Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2015 i Hawaii Fishing News

My godparents are fishermen who grew up on Maui. They began their fishing trips on a 21’ Mako, built in 1978. This vessel (one that I had been eyeing for quite some time) was parked in their driveway for well over a decade, collecting moss and aging slowly. She had been abandoned because they had upgraded to a 56’ trimaran sailing vessel, which was custom-built on Moloka’i and is by far the most beautiful sailing canoe I have ever been on. For our wedding present, my godparents decided to gift us the 1978 21’ Mako hull so that I could rebuild her. I took on the project with joy, knowing that I had a lot of capable hands to help me along the way. She needed a new gas tank,…

Are springtime ono different? If so, working the differences can mean catching more ono year- ’round. The question came up in a discussion with Capt. Shawn Rotella after a very adventurous two-day February trip far down the Kona Coast. On the first day, Shawn trolled exclusively with lures on the way south and then continued raking the seas with his best spread until stopping to settle in for the night. The lures drew no interest, no hookups, not even a bite. With no success that first day, Shawn was convinced their long trip had been for naught and the seas were a watery desert. The second day, Shawn switched from lures to live bait. The NIGHT RUNNER boys routinely fish live baits on their daily charters, so they knew all…

Aloha, everyone. I wanted to answer some of the questions I received via E-mails concerning my last article about catching big ‘o‘io. One of the most important things is to be consistent in the following areas: 1. Use light line, 8-to 12-lb test. ‘O‘io are sensitive to how the bait is lying on the ground. If a heavier weight line is too stiff, the bait may not lie as naturally as when it is on a lighter line. 2. Use smaller pieces of bait. I see so many people using the entire head of the squid or a whole shrimp. Use a piece that just covers your hook, and you will see an increase in bites. ‘O‘io eat small crabs, worms and shrimp. They suck up the bait and use…

Concrete Boat Sinks Insurance The sinking of a concrete boat and its washing onto a Kona reef has the DLNR’s Division of Boating and Recreation making new insurance demands on mooring users. These requirements have insurance companies and boaters scratching their heads and thinking that the DBOR is sinking their ability to tie off a boat in Hawai‘i. On Saturday, January 3, 2015, at 6:36 a.m., the Hawai‘i County Fire Department got reports of a flare sighting. The signals were coming from the 74’ concrete sailboat, the HAWAII ALOHA. After a series of seamanship blunders, it ran into trouble in a fierce gale-force storm off the Kona Coast near Kaupulehu, Hawai‘i. The five-person crew abandoned ship, and four were rescued in a life raft. A Barber’s Point MH-65 Dolphin Coast…

2014 Top Lahaina Harbor Charter Sportfishing Boats Determining the harbor’s top charterboat statistics for billfish is a complex process. Just looking at total catch numbers doesn’t reflect all of the variables considered in the final rankings for the top Lahaina Harbor charter sportfishing boats. Obviously, everyone looks at the number of blue marlin caught and total weight as an indicator of the top ranking. The 2014 blue marlin total (103) was the third lowest in 27 years. It was a good year for big blue marlin, though, with 25 over 400 lbs. There were four 600-pluspounders, nine 500-plus-pounders and 12 400-plus-pounders. There were also 18 blues in the 300-lb range. The striped marlin total (111) was the harbor’s best in eight years, and the shortbill spearfish catches (105) were also…

Calvin Furtado had been slide-bait fishing for about five years when he decided to try something new–plugging. Why plugging? Calvin said he was motivated to give plugging a try when he saw the catches of lure fishermen like Kona’s Nate Tsao, a.k.a. “Kona Plug Caster,” who is also a GT Fight Club Team member. Veterans like Nate and GTFC founder Charles Cintron have been plugging and catching huge ulua for years using topwater lures. I believe that their influence is partially responsible for the recent growth and popularity in the islands. I and many other fishermen have decided to hang up the slide-bait gear for some land-based, topwater action! It was a rainy morning, and the surf was pounding because a storm was approaching the Big Island. Calvin was determined…

Pole spears, or “three-prong” spears, as many local spear fishers commonly call them, are my preference over spear guns because most of my target species are near-shore dwellers. I never really had the desire to “go big” with a spear gun. Maybe I felt that I didn’t have the skills to move into that territory. I mainly target tako for bait and food, but I always check to be sure that the rubber on my pole spear is in good condition just in case a tasty fish comes into range. Maybe someday I’ll bust out a spear gun, but for now I’ll keep it simple. As I learned about pole spears, I realized that many who use them are highly skilled divers who choose to use pole spears over spear…

