Category Archives: Fish/Fishing

Now this is one huge hapuupuu (sea bass)! 1917.

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GRANDFATHER OF A HAPUUPUU FISH WAS CAUGHT, 750 POUNDS IN WEIGHT.

This Monday, a Japanese went out fishing on his 33 feet boat. When he was outside of Makua, close by Waianae, while he was letting out his line to fish, and as he pulled, it was as if his hook was stuck, and this Japanese didn’t think that he had hooked a huge fish, but he figured it out when the fish began to drag him and his tiny boat. The fish was left to do as it pleased, being that he realized that he would not be able to pull in this huge fish because it was too strong to pull in the water. He followed after the fish for a long period of time, and when the Japanese saw that the fish had grown weak, that was when he pulled it to the side of his boat and returned to Honolulu nei.

When this fish reached the fish market, it was auctioned off and was sold to the Chinese with a $100 cash.

After going to the Chinese, it was immediately cut up into small pieces at 50¢ a pound, and at that price, the money got by the Chinese through retail sale was $265; the gross sale [?] was about $365; and so the Chinese who sold the fish profited about $265.

They say that everything was sold, nothing was left. In the fishing profession, Japanese make a lot of money, when it was work done by Hawaiians in years past; these days, the work has gone to these people. These people are not better prepared at fishing than Hawaiians, but the problem lies in that Hawaiians neglect this money-making profession, and because of this, it moved into the hands of other people.

Look at the great profit this Japanese made in one day, so therefore, O Hawaiians, you must keep up so that you will be prepared in this profession from now on, and that goes for farming as well—that is the only road to living comfortably and independently.

[The current “Hawaii State Record” seems to be recorded as 563 pounds. Take a look at Hawaii Fishing News.]

(Aloha Aina, 1/27/1917, p. 4)

PAA KE KUPUNA O NA IʻA HAPUUPUU, HE 750 PAONA KE KAUMAHA.

Ke Aloha Aina, Buke XXII, Helu 4, Aoao 4. Ianuari 27, 1917.

More on fishing laws, 1915.

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A LAW PROTECTING FISH IS WANTED.

There was a petition carried around to the citizens of Kaneohe, Heeia, and all the other areas on the Koolau side of the island of Oahu which asks the legislature to pass a law prohibiting the Japanese fishermen from going into those areas with their small-meshed nets and indiscriminately taking all kinds of fish from those waters, so that fish will be left for the people of those Koolau cliffs.

In times past, there was an abundance of fish seen in those waters, and the Hawaiian people of the place were greatly blessed, in that fish were easily caught making life easy because of this bounty of fish; however, these days, it is changed, because with their huge nets which are 600 feet or more long, the Japanese go about, and being that the eyes of their nets are tiny, caught haphazardly are all sorts from big to small; and these day you hardly see fish that were regularly seen before.

Desperately Wanting a Law Passed.

It is hoped by a great number of the people of the (two) Koolau that a law is passed soon by the legislature banning the Japanese from fishing in those waters with nets, because it will save the fish from being wiped out by the Japanese, and fish will be left to propagate for the benefit of the people of the entire island. One very good law being worked on by the legislature, is the limiting of fish prices, because when you observe the selling of fish in fish markets of Honolulu nei these days, the prices are so high that the poor and indigent can’t afford it.

(Kuokoa, 2/19/1915, p. 2)

MAKEMAKE I KANAWAI HOOKAPU I NA I'A

Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Buke LIII, Helu 8, Aoao 2. Feberuari 19, 1915.

New fishing laws for amaama (mullet), 1911.

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Ban on Amaama.

There are many people in this Territory who donʻt know that they have been breaking the law since the first of this month, December; those law breakers are the owners of fish ponds, and those who sell amaama at markets. According to the law passed during this past Legislative Session of 1911, eating of amaama is banned from the 1st of December until the 1st of March.

Therefore, Attorney General Lindsay sent notice to the fish sellers at the markets that the sale of amaama over the counter will not be allowed anymore from next Tuesday on. Both ocean amaama and pond amaama are banned.

With this restriction on amaama during these months, there will be seen fish shortages in town on occasion in the future. It is known that during stormy times and when the sea is rough you canʻt get ocean fish. Amaama is a fish you can get all the time, in good and bad weather, and it is a favorite fish of the people.

This law prohibiting its sale to the public will make it disappear for several months before reappearing again. And dining tables in the upcoming holidays will be without this familiar fish of the land.

