Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2007 i Hawaii Fishing News

▪ Ka‘ena Point is, as many fishers know, a special area known for its scenic coastal dunes and its fishing. Because of its valuable natural and cultural resources, the point is a Natural Area Reserve managed by the DLNR. After motorized vehicles were prevented from entering the reserve in the 1980s, the ecosystem recovered. It is now home to a growing population of rare and endangered coastal plants and sea birds such as Laysan albatrosses and wedge-tailedshearwaters. Hawaiian monk seals and green sea turtles are also regularly found resting along the shoreline. But the special resources at Ka‘ena are under constant threat. In 2006, dogs and cats killed more than 100 ground-nesting sea birds. Other predators of sea birds, their chicks and eggs are rats and mongooses. Rats and mice…

▪ Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13. The superstitious avoid almost anything associated with that number. Throw in a dash of Friday, and some just plain stop doing everything. It was once estimated that $800 to $900 million in business is lost on Friday the 13th because people refuse to fly, do business or do anything they would normally do on a regular day. As July came to a close, so did Atlapac Fishing Club’s season. What better way to close it out than with the 2007 AFC Kapapa Island outing held from Friday the 13th of July until Sunday the 15th in beautiful Kane‘ohe Bay? Members in attendance were Eli Foster, Duane Fukumoto, Winston Icari, Shelton Sugai, Mitchell Taketa, Craig Yamashita, Shogo Yoshimura and my unsuperstitious self.…

New Laws Apply ▪ At the start of the open fishing season for lobster and Kona crab, the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) wishes fishers to have a safe and productive fishing experience, and reminds fishers that new laws and rules apply to the open season that began September 1. Specifically, the take of female spiny lobsters and female Kona crabs is prohibited as a result of the passage of Act 77 by the 2006 State Legislature. The Hawai‘i Fishing Regulations booklet, available at all Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) offices, shows how to determine the sex of spiny lobsters and Kona crabs. For fishermen who use lobster nets, these nets fall under the current definition of lay gill nets and are subject to rules that apply to…

Where Are We in This Session? ▪ We are in the middle of the Nu‘uanu catfishing session that started on August 25. This session is quite long because 4,976 catfish applications were received. This session will last well into November until all applicants have been served. The fish are out there, and a few large catfish have crossed the scales; however, smaller catfish in the 1- to 2-lb range are definitely dominating. The current catfish population is quite large, and there are two distinct sizes: the bragging sizes; and the dinner sizes. Why some people are only angling for the bragging sizes is beyond understanding. The more desirable from a culinary aspect are definitely the dinner sizes. Hook Choices for Catfish One afficionado countered us by maintaining that he had…

▪ This year’s 10th Annual 2007 All Bent Ahi Tournament was held on Wednesday, July 11, at the Wai‘anae Boat Harbor. This tournament was the best that we’ve had since we started back in 1998. Every year we sort of knew who would win because not too many fish were brought in. This year it was a different story. Out of 14 teams, 11 caught fish. Fifteen ‘ahi, three ono, four mahimahi and one marlin came to the scales. Out of the 15 ‘ahi, four weighed more than 200 lbs. This year’s tournament champion was Matt Osume of the KERRI M with his 224-lb ‘ahi. Matt has waited patiently for seven years, and now he’s finally done it. Congratulations, Matt. The total weight winner was Jesse Brub of the KAI‘OLOHIA…

▪ Fishermen and other interested parties are invited to participate in the Fishers Forum “Fishing for Data,” 6 to 9 p.m., Tuesday, October 10, at the C’est Si Bon Ballroom, Pagoda Hotel, 1525 Rycroft Drive, Honolulu. The Forum will provide you with an opportunity to learn about and comment on new initiatives to improve collection of fishery data from non-commercial fishermen. These initiatives are being promulgated nationally and regionally. They include a national recreational saltwater angler registry, a new recreational data plan for Hawai‘i and the other U.S. Pacific islands, and initiatives by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council regarding data reporting requirements. Refreshments will be provided, and attendees will have a chance to win a great door prize, courtesy of Cox Radio. Please join us, and help improve…

