawaii 96825, E-mail fishnews@hawaii.rr.com, call (808)395-4499 ordownloaditat <www.hawaiifishingnews.com>.…

Hi Chuck, My name is Verne and I work for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (NOAA) I’m a engineer on the ship KA‘IMIMOANA (Ocean Seeker). Our main mission is to repair and maintain the TAO buoys along the equator in the Pacific. These buoys measure temperature, currents wind and a whole slew of other things. I just know the fishing is great at these buoys where the only other boats to fish are longliners. On this trip to Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas Islands I did not leave the ship as it was my fifth trip here. From future trips I knew that if I turned on the lights at sunset and waited till dark a whole plethora of fishes would emerge. On past trips the akule, papio and barracuda…

■ This month, we’ll explore the answers to two questions from readers. The answers will give you additional how-to advice for methods we’ve introduced in the past. 1. What do ballyhoo eat? I opened the door to that reader question in the November 2006 issue. I asked a similar question and answered it with, “I can’t really tell you-they could be vegetarians for all I know.” “Crabs,” said the interested caller. “I know because I imported a whole bunch of ballyhoo from the mainland to use for bait and I found one little crab in the mouth of almost every one of them.” Are you sure the “crab” wasn’t eating the ballyhoo? Don’t laugh until you hear about a strange parasite known as the “tongue-eating louse.” I first learned about…

Aloha Past, Present and Future ■ Haoli Makahiki Hou! 2006 was a great year for Wahine Divers, especially here on the Big Island of Hawafi. We took what we already knew and listened to others who taught us what they knew! As spear fishers, pole fishers and net fishermen, we met as a community and spoke about conservation and the good old days! This is aloha! I am pleased with the people of Hawaii for their interest in keeping the fisheries alive. Spearing, netting, hooking the fish, and ‘ono recipes from local folks: where did we learn so much, and why must we continue to educate each other? We learned from our parents and their parents; we teach our children and their children. As a Hawaiian native, I have had…

■ Are the days of Nu‘uanu Reservoir numbered, like the trees? One thing for sure is that the trees are numbered, and we suspect their days are, too. The latest in the Nu‘uanu Reservoir #4 saga is the numbering of the Norfolk pines on top of the dam next to the road. It seems as if there is a message to be gleaned from the prominent numbering. Was this numbering done in order to advise the public that the days of the dam are also numbered? Somehow or other, an official document recently floated into our hands. Lo and behold, it lists all of the proposed actions on one single sheet. Take a good look at this document. It purports to propose that all the reservoirs be drained and restored…