Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2008 i Hawaii Fishing News

▪ “Wow! Check it out!” I shouted to my wife. “Slick waters at South Point this morning.” It was 5:30 a.m.—too early to be impressed. She just yawned and went back to sleep. But for Dan Roudebush and me, this could be the day that we’d been waiting for. South Point’s deep waters are usually ravaged by strong winds and surf, conditions not compatible with kayak fishing. Dan had been tracking a large low-pressure system on his computer for a couple of days and as the system approached the northern part of the Big Island, the South Point weather started to relax. Forecasters were predicting only two days of calm weather. It was after 7 o’clock by the time we launched our kayaks from the South Point boat ramp. Our…

Happy New Year! I would like to introduce the newest members of the Aquahunters: Ed Evans and Syd Kinimaka. “Major Ed” has put in a whole year of fishing with me and the other team members. During the summer, Ed picked up many mahimahi and papio. One weekend he pulled up a prized ono weighing 20 lbs. The team members enjoyed their adventures with Ed this year. He always showed up wellequipped and focused. Ed grew up in Wisconsin but understands the importance of respecting our beloved ocean. “I don’t think I will take a strike until I pick up three pieces of floating rubbish out here,” he once told me. Syd was the winner of the 2007 Aquahunters Invitational. Syd is a long-time friend of mine. He is an…

▪ When the Magnuson Act was reauthorized and signed into law last year, Congress mandated that NOAA Fisheries make improvements to the nation’s saltwater recreational data collection program. The collection of surveys nationwide now has a new name—the Marine Recreational Information Program—though the components are still being worked out. Recently, a contingent from NOAA Fisheries HQ visited the islands to support this process and learn more about our noncommercial data needs for the region. The visit was the first of six “Listening Sessions” that are taking place nationwide through May. The sessions are an opportunity for leadership to listen and learn from regional science and management partners about our specific data and management needs, as well as interact with fishermen. The group includes some experienced fisheries managers who are playing…

▪ From fishing gear, lost or abandoned at sea, cigarette butts and bottle caps, marine debris an increasing problem to coastal areas world- wide, including Hawai‘i. Marine debris affects the beauty of our environment, is a safety hazard for humans, damages vessels and threatens many of our marine species. From a beach covered in trash to a ghost net continually certrapping marine life, marine debris is a problem we cannot ignore. Hawai‘i is indeed a special place for marine starmammals. It is home to the most endangered increasseal in the United States, the Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi), and it is the only state in the United States where hump- back whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) come mate, calve and nurse, which led to the creation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric…

▪For more than 50 years, Uncle Roy Matsumoto has been going to the Big Island to fish at his favorite spot on the North Kohala coastline. He told me it was love at first sight Uncle Roy’s ‘ohana and some of the former Rainbow Casting Club members have been going to North Kohala since 1956. Back then, the modern road did not exist They had to traverse the countryside by an old mountain road. They used Kohala bamboo rods (Uncle Roy did not care much for the Calcutta rods that were being brought in) and extended bronzespooled Penn 68, 113, 114 and Pfleuger Templar and Atlapac reels. During those early years, they encountered the “Kohala Express,” a strike so devastating that the rod couldn’t be removed from its pipe stand.…

Hi Chuck, I started fishing consistently about one year ago. Recently I have been fishing a lot. You know, it’s the season (well, late in the season). I started diving, too, because tako has been quite expensive and very scarce lately. I really love the outdoors and the ocean, so fishing and diving have become my salvation. I’ll put it this way: if I am not in the ocean or near the ocean at least once a week, I start going through ocean withdrawals. I started to build my collection of fishing poles and reels. All of my friends use conventional poles and reels, so, of course, I wanted them, too. I bought a Nitro conventional pole and a Sealine 50 reel. I was getting really discouraged because I hadn’t…

Shocking Coral Reefs ▪ We all know our reefs are in trouble. Here’s a “shocking” breakthrough to help them! In Pemuteran Bay, near Bali in Indonesia, scientist Thomas Goreau and architect Wolf Hilbertz invented an unlikely remedy for the devastated coral reefs: electricity. These reefs, and many other coral reefs around the world, have been dying out—bleached by rising water temperatures, blasted by dynamite fishing, and poisoned by cyanide fishing. This project, called “Bio-Rock,” is extremely intricate and costly. Dozens of metal structures are submerged in the bay and fed by low-voltage electricity cables. Limestone, a building block for reefs, naturally gathers on the metal that is emitting low energy. Then broken and damaged bits of coral can be salvaged and fixed to the structure where the electricity revives and…