For letters, with photos, received during October we’ll send you HFN’s 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, Hawai‘i 96825 or e-mail: <fishnews@hawaii.rr.com> Aloha Chuck, Here is a picture of the 60-lb flathead catfish that I caught at Lake Milford in Kansas on July 5, 2007. It put up a fight that last 15 to 20 minutes. I caught it using leaches and 20-lb test and a small hook. It’s not like the fishing back home in Hawai‘i but freshwater fishing is good for now. Louis SepulvedaFort Riley, Kansas Aloha Chuck, Thought you might enjoy the photos of Rick and Sue. Sue was a guest of mine and Rick is my…

Dear Chuck, This is the story of my 100-plus ulua. On Friday morning, my daughter, my best friend, Ricky Beltz, and I packed up our fishing gear and got ready for our trip to the beach. It was August 17, the first day of the Ohana Fishing Tournament, which we had entered on the Big Island of Hawai‘i. On the way to the beach (to our secret spot at Miloli‘i), we stopped at the market and stocked up for the weekend. When we got to the beach, we unloaded our gear and headed in. At around 4 p.m. we decided to cast our poles. Then it was time to catch bait. We set up our bait poles and headed off with our buckets. The first bait I caught was a…

▪ Late in the afternoon of June 30, 2007, Al Yoshida, Jake Vaughan, Davin Kazama and I decided to take an evening run to B-buoy on the south coast of the Big Island. It turned out to be a two-hour trip I doubt any of us will ever forget. We were camping at Honomalino Beach for the weekend, and the shibi and aku were biting. Only on a trip like this can you take advantage of the late bite because the buoy is only 2 miles from where we were camping. This allowed us to fish until after the sun set and then make a very short run back to camp. At 5:30 p.m. we left the bay for B-buoy. From a distance, I could see hundreds of birds chasing…

‘Whole Other Story’ ▪ In an earlier article I mentioned a “whole other story in itself.” I had taken two weeks of vacation from my job to do some ’yak fishing. To top off my vacation, I took an early Saturday run with Craig Colburn and Clint Hinahara. We set out at 6 a.m. from Yokohama Beach. It looked to be a calm, windless trip. We dragged our ’yaks to the shoreline and all shook hands and wished each other good luck. Before I could blink, Clint had set off on the hunt. By the time we set out, he was a half a mile in front of Craig and me. As I paddled toward Clint, I realized he was hooked up and fighting a fish. I started paddling furiously…

Hi Chuck, Just wanted to share some photos of a 7/8/07 Sunday fishing trip trolling for papio down ‘Ewa side. These photos are of 9-year-old Dane Sakamoto. His dad is the late John Sakamoto, a well-known fisherman who we lost in the 1999 Xerox tragedy. You folks had a really memorable article written about him by our friend Guidan Kop in your January 2000 issue. Dane’s Grandpa (John’s Dad, Richard) was on this trip as well. The four of us (John was there) launched from Sand Island and made a beeline straight to ‘Ewa at 0730. First hour was slow, then the action starting picking up. The second fish that Dane brought up (with the help of Grandpa) was an 8-lb white papio. After that, Dane was ready! He couldn’t…

Captain’s Log–EMI KAI by Capt. Carl Ogata ▪ Wiping the makapiapia out of my eyes, I got out of bed at 2 a.m. and thought how amazing it was that I could do this for fishing, but for work I couldn’t even get up at 6 a.m.! By the time Brian, his son Dane and I rolled into the Wai‘anae Harbor parking lot at 3:30 a.m., half of the tournament boats were there. Our plan to be first in line failed miserably, but luckily this wasn’t an omen for the day. Figuring that everyone got the word about the hot fishing to the left of the harbor, our plan for the day was to go right and stay away from the pack. This plan worked beautifully. At daybreak, with trade…

▪ Read the messages you find in fish guts, and you learn a lot more than just what they eat. The contents tell you where to find them. How they eat tells you how to rig for them. For those of us who fish in small boats out of Kawaihae Harbor, our number-one target is the fast-striking, tiger-striped, hard-hitting, bait-destroying, streak-of-fury named “oh-no!” but meaning “oh-yes!” The ono come in along the South Kohala coastline to feed on ‘opelu. As you troll the stretch from Kawaihae to Mahukona, you cross at least five different ‘opelu-ko‘a. Each ‘opelu school appears in almost the exact same spot every time, and you can almost always predict where you will find them. They may shift up or down the coastline by a few hundred…

