Missing those good ol’
By Robert K. Fukuda
fishing boat daysSOMETIMES, memories of the past are brought back, sharp and clear, by some event. The recent International Billfish Tournament in Kona made me remember the 1950s, when deep sea sport and commercial fishing, the boats, boat builders, fishermen and story tellers made our lives colorful and interesting.
After World War II, there were many government surplus boats, engines and equipment that were available for bargain prices. A war surplus GM 6-71 diesel engine could be purchased, rebuilt and be readied to run for $2,000. Bronze or stainless steel propellers and shafts cost $100 or less.
Experienced boatbuilders were available, with names like Funai, Tanimura, Sumida, Matsumoto and Murakami. They could build anything from a 10-foot rowboat to a 100-foot aku boat without any plans.
They learned their skills by building the hundreds of akule, ahi and aku sampans of the fishing fleet before World War II. These were the master craftsmen who built the beautiful haole sampans, a unique art form seen only in the islands.
Boats reflected their owners' feelings about people like "Maisie," "Ruth T," "Mary D," "Karlyn," "He De Jo," "Lynell" and "Barbara L."
They had Hawaiian names like "Lei Malia," "Aukai," "Manu," "Makaiwa," "Kaimalino," "Kaimiloa," "Mele Moku" and "Kailani," as well as names like "Cutty Sark" and "Golden Marlin."
On Sunday afternoons, all these boats would come back to port at the Ala Wai Boat Harbor or Kewalo Basin with their fish flags flying. Some had brooms, meaning a clean sweep of mahimahi, ono, ahi and marlin.
THE fish were plentiful and the fishing was good. Besides the big game fish, there was wonderful bottom fishing for opakapaka, uku, onaga, ehu, kahala and ulua. It was common to catch 400 pounds in one night, and the commercial boats would come in with 1,000 pounds or more.
Supply always determined the prices paid at the fish auction on Monday morning. Forty cents a pound was the average auction price for opakapaka, which seems amazing today. But, in those happy days, fuel cost less than 50 cents a gallon.
A few times each year, the big boats would make trips to the other islands, some to Molokai, some to private lands on the Kona coast of the Big Island, and some to Niihau and Kaula.
Crossing the Alenuihaha and Kauai channels was a rite of passage to be talked about for years. Coming back from Molokai and the Kona coast, the boats usually brought back wild pig and deer meat from animals taken legally or otherwise, together with the boatload of fish.
There was a gathering place at the Ala Wai Boat Harbor affectionately called Mamasan's Restaurant, and one at Kewalo Basin called Sampan Inn, where the fishermen and their stories mixed happily with the food.
ONE story was about a young fellow who obviously didn't know much about fishing. He asked an old commercial fisherman how he could always find his favorite fishing spot on the open ocean. The old man whispered that he had a special paint to put an "X" mark on the water.
The young man thought about this and said, "But the water will wash it away." The old man explained that he used a special brush made of turtle whiskers, made in Japan, to paint the "X" mark.
The other fishermen listening to the young man's fishing lesson were nodding their heads and trying not to laugh. Apparently, the young man really wanted the special paint and brush, because he asked the old fisherman to get them for him.
No one could have dreamed 50 years ago that, someday, fishermen would be able to find their favorite fishing spots on the open ocean by using satellites and electronic position finders without any special paint and brush made in Japan.
Maybe there is a heavenly ocean, a "Kailani," with a Mamasan's Restaurant and a Sampan Inn, where we will all meet again for happy fishing and funny tales.
Robert K. Fukuda lives in Honolulu and was the owner
of the "Kailani," a 40-foot haole sampan, built by Teruo Funai.