▪“Let’s Go Fishing” is broadcast on KHONTV, Sundays at 5:30 p.m., cablecast on digital channel CW 93 Saturdays at 5:30 p.m., and available for viewing online at <http://www.benwongtv.com>. Sunday, January 6, on KHON; and Saturday, January 12, on CW 93 First fishing destination: The “Let’s Go Fishing” crew heads to Kona for an evening of whipping for menpachi. Jamie Yamaguchi shows us how easy it is to find redf ish for the dinner table on your way home from work. Second fishing destination: We go O‘ahu bluewater trolling aboard the charterboat SEA HAWK while participating in the Hawaii Yacht Club Sushi Shootout Tournament. Capt. Darryl Chow and company score on the mahimahi. Craig Mitchell and company score a good time for all who participated. Sunday, January 13, on KHON; and…

3. Should you be required to submit a non-commercial report? 131 Yes 734 No Comments in Support of a Mandatory Non-Commercial Fish Catch Report • I think keeping these kinds of records can be beneficial to the resource. • To help research people understand how much fish is harvested. • All registered boaters, bi-annual. • I don’t mind doing that. Resource managers can track activity better and make better management decisions. • More effective means for fishing data if everyone who fishes participates. • On certain species. • All non-commercial fishermen should be required to send in catch report. • It may be a wise thing to do. It may help manage fish populations better. • If it helps to replenish fish populations. • How accurately would they be reported?…

▪ Piracy is alive and well-documented in the southern Red Sea, and we were nearing the heart of that region. The military and local police are not always allies of yachts, either. Before traversing a body of water that had for months given us anxious thoughts because if its renowned strong winds and currents, we awaited optimum conditions while tied alongside a pier in southern Eritrea, Africa. Once a booming harbor that fed supplies to all parts of Western Africa, including Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and Kenya, Assab was void of any activity. It had become a closed port during the Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict. With perseverance and hard work, we were able to find diesel uptown and truck it back to the harbor by way of 55-gallon drums carried in the rusty…

Hello HFN Readers: I would like to introduce the new “Measurement Guide for Nearshore Fishes of Hawai‘i,” funded and produced by the NOAA Fisheries Service and the Division of Aquatic Resources. This waterproof guide was designed to conveniently provide color photos, fishing regulations and reproductive information on common near-shore species. It is also a durable device to measure your catch and provides information for keeping only fish that have had a chance to spawn. In the guide, you will see L50s for each species of fish. The L50 is the length (L) at which half (50 percent) of a fish species may be able to spawn (this is the science used to create minimum size fishing regulations).For example, if you catch 10 moana at the L50 of 7. 5 inches,…

Freshwater Bank Fishing ▪ The last fishing session of the year at Nu‘uanu was extended into January 2008. Thanks to the untiring efforts of the DLNR personnel, all of the 3,298 applications were filled. This session will end on January 27. The fishery has grown enormously in popularity. About 13,000 applications were received and filled for the whole year. Personally, I will be returning to Ho‘omaluhia where I receive weekly insults from unruly youths that continue to trespass. It seems as though there is a constant flux of dare-do gamers that walk through the tunnel under the dam and then crawl up on the top structure. From there they jump in the water with an obvious purpose of taunting the public and interrupting the fishing. The police have been asked…

▪ The trolling has been pretty good. There were ono on the ledge and mahimahi on the outside. You could still find aku at the buoys, but nothing really big. I guess a lot of the boat fishermen were catching tako and Kona crabs. The bottomfish fishermen were still catching a good amount of akule and ‘opelu. The menpachi were biting well during the full-moon nights. The regulars who fish at night were trying to catch their share of tako and deep bottom fish. Shoreline fishing started to pick up a bit. Shawn and Barry of Haleiwa Fishing Supply were busy weighing lots of fish caught by North Shore Pole Bendas members. Hopefully the action will pick up even more with winter coming and the surf coming in. You’ve just…

Fishing Local-Style ▪Aloha from the Friendly Isle of Moloka‘i. I hope everyone survived the holiday celebrations and is ready for the adventures that 2008 has in store for us. I also hope there are a lot of big fish that are ready to be harvested this year. I want to share the stories of two recent outings with friends. The first outing was with Nelson Toda, a friend of Kyle Lum, who is the head honcho of the Molokai Oceanside Retreat here on island. Kyle has mentored Nelson over the years, in Honolulu and here on Moloka‘i. Nelson has a new job as a police officer in Honolulu coming up, so he decided to visit Kyle for his last hoorah before beginning the arduous task of recruit training. Nelson had…