▪ Every ulua fisherman knows the difficulty of breaking a stuck line–especially when the hooks are stuck and you’re fishing at a really deep-water spot. When fishing with 60- to 100-lb test line, you’re not only working with high breaking strength, you are also dealing with the stretch in the line. Certain lines stretch more than others, but the general rule is, the more line there is in the water, the more line stretch there is. Breaking line safely can be a very challenging task. Over the years I have tried many different techniques and have recently adopted “gloving” as my technique of choice. In this article, I will share some of the common techniques of breaking line, their drawbacks, and why I prefer the gloving technique. But first, let’s…

Aloha Chuck, Here’s a tail of the one that didn’t get away on board the KA WEN A A. On an early morning adventure off the Wai’anae Coast, we had the lures in the water at around 5:45 a.m. Our crew consisted of three brothers: deckhands Nathan Alipio and David Alipio; and the captain, Bobby Alipio. The day prior to our trip there were a lot of yellowfin tuna being caught. The plan was to head out and look for the schools of tuna that would bite fiercely. The distance we would have to travel would be in the 29- to 35-mile range; then we would start looking for signs of birds. At least that was the plan. At around 5:55 a.m., after just 10 minutes of lure trolling, or…

Try, Try Again ▪ After four hours and 38 minutes of trolling and drifting, Don Iokepa and I still had not boated a fish. I was quite surprised at our results. The tide and moon were in our favor, and we had birds working the area and a good current. But the pelagic fish just weren’t feeding the way I thought they would. I had marked several schools of ‘opelu on my fish finder, but even catching a live bait was not happening as it should. I really wanted to get Don hooked up to a pelagic fish. Back in June, Don boated his first kayak fish, a 50-lb ulua, and ever since he had been trying and trying to get his second catch. We had gone out time after…

▪ On Saturday, August 11, 2007, the Waianae Boat Fishing Club held their annual Keiki Fishing Tournament. The tournament was open to any keiki associated with a club member, so we had a great mix of our own kids and their friends and cousins. Start fishing was announced at 7:30 a.m. for a half-day of bottom fishing–an opportunity to drop the lines and have fun with the youngsters. This year 33 kids from a total of 19 families entered and fished off of nine boats. At least one child represented the following families: Bailey; Dudoit; Garner; Gates; Hamada; Isham; Kaahaaina; Kaiwi; Kea; Kolona; Leedy; Machida; Manaku; Mason; Pang; Silva; Swift; and Wessel. Thanks to the club sponsorship and the help of our sponsors, every kid walked away with four prizes.…

Dear HFN, It started out as a slow day on the QUE-LARGO with me and my crew, Shane Miyaki and Stan Naehu. There was no wind, the water was very flat as we passed Romeo buoy heading out to where we’d caught ‘ahi on previous trips. We got to the area (27 miles, 93 degrees) and found a lot of birds and bait all over the place but no tuna. We played the area for four hours with no hits. By this time it was about 1p.m. Both crewmen were leaning over the sides of the boat sick. Stan (on one of his first trips out) asked, “Uncle, where’s the land?” his eyes rolling. “Oh, about three hours east,” I answered. So I decided to start back. About 15 miles…

▪ Imagine the ultimate fantasy of a stay on a deserted island fringed in brilliant white sandy beaches and calm turquoise lagoons, dappled with coconut trees, nestled in the midst of virgin fishing grounds. Overlooking a calm leeward lagoon stands a lone, palatial beachfront cottage with two staff members to look after your every need. This was what John Kurahara, Jon Yoshihara (Yosh), Alex Matsumoto, Baba and Capt. John Llanes envisioned as they motored away from Taveuni on a crisp blue morning. They set their course to create the memory of a lifetime that many have dreamed but few have lived. They fished along the way until in the distance they saw an island with sand so white it was blinding, glowing like a beacon on the horizon. Gliding into…