Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2007 i Hawaii Fishing News

■ The Waianae Boat Fishing Club was proud to host this year’s Ahi Fever Fishing Tournament and its many unexpected turns of events. First of all was the amount of fish caught on Saturday the 16th of June. We had a total of 189 qualifying fish, 114 of which were big ‘ahi. These 189 fish caught on Saturday alone weighed in at 19,149 lbs and kept the scales busy until 9 p.m. Jesse Nohoikaiu, president of the Waianae Boat Fishing Club, was in charge of all the volunteers. He had to close one scale at 7 p.m. to consolidate all of his help. The volunteers who worked from 4 a.m. inspecting boats, until 9 p.m. weighing fish had unbelievable endurance and dedication. They need to be recognized and acknowledged! They…

■ It was time again for S. Tokunaga Store’s Ulua Challenge. This year’s tournament was held from May 17 to 20. As the deadline neared, entrant after entrant walked into S. Tokunaga Store with entry form and fee in hand. When the entries hit the 300 mark, the word spread around town that this would be a huge tournament. The final count was a whopping 357 entrants, possibly the largest ulua tournament in the state! This tournament has two main categories: ulua and ‘omilu. As in previous Ulua Challenges, entrants were given the option to participate in a Barbless Hook Category as well as a Tag-and-Release Category. The Ulua Challenge was the first tournament to use barbless hooks and the first tournament to offer a tag-and-release division. Barbless hook entrants…

Krocodile Mods ■ In three or four articles this year, I’ve shown ulua, ‘omilu and kahala I have caught on heavy Krocodile spoons modified to make them more effective and less likely to hang up on the bottom. You want the details? I can handle the details. For deep-jigging in depths of 25 to 80 fathoms, we choose Krocodiles weighing at least 3 oz. I like the 3¼-oz size (shown), but Luhr Jensen also makes them in 5 -and 7-oz versions for jigging very, very deep. These lures usually come with a treble hook, which must be replaced because it seems to snag the bottom on every drop. I add a bucktail dressing that helps fend off snags and may attract more strikes to the tail end of the hook…

■ Fuel prices are reaching their summertime highs in many parts of the country, so Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatU.S.) has a few tips that could help stretch your fuel dollars: 1. Leave the extra junk home. Don’t load the boat with weight you don’t need. Do a little spring-cleaning. Unused equipment that has been collecting mildew in the bottom of lockers for years should be taken home. 2. Water weight. At 8.33 lbs per gallon, why keep the tank topped off if you’re only going out for the afternoon? 3. Tune her up. An engine tune-up is an excellent investment and should easily pay for itself over the summer. 4. Tune your prop. If your boat goes 30 mph with a like-new prop and only 27…

■ On Saturday, September 15, Hawaii will join the rest of the globe to participate in the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC). The ICC is coordinated globally by the Ocean Conservancy, which works with local state and county coordinators to engage people to remove trash and debris from the world’s beaches and waterways, to identify the sources of debris, and to change the behaviors that cause pollution. The ICC (which in Hawaii is called “Get the Drift & Bag It!”) is the only cleanup where volunteers document what man-made materials are being found in the environment. Last year globally a total of 358,617 volunteers picked up 7 million pounds of trash, cleaning 34,560 miles of shoreline. This September, Get the Drift & Bag It! will be including a special recreational fishing…

■ Aloha from the Friendly Isle of Moloka‘i. Where is the switch for the wind? Whew, it has been a blowing here like crazy for the past month. The fishermen are still waiting for the big ‘ahi to show up, but so far just the little guys have been caught. The waters surrounding the island don’t have quite the depth that ‘ahi like, unless you fish the North Shore of the island; but that’s a huge journey if you fish out of the south side of the island as the majority of the fishermen do. Oh, well! Maybe there will be a few strays that like shallow water and will infiltrate through the channels close to Kaunakakai. We can always hope for a miracle or two. We’ve just got to…