Aloha, My name is Brandi Leong. I am 7 years old and in the second grade at Iliahi Elementary School in Wahiawa. My brother Brexten and I go fishing with my dad at Lake Wilson on our Bass Tracker. We catch whatever bites our bait. Sometimes we catch red devils, catfish, largemouth bass, or bluegills but we mostly catch tucunaries. This is a picture of my dad, brother and myself with the tuc that I caught. My dad had to hold it. We really have fun fishing at Lake Wilson with my dad. Brandi LeongWahiawa, O‘ahu Aloha Chuck, Hi, my name is Brie, and I’m writing in hopes that this is the right place to turn in photos/fishing tales. Not sure. I have attached a photo of my brother Atreyu…

▪ The finish of Lahaina Shell’s Sixth Annual Kenny Takashima Halloween Shootout turned out to be a real nail-biter. However, the days leading up to the tournament were filled with painstaking preparation. Because of the shootout format and winnertake-all payout, this tournament draws a number of boats from all over the state of Hawai’i. Strong trade-wind weather made the channel crossings more than an adventure. Many a captain was heard describing the conditions as “very wet” and their crossing as a “victory at sea.” Although the fishing conditions were not the most favorable (big moon and falling morning tide) and the fish landed in the days leading up to the tournament were few and far between, there was no stopping those ever-optimistic anglers from believing that they would be the…

▪ As we move into the New Year, “new” legislation is introduced, just as it is every year. The problem is, there is nothing new regarding some of these bills. In fact, they are the same old, tired, worn-out money grabs that they have always been. When these bills pass, there will be no enforcement, and when they fail many will be recycled and cited as the reasons for “new” ever-more-restrictive legislation that continues the never-ending cycle of infringement upon our freedoms and upon our right to fish. This stuff makes criminals out of us just for fishing in the wrong place. A good example of this was the “introduction” of H.B. 3440 H.D. 1, which sought to “establish the waters surrounding the island of Niihau as a marine life…

▪It took a while for all the pictures and information to come in regarding the tag-andrelease statistics for the First Annual Mark White Lures Tag and Release Tournament. There were about 40 entries statewide and only a handful of submissions. This was a challenging process, as you had to become a photojournalist, computer guy, marine biologist and good fisherman, as well-not an easy combination by any means. The grand champion was Robert Phillipson from Kaua‘i with 13 captures tagged and released. His largest papio was 17 inches in fork length. He also released a 20-inch kaku and miscellaneous other reef fish. Lisa Nishizuka from Kaua‘i won the women’s division with a 16-inch papio. The freshwater division was won by Darren Ishikawa from O‘ahu. He landed “choke” tucunare and a channel…

▪ A U.S. Supreme Court decision in June has let Hawai‘i fishermen off the hook for illegal campaign spending in the 2006 election. The local fishermen took out full-page newspaper ads two days before the election. The ads claimed the “current administration” did not support fishing. The pro-fishing ads encouraged fishermen to vote. Environmentalists petitioned the state Campaign Spending Commission. The anti-fishing proponents said that the fishermen’s ads were illegal because the fishermen were not registered as a political action committee. They also claimed the fishermen did not follow the campaign finance law. The state Campaign Spending Commission ruled in April that the fishermen violated state election law. They changed their opinion to a 4-to-0 positive fishing ruling after the U.S. Supreme Court decided a case. That ruling said that…

▪ In 40 years of fishing, Capt. John had never experienced “the horrors.” Then it happened. Like most remarkable days, it started out quite ordinary. John, Pete and little Matteo headed out of Taveuni, Fiji, for a holoholo day of trolling. At 10 o’clock, the vast ocean looked empty. Then suddenly line started to scream out and they found themselves hooked to a lone 100-lb yellowfin. Pete was on it for about 15 minutes, gaining line slowly as the ‘ahi exerted the downward pump its species is known for. All of a sudden, the line started to rise slowly, unzipping the surf ace of the water. Capt. John’s first thought was, “Oh, no! A big marlin has grabbed my nice ‘ahi and there goes my sashimi.” He looked beneath the…

▪ In the wee hours before dawn, ol’ Billy (the head chief goat) was awakened by Benny the Menehune (an elder member of the legendary Hawaiian elf clan) and told that Santa’s sled crew had a breakdown and they weren’t able to deliver presents on Christmas day to a family of visitors on Billy’s island. It seems Santa was stranded on the island next to Billy’s because ol’ Rudolf had sprained his ankle running across some loose lava rocks and wasn’t able to fly any more that night. “Well, I don’t know how I can help Santa,” Billytold Benny, “because you know I can’t fly like Rudolf. And it’s at least 3 miles between the islands.” “Billy, Billy,” Benny said. “Have you forgotten about the stone wall my brothers and…