October is one of my favorite months to fish because it’s this month that offers the most variety of fish. The blue marlin bite usually starts decreasing this month as does the ono bite but then the fall run of mahi mahi shows up this month, yellowfin and bigeye tuna start congregating on the buoys and ledges and the bottom bite gets better too. All this happened this month so that’s my report….Done.
OK, I know many people read my report every month so I won’t disappoint you. With midterm elections less than a week away, Politics is the big news. When it comes to fisheries, it’s important to know where our politicians stand or we may just see fishing as we know it get regulated beyond practicality. A couple of things that are in the progress of becoming law are HR5804, the billfish conservation act and also a petition to include lead as a toxic substance, making lead bullets and lead used for fishing illegal. In a nut shell the billfish conservation act will make it illegal to import, export or sell billfish except swordfish. While blue marlin stocks are in decline, striped marlin and spearfish stocks appear to be doing OK. Most of the billfish caught here are released without any law being enacted to force us to do it! Billfish are a favorite food for many so if the law is passed and you don’t have first hand access to a local fisherman who will ‘give’ you some, billfish is off the menu except swordfish. Why not swordfish? In the world wide market swordfish has been regulated more than any other but they’re big business so as to not step on the toes of big business, swords were excepted so the bill has a better chance of getting passed. Now on to the evils of lead. Yes I understand that birds eat lead shot and small sinkers but with an across the board ban on using lead to fish with, you can forget using lead for downriggers, jigs, ballast in lures, throw nets and a whole lot more.
A new law that just passed in the state of Hawaii this last summer makes it illegal to possess shark fins. I called the senator that proposed the law to see if there was an exception if the fins were still attached to the shark when it’s brought in. His reply was NO! To get caught with any kind of shark with its fins still attached is a minimum $5000, and up to $15000 fine for a first offense. You can still kill ‘em and eat ‘em but getting caught with the fins, attached to the shark or not, can be a costly mistake.
Not really fishing related for the most part but just to let you know that our politicians made the standard incandescent light bulb illegal and fazing them out completely is now on the way. Fluorescents and LEDs just won’t do for some lighting applications just like a material other than lead just won’t do for certain fishing applications. How about we vote some of these pinheads out of office this Saturday?