For letters, with photos, received during August we’ll send you HFN’s30th Anniversary embroidered cap, MAXIFLEX Sample pack (New Glow Tako Lure)…our way of saying thanks for sharing your catch!…Hana pa‘a, Chuck Send to: P.O. Box 25488, Honolulu, Hawaii 96825 or e-mail: <fishnews@hawaii.rr.com> Hi, My name is Jesse Ko. This crab is not the biggest but I’m proud of the catch. On Saturday, May 12, 2007, I caught this male Samoan crab at a secret place I call “black pipe” near Pearl Harbor. It was 10:27 a.m. when I decided to check my net and pulled up this 5-lb Samoan crab. It was so big that it took up all the room in the cooler. Thanks, Jesse Ko‘Aiea, O‘ahu Dear Chuck, My nephew D.J. and I (Takeo) went holoholo down Kalapana…

■ So many fish, so little time! That’s the way it felt at this year’s Ahi Fever Tournament held at Wai‘anae Harbor on Father’s Day weekend. NOAA Fisheries Service volunteers collected fishers’ best guesses on the weight of their ‘ahi and marlin at the two-day tournament. By the time they scaled the last fish, we had collected 367 guesses from 226 fishers. How did they do? Pretty well! Most guys really had fun with the guesses and tried to give it their best shot. Six percent of guesses were within a pound of the actual weight, and an additional 19 percent were within 5 lbs. Taken together, fishers guessed the weight of their large ‘ahi and marlin within 10 lbs of their actual weight about half the time. Even better,…

Hi Chuck, On March 4, 2007 I took advantage of the unseasonably light winds and calm ocean on the southeast shore of the Big Island for a morning of fishing and maybe a little whale watching. What an awesome morning! Immediately after leaving Pohoiki boat ramp I ran into several large humpbacks and one pup close to shore. Anxious to get to my favorite fishing spot several miles to the northeast, I turned along shore and to my surprise, the whales turned with me and swam parallel with me about 75 yards away from my kayak and tracking with me for a mile and a half before diving for the depths and out of sight. After the whale adventure, I paddled another hour or so until I reached the area…

Ahi Fever Strikes the Paddle Fleet ■ My fish finder was reading 190 feet when my first strike of the day came. It was my first bait, and I’d only had it in the water for 15 minutes. I knew it was an ono by the amount of line it was burning off the spool and by the way the fish made a 180-degree turn and charged right back at me. I tried to pick up line as fast as I could, but just as the line was getting tight, the fish spit the hook. Don lokepa was 100 yards away. He paddled up to me just in time to see my line go slack and my head drop in disappointment. “Well, that’s a real good sign,” I said. “Having…

Nu‘uanu Gets a Shave ■ The face of Nu‘uanu is presently undergoing a much-needed shave, and a few thousand of you will not be able to recognize the view when you arrive for this fishing session. It all started innocently enough. At the beginning of the month, we noticed a mechanical shovel sitting in the parking area. It became a bit of an intrigue when we were subsequently unable to verify the purpose for the crawler-excavator. A week later, the purpose became quite obvious when all of the 125 Norfolk pine trees were mowed down and work proceeded to denude the face of the dam. (Poor No. 13 et al.! Sniff!) Mind you, this work should have been done a long time ago, and it is high time that the…

Hualalai Pond Breathes Again ■ David Chai was a student at UH Manoa when he took a walk to King’s Landing and fell into a anchialine pond. King’s Landing is a remote cove and black sand beach on the lava-ledge Hilo Coast heading to Puna. It’s famous as the King Kamehameha splintered paddle site. David thought he had fallen into a polluted puddle. Instead, he stepped into his future. He is now director of natural resources at Four Seasons Hualalai Resort in the Ka‘upulehu area outside of Kona. There, he has restored the Waiakauhi Ponds, anchialine ponds, otherwise known as ancient fishponds. Hawaii is the only place in America where anchialine fishponds are found. More than 90 percent have been lost to development. There are 700 left, with most of…

■ The Waialua Boat Club (WBC) held their annual Fourth of July Tournament (“da young punks” vs. “da old futs”), open to members only. The fishing was followed by a picnic in Hale‘iwa, next to the boat ramp. This year six teams participated, and for the sixth consecutive year, the “old futs” ruled. The coordinators of the 2007 tournament were Craig Yanagihara and Herbert (Herb) Nakagawa. The weighmasters for this event were Herb and Willis Ward. Before the start of the meet, the teams were divided into two groups based on age. The score for this year’s fish take was overwhelming. The young punks had a total weight of 142 lbs, and the old futs had a catch of 620.8 lbs for the weekend, thanks in part to Warren Von…

