The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-04-27
Along the Reef With a Bamboo
= By r. o.
- y y y
By r. o. P. Joynt.


| speared. The strength of these cells
! is prodigious and they fight viciously
till the very last. Now and again
/ fisherman tramples on one inadver-
{ tently and like a fash the Strong jaws
close on the foot, the result being
serious wound If a shoe is not worn.
! When the tide is low on the outer
reef great kumu and other fish may
! be speared but as general thing
uhas and morays will furnish the bulk
of the bag. A ive-pound uha is worth
a nights fishing. It's flesh is firm and
white and as delicately favored as
anything that swims in the sea.
Be careful of channels When torch
light fishing. The reef is intersected
with them and in the enthusiastic pur-
suit of a fish one may easily stumble
into one and go over his head in deep
water, to the extinguishment of his
torch and his corresponding discom-
future.
1t is remarkable how easily one can
! lose ones whereabouts on the reef at
night The stranger in the lagoon
after dark is at total loss to locate
landmarks and as rule doesn't know
whether he is going north or east.
The red range-light at the mouth of
the harbor may be taken as a never
failing guide to shore in cases of
emergency and it is often of good SER
vice to the torch fisher when his light
is burning brightly.
1t is difficult to determine the exact
effect of the torch's light on fish. Some
species flee from it, others remain in
the light area as if fascinated. Others,
again, like the aweoweo and alalauwa
are attracted by the light of a torch
or lantern, and night fishing for them
is more successfully prosecuted when
artificial illumination is used.
Good eel-fishing may be had on a
moonless night with hook and line. Go
with a lantern to light your way to
an old breakwater or coral wall where
the morays make their home and drop
baited hook into any likely looking |
crevice. If the eel is at home he will |
seize the fish or squid- baited hook and
will retreat with it into his hole. Once |
we'll inside you will have a difficult |
job to get him out and the only way
you can accomplish this is to keep a |
,steady strain on the line till the eel |
becomes weak and tired and gives up |
the fight.
Many of the morays are experts at |
snagging the hook in the rocks and |
stealing the bait therefrom. You will |
save yourself much trouble and many
hooks if you carry an iron rod with /
a small ring at one end. When your
hook is isnagged run the ringed end |
of the rod down the line till the hook /
is reached and it may then be easily
released.
With practise the eel-fisher can tell |
by the feel of bite just how much
of the hook the moray has in his
mouth 1t is desirable, when the eel
has a good hold on the bait, to send
the hook home with a sudden jerk, be-
fore the eel has had time to withdraw
entirely into his hole. By this means
he will much more easily be brought
to bag.
The morays are good eating, all but
the kappa and one or two others,
which are hard and bony. Unlike the
uha they retreat to the recesses of the
rocks when hooked. The white eel,
on the other hand, when hooked among
the rocks, invariably makes his fight
in the open water.
The spotted and striped snake cells
are sometimes caught at night They
are handsome creatures bat too
sinuous and bony to be off any edible
value.
In eel-ffshing with a hook a section
of akule, small hinalea, an oopu or
an upapalu may all be used as bait.
The tentacle of a squid, stripped of
its skin, is also a good bait and pos
sesses the additional virtue of being
more difficult to detach from the hook
than is the case with fish bats