(Aloha Aina, 1/23/1911, p. 1)

KAPU KA AMAAMA.

Ke Aloha Aina, Buke XVI, Helu 51, Aoao 1. Dekemaba 23, 1911.

Shark attack and heartless bystanders, 1872.

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Escaped from almost being killed by a shark.—From Mr. Kahaawi, the Deputy Sheriff of South Kohala, Hawaii, we received this shark attack story at Kawaihae: On the 15th of this month, a Friday, an old man went fishing aboard his canoe, his name is Kaholo, from Kawaihae. It was not farther than a quarter mile away from land, while he continued paddling his canoe, a huge shark came up from the sea, its lower jaw bit up from the bottom of the waa and its upper jaw snapped down from the top edge of the waa, while some of the rows of its teeth caught the skin of his thigh, and he was pulled into the ocean. The man went down into the water with the shark, but here is the strange thing, the shark didnʻt bite him more. The man hurriedly got back on the waa and grabbed his paddle, at the same time the shark came up again; the man fended off the head of the shark with his hand. When the man got aboard the waa, the shark floated itself atop of the water and then disappeared. There were other fishermen on a canoe at the time, and when the two of them saw him, they paddled over to where Kaholo was floating. Here is how very bitter they were, they didnʻt come by to help the hurt man, they just asked him to give them some bait, and when they got it they just left to go fishing. Kaholo asked for one of them to help him paddle to shore, since he was in much pain and couldnʻt paddle well, but neither of them agreed. Because there was no one to help him, he kept paddling until he almost fainted from losing so much blood; he drifted and paddled until reaching land. The one who told us this news was the very one who stitched up the wound. He said, the fleshy part of the thigh was torn open and was dangling; it was cut [?] from the knee of the left leg up to the buttocks.

(Au Okoa, 3/28/1872, p. 2)

Pakele mai pau i ka mano.

Ke Au Okoa, Buke VII, Helu 50, Aoao 2. Maraki 28, 1872.

Diving story, 1867.

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Almost Done in by a Shark—On the 24th of August past, a man named Kukahi of Puueo, Hilo, Hawaii, went to spearfishing at Milo in Hilo. When he was diving in the ocean, he speared and caught a maiii, and he took it off and stuck it behind him. An ulua shot by and after appeared a shark right before his face, and he drove that sharp-toothed fish away. Then he swam to a dry coral bed, and that shark came by again and grazed his side; he thrust his spear and it pierced the gill plate, and then the fish swam away and the man survived.

(Kuokoa, 9/7/1867, p. 3)

Mai pau i ka Mano

Nupepa Kuokoa, Buke VI, Helu 36, Aoao 3, Sepatemaba 7, 1867.

A great fishing story from Makaweli, 1937.

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65 Pound Ahi Caught in Throw Net of Youth

This Fisherman Was Seven Years Old

MAKAWELI, Kauai, January 18—The hopes were in vain, of several sharks who followed behind an Ahi thinking that they’d have a meal, because the Ahi was caught in the throw net of a fisherman, seven years in age, at Makaweli, Kauai, at a children’s swimming spot, on the 12th of this month.

So that no one would doubt it, this child brought the tail of the ahi, and here it is now, hanging in the school room where he attends school.

The name of this child is Keoni Honl, the child of Dr. Honl of Makaweli, Kauai.

The size of the Ahi was 47 inches long, and 27 inches wide. This Ahi was caught by him in his tiny throw net.

Keoni described the capture of this Ahi in his throw net: the ahi thrashed about, even if it was tired from being chased by the shark.

Keoni was fishing at the shore of Makaweli, which has been a regular thing for him now since three years ago; when he saw that the Ahi was being chased by sharks, and that the Ahi was headed straight for the shallow area where children swim, he threw his net, but his throw missed; he watched once more, and when the time was right, he threw his net again, and the great fish was caught by the little child.

Fishing is his great joy. When he was small [haha], he tried swimming, and when he knew how to swim, he began to fish. When he was three years old, his parents gave him his own throw net, and with this he practiced until he was proficient at throwing net.

(Alakai o Hawaii, 1/21/1937, p. 2)

Paa Kekahi Ahi 65 Paona Ika Upena Hoolei Aka Opio

Ke Alakai o Hawaii, Buke 10, Helu 3, Aoao 3. Ianuari 27, 1937.