Tournament Dates 2015 The Hilo Trollers held their annual Spring Meeting on Thursday, January 15, 2015. The consensus at the meeting was to go back to the old tournament schedule with tournaments from April to September on the first Sunday of each month except for July. The 2015 tournament dates are as follow: April 5, May 3, June 7, July 12, August 2, and September 5 and 6. If small-craft warnings are posted after 6 p.m. on the Saturday before a Sunday tournament, that tournament will be postponed until the following Sunday. If small-craft warnings come up during the tournament, the tournament will be cancelled and boat captains will be asked to return to port. Safety comes first. Trollers membership forms, tournament entry forms and tournament rules are available at…

MISSING FADS HAWAII A- SOUTH PT. C- LOA PT. HK- HILO G- PEPEEKEO VV- KAHALUU OAHU P-PENGUIN BANK T-MAKAPUU V-MAKUA MAUI JJ- KAMOHIO GG- NAKAOHU PT. LA- LAHAINA MC- PALAOA N-HALAWA KAUAI AA- PORT ALLEN KK- WAIMEA Z- KIPUKAI 2/15/15 ALL OTHER FADS ON STATION FOR UPDATES OR TO REPORT A MISSING FAD CALL: OAHU 848-2939 KAHO‘OLAWE TROLLING - MARCH 14-15, 21-22 RESTRICTIONS APPLY-808 243-5889 CIGUATERA DATE NO. FISH ISLAND 01/31/12 2 UKU……………..OAHU 08/19/12 1 ULUA………….KAUAI 09/01/12 1 KOLE…………KAUAI 09/10/12 2 KUMU………….OAHU 08/13/13 2 GROUPER……KAUAI 02/08/14 2 MOILOA……….MAUI Department of Health (808) 586-4586 TIDE VARIATIONS FROM HONOLULU TIMES LISTED TO DETERMINE THE TIME OF THE HIGH AND LOW TIDES FOR THE FOLLOWING PLACES, (+) ADD OR (-) SUBTRACT HOURS AND MINUTES FROM HONOLULU TIME LISTED. OAHU ISLAND HIGH LOW HALEIWA,…

Aloha HFN readers! I hope you are enjoying a good start to the 2015 fishing season. Three months ago, I began a series on how to get better at kayak fishing. The focus of these articles is how to live-bait fish from a kayak to become a better angler. We have discussed topics including how to use a fish finder to find bait balls, how to rig for catching live bait, and how to store live bait. This month I’d like to go over what kind of gear is needed to fish live bait from a kayak. Before we talk about live-bait rigging, I want to briefly discuss kayak safety again. This time I would like to refer to the recent U.S. Coast Guard rescue of a kayaker off the…

I opened my eyes and tried to focus on my brightly illuminated Luminox watch face. The hands read 3:45 a.m. I still had one more hour to go until we would all wake up and begin our “weekend warrior” dive mission. I was too excited to go back to sleep and knew it wasn’t going to happen, so I went on a prep mission to get the truck and boat ready. After I drank a few cups of coffee and conducted an overly organizing prep spree, my dive partner rolled into the driveway. It was on! We threw his stuff into the truck and headed down to the boat ramp. It was still dark, and our timing was perfect. It takes us roughly one hour to make it to our…

THIS IS EXACTLY HOW MANAGEMENT IS SUPPOSED TO WORK. In 2000, the state started aggressively managing yellow tang, the prize fish of the aquarium trade in Hawaii. It was a move that came on the heels of community concern that the fish were being overharvested. Since, the yellow tang population along Kona coast–the heart of the aquarium trade in Hawaii–has increased an impressive 35 percent. But at the same time, the number of yellow tangs collected for the aquarium trade jumped 81 percent. The value of the yellow tang catch overall increased 164 percent, leaping from $383,000 to more than $1 million per year. So there were more fish in the water, fishermen caught more and made more money. “This has the potential to be a success story that people…

Kona Catch and Consume Kona’s charter catch reports are limited to tuna (‘ahi) weighing over 100 lbs and billfish catches of any size, any species: (S)=Striped Marlin, (B)=Black Marlin. Fish Wt. Angler Capt. Boat January 1– Marlin 281 Kenyon Cohen …………………… SEA DANCER Ahi 194 Carlton Kearney …………………………. GO BIG January 2– Marlin 190 Longa Hiney …………………………… KU’UIPO January 7– Spearfish 33 Brooks Watson ………………… LINDA SUE III Spearfish 22 Mairs Fogarty ……………….. MAKANA LANI January 8– Marlin (S) 71 Bouslog Bagwell …………………………… SILKY January 9– Ahi 112 Kinney Nitta ………………………………. LEPIKA Ahi 137 Dollerhide Nitta ………………………………. LEPIKA Ahi 149 Kinney Nitta ………………………………. LEPIKA Spearfish 30 Dollerhide Nitta ………………………………. LEPIKA Spearfish 30 Bouslog Bagwell …………………………… SILKY January 12– Ahi 141 Glasbrenner Bagwell …………………………… SILKY Spearfish 44 Duboe Rice ……………………………… IHU…