■ Enjoy summer in Hawai‘i waters. August is the warmest month over land and in the water. No Kona storms or cold fronts are expected. Replacing these two wintertime storms could be storms born over the warm tropical waters-tropical storms and hurricanes. August is the favored month for these storms. Over the past years, these storms have appeared in Hawai‘i waters so it will be prudent to listen to the National Weather Service marine forecasts before venturing into the water. Weather satellite pictures spot these storms. Trade winds will be the common feature as they persist through the month. Expect about five to 10 days of gusty trade winds that can make the waters too rough. Northwest swell and surf activity is at the minimum, but southerly surf could be…

■ As a kid growing up in Wai‘anae, I spent many days fishing at the old Pokai Bay Harbor. Whenever I could, I would help fishermen load their boats on their trailers and lend a hand washing up. If I was lucky, I got a nice aku to take home for dinner. I remember seeing some amazing fish brought in during the old Pokai Bay tournaments. Because of these experiences as a kid, I always look forward to participating in the Ahi Fever tournament in Wai‘anae. Ahi Fever is my favorite fishing tournament, and I made sure to send in my application early for 2007. I ended up with team number 96. Because my wife, April, and I have triplets (Marlin, Dylan and Linnea), the number 3 is our lucky…

■ Here are the results for the Port Allen Tournament held June 23, 2007. The ‘ahi showed up for the tournament this year. Thirty-one boats landed 61 big ‘ahi, many over 100 lbs and several breaking the 200-lb mark. There were several multiple hookups. The WILD THANG came in with nine ‘ahi, and the WAHINE KEPALOA caught 12. Everyone was tired and happy to be back on land after 10 hours of fishing in moderate seas with winds gusting to 30 knots. The tournament was followed by a lu‘au and awards ceremony. Local merchants donated prizes that went to the winners. The club expects a large turnout next year when it celebrates its 10th annual fishing tournament. Aloha. …Phil…

■ I dialed my phone at 6 a.m. “Steve Wonder, whea you stay?” I asked. “I’m going through the Kolekole Pass right now. I’ll be there in 15 minutes.” Steve replied. “Hurry up. The fish waiting for you,” I reminded him. Steve Wright had not been out with the Aqua Hunters since last year’s run. He could not wait to get out there. Till this point, Steve had only pulled in aha and was dying to get a shot at a trophy ‘yak fish. For two days, Steve and I visited. We talked fishing and prepped rigs and baits for the excursion. Steve had just come from a 24-hour work shift but was in a great mood this Saturday morning. “Let’s do this!” He announced before our ‘yaks hit the…

Somewhere Over the Rainbow ■ There are certain limitations to living and fishing in the paradise of Taveuni. For example, there is no harbor or docks or anything that might afford you a civilized method of entering and exiting a vessel. You simply walk from the beach to mid-calf in the water, climb up the ladder, get on the boat and off you go. It is all part of the fishing adventure. Climbing down the ladder with a load of fish is another matter. Capt. John Llanes has devised the best way to do this. He dumps the cooler and the fish into the water. They have a little rinse-off and are then put back in the cooler and brought home. This system had been working just fine. When Oscar…

■ Working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), three sixth-grade students from Our Redeemer Lutheran School in Honolulu presented their school project highlighting the effects of marine debris to an international audience during the marine debris session at the PACON 2007 conference on June 26. Jordan Wong, Brandon Lim and Andrew Shiozaki enthusiastically started off the marine debris session with a presentation of their project titled, “Plastic Pollution.” They presented to a room of local and international researchers and professionals, reminding all of them of the hope and potential of our next generation. They captured the attention of NOAA at the recent Hawaii State Science and Engineering Fair, and staff from the NOAA Marine Debris Program worked to find other opportunities for the boys to share their award…

■ This tournament will be a cyber event. All submissions need to be photographed with the lure in the picture or mouth of the fish, and all the information must be recorded for a tagged fish. Clay Tam of the Department of Aquatic Resources will supply tagging kits for contestants that don’t already have them. A limited number of resources are available, so first-come, first-served. This is a research and conservation event, designed for the protection of our near-shore fishery. It will also determine which colors and sizes of my lures are the most productive for different species and sizes of fish from island to island. There will also be a freshwater division. The tournament will run throughout the month of September. Keoni Walters and I will judge the